Learning Japanese from Nothing to Intermediate in 6 Months | How I Learn Japanese

[@rayvennnn]

this might get lost in the comments but for reading kanji theres a book called "Remembering the Kanji", Ive learned about 150 kanji so far with it and the way it teaches the kanji to you is through stories with them and has been a really great resource, also there is an anki deck someone made of all 2200 kanji you learn in the book and so far i highly recommend it

[@theinternationallanguagees9213]

i have this too

[@Myautumnpages]

This! I downloaded the pre made Anki deck from NihongoShark and ended up learning the meanings of all 2200 Joyo Kanji in just two months. Highly recommend just getting the kanji out of the way in the beginning!

[@johannis94]

I heard that the content of the book and Anki Cards are full of sexism and other -isms. Do you know, if that's updated and changed? The idea of stories for remembering sounds cool, but the critics kinda shocks me...

[@Myautumnpages]

@@johannis94 I used the NihongoShark deck which was based on the RTK method but for every kanji there were mnemonics created by other learners as well as the one provided in the book for you to choose from. I’m a pretty staunch feminist and I don’t really remember seeing anything too sexist. For most kanji I used the learner-created mnemonics though. I will say that the learner-created ones definitely had some adult humor and shocking content, but that makes it easier to remember!

[@nanabanana7520]

Can u link the anki deck ?

[@fabixigg3954]

(My experience after 6 months) Speaking: you can say very short sentences usually with a lot of mistakes. listening: if you watch videos you understand about 20% reading: hiragana, katakana no problem. Kanji about 200. I started it as a Corona-hobby becouse I had time. and please don't rush Kanji. The Japanese students need 9 years to lern them all.

[@monkey-ww8cf]

MY BROTHER, YOU'VE LEARNED TOO MUCH JAPANESE, AND NOW YOUR ENGLISH IS FADING AWAY

[@monkey-ww8cf]

​@@fabixigg3954 LOOK AT YOUR COMMENT AND THE GRAMMAR

[@monkey-ww8cf]

​@@fabixigg3954 MALDING OVER COMMENT

[@reachthezora1912]

Japanese students don't even learn them all xD

[@fabixigg3954]

​@@reachthezora1912 That is true. The japanese are not obligated by law to go to College. They can end school and get a job after 9th grade. And by that time the students lerned "just" 1500 kanji. The highest level of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (N1) consists 2000 Kanji. After students finished 12th grade, they were taught 2136 kanji. I think you don't need to know them all, but you should know a decent amount of. And above all you should learn the most important words in which the kanji is assigned.

[@jammydoughnuts]

This is really inspiring! It can be a bit intimidating to come across videos/tips from people who are already fluent, so it's nice to get some insight from someone who is still learning. It encourages me to think about where I can be in 6 months, if I keep going at this rate and follow some of these tips :) I've tried learning Japanese before in the past, even briefly at university, but this is the first time I'm incorporating kanji from the very beginning with WaniKani. I watched a few episodes of Shirokuma Cafe a few years ago and thought it was so cute, so I'll definitely start watching it in Japanese this time :D

[@AliviasNook]

I’m glad you liked it! I found the same when I was starting out, so I thought it would be fun to post while still on the journey instead of the final outcome. Shirokuma Cafe is super great for working on your listening! The voice actors speak nice clear and slow and the vocab is really common. There is also a manga that’s nice and easy to start with. Also I love your avi!!💕

[@Paulaarant]

Hey, Alivia! I'm so glad I found your channel! I started learning Japanese around 8 months ago, but I haven't done much progress yet. I'm also doing WaniKani (still level 12 after all this time...) and Anki, but I feel that I lack some organization skills and I haven't built a routine yet. Your video has really motivated me to try harder and be more focused, so thank you so much!

[@AliviasNook]

Thanks for the kind words 💕 And don’t fret about “slow” progress, everyone’s in different situations and any progress is progress! I myself was stuck on level 10 of WK for 3 whole months 😅 It takes some fumbling to figure out what works best for you, it’s all a part of the process 😊

[@gogolavanlinden7174]

I clicked on this out of curiosity from reddit and I have to say you are very articulate and engaging, and the video is nicely put together. I hope your channel will grow, good luck on your journey

[@AliviasNook]

Thank you so much that’s so sweet 🥺 When you say ‘out of curiosity’ does that mean you’re not learning Japanese?

