How I Learned Japanese! (Game Gengo 5k Subscriber Special!)

[@TytheSynthesyst]

We must protect this man at all costs!!

[@Kingofnothing-n3b]

A bigggggggg yessddd. Yes from india to this golden man.❤

[@AlabastreAizo]

I went to uni for Japanese, I lived in Japan for three years, and I used to study kanji for a couple hours every day before work. I have friends that just played visual novels or light novels, and their Japanese is much better than mine still. I heard of people almost a decade ago that were just really into visual kei, and they taught themselves Japanese to a high level just learning/translating lyrics. It's absolutely true that just doing stuff you love in another language will help you improve the most. Yeah, you may need to do some more intense studying or practice along the way to cover all your bases, but if you just keep using Japanese consistently and often, you're going to be great. It took me too many years to realize I need to just let myself have fun with the language and not force myself to do stuff I hated in preparation for the things that I liked.

[@TheSkaOreo]

The problem are all these youtube videos that suggest that you can learn Japanese in a week or a year (something my favorite resource, Wanikani is very guilty of), and there's a surprising amount of people who are very against students learning japanese via manga or video games. I think that's a poor way to go about it. Language learning is a life long endeavor in trying to communicate with someone else; you're gonna need that motivation, and the motivation for me is reading manga, playing video games, reading books, reading...ummm...certain types of (*anime wow noise here*) books. Which gives me the motivation to do the boring stuff: grammar, vocab, etc..

[@remonimodexd7116]

@@TheSkaOreoyou definitely can learn to a high level in a year. I did so and In the first year had 10k+ vocab down and could read most novels that didn’t have archaic grammar. It definitely just takes a lot of reading in my experience

[@Kingofnothing-n3b]

​@@remonimodexd7116true,i learn Japanese with true lover towards them(our Japanese) that's why I remember with visualisation and i can easily learn vocabulary ,as of now in 4 months of learning (but I didnt learn 2 months in between at all),i learned 60 kanji to read and write ,40 plus more kanji recognisable and minimum 300 to maximum 500 vocabulary i learned ,now i learn. So fast and I am going to do every possible way like reading, writing, listening, visualisation and self conversation and quizzes ,jlpt tests in KZbin .now I am totally comfortable in learning Japanese ❤.

[@jamestays8416]

You deserve millions of subs. Your excitement about what you do and why you do it is motivating in and of itself. It's getting me hyped for my anki that I'm about to do.

[@GameGengo]

Bahaha I'll settle for a fraction of that :P Thank you so much James! I hope I can help you enjoy Japanese study more! You can do it!! 頑張れ！

[@Dewstra]

Shout out to CheeseTV! Congrats on 100K, you've come a long way! Here's to the next 100K

[@LionKimbro]

What I love about Japanese is that... like, once you get to like say 1200 漢字、you can see new words and even though you don't know them, you at least know *something* about the word, and sometimes you can figure out the whole thing. And **sometimes,** it feels like magic when it happens -- you can "hear" the kanji out from a spoken word, piece it together with the context, and figure out what it means!

[@GaliosUA]

Well, it's the same with many languages. There are many common prefixes and suffixes, especially from Latin. For example, if you know "permanent" and "frost" it's not that hard to figure out what "permafrost" means. "Mono" and "rail" => "monorail", etc.

[@Aaron-ut2ql]

@@GaliosUA This is true but this is far far less common than in Japanese. Once you get to a point where you know 2500-3000 kanji you can very accurately guess the meaning of most words in the language especially given some context (given that the word is made up of kanji). In English, more often than not if you find a word that you have not seen before, you will very rarely be able to guess its meaning without sufficient context. So it is the same in many languages, but with Japanese it is much much more common to be able to guess the meaning of a word based on kanji.

[@DeLaBorne]

Oh yeah, 沢山

[@LionKimbro]

@@DeLaBorne haha! Well, you know, there ARE a lot of swamps and mountains out there.

[@matthewhayes7671]

Congratulations! Here's to five-thousand more!

[@GameGengo]

Thank you so much Matthew! Let's do it!! 10k 2022! haha

[@lussanawow2386]

Your content has been a big help with my learning, well deserved 5k - it will definitely get much higher.

