I interviewed 100 Elite Japanese speakers. Here's what I learned.

Learn Japanese: skool.com/korekara
Outline:
0:00 5 things I learned after interviewing 100 elite Japanese speakers
0:50 #1 Learning a language is simple
2:05 #2 The secret to learning Japanese
2:59 #3 The one personality trait all elite Japanese speakers have
4:30 #4 Why speaking and deliberate practice is necessary
6:15 #5 The correct expectation for learning Japanese
Check out our other videos!
► Speedrunning Duolingo Japanese: bit.ly/3B2xd5C
► We SHOCK a Japanese Bookstore: bit.ly/3RwAWz7

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

Thanks for watching :) Sub for more

[@mr.sushi2221]

Consistency consistency consistency, ignore people that say oh you can do it in a year, 5 years, 2 years, whatever timeframe. Have fun and take it at your own pace. The Tortoise wins the race. When the going gets tough repeat to yourself 10 times, “ this is what you wanted, keep going” most importantly have fun! No one method is the correct way and whatever works for you is fine.

[@Tkyooz]

As someone that started learning the language 3 years ago and now studying In Japan, I’d say that you can get to an intermediate level in 1 year if you study 2 hours 3 hours everyday with full immersion, but for someone that is working from 8 to 5 and can’t spend more than 1 hour, I feel like it takes more time. Everyone might have a different opinion about what means speaking fluently in a language but to me it’s being able to speak about almost every subject with a minimum of mistakes, and to reach that level you need multiples years of immersion in my opinion. Learning Japanese is definitely a lifetime process, my goal is to sound like a native and I know that I still have A LOT of study left in front of me. My advice to everyone that is learning Japanese is to have a clear motivation behind it because it takes a lot of time and dedication. 一緒に頑張りましょう！

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

let’s get it!! 🤝

[@sevenstop41]

Hard agree with this. It will take at least 2 years to become "fluent" even with serious immersion study.

[@johnlexmark5649]

He’s back!!! I can’t understand how you don’t have more views the quality is not notch. 頑張って！

[@Crynok]

The language attrition, or rather how fleeting language ability really is, becomes painfully obvious once you get around intermediate and above in another language and you spend more and more time using it rather than your native language. It happens far too frequently now that I'll spend a large chunk of the week not using one of the languages to then feel like an idiot constantly pausing because the words just won't come out. It's ironic because in the start (and honestly quite often still) I found myself having to explain what I want to say as I can't remember or I don't know the word in Japanese, which I found very frustrating, but now I find myself having to do this exact thing in my native language as well.

[@user-ky9qn4pg3w]

Honestly, being sharp and articulate even in your native language is a skill that needs regular honing, especially for career advancement and making a strong impression. Ironically, I find myself more comfortable in English (my non-native language) than in my native one. It's the language I grew up speaking with friends and family, but since I rarely use it anymore, I struggle to form coherent sentences when I visit my home country. Although I understand everything perfectly, it takes time to shake off the rust and speak like an adult.

[@5starcash]

very helpful video! keep em coming!

[@INFIGHTO]

AYYYYY ANOTHER NEW VID!

[@kylestyle5693]

Thanks for the great content!

[@poof117]

Great video man!

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

Glad you liked it!

[@cariocajin]

2:59 Your obsessions become your possessions. YES !!! This is true as daylight !

[@mrwifi1206]

Very insightful as always! Thanks Eric :) Pity I can't subscribe a second time :P

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

Ahaha thanks for watching tho :)

[@jvu2ilj26]

Maybe you can unsub and then sub again...

[@nicholaslennon]

Learning a language is like space travel: it takes a while to get anywhere.

[@gonzaimondono]

Great video, thank you. I'm a big fan of Peter Barakan, so I'd like to correct a couple of things you mentioned: As far as I know, Peter Barakan is from Britain, NOT the US, and has never lived in the US, at least for an extended period (it sounded like you insinuated that he was American). Also, you said he's a Japanese DJ. Although he's lived in Japan for many years I don't think he has Japanese citizenship, and if you look at his accomplishments, he's done a lot more than just DJ-ing (though you did mention his other activities). And by the way, he's 72 years old, certainly not in his eighties! In any case, I appreciate the great advice. From my own personal experience, I can concur with most of what you said!

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

thanks for the fact checking!!

[@yo2trader539]

He's half-British and half-Burmese, and was educated in the UK. As a child I used to see him on Japanese TV all the time as a commentator for overseas documentaries. His Japanese is so natural, I just assumed he was half-Japanese growing up speaking Japanese with his parent.

[@jordendarrett1725]

Long live KoreKara ✊🏾

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

🤝

[@Lucy31525]

日本人やけど、この動画はめちゃくちゃ英語の勉強になりますw

[@user-jd9sj1mq2b]

Interestingly enough, it's my third year today of studying japanese (started 25 march 2021) and I'm 6k hours deep (probably more) and it's rough. Not even close to fluent by my measurement. No issues with reading or grammar, the wall is probably the vocab (even though I probably know in the range of 20-30k words), the rapid speech, references etc. Feels like I'm on the last boss and will be there for quite some time.

[@jordendarrett1725]

@user-jd9sj1mq2b What is your personal definition of fluent?

[@user-jd9sj1mq2b]

@@jordendarrett1725Near 100% comprehension.

[@jordendarrett1725]

@@user-jd9sj1mq2b I mean English is my native language and I don’t have that in everything

[@user-jd9sj1mq2b]

@@jordendarrett1725 one day you will get there, I believe in you.