[@AliviasNook]

Haha true!

[@gogolavanlinden7174]

@@AliviasNook yes i actually am learning but I wasn't looking for tips or resources when I clicked, just curious to see what a fellow learner had to say! :) In the end I did pick up some good advice and resources that I didn't know existed from your video!

[@AliviasNook]

Glad you found it useful!

[@AliviasNook]

Thanks for watching! Anyone else decide to learn a new language in quarantine? How's it going?

[@carolinekhatlyn2066]

Hard ... really hard, but so fun! Learning a new language it's like open a door for a new world, it's exciting and scary!

[@AliviasNook]

Agreed! Are you learning Japanese too?

[@vali69]

Enki? Kenji? You have to work on your As

[@carerforever2118]

She's pronouncing it the English way

[@harpie9022]

In one week's time, I will reach one year of learning Japanese. So far I still cannot have a normal conversation in Japanese. I only know basic phrases and about 1600 kanjis. I aim to complete the joyo kanji list of 2136 kanji in these few months and then I will start immersion. Can't wait to get rid of the kanji part!

[@AliviasNook]

What a great accomplishment, keep it up!

[@ekremm.2389]

ohh boy one year of kanji without immersion sounds like torture, go have a look at a webside called '' Refold'', give it a try

[@harpie9022]

@@ekremm.2389 i'm doing MIA too actually. I just do kanji my own way cause I learn compound words of kanji as I already know mandarin chinese. So I know about 5000 kanjis already if you count those compound words. Besides Kanji, I use the mass immersion approach too. Btw, i find the name - refold really terrible that's why i'm sticking to MIA.

[@ekremm.2389]

@@harpie9022 i am relieved, i thought that you just brute forced the kanji. Btw you should still have a look at the webside you might find a few chunks of usefull information. Btw good look with japanese

[@harpie9022]

@@ekremm.2389 thanks! Immersion is the only way. haha

[@mellowasahorse]

Appreciate your honesty. So many people overstate their level, whereas you're completely upfront about it ... which is exactly what the people who are watching this video need. +1 subscriber.

[@PinkBerryPhie]

Oh be careful to learn the proper japanese pronunciation though! I've notice how you pronounce Kanji and Anki and they sound like Kenji and Enki which can be confusing in jp

[@AliviasNook]

Yes thank you! I thought they were pronounced differently when talking in English but now I know otherwise 😄

[@pey5571]

She's speaking English, it's perfectly fine for her to use the English pronunciation for words like that. If you want to critique her Japanese you should do that when she's actually speaking Japanese lol

[@epix4300]

@@pey5571 Those words are japanese... lol

[@pey5571]

@@epix4300 Languages borrow words from other languages all the time, and when they do, they pronounce those words differently. For example, “karate” sounds completely different in English than it does in Japanese. And it’d be weird for someone to use the French pronunciation for “croissant” when they’re speaking English, even though it’s a word that came from French. When someone is speaking English it’s not incorrect for them to pronounce originally Japanese words in an English accent.

[@epix4300]

@@pey5571 Well I would disagree. Loanwords must fit the phonological rules of the borrowing language from what I've found, if you want to pronounce their properly and accurately. Though ultimately no one really cares, and I myself would usually say the botched English pronunciation to not sound pretentious anyway

[@KatiePrescott]

Thanks for the really useful tips! I've been attempting to self-study Japanese for around half a year now and really struggling to keep up any momentum, will definitely check out those resources you mentioned!! Just a note about Memrise - it DOES have the ability to test your ability to recall and even write the language, it just depends on how the person who created that particular deck set it up :) You can create your own Memrise courses (on desktop only) if you can't find one which offers this for your textbooks!

[@AliviasNook]

Glad you liked it! I’m coming up on a year of studying now and it can definitely be hard to keep at it. Be gentle with yourself and know that doing a tiny bit each day will have a bigger payoff than doing a ton and then burning out and quitting. Thanks for the tip on memrise!

