It's actually hard to say 'よかった'

Learn Japanese pitch-accent and pronunciation from my Patreon Series "Japanese Phonetics"
/ dogen
Dogen / Japanese / 道元 / 日本語 / your bad was good / 良かった / 良くない良かった / Japanese pronunciation / 日本語の発音 / Japanese pitch-accent / was good / it was good / 日本語の高低アクセント / 日本語のアクセント / 道元 / Dōgen / It's actually hard to pronounce 'よかった' / It's actually hard to say 'よかった'

[@Dogen]

Japanese pitch-accent and pronunciation lessons: www.patreon.com/dogen

[@thesyntaxtree2528]

Those visual diagrams really help you visualise the shape of the pitch accent, making it easier to learn both visually and aurally at the same time.

[@takanara7]

They have them on japandict for every word, along with recordings. Very useful!

[@Bard_Gaming]

those diagrams are what the accents in pinyin mandarin do to indicate different tones

[@LilyUnicorn]

I cant hear it. Most people can hear between half an octave but i cant

[@WallSkyBlue]

I'm expecting Dogen will surprise me with some joke, waiting entire length of video and turn out this is entirely educational 😂

[@ahoy5808]

I thought it was hilarious how he just stood there, *MENACINGLY*, during the pronunciation examples

[@worldcomicsreview354]

Heh heh, I get it, you're pretending there isn't a joke at the end, so when there is, it'll get us good.

[@LaGiniComenta]

I pronunciated this backwards... x'D I always did it "low, high, high". The diagram and the voice helped a lot, thanks!

[@flarklooney]

Me too!! i thought I was the one who did this. I also end up putting an extra あ on the end of it too.

[@Iukini]

I swear I heard it pronounced this way in anime with the た～ held longer, but anime isn't exactly known for matching correct pronunciation lol

[@キラキラくりくり頭]

Same

[@SachaGreif]

I also pronounce it this way, could it be a regional thing maybe? I’m in Kansai.

[@zaharar7818]

@@Iukini We do that in our languages too to make the meaning of the word stronger, so that pronunciation isn’t wrong, and the pitch accent of it stays the same

[@durg8909]

The video is already over but I'm still scared that there's going to be some unexpected punchline that makes me feel dumb...

[@victoriamarfina9819]

Right, lol xD

[@valinhorn42]

道元のビデオの承知上手だねー

[@DiegoGarcia-yl3im]

For our surprise, there was none

[@durg8909]

@@valinhorn42 え？上手です？よかった‼︎!

[@valinhorn42]

@@durg8909 あっ、デゥルグ、「よカった」じゃなくて「ヨかった」です。

[@optimist3878]

話してることがなんとなくでも分かって良かったです

[@NicolaiParsons]

i think part of this is the tendency in English to stress alternate syllables in most words and also to learn the かった as a unit, so the emphasis always goes to the start of かった as a segment of a word in people's heads, then sticks, even after they become more fluent.

[@TheAntinowherelane]

Can confirm I an 100% guilty of breaking the かっ out from the た. My mind always wants to process each syllable as it's own little entity but that's just not the case 😅

[@StrangeAttractor]

This was actually the first thing I ever learnt about the Japanese language.. I had students Asako and Kazuto in my class at a language school in London and kept calling them aSAko and KaZUto untl Asako gave me a mid-lesson mini-Japanese lesson lol.. can we have a video about place names please cos a lot of Japanese language learners I've met pronounce them incorrectly - Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima to start....

[@carlhartmann7661]

It took me a while to realize it wasn't a skit but an informative, educational video

[@ErebosGR]

Same, I was expecting a jouzu punchline somewhere.

[@mmmizery]

I was waiting for the punchline too

[@AltOfBlart]

Dogen videos have conditioned me... I paused when seeing the 良かった and tried saying it as I've heard from osmosis and when the reveal came on correct I did a fist pump as if I nailed a rhythm game

[@rikvdmark]

This is very relatable. As so many foreigners I did the same thing. A very helpful colleague at a farm corrected this one day and gave very useful advice, helped a lot!