[@GameGengo]

Thank you so much

[@LizStaley]

I know this is an older video but I just found your channel recently and wanted to let you know how much I appreciate what you’re doing! I decided when the pandemic started two years ago that I was finally going to start learning Japanese at 37 years old (I’ve wanted to learn since I was about 16 and got into anime, before anime and manga were everywhere in the US). I’ve been teaching myself using Duolingo, WaniKani, and Genki textbooks but progress has been really slow. I found your channel awhile ago and went through the N5 and N4 grammar videos. They gave me enough confidence to buy a Nintendo Switch Lite for my two-year-Japanese-learning-anniversary this past Monday and I’m now playing Animal Crossing in Japanese. Do I understand everything? Nope. Is it way more fun than reading a textbook? Heck yes! So thank you for this channel! I love your videos and really appreciate them. They’re helping my poor almost-40 brain start getting a better grasp of this language I’ve wanted to learn for so long!

[@ember1331]

I'm watching this August 1, 2024, 10:26am. It was a really good story! Wish you more success!

[@ElhuSCIENCE]

Definetly the best advice, to keep at it. Sometimes it's really frustrating when you can't understand a sentence at all, but overtime, you grow and learn, even if you don't realize! Congrats on your excellent channel.

[@Pawl0solidus]

3 years later and you went from 5K subscribers to 113K! Amazing job Matt!

[@mrmuffyman]

Thanks for the awesome videos! Ive been going through countless hours of your content and my japanese has improved immensely!

[@FullCitris]

This is the coolest channel I've ever found :D

[@gracep2910]

your life sounds a lot like mine, except i’m 30 now and never went for japan when i wanted to. i’ve been watching your videos and learning independently… would be amazing to live there one day too.

[@fallendown_reprise]

i look up to you a lot, i hope one day i can move to japan like you did!!

[@yapkfmichael6231]

Interesting video. Thanks for sharing your experience. I also learn Japanese to play Japanese games because I like JRPG. A lot of my friends do not understand Japanese but know Chinese told me they just guess the meaning by looking at the Kanji. I am not good at Chinese so I had to learn Japanese to enjoy JRPG. A lot of the play station AAA games were only in Japanese. So that motivated me to learn Japanese to play and understand those games.

[@brinjpn]

I had similar experience growing up. Everything I happened to love was from Japan and once I found out it was all from Japan, I dived even further into all things Japan. I also find that a lot of Universities that teach Japanese could use a lot of improving. I have a dual degree in marketing and East Asian studies and I think I want to get a Masters in Japanese linguistics and focus on how universities can improve their methods.

[@deecee1853]

Damn dude. You've come a long way from 5k subs, and now you're close to 100k. Congratulations! People love your genuine love for the language. Keep it up!

[@velagapragnya9069]

you went from learning Japanese and reading Japanese novels and even playing Japanese games. I really really admire you. hope to be like you in future. thanks for making this whole Japanese learning very interesting and exciting.

[@Hirushiabeysinghe]

I was forced to read English books when I was a child to improve it, but I couldn't understand much of the things I read. Then I discovered a manga site where I could read mangas in English. The art styles were great and there were only few words. And unlike the novels with big texts of foreign language, there was art so I was able to understand the context. And each panel had only few words to read. I just got addicted to manga and started reading as much as I could, and unlike reading novels it was easy and pleasurable because even if I did not understand the sentences, I could still get the situation from the artwork.you are right we should enjoy what we do

[@philbertius]

And now you’re almost at 100k! Congratulations! Just found your channel, and love your enthusiasm for games! Chrono Trigger was my childhood, will always upvote when it’s in the background 😅

[@gregoryteixeira8024]

I've learned English mostly by playing video games. I mean, of course I had to get a good grammar book and immerse myself 24/7 when I got to university (got graduated on translation studies), but I had an immense chunk of vocabulary because of games. I wish I could the same with Japanese, but I'm struggling to focus on studying grammar everyday or something and, that way, is harder to go through games. However, I'll check some of your videos and try again. Who knows if I'll finally make my breakthrough. haha Edit: oh, forgot to say that, thanks to that, I'm an English teacher nowadays. I dream of working with translation (games localization, hopefully), but I haven't gotten there yet. Anyway, thanks for sharing your personal experiences with us!