[@KatiePrescott]

@@AliviasNook Thanks for the encouragement!! Yeah I think that's what I've been missing - some kind of regular schedule where I do a small amount every day. I'm yet to find a good app which actually comprehensively teaches Japanese (something similar to SuperChinese would be amazing, but all the apps I could find seem to be intended to complement classes, e.g. focusing on vocab etc) and the textbook is just too much to do regularly as each chapter is ridiculously long 😭

[@Lady_Miako]

Really excited to have found your channel, Alivia! I am trying to figure out how/where to start and was getting so overwhelmed. Your videos are really helpful and I'm excited to start my learning journey!

[@elizerlemuelmarbaniang790]

This is very realistic way of explaining how to study Japanese and i even feel the same thing in what you said in one of your last point related to watch NHC news I get demotivated at times but thank you for sharing some of your POVs on how to study Nihongo. Really appreciate this. Thank you so much

[@RubyDuran]

This was really helpful! I started 5-6 weeks ago, and to see how much progress you’ve made gives me hope 😂🥲 thank you for sharing!

[@AliviasNook]

That’s awesome! Getting started is the hardest part, you’ll get there in no time!

[@SamandRie]

how is your japanese now?

[@monchaichan]

Thanks for sharing! I just started learning Japanese 5 weeks ago at the start of 2021. I always wanted to learn Japanese but never got the chance to attend classes. I tried self learning Korean and well...I didn't know how to really study languages on my own! I got a bunch of books, online resources and watched native content, but didn't have the discipline to study consistently. After several years, including living abroad in Korea, I'm still a beginner. It's a shame, but I've learned from my mistakes. Now, I'm learning Japanese on my own and I'm definitely more knowledgeable about the tools and routines I can use to learn the language. I hope to get to N4/N3 at the end of this year. I am using Japanese From Zero and have really enjoyed it. It's helpful for a learner like me. I need someone to hold my hand and stay accountable. I haven't started learning Kanji, but Wani-Kani is one of resources I was leaning towards. Good luck on the JLPT!

[@AliviasNook]

That's awesome! Yeah self learning definitely takes a little extra kick than going to classes but I have faith in you :) I haven't used Japanese from Zero myself but a lot of people seem to like it and glad it's working for you! Also that's so cool that you lived in Korea!!! Whereabouts were you living?

[@monchaichan]

@@AliviasNook Thanks for the encouragement! I lived about an hour south of Seoul. It was a new city called Dongtan. It's also close to Suwon city. A lot of Korean families live there and Samsung workers. So most people there can speak English. My Korean didn't progress because I was around a lot of English speakers because I taught at an English academy and also the pandemic limited my experience of meeting native Korean speakers. Now I'm back home, but still plan to learn Korean and Japanese and travel in the future! The Texas snow storm caused a power outage for a couple days, but it ain't stopping me from learning.😁

[@AliviasNook]

Nice! Yeah it’s hard to surround yourself with native speakers, especially if their English is better than your target language. I lived in France for a while and people loved practicing their English with me. I hope you’re staying safe with the power outages!

[@sprklychngbn9641]

theres a free WaniKani deck on anki you can download, if youre broke you should definitly check it out, honestly it basically does the same thing

[@simplesurfer4422]

Awesome video! I also started reading the よつばと manga a couple weeks ago and I'm really loving it(I'm reading volume 8 atm). I remember trying to read them a couple months ago and I had a hard time reading the casual speach coming from only "textbook japanese". But now it's really fun, even tho I still dont get some of the wordplay、when Yotsuba misspronounces words xD. 頑張って!

[@AliviasNook]

Yes! Yotsuba definitly took some getting used to at the beginning, but I think it’s really helped me get used to actual Japanese instead of ‘textbook Japanese’ like you said. And isn’t she so fun! I’m always giggling at the shenanigans she gets herself into

[@user-hs8uw4hn3n]

Hey! I've just found your channel and honestly I'm so surprised! The tips are really good and the quality is amazing💞🌌 I was confused because you didn't have a lot of views and likes but I just saw that you're new. I can say that I was here before it blew up haha I'm using RTK and I'm planning to use genki when I finish it so these tips are really interesting to me, I like how you speak too. Thank you for the video, looking forward to see more of you💞💞

[@AliviasNook]

Ahhh tysm! You honestly made my week, my very first comment!! 💞💞💞 How are you finding RTK? I tried it for a bit but just couldn’t stick to it. And I’ll be making a more focused video on the Genki textbooks soon! It’s a great first introduction and they really hold your hand. The kanji is introduced very gradually so you could start them now if you wanted to