[@cosmochoom]

Blew my mind that I'd been pronouncing 良かった wrong this entire time. Like you said in the video, I had always pronounced it with the same pitch accent as 分かった。

[@ndcensurado6298]

I've never been able to understand dōgen's japanese jokes or classes here on KZbin because I'm somewhere in between JLPT 5/4. never made a comment, regularly lurking around dōgen videos. But this one I had to say thank you dōgen, helped me a lot

[@Otterwaffle]

i feel like this word is often heard when someone is emotional, and it's easy to mistake the enthusiasm as raising the pitch accent too

[@danielantony1882]

I personally think that's a dumb mistake to make. If you can't differentiate human emotions then there's something wrong with you.

[@just_peace]

@@danielantony1882 man.

[@Law-_]

@@danielantony1882 I hope I never come across you irl, I'm scared

[@bigfat4172]

@@danielantony1882 anybody tell you you're a bit much?

[@danielantony1882]

@@bigfat4172 They have. But I fail to see how not being able to tell the difference between human emotions is normal.

[@amarug]

I am sometimes surprised how many I get correct without realizing. And I always thought I was totally tone deaf. Useful, as always (if it's not funny), thank you Dogen!

[@ayeshashadiqua9838]

ありがとう、先生

[@umascariatuerich2014]

This kind of video really helps! But if I could make a small pointer here, for this kind of words I'd prefer hearing more "natural speed" pronunciation together with the more "slow and analytical" pronunciation you did. This is because this kind of words are often said with some speed in common, non learning, situations. So more like 50% slow speed to pick up how exactly is pronounced + 50% normal speed pronouciation

[@ToryinTrouble]

I’ve been learning Japanese for over 10 year and I actually had to sit back a moment to see how I was pronouncing in! Thanks for the reminder!!👍

[@lynsky118]

尊敬しています、道元様!

[@nitfitnit]

良かったね

[@massan1192]

1:51北陸の新潟県へ行くと、年配者はIncorrectな方を使っています。年寄りっぽさが出るので若い人は使いませんが🙂

[@user-xs8kq3te5s]

I’ve wondered if an additional reason why良かった in particular is easy to mistake is due to the small っ which makes it feel like the precedingか has extra emphasis.

[@KnightCrown]

I think knowing Chinese helped me in recognising the difference in tone easier. It's like 4 vs 2 respectively

[@vnXun]

I guess Vietnamese helps too. I heard the two examples as yo-kát-ta (low-high-low) and yo-kạt-ta (high-low-low) quite distinctively

[@c.c.lemon_jp]

In my opinion, in the cases of "よかったね" or "よかったよ", we can say them with putting the accent on "か". I feel they have the meaning of relief.

[@Minmin-sg2eu]

Native Japanese here. You can, but you will sound like gaikokujin because it is NOT correct. Accent is not put on か whether you add よ or ね at the end. That is a big かんちがい of yours.

[@c.c.lemon_jp]

@@Minmin-sg2eu 僕、日本人です！！個人的には「そういう言い方を聞いたことないことはないな〜」と思っています。

[@MegaJefflin]

I learned this word from animes, and they said this so many times, even without pitch accent, I can say the incorrect one was hard to pronounce.

[@taylor914ce]

Thank you for the lesson.

[@sh2bn]

今回は真面目で実用的なレッスンなのね… It’s a serious and practical lesson in this time…

[@user-gj6jq5dk4z]

I sounds like I might be guilty of this! Thank you for pointing it out 🙌🏻

[@method6803]

You should have your own lessons from begginer to advanced. I'd buy it!

[@Dogen]

I actually have a whole series about Japanese pronunciation on Patreon! The link is www.patreon.com/dogen thank you for your interest!

[@FrameofTravel]

Great advice. I noticed that I was saying yokatta more flat than the correct way. Will definitely be difficult to break the habit, but glad to know I can correct it. Thanks!