[@RDZeroDota2]

I just finished watching orange days(japanese drama was kind of bored of watching only anime) tonight when i finished i was a little sentimental maybe thats why i cried watching this video, or maybe its because it connected with me so much that i saw me on your shoes where you were in 2014... I really hope you the best ty for making these videos, one day i maybe see you in japan! お前に感謝してる

[@KnightCrown]

I've been studying for 6 months now and have been burning out. Thank you for making your videos, it made me find new ways to continue learning

[@MichaelBecx]

Thank you so much for this video! I've been thinking about moving to Japan for years now and due to Japan closing its borders for years I wasn't able to go. I'm finally going to move to Japan either this year or next year and I can't wait!

[@cR33dful]

You have the most fabulous voice ... You would make a phenomenal voice actor for anime .. also love your videos . Keep em coming..

[@FelixSR]

That was an awesome watch! As a person who just started learning, it was truly fascinating to hear about your experiences, and how you ended up where you are!

[@remonimodexd7116]

How is your 日本語 a year later? I hope you didn’t give up! 頑張れ!

[@brinjpn]

Honestly, all of your advice are things I am just now learning when it comes to studying Japanese, I wish I had discovered your channel sooner!

[@Fatihkilic075]

This is so great and genuine! My interest in Japan and Japanese is more the sort of philosophy, lifestyle, art, matcha, Zen, minimalism and even some drama's. Not so much games (even though I like games and JRPG), manga and anime (I love DBZ though). That being said, I enjoy geeking together with you and learning in the process :)

[@anicemenhour2290]

Hey Matt! I I felt a lot of myself in myself in this video. I've always been interested in Japan, not in a "weeb" sense but everything about the culture attracted me, would it be food, history, habits... Going to Japan felt like an obvious thing to do. I finally came to Japan in 2017 and I never left haha. I lived in both Osaka & Kyoto (and I've been around a lot) and I definitely share your love for Kyoto man. That city is special. I'm in Osaka now but I lived in Kyoto for a year and I miss this city pretty much every day. Also, I had that same きっかけ as you, my Japanese really took off when I started learning the way I enjoy it: playing JRPGs. For me it was the 閃の軌跡３, very text-heavy game and very long, it took me a year to finish but I'm super glad I went through it. Now reading Japanese is much faster, and even if I'm not perfectly fluent yet I can enjoy playing games and learning at the same time. I really love your channel. About 80% of what you're teaching is stuff I already know (or sort of know) but I just like the way it's laid out and taught using JRPGs. I hope you'll get much more subscribers! これからも頑張って！

[@wingsushi]

Hi Matt, thank you for creating Game Gengo! I really appreciate the combination of video games with Japanese learning, it makes the journey so much more enjoyable than the typical methods of text books and apps. Really excellent grammar explanations that are super easy to follow, I’ve learnt so much from your channel than I have from other resources. Keep up the amazing work!

[@_Username__]

Thanks for the insight

[@robochrish]

I've been struggling, dabbling with Japanese for years, but your channel has really helped light a fire under me to finally learn it properly. Your approach and attitude is so uplifting and inspirational. Thank you! ^_^

[@pol_shadow]

Thank you so much for sharing this incredible story of yours! You were talking in such an enthusiastic manner that I can't help being surprised and inspired. You are the example of the man who did right and won life.

[@quelseydilla]

I'm about a month and a half into learning Japanese, self study with Genki and WaniKani, mainly. Your videos have been SO helpful so far. Thank you for all you do!

[@japaneseimmersion7295]

Very encouraging! Thank you for all the helpful information, as always.

[@KevstracKShrine]

This was a big inspiration for me, mostly because studying Japanese can be frustrating sometimes. I appreciate all your kind effort making this videos, please keep it up!

[@GameGengo]

I'm so glad I could help in some way! It can definitely be a frustrating journey but one that is well worth the effort and something that I believe CAN be a fun journey at the same time! :) 頑張ってください！

[@InformWill]

Found your channel just browsing JLPT N5 content, started this video thinking I would just watch the first couple mins. Your passion, enery, and story had me watch the full 35! I'm essentially a complete noob, hoping to visit Japan before the end of the year, and hopefully be able to scrape by with some basic knowledge of the language. Keep up the great content!!

[@dukeofdawn4348]

That was an incredible watch, thank you!

[@GameGengo]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@MorikoW]

Still love your videos, thank you! I review them often and will keep an eye on everything new. Sometimes waiting a bit before starting a new video, because I need to review something else first. So thank you and please don't stop making them :D

[@Ditronus.]