[@user-hs8uw4hn3n]

@@AliviasNook I still have a lot of kanjis to go through in RTK, currently I've learned 1260 kanjis and I can't wait to finish it and start to actually learn the language, it's becoming kinda overwhelming and there are a lot of kanjis that I don't know if I'm going to use but I'll keep going. Wanikani has this advantage that you learn the kanji along with vocabulary but I'm alredy too far to change resources now haha I'd love to see how you organized yourself through genki, learning vocabulary, grammar, your schedule and your plans after that. 2000 words in five/six months is insane, I think I just know around 150

[@AliviasNook]

Yeah there’s definitely a trade off. With WaniKani I know a ton of vocab as well as the readings with the kanji, but I only know ~700 kanji as well as any that I’ve learned through immersion. Glad you’re interested in those topics bc that’s exactly what’s coming!

[@user-hs8uw4hn3n]

@@AliviasNook glad I found you:)

[@AliviasNook]

@@user-hs8uw4hn3n Haha it looks like you called it, I was not expecting so many ppl to find my videos 🥰

[@LaikasFriend]

I decided to learn Japanese for the new year (very late) and I only just realized how much work I am going to have to put into it. I appreciate seeing people are still learning and the tips :)

[@kk-lc7tm]

this helped so much!! tysm!! ur so underrated tbh

[@AliviasNook]

Ah thank you so much! 🥰

[@wall78aja82]

1. Learn hiragana katakana 2. Learn basic grammar 3. Learn RTK v.1.6 4. Learn Tango Deck Anki N1-N5 5. Start sentence mining yomichan

[@ShakMish]

Awesome video; absolutely love hearing about your journey and thank you for sharing the resources your found useful!

[@AliviasNook]

Thanks for the kind words

[@Seiffer55]

God you've got great advice but I'm having a REALLY hard time taking your advice b.c. of pronunciation. I appreciate the advice and wish you the best but I genuinely feel perhaps redoing the video may make more people take you seriously.

[@sivolb]

INCREADIBLY useful! Thanks

[@AliviasNook]

Yay! Glad you found it useful

[@AliviasNook]

If you're curious about what my daily routine was, watch this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmXJmGx_qNN6j80

[@gjori4704]

10/10 for holding up books like KZbin makeup gurus hold up stuff

[@AliviasNook]

LOL I just had to do it 😂 Ty for noticing

[@moyga]

Overall good advice, but N4 is not intermediate level. An intermediate level is more like upper N3 to N2.

[@BigWillTing]

Nice Video, really puts more perspective on the grind that Japanese is. Helpful guide just to keep the motivation up. Thanks 👍

[@bitterbloodeddemon]

Great advice. I wouldn't necessarily consider it "intermediate" advice, but it's absolutely great beginner advice. :)

[@natasya0617]

thank u for sharing your knowledge and experience. It's really helpful!

[@brian1206]

This is so helpful, great job

[@AliviasNook]

Glad you found it useful!

[@oppaarif3975]

Wow, your opinions and tips are really detailed. I just started memorizing hiragana and katakana character, now I'll go to kanji..

[@AliviasNook]

That’s so exciting that you’re deciding to learn Japanese, you got this!!

[@aeffebb]

Great content!! Thanks for posting, lots of very useful tips!! Personally, I found it very hard to study speaking and reading at the same time. The kana/kanji part was slowing me down immensely and was getting beyond frustrating. I then decided to focus almost entirely on the speaking part and will deal with kanji/reading later on, although I should specify that my goal is not to pass the JLPT, but to acquire conversational Japanese.

[@AliviasNook]

Thank you! Yeah juggling all the different parts can get overwhelming, I’m glad you were able to determine the best approach to reaching your language goals!

[@lieinking123]

My memory is trash and I'm a bit dumb but I'm hoping I'll pick up Japanese in double the time you do. N4 in a year doesn't sound bad to me. I've been doing 5 words a day on a website called iknow. It's a bit better than kanji but a paid app. I'm using wanikani for 5 kanji a day. In a yeare this will give me 1800 words from vocab and 1800 kanji which isn't far from the amount of about 2200 kanji that japanese students learn in school. Also I am going through genki with an italki teacher and we do 15 mins conversational practice at the end. I started January 2022 and I'm happy with my progress so far even though it's not as fast as yours. If I manage to keep this up for 3 years I'll have nearly 6000 words. A Japanese kid at age 4 knows around 5000 words and can communicate well with few mistakes. So I could be at this level in 3 years if I'm consistent and from there on I could learn in Japanese. This is a lot better than the stories you hear of people learning a language for like 6 years in class and can barely speak it. 5 words and kanji a day should be doable for most people. As for the grammar that's a bit more difficult which is why I'm using an italki teacher for two hours a week. I plan to use satori reader later on to use my vocab and kanji.