[@BoreasZeus]

incorrectよかったとcorrectよかったが繰り返されるところがさすがにシュールすぎて笑っちゃった

[@ZK-im1eh]

We need more of these.

[@eviebee3188]

Hm, I had, for whatever reason, been under the impression it was よ／か‾‾‾っ‾‾‾た‾‾‾, just from how I heard it in anime. A completely different incorrect assumption!

[@humanbean3]

very nice heads up for the peoples. I've heard foreigners say dakaRA a lot, as filler. だから is DAkara not dakaRA. Another good one to keep in mind there.

[@havingicecream]

Thank you, Dogen!

[@goshinbi44]

よかったです。

[@idhamproaqw98]

Ah, another youtuber earned my subs. Very wonderful.

[@dskmraug]

Wow, the pronunciation "yoKAtta" is definitely "Nagoya dialect" which is spoken in my hometown.

[@STEREOMAN91]

yeah i live in Mie and i hear both (damn chubu!)

[@Gigachad-mc5qz]

So its not wrong?

[@STEREOMAN91]

@@Gigachad-mc5qz It’s not “standard”!

[@MedK001]

@@Gigachad-mc5qz It's correct, but only if you're speaking a specific dialect of Japanese. Different dialects have different pitch accent systems. Just because some people do it doesn't necessarily mean you should too; it's like how British people don't pronounce some of their Rs but if someone learning American English did it too (especially only every now and then), it'd be weird.

[@seasonsofchange2023]

なるほど！ひとつの単語のアクセントを他の単語にも当てはまることをmappingというのですね！

[@chrissmith9167]

Thanks Dogen!

[@SpiffierShindigs]

Great accessibility level on this. I haven't kept up my studies for like, a decade now, but I was still able to follow along perfectly. Thanks!

[@captaindanger13]

1:40 idk how but with barely any japanese knowledge I was able to get the pitch accent correct in my head a moment before you said what it was. BIG BRAIN TIME

[@kamo7293]

I love when you repeat the words like ten times it helps with recognition of the differing pitches.

[@williamP1307]

Hey, thanks! I appreciate and really like your videos!

[@cluster027]

You forgot to tag it with serious. Thanks for the video. 見てよかった！

[@CristiNeagu]

This was good.

[@00Krohnos]

I don't know any Japanese but I can't stop watching

[@cecil.t]

I'm japanese but I can't stop watching

[@jacksonhall3151]

I have no intention to learn Japanese but I can't stop watching

[@gavinmatsu]

Curious as to how you came across his channel if you’re not a Japanese learner?

[@humanbean3]

I know some Japanese and can stop watching anytime I choose

[@purple_sky]

Good time to start learning!

[@KuzuTomoki]

I could've sworn it was 平板, but also I've spent most of my time in Japan in 福岡 so maybe it's a regional thing I picked up?

[@FTotox]

Anime speakers hittin' non anime speakers with the motherly _Ara ara_ when they don't know how to prononunce yokatta.

[@HyperLuigi37]

This is actually something I picked up on properly in my immersion. There are certain common words/phrase-like things like ある and よかった and maybe you could include 本当 that whenever I think “how does my memory of a native person saying this sound?” and it always ends up being correct. I remember when I would subconsciously say 本当 as atamadaka and immediately think wait, that doesn’t sound right, why is that? Wait, is it the pitch accent? How do natives say it? *thinks* Hmm… heiban? *looks up* Wow, correct. I need to be wary of that. And in this case, I can without fail think of the many times I’ve heard 分かった and subconsciously know it’s nakadaka accent on mora 2, but in this case I’ve always said it correctly, maybe because it’s often alone as opposed to within a phrase or sentence like 本当

[@VanishingPuppet]

I'm not going to lie. This read like fucking Greek to me. Not asking you to elaborate or anything, just really felt like this whole thing was alien lol

[@HyperLuigi37]

@@VanishingPuppet If you’re not familiar with the pitch accent type names, search for Dogen’s video on pitch accent in 10 minutes. Otherwise - immersion is when you listen to your target language A LOT, and uh… anything else?