With you on playing too much WoW in the past, haha. It's still a huge part of my life that I check back into on each new expansion, but it certainly dies off in a month or two afterwards. It does says something to Japan's powerful cultural output that most guys in our age demographic can look back into the past and just see an enormous amount of Japanese influence on our lives. I was there with ff7-11 and pokemon, too. And although I don't care for newer ff games, pokemon is still there as big as ever alongside anime. Thanks for the video.

[@bernardocardoso1356]

Though I'm only N5 level, I never bothered with Anki until now, despites dozens of Japanese language channels recommending. But since you recommended it, I'm downloading it, right now.

[@RockChampEnglish]

I listen to songs and watch japanese youtubers doing things and i started learning some useful structure. The structures are not in the n5 test, but i would still learn them… and try to use them

[@johnmatthewtagaza3692]

Having fun is the best guide i received from you Sensei. Thankyou for building This Bridge.

[@GameGengo]

Absolutely! My pleasure! Thank you for finding a way to have fun learning Japanese! Its such an enjoyable language to learn! :)

[@johnmatthewtagaza3692]

ほんとに Agree about that Its Fun and shouldnt be scary. Oh! By the way Still waiting for the next parts of your kanji series too

[@Rick-rl9qq]

funny thing watching this video 3 years later when he's got almost 85k subscribers . I hope this channel continues to grow more and more!

[@USvsDPRK93]

Thanks for sharing your story, ありがとうございます!

[@DavidJones-bw3tk]

Congratulations, your subs have been well earned with the hard work you put into the content you provide on your channel. I'm sure you'll have another 5k+ subs in no time.

[@guilink9]

I have a lot to thank you for, first of all grats on 5k subscribers though I wholeheartedly wish you get to a million and beyond. I remember from my teenage days the frustration of hearing about so many great games (mostly RPG's) that never got localized. I remember playing the fan translation of Mother 3, and the amazing effort the Nintendo community put to get Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story localized after a year of endless begging. But when Square Enix didn't localize the 3DS version of Dragon Quest XI I took it personally. It was the only version at the time that you could play in both 3D or 2D and fell in love with it. So.... I've been studying on my own since 2017. I spent most of my first two years at Kanji/Vocabulary mostly, at Wanikani which is pretty much Anki for the lazy people. I enjoyed it so much everyday that I stopped because I was sad it was ending. By late 2018 I went full immersion, just trying to chew as much nihongo as I could, but by september of last year I hit the famous wall of wasting more time trying to figure out HOW to learn japanese, instead of just doing it. Then the KZbin gods smiled, a recommended video from a small channel with 2 hours of godly game grammar content. I sent it to a friend and he asked immediately: "How is this free?". I swear these were the best 2 hours of my 2021 as of today. Without realizing it, through so much immersion, for like 90% of every grammar point that came up I was like "OHHHHH SO THIS IS IT!". You singlehandedly kicked my ass straight up to middle N4 and I can never thank you enough for it. I'm pretty much middle N3 now in just a month from finally getting a VERY strong grip on the basics. Sometimes all you need is a push. I was obsessed with getting a textbook, then I looked at both Genki's indexes and realized I already knew enough so that buying them would be an absolute money waste (I still want Tobira though, it seems to have a different approach). As for learning in classes and courses, like you and someone in the comments said, pacing is so slow it sucks away the fun. My university has a program that gets you to A2 in THREE YEARS!!!! And again, spends the whole first semester in Hiragana/Katakana and basic kanji. I'm curious though how was pacing for you at an actual japanese university? I've seen many people complain about the pacing being the same. And for learners: Don't get discouraged, it's hard even for japanese people! Just try a bit every day. Unless you want to work with japanese people or move to Japan, focusing on reading and listening first is absolutely fine! Keep in mind writing does make kanji easier to remember though. For Switch owners: You won the lottery! Make a second account for Japan and download a billion demos to your hearts content! Visual Novel demos REALLY help overall learning if you like them and they are usually long enough (5+ hours) for you to even forget it is a demo. Aside from being able to rewind text, the most recent ones also allow you to repeat voice lines over and over. Sorry for the essay, I'm just really happy! Also scripts from JP version games feel so different... Cloud from FF7R almost feels like two different protagonists.

[@MobileMally]

Awesome hearing your journey and discovering that you were also an immersion learner and a person who grinded with anki! Continue spreading the video game love! It will definitely help people patch the barrier of entry for their favourite things!