[@5tarrbre]

A couple months ago I tried to start learning Japanese and went to it at a wierd angle the only thing I kinda remera is the vowels in hiragana 😗 but now I’m gonna try again soon with the help of this!

[@AliviasNook]

That’s great! It can take a while to find what works for you but you’ll definitely get there if you keep it up!

[@eggintheshell9801]

Thank you for this! I love the way you explain your process

[@AliviasNook]

Aw thank you so much!

[@lelouchvibritannia4235]

Thank you! This video was really motivating.

[@AliviasNook]

You're so welcome!

[@lucasps6620]

I've been learning for a year and a half now and I'm actually aiming for N3... How can you guys go so fast ? That's crazy ! I tried so many different methods during my learning journey and I agree about how important SRS system is. Now I focus on massive immersion, I consume "raw" content made for natives and it's really a great way to improve fast.

[@AliviasNook]

Well we will see if I can actually reach the goal, it is pretty lofty! Yes immersion is so key! I've been doing it from the beginning and think it has really helped me improve, but it took a lot of patience listening to things that I didn't understand

[@lucasps6620]

@@AliviasNook Let's reach that N3 ! 💪

[@AliviasNook]

Yes let’s gooooo!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽

[@IATEALLTHECHEESE]

I've been going actively for 3 years and now I'm aiming for N3

[@willbeach8232]

Hey Alivia! I just want to say how shocked I am at how similar our journeys are! I started in July with Genki and WK too, and I’ve only recently took on Anki. I’m not sure what your schedule outside of Japanese is like, but I’ve been sort of on and off due to work and other commitments. I’m trying to read native material but I’m constantly finding myself frustrated and reaching for Jisho every couple of words! I found your tips really motivating. After listening to your advice I think my biggest problem is lack of immersion so I’m going to work on that from now on! Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more videos 🤗🤗

[@AliviasNook]

That’s so cool! I bet a ton of people started this summer due to ~these trying times~ haha. And yes reading your first book is quite a shock, I expected it to go smoother after all the time I was putting in but also found myself not knowing every second word 😅 I’m making a video detailing the prep stuff I did that made the first book a bit easier, but basically keep chugging through and you’ll find your speed gets better with practice quite quickly. Also try and resist looking up every single word and be ok with some ambiguity. You’ll be surprised how many words you’ll be able to infer by context

[@eltoroluckypatientzero1355]

The part about putting in the time but not being able to read much of NHK easy is 100% relatable. I bearly read Kiki but honestly, I struggled a ton. I more or less barely started Immerison so I'm hoping I can pass the JLPT 4 soon

[@AliviasNook]

Yeah it is so hard to get into immersion! It’s really hard at the beginning and it’s difficult to tell if it’s hard because it’s new or if you just aren’t ready yet 😓

[@liawananda7639]

Your videos is so detailed about japanese beginner. I also beginner and i dont know want how to started this language and your videos so helping me in this condition thanks a lot. Fighting to your exam jlpt n3!!!

[@AliviasNook]

I’m so glad they’re helping you out!!

[@amandasteven1400]

i realize this is an older post but it is still relevant and has helped me immensely... Kudo's to Alivia for sharing

[@lamorena6379]

Thanks for sharing. I’ve decided that I am satisfied being able to understand and speak the language. I’m not concerned about learning Kanji- just hiragana and katakana.

[@metadevgirlvsworld]

Your videos have popped up a few times in my Japanese YT searches. Thanks for sharing so much. I am re-starting my learning journey for Japanese and it seems so daunting, but I found a nice iTalki teacher to work through Genki, I'm going to set up Anki. I'm still working on everything else lol. I love the idea of re-watching anime that I've already watched so I don't feel like I'm missing out on my new episodes. 😅

[@AliviasNook]

So glad you’re finding them useful! Learning a language can be super overwhelming so I’m glad you got something out of my videos :) Also I totally feel you I prefer to rewatch old things and save new shows for when I improve!