[@HyperLuigi37]

@@VanishingPuppet I don’t mind elaborating if you want lol

[@Couch-Tomato]

そんな気にしなくていいですよ^_^ 日本人だって地域によって全然違います。東京のアクセントが唯一正しい理由なんてどこにもありません。あと、「本当」って言う人の感情や伝達意図によって、音も変化しますよ。疑問、疑い、驚き、強調、冷静、などなど

[@Im-BAD-at-satire]

You could have a great ear for picking up on such tones, that might also come into play here. Not everyone who does immersion has noticed these differences in pitch tones. I know my ears are born to hear this pretty well, I can recall Freddy Mercury's voice one to one without needing any external references for example.

[@Crackalacking_Z]

Hm, surprisingly I skipped this mistake. The よ always stood out for me.

[@freezeYT-]

I feel a lil early

[@connor237]

そうか。。。はい、分かりました！ありがとうございます！ドウゲン先生！

[@chiarasola826]

Thank you so much!!!

[@JonDundas10]

I was getting into that correct/incorrect beat tho

[@AdrenResi]

i could have sworn it was like yoKKATTA in anime

[@Hania102]

良かった、分かったです

[@oxitajotlesmith563]

this has actually helped, thanks man

[@o0...957]

Hey I was using the correct pitch accent for both 分かった and 良かった without realising since the beginning. Then again I am not really a native English speaker. But now that I have heard the wrong pitch accent version, I can't seem to unhear it.

[@RolfLunheim]

I really enjoy Dogen-sensei's excellent tutorials on Japanese pitch accent. However, I have no intention of improving my Japanese towards a native level (it's probably too late anyway). When I started learning the language, a female Japanese friend of mine gave the following advice:" If you want to pick up Japanese girls, speaking bad foreigner-Japanese is charming and will make you more attractive, but if you speak like a native, we won't date you". It is essential to Japanese identity to see themselves as unique, and foreigner speaking like a native (or knowing more kanji than natives ) threatens that notion. This does not only apply to Japanese. Once, when lecturing in California, I apologised to an academic colleague for my Norwegian accent and promised to improve my English pronunciation. His response was: "No, no - never do that. As long as you speak English with that charming, Norwegian accent, everyone here will love you. It does not really matter what you say, as long as you say it with that accent". Never underestimate the virtue of imperfection !

[@Blitzcreeper239]

Am I the only one that yelled "Oh my god" when he demonstrated the 頭高 right after I felt so confident thinking "What's wrong with that" after he said the 中高 one. It's like such a big difference but I never caught onto the mistake.

[@HunneyChan]

thank you 🙇

[@suvilevi9211]

ちょっと待って…there was no jokes ?! Something is wrong ...ドウゲン大丈夫？

[@UtsukimiJerry]

I woke up and saw this, ended up learning something very useful as I’m currently learning Japanese in the N3 level. Thank you Dogen!

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

thanks for the quick pronunciation lesson, dogen!

[@nomadghost85]

I'm so guilty of this! thanks Dogen-sensei!

[@Zift_Ylrhavic_Resfear]

Thanks for the video :)

[@arashikashi1117]

I'm very 良かった that I found this video

[@tushargarg9163]

This may be reaching - but was this the traditional Dogen punchline at the end - saying さよなら after " see you soon " instead of something like ”またね” another bad habit native english speakers pick up :D

[@RoseNatsumi]

I was so focused on "さよなら" pitch accent that i missed this 😂

[@tobiastaraba9672]

Yooo thank you so much man

[@betulkorkut5215]

Dogen: See you soon :) Also dogen: Sayounara!

[@emppp]

You really do the perfect balance and organization of the correct and incorrect pitch accent patterns

[@framedkraken7403]

I think there is a missed comedy oportunity here, he should had the audio of the word playing for a second time while the camera zooms to his face while a little text appears somewhere saying (Get it right, I'm dying inside)

[@jannepeltonen2036]

Yes. For a Finn, the problem goes the other way around (if a Finnish word has accent - most words do -, the main accent is always on the first syllable).