[@smudge8882]

This was really cool to see. :) Thank you for sharing your story with us. Growing up, I was a big fan of anime and tried learning Japanese on and off since middle school. I never got very far, but I really enjoyed it. I also always wanted to get into video games but my family was too poor to be able to afford it. I've had a rough few years because I got long covid right at the start of the pandemic (December 2019), which caused me to be semi-bedridden and I had to quit college. A friend of mine gifted me a Nintendo Switch for Christmas this year and it's inspired me to pursue Japanese again. Being able to play Pokémon for the first time has been amazing and I'm looking forward to using games for immersion practice. Thank you so much for your channel! It's helped me figure out how to get into gaming and has also shown me that learning Japanese this way is possible (of course alongside other study methods). I'm still very ill, but this has given me a lot of joy. Thank you!

[@remonimodexd7116]

Hope you are better now. Curious as to how your 日本語 is a yr later

[@Reepah]

Congratulations on the 5k subs! It was great hearing your story and I'd certainly agree with the "just do it" mentality. I've dabbled in Japanese since I was teen and just assumed I could absorb it. That essentially got me to tourist level for many years with no progress, but since lockdown and seeing my young daughter learning to speak I've knuckled down, study every day and try and push myself with content I genuinely enjoy - including yours. Its made all the difference, and I'm now somewhere around N5/N4. Thanks for your help getting there :)

[@esantana0812]

You are a treasure!

[@JSCG12]

Really cool to hear your story Matt. I cannot believe how similar it is to my own. Everything you said about feeling unsatisfied and lost in life career wise and your love of video games and anime as a child that unbeknownst to you all originated from Japan, to feeling bored by studying thousands of words in Anki just resonates so much with me and falls in line precisely with my own experiences and reasons for loving the language and culture of Japan. I had picked up Japanese originally in 2013 but put it on the backburner until I finished my degree in 2015 and ever since then I've been grinding away day after day. I've still never been to Japan but one day I know I will and I've always felt that similar sentiment; that unexplainable intuition that Japan is just right for me though I've never been able to pull the trigger and decide to live there despite the fact that I know I'd love it. Even as I type this comment I do so while working tremendously unsatisfying job and it does pain me greatly to think that life could hold something better if I did.

[@MeesBoterkoek]

wow it really has been a blessing finding your channel! currently playing through ff7 with a gamescript, im moving at a snails pace but your advice to stick with it really motivates me. thanks for all the videos!

[@Kingofnothing-n3b]

I can't express in words that how much i love Japanese people and their culture , it's unlimited love which made me to learn Japanese and to act Japanese,to feel like a Japanese,i will never stop learning Japanese even after i learn to speak, still i will dig Japanese dictionary more than our Japanese people 😅❤

[@IchEsseKonsolen]

duuuuuuuuude I'm currently doing a Master in physics! Glad you went with the Japanese though so this brilliant channel exists. I'll be sure to patreon you once I've got some more money to spare :) Edit after watching til the end: I gotta get myself one of them Kanji DS games P:

[@Squared_Phoenix]

おめでとうございます！ Loving the RPG, Video Game and Anime content. I think I probably speak for a lot of us students of Japanese when I say that your content is super concise and also delivered via a medium we love. The enthusiasm and work you put in is clearly second-to-none and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you mate. You've defo got yourself another Patreon。 ありがとうございます。

[@ryoki_PH]

old video, but holy shit are you from Adelaide too?! From one Australian Japanese language-learner to another, thank you so much for your videos, theyve been helping me so much, Ive been using your videos as my N5 grammar study basis. Someday I want to become a manga artist/author and live in Japan, knowing that someone else has found it as fun as I hope it to be gives me courage to actually live my dream. ありがとうございます、先生！！

[@vroomfondel3693]

Congratulations on topping 5k! This video was great! Not only was it interesting to hear your story, but the thing I liked most is you described landmarks you've passed in your learning journey that I am passing now or have passed as well. It makes me feel like I'm on the right path, which is encouraging! Thank you!

[@mamoruhikari9414]

That was awesome! Thank you!!

[@vinrid]

We must see you achieving 100k milestone!!!

[@Traewulong]

That tekken 8 theme haha, im late but love this channel. thank you

[@zima2031]

You are the reason I didn't quit learning after a couple of months this time around! All I've ever wanted was to be able to play games in Japanese so your channel is so motivating!