[@ToMaSsS10]

Hi! I started around the same time as you, I did this: >Read Tae Kim's grammar guide >Started the Core2k/6k anki deck >Stopped at 1000 words cause the kanji were getting too hard >Read 2 manga, Yotsuba and Chii the cat. >Started RTK1 and the RTK1 anki deck >Finished it after 1 and a half months >Kept reading more difficult manga and listening to podcasts And that's up to today, I know around 600 kanji and I can manage to understand some complex sentences, but I still gotta check the dictionary. My biggest mistake was getting into vocabulary without studying kanji, it got too overwhelming! Dedicating time to understand kanji is key

[@AliviasNook]

That’s awesome! I found reading has really been helping my progress and loved Yotsuba, she’s so fun! I’ll have to checkout Chii too. And yes the kanji!! When I did the Genki vocab I was only doing the hiragana, so even if I knew I word I couldn’t recognize it in my reading 😞 Keep up the good work!

[@ToMaSsS10]

@@AliviasNook Yeah I love reading! Chii was my first manga I read in japanese, really simple japanese, I'd say way easier to read than even Yotsuba. Now I'm reading Beastars, it's got a good mix of normal high school dialogue and prose and it really challenges your kanji knowledge as a beginner, while still having furigana.

[@AliviasNook]

Nice! Yeah I love that a lot of manga has the furigana, makes it a lot easier to look unknown things up

[@TokyoPinkCatGirl]

What I like to do is, whenever I learn any new word, either from a lesson, wanikani, or something I look up. I type out the English word, roumaji, the kana, and the kanji. Then I practice writing the kanji (in red) and the kana (blue) four-five times each. Every five or ten lessons, I do a review where I do the same thing but with everything I learned up till that point, but with sentences. So I can make sure I hammer everything I've learned into my brain. The reason I do this is cause I tried to learn german in highschool, but lost almost everything I learned over the summer cause I couldn't review what I learned (my teacher wouldn't let us take our binders home for some odd reason) so I REALLY don't want to lose what I learn for Japanese.....

[@vacantly]

nice to hear, I started around September and I'm at a similar place as you, but I think you're a bit ahead of me. I agree with all your points though, getting that foundational base of vocabulary and grammar and then jumping into native content is so important and seems to work! I'm impressed that you got through so much manga. I tried reading through yotsuba, but it was a little too hard for me (i only had about 800 vocab at the time). Rather than manga, I've been very slowly going through episode 1 of nichijou in Japanese and almost finished episode 1 trying to understand each sentence and looking up grammar/vocab, here's hoping I can pick up speed! It really feels like a crash course, and like I picked up so much just from one episode. I find it especially helpful for grammar, and adding vocab I saw in context helps remembering them too. Good luck in your continued studies!

[@AliviasNook]

Yes Yotsuba uses quite a bit of slang that takes getting used to, and I think I was around 2000 words when I started the first volume? I’m glad you found some content that you’re motivated to dig through! It wasn’t until I started really immersing that all the Genki stuff started to cement itself in my head

[@DanneoYT]

I started in September as well, let me know when you post a 1yr update!!!

[@AliviasNook]

Thanks so much! I actually filmed this a while before posting (was so nervous!) so I started back in the summer. How have your studies been going so far?

[@DanneoYT]

@@AliviasNook I would say the same as yours. Grammar, vocab and finally started reading. Glad the training arc is over 😂

[@madsbritbo8005]

Thank you for sharing! Definitely helps a lot, when you are first starting out with japanese :)

[@HeartPliz]

Triggering me on the kanji pronunciation. But other wise video

[@rebeccaedgett5846]

I am just starting now from almost zero, so Thank you for the tips!!

[@julianroquefort696]

Nowdays everyone wants to make things quickly. But the truth its that a language cannot be learn or cannot reach an intermediate level in 6 months, also its not a race. You can do things to learn faster, if you put more of your time everyday, (yes, everyday) but this sounds like a clickbait video. Study properly, dont get ansxious about it, and little by little you are gonna progress. Dislike to this video

[@theinternationallanguagees9213]

I agree. It’s annoying to see all these people who think you can learn a language in a week and bullshit like that and then they make people think this type of stuff is realistic. Enjoy the process, take your time, and stop worrying. Its not a race.