[@collinsmith7572]

Interesting. My first ever true second language fully fluent was Hmong. It's tonal. I didn't realize it, but when I started learning Japanese I was already picking up on how natives pronounce their words tonally. Pitch accent actually hasn't given me any trouble yet, because if I at least hear the word said before I say the word, the native way of pronouncing it just feels way more natural from the get go. I wonder if that's a thing for other people like me.

[@i_am_kofit]

More helpful content from Dogen! さすが

[@itarukojo]

気づきませんでした。きっと良かったのアクセントパターンは特殊ですね。

[@elwood0753]

"Lo-Hi-Lo-Lo" with "良かった" is a dialectal accent. Even in the Kyushu region, where I was born, they pronounce it with that accent.

[@DylsOwntYou]

I'll ask my girlfriend she's from 福岡

[@phileo_ss]

I was about to say this too. That means there are so many Japanese people who say it with the 'wrong' pitch accent.

[@DylsOwntYou]

@@phileo_ss Dogen does mention numerous times he teaches standard dialect. To add, it's better to learn one dialect instead of having multiple accents across Japan. You'll just sound super foreign & weird.

[@phileo_ss]

@@DylsOwntYou Yes, I realise that. I was simply stating a fact. But if you are aiming for Dogen level Japanese, I think it is good to know about those things, because many Japanese people (including me) speak more or less standard Japanese with some local pronunciation mixed in.

[@Couch-Tomato]

名古屋弁もね。ついでに言うと、関西弁では、分かった と 良かった は同じイントネーション（ピッチアクセント）。

[@canhedotricks6078]

I had it the other way around. Assumed 良かった's pitch accent to 分かった

[@DylsOwntYou]

よかった。ありがとうございました

[@STEREOMAN91]

another one i would always map weird intonation onto was おにぎり (oniGIri) i was able to correct it when i thought of the root word 握る o NI gi ri

[@jeffz870]

bro the ending had me rolling , i didnt expect it 😆

[@kuklama0706]

It seems Japanese are so polite because tonal expressions that could be used to convey emotion, in their language are taken by these legacy pronunciation tones.

[@462n]

Ok,,,, this is going to take a while for me to get used to. I'm going to keep an eye out for people using this word so I can get some natural examples in conversation.

[@katsubokatsubo1562]

外国人と話してピッチアクセント聞かれることあるから助かる

[@infernaldisdain8051]

I actually never said よかったin the wrong way so hearing that pulled me.

[@imjustchrisss]

not me thinking it was yokatsuta

[@mirandansa]

The difference is due to the fact that "良かった" is conjugated from "良い" that has the accent on its first mora, whereas "分かった" is conjugated from "分かる" that has the accent on its second mora. This rule applies to other conjugations such as: 濃い (KO·i) --> 濃かった (KO·ka·t·ta) 受かる (u·KA·ru) --> 受かった (u·KA·t·ta)

[@DJLani]

1:41 the stare is strong with this one

[@Osigot]

1:55 55 I bet it's all a humorous sketch because she pronounces it exactly the same

[@petitmeowmeow]

Ah the classic question when watching dogen, did I just learn or was I just made fun of

[@anonymousname2651]

Yeah I was saying it with the wrong pattern too.

[@rotteegher39]

Sound: Yokatta Me: YUKATA

[@kattanakaokopnik5170]

I was expecting a punchline! なんだこれ、真面目に

[@i_am_kofit]

俺も、残念だねぇ

[@Yutaro-Yoshii]

the 良↓か↑った sounds like some accent from the west like osaka or nagoya. it might be correct in some places.

[@juneguts]

thanks tousan

[@PortlyPete]

one take wonder

[@PanDiaxik]

As someone who hasn't learned Japanese and olny knows some of it from anime, I somehow knew the pronouciation of both theese words.

[@YeahRight5]

1:41 His face: This is Japanese emptiness

[@smegskull]

my tone deff ass being like, 🤷 you just saying the same thing over and over.