[@jordendarrett1725]

@@user-jd9sj1mq2b I wasn’t complaining lol, 100% just isn’t possible for anyone since there’s no such thing as perfection

[@sidahmed.o1272]

Please i want the name of the music in the outro of the video !!!?

[@Reeks-bi1mr]

I’ve spent over 3000 hours consuming Japanese and here’s what Ive learned。Japanese is pretty damn impossible

[@compositeur8455]

誰にも日本語を習うのが簡単ですって言わせないで。

[@shecklesmack9563]

It’s unbelievably daunting how many countless hours you can spend with it and still feel like you barely know anything.

[@Retog]

That’s not true. If you consumed 3000 hours, you’d be pretty good.

[@Geneius2509]

じゃあ低いクオリティーの3000時やな

[@pi4u_exe688]

Depends on what they did in those 3k hours​@@Retog

[@yo2trader539]

When I did my undergrad in Japan, I've met full-time students from Russia, China, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, NZ, and Australia. They took the same classes, read the same textbooks, and submitted reports/dissertation in Japanese as native-speakers. Naturally, they become near-native speakers even before they finish university. They understand Japanese novels and newspapers like a native, which is why they are given preferential treatment in everything from employment to Permanent Visa. Additionally, those who have studied Japanese or Japan-related subjects in universities in former Soviet Union and certain universities in Europe also have unbelievable level of fluency/literacy. I've seen Bulgarians, Romanians, Polish, Italians, and Hungarians who are near-native speakers. (Actually, I have an unproven suspicion that Germanic/English speakers somehow struggle more in mastering Japanese than Slavic speakers.)

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

interesting! I remember Vivi on Terrace House who had a russian background was near native and she had only been in Japanese for like 6-7 years? She had like perfect pitch accent too. There was also a german guy I’ve seen on Japanese TV that spoke perfect Japanese. I believe he has a KZbin channel about gardening but I can’t recall the name

[@yo2trader539]

@@KoreKaraPodcast I was beyond impressed by some of the Russians that I've met in Japan. Their knowledge of language, linguistics, culture, and history was close to native-speakers. In fact, some of them were far more knowledgeable about Japan. And nobody reaches that level of cultural and linguistic awareness, unless one has read the same books, heard the same stories, or received the same education as people in Japan. I later learnt that some universities in Russia and Europe teach Japan-related subjects in Japanese. And it's taught by native-speakers. In essence, they're receiving a condensed version of Japanese education, which allows them to understand cultural context and historical references. As you know, language is not just vocab, grammar, or pitch accent. It's verbalization of thoughts, logic, feelings, and aesthetics. Language is a crystallization of the culture and history of the people, which is why it's so incredibly difficult to master a foreign language. What scares us about the Russians is that they actually started building education centers to teach Japanese/Asian languages by the 1820s. (Russians only officially seized Far East in the 1860s from the Qing Dynasty.) It make sense when we see Russian Ambassadors speaking near-native Japanese debating with other commentators on Japanese TV, or when we hear about scholars like Alexander Vovin. I wondered why/how a Russian-educated linguist can translate a 1,000 year old Japanese diary into English. Imagine translating between your second and third languages. As a non-native English speaker, it's difficult enough to accurately verbalize my thoughts in English.

[@coolbrotherf127]

Slavic languages are a bit closer in structure and pronunciation to Japanese than Germanic languages. There's even a theory that Japanese is part of the Altaic language family which includes Mongolian and Turkic. That would mean there's some common things that help speakers of those languages pick up Japanese a bit easier.

[@em6bd4ck7n]

どうか諦めないで 言語学習は幾重にも続く神社の長い石段を一歩ずつ上がる行程と似ています

[@XaldinX]

I am kind of obsessed and I've been spending most of my days studying Japanese. . In about two days i already got the Hirigana down; i think people also need to stop the stimga of it being a difficult lanaguage. Its really not, its just eastern rules that aren't prevalent in the english language, but once you see the pattern its pretty easy. Granted i just started, but im excisted

[@JdeC1994]

So speaking is practicing? 🤔

[@Keyen22]

new reysu dlc just dropped

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

lmao you’re a real one 👌

[@captainzapp23]

The only method is hard work. Takes 2 years of full time learning to pass N2 for a Native English Speaker.

[@Wmann]

I’m kinda turned off my the usage of deadman’s track. Other than that, nice video.

[@compositeur8455]

You can't learn Japanese in a year even if you make it a full time job, immersion learning and anki are just there to make it possible some day to accquire it.

[@KoreKaraPodcast]

imo it is possible to learn in a year if you dedicate full time to it speaking from personal experience and other people I’ve interviewed, but you just need to have somewhat realistic expectations, like you aren’t going to be native level and are still going to make a lot of mistakes

[@compositeur8455]

@@KoreKaraPodcast That's fair I think N3 in a year might be possible, Japanese is just a lot of work. There's no shortcuts.

[@mannyw_]

There’ve been a few on Korekara who’ve reached N1 in a year (Jazzy and Eric himself), and N2 in a year is 100% possible if you’re grinding for it with the right resources/strategy

[@compositeur8455]

@@mannyw_ You can pass the N1 test in a year with specific strategies but you'll have big gaps in your Japanese knowledge. N1 doesn't translate to C2-level Japanese.

[@judahmwania]

woah i'm actually first lol