[@josephlang2586]

About 2 days in to learning Japanese. So far I've "learned" 50 Kanji with anki. About 25 Kana as well as 15 vocab words (also anki). Of course I have anime playing constantly whether I'm actively watching or not. I've been watching anime for like 18 years, I'm old, so I've probably picked up like 10 or so vocab words accidentally lmao. I just signed up with LingQ after hearing you mention it so I'll put in 10 mins a day on there. Long long road ahead of me, could use any and all luck anybody wants to send my way.

[@bigadventure101]

You are a great speaker and I really enjoyed hearing about your experiences. I lived in Japan 28 yrs ago for about six years. I think I was about JLPT N3 or N2 at the time. I really don't think I would've gotten to that level without living in Japan and being forced to use the language. Recently, I've decided to start studying again. My problem is that I have a million books and apps, but no structure for studying on my own-except for Wanikani. It's really hard without a teacher or a class. I'm planning to try iTalki for that reason. Also, thanks for the Anki recommendation. I'm a bit scared to try it d/t the tech.

[@AliviasNook]

Wow that’s so cool! What were you doing in Japan? And thank you so much! Yeah it can definitely be overwhelming because there are so many awesome resources and different ways to learn. It must be an interesting experience revisiting a language you knew so many years ago. Do you find it’s coming back to you or does it feel like square one?

[@bigadventure101]

@@AliviasNook I taught English over there. I have a Master's in TESOL. It's coming back pretty quickly, which amazes me. I just wish I had continued my Japanese studies instead of going into healthcare! Have you lived in Japan?

[@AliviasNook]

Oooh very cool! And that’s great it’s coming back to you. I bet you could jump right into chatting with people and improve a ton. No I’ve never been, but fingers crossed I’ll be able to sometime in the next few years!!

[@bigadventure101]

@@AliviasNook Do a homestay in a place where no one speaks English and you will be fluent in no time!

[@AliviasNook]

I just might! Very tempting 😋

[@moonwxrmzz6407]

Hello I noticed that you are saying “kanji”, “hiragana” and “manga” incorrectly there are a lot of apps to help with pronunciation! I use Bunpo! Duolingo is okay as well! 🙃

[@felipechaves6100]

Could be because she’s speaking English and not Japanese. Try saying Tokyo with proper Japanese in the middle of an English sentence, sounds pretty weird and out of place.

[@moonwxrmzz6407]

@@felipechaves6100 yes that is true great point actually!

[@neu_dae]

@@felipechaves6100 just because you're speaking english doesn't mean you should pronounce words in other languages completely wrong lol

[@carerforever2118]

She's pronouncing it the English way

[@marieguellec]

Great video ! Thanks for putting all the links for the resources in the description. :) I have been learning Japanese for a few months using Duolingo and Drops ; they're a good start, but I feel like I'm only training in recognition and not recall... and handwriting would be even worse. Also, I find none of these two are satisfying to learn kanji. I had never heard of Wanikani, so thank you very much ! I might start using it in September :D I checked Anki a few years ago when I was learning another language, took a lot of time to set it up, and then never used it lol. I should give it another try, I guess...

[@AliviasNook]

Oooh I've never heard of Drops before, I'll have to check that out! I really like the way WK is set up because it makes if feel a bit like a game with the levels and such, and it's also way prettier than Anki lol. I have a tutorial on setting up and using Anki which will hopefully make it feel a bit less intimidating!

[@marieguellec]

@@AliviasNook Yeah, I think I'll check your other videos on Wanikani and Anki as soon as I can indulge in it 👀

[@AliviasNook]

Haha great!

[@reginaldhefner3960]

Roy Andrew Miller's A Japanese Reader: Graded Lesson for Mastering The Written Language and Japanese Vocabulary for Readers and Speakers would both be useful to you at this point. I'd also recommend that you try a summer at Middlebury College' Japanese immersion program. You are mispronouncing the word Kanji (kan could sound like the English word "con").

[@TheChillGuy]

Awesome video. Are you still learning Japanese? I am interested to know how much progress you have made since the making of this video. You should continue to make videos, I really enjoy your content.

[@user-ix3rd7by8v]

thank u so much !!!