[@benjaminneldner2220]

Hey man, its cool to know that you came from Adelaide, was watching your other video and you said you were Australian and I was like hes gotta be from Adelaide as your accent was not too harsh! Loving the channel, keep on doing what ya doing!

[@codingmatheus]

huuuuge congratulations!! so well deserved! you work sooo hard and it shows on every video! it's scary how similar we are sometimes. Like you I didn't feel like I fit in Brazil where I'm from. Like you I fell in love with a country and had this unexplained calling that I just had to move there - back then, I thought was American, though ultimately it turned out to be only a passing bridge to a whole new adventure and life reset here in the UK where I truly found home. Much like you though, I self-studied English and blindingly moved to America with that vague notion that I just had to be there. I never forgot that initial ride from Newark's airport to my hotel when I literally bawled my eyes out as I admired all the signs and banners in English zooming by as I stared out the coach's window. I knew I had accomplished something huge that deeply impacted me. And finally, much like you again, guess what game had just come out when I moved? Final Fantasy 8 :) So I have a huge emotional attachment to that game as it was my companion during that first adventure in my life. Looking back, I think maybe it resonated so much because it's about some who is, or thinks to be, self-sufficient and sets out on an adventure by himself but ends up being surrounded by all these people, going to these new places and ending with a whole new life after the fact. Anyway, thought I'd share my story just so you know how much you sharing yours is appreciated. thanks for all the content and all the teaching!! keep doing your thing and pretty soon you'll be making another one of these to celebrate 500K users! ;)

[@ryanisawesome102]

Thanks for your story! Yeah, dealing with a fixed pace in a university language class can be sometimes frustrating. My advice to others who are doing it are to treat your professor as a resource. My Japanese professor has always been great answering random questions I have about the language, regardless if it is something beyond the level of the course.

[@hliy2001]

Hi Matt, love your passion for what you are doing, which really impressed me A LOT! Thank you soooooo much for putting those experiences and motivation here!!

[@afrikat.chalkbags]

My fave food as a kid was also sushi 😂😂 should've seen the signs even then that many years down the line I'd be learning Japanese and bingeing your videos 😂😂

[@rushmik]

Just found this channel but so glad that I did! I’m at that point now of having so much vocabulary stuffed into my head with Anki but hardly being able to use it. Living in Japan now and excited to level up.

[@AZNsensation24]

Congratz and thanks for sharing your journey! I am more inspired to jump into games with raw Japanese now and will look stuff up as I go even if it takes a long time. >:D

[@TimBrownYoutube]

Incredible content and great story. Really appreciate your efforts! がんばって ください!

[@onimitch]

おめでとうございます！

[@zenpiari]

I appreciate you so much

[@Vick1994x]

Hey, congratulations on the 5K subscribers! I wish your channel a bright future! You are a great teacher and person and I’m very happy I found this channel.

[@dragodelchaos]

Ehy, man, congratulations! Have been following for the last 3-4 months and you've been of great help, hopefully you will keep on growing from here. Aside from that, it's all pretty similar to what I'm feeling right now, I would love to link my life to this country called Japan but somehow my social anxiety is blocking every move I could probably do towards it. I've been studying Japanese for the last year and, while I can read maybe around N4 level, I just can't put two words close to one atnother to make a spoken conversation and/or a written message. I hope someday everything will click to me, I'm even scared of TRYING those super easy Italki lessons online, yuck!

[@XxLOBOxX]

Congrats for the 5k su subscribers, you deserve this and more. There's no words to thank you enough for all you have done to help us to learn japanese and thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Greetings from Mexico.✌

[@Chris_1079]

Great video.

[@VictorGabriel-uh8ne]

This channel is a mine of gold

[@albertc8179]

I love your enthusiasm!! Great work, your videos really help man, keep it up :)

[@Dad-fu5bw]

watching this made me realize "6th" is a really strange word lol This video gave me hope. I'm playing Final fantasy Crisis Core and I feel so...disheartened because I can't understand a lot of the story and that's what I'm very interested in :( I will just keep going!

[@solairehimself1386]

Hey man, cool vid. I found your channel off of the AJATT subreddit, and stuck around since well, this is an excellent quality channel brother. Keep it up bro. I'll be here when we hit 10,000!

[@MariaTheMillennial]

thank you for sharing your love for Japan and the Japanese language. I just discovered your channel and it is great!

[@smoothbanana]

Hi Matt, thanks so much for sharing your personal story. Very interesting road you took and one that reminds me of my own. Around the same time, I too gave up what I was doing and went to Taiwan to study/immerse in Mandarin. And did tons of Anki on the side, so totally understand the burnout (and the incomprehensible, yet insatiable thirst for more...) As my wife’s side is Japanese, hope I can meet you one day to have a chat and meet Polo. Keep up the excellent work. Will keep supporting as much as I’m able :)

[@Rusrik]

Thank you for this video, just discovered your channel. I draw many parallels between your and my journey, especially when you told about your time studying abroad (especially as most years line up, lol). I lacked your drive though, and instead of focusing on Japanese/changing my major I kept on my old one. I have fun watching your content, it reminds me of why I fell in love with Japanese in the first place. Thanks!

[@WhishoMH]

I really love all the content of your chanel , I love your voice etc thanks for be here :)

[@Cunningstunts23]

Appreciate you and your channel!

[@whirlwinddesu7239]

A video of yours showed up in my recommended one day and im glad it did...i genuinely your videos and i cant wait to see where this channel goes

[@atooss]

Dude you're a legend, 16k vocab on anki ? damn. Im with almost 4k now. Very nice video btw, i love your content, thanks.

[@LuisCalvoSaez]

Hi, I just discover your channel and I really enjoyed your jlpt n5 grammar video, even with such a long video I had to watch till end in one shot because I was really having fun with videogames and your way to explain, thank you so much for your time and effort!

[@charondolls]

omg...when the Chrono Trigger music played on 20:07, I get chills.

[@Miechiskege]

Thank you.

[@Emcee_Coin]

Love your videos! I discovered them right after I moved to Tsukuba, Japan!

[@ratziboi2266]

Thank you Matt, you deserve all the success you get! There have been multiple times in the past few months where I've almost quit trying to learn japanese cause of textbooks and your videos have always kept me on track and motivated. The hard work you put in all your videos is really appreciated and I wish you all the best in the future. Much love

[@narutofanere]

Wow. To see you grow so much is amazing. You should be proud of the work that you have done. I have learnt so much from you. Thank you :D P.S. What's the game around 11:21 it looks interesting ^^

[@Codyyyyyyyyyy]

Just discovered your channel recently and I'm loving it. Thanks for sharing your experiences and motivational words. Keep up the great work!

[@アキー-f4o]

Thank you for everything. Your channel is very helpful and this video was very inspiring Thank you soo much👍👍

[@rob45311]

Awesome video, I lived in Japan for about 6 months but left because of COVID. Didn't learn a damn thing but now I'm spending all my time learning Japanese until my company sends me back lol Question on using native material to study: Do you recommend doing a passive reading (skipping over the words you don't know and just reading) or an active reading (Looking up every word or making sure you understand before moving on) maybe a mix of both? Right now I lean more towards the passive reading because it's really tough spending half an hour deciphering 1 or 2 tough sentences but at the same time I worry that I'm missing an opportunity to learn new things

[@GameGengo]

Oh no! Your company brought you back? That suuuuckkks!! I feel you man! Bahah well hopefully this time away helps you prepare even more so that next time you'll be wayyy higher level! :) Regarding your question, I feel like a mixture of both is important. Passive reading is only meant for reading practice, but there is no 'learning' taking place. If you want to learn and improve to a higher level of Japanese you need to do a more active reading, otherwise, you just stay in your small box of what Japanese you already know. Personally, I find having these two objectives helps. 1. Sentence comprehension (try to read and understand the sentence, looking up things you don't know) and 2. Vocab Acquisition (find words you might use in your native language or that you want to learn, and pick them out and add to Anki etc)

[@jasperc1507]

I love your passion. Just do what you love and enjoy the journey is what I also think is the best way to learn. Thanks for the amazing videos!

[@cassietad3178]

You deserve every one of those subscribers and many more! Your videos have been insanely helpful for me in my learning process. The passion with which you speak about Japanese is so motivating and I can't wait to visit and maybe move to Japan one day myself, obviously after plenty more Japanese study and ゲーム言語 videos :)

[@marlonsolleske7466]

Thank you very much for your channel. Studying Japanese has indeed been a somewhat slow paced chore like process. It's different now enjoying your awesome content and the pretty elaborate explanations. Making it my daily ritual of sorts. A little bit of this, a little bit of that flavored with cool games. So it is as we all suspected, (video-)games DO teach important lessons :D