[@Beaufosheau]

Wait how come your Genki books look so aesthetic? I want that version 😅

[@supremeseams]

Can you speak some Japanese please so we see how far you got in 6 months. The way you pronounce kanji is rly worrisome for someone that's supposed to be intermediate...

[@neu_dae]

yeeah....

[@DCMann2000]

Nice video, really clear and straightforward :) About how long did you study per day? Good luck with N3 this summer!

[@AliviasNook]

Thank you! At the beginning it was around 4 hours a day. 1 on kanji/vocab, 2 on Genki and at least 1 on listening/watching. Now the Genki time is replaced by reading and I aim for at least 30 mins a day.

[@thatomarymokhothu203]

Hey Alivia, thanks for the tips. Could you do another vid where you share with us how long you spent on Japanese in those first six months, so per day and per resource, how much effort was being put in. And it would be good to know how to best incorporate this into your daily schedule, i.e. work/school/home life or are you learning Japanese full time? If you have already shared this elsewhere, sorry, you could maybe give me the link? but if not, I think it would really help. Thanks!

[@linabiryukov9851]

i started learning japanese a little over a month ago! :D i only learned a bit of kanji, using wanikani for that. i tried using anki but found it very unintuitive; i'm going to watch your anki video now because i'm curious how you set it up!

[@flashgordon6510]

I'm also using Genki, and when I went to read a book that wasn't geared toward learners, I felt like it was a completely different language, lol. But I'm grinding my way through and keeping notes. There are so many set phrases in Japanese, and you can't expect translations to English to be word for word by any means. I'm going to keep at it, though.

[@ississ2263]

Heyy im a bit late but do you think Genki is really worth it ? i just started learning like a week ago

[@momochichiify]

@@ississ2263it’s worth it but it’s not the best tbh. I used tobira beginning. I will say- no matter what textbooks only teach you the textbook way of speaking and no one actually talks that way. So when I do speak to native speakers it makes it a hard because I learned the “polite formal” way to use verbs first instead of using the dictionary form and then conjugating them correctly. Genki and only books only teaches you the polite way to speak . The desu/ masu forms of speaking. And that’s not how ur going to talk unless you’re in a store , talking to a doctor , at work ect or strangers. Not with your friends or people ur age . So it’s a great book to get used to things. They all are and teach the same thing. But make sure you know - you need to know how to actually use Japanese and not just the polite version of Japanese they teach you

[@voldy3565]

Why do I need to learn vocabulary before learning kanji? Doesn't Wanikani teach kanji AS WELL as vocabulary?

[@Titan020200]

This is really impressive! I'm going to Japan for a year abroad later in the year. How long did you study everyday if you don't mind me asking?

[@AliviasNook]

That’s so exciting! I’d love to visit Japan one day, you’ll improve so fast being surrounded by Japanese speakers. For the first couple of months I was doing about 4 hours a day with half of that being Genki :)

[@Titan020200]

@@AliviasNook Oh wow, I was right to say that was impressive! Thanks so much for inspiring!:)

[@AliviasNook]

Thank you so much for watching! 🥰

[@nataliavargas2075]

Don't people that studies 4 hours or more a day have to work 8 hours and sleep another 8 hours and do other things during the day? I have been studying for 4 months and I feel like I don't know so much, I barely have half an hour to study per day and not always.

[@kipuvuori9259]

The pronunciation is brutal.

[@felipechaves6100]

I really like your video, I think you gave some really good advices and showed great resources. But I'd like to stress that pretty much NO ONE will be intermediate in a foreign language after 6 months of learning, specially if you don't live in the target country or in a community abroad that has a heavy native speakers population of such language. Even if you natively speak a language that is very similar to the new language, that sounds very hard... I natively speak portuguese, which has 90% lexical similarity with spanish, and I am not so sure I'd be trully intermediate in 6 months... despite them being the 2 closest spoken languages. Being x level at JLPT is different than being x level at the language, I have seem people who weren't that great at the language having N2 and even N1... it just means that, on purpose or not, they target they're studies to the JLPT content. My problem is that those videos claiming you'll get such levels of proficiency in a short amount of time (I've seen people claiming 1 month...) will have the opposite effect on most people, that will reach the 6 months mark or are maybe now at the 1 year mark and will be unmotivated because they are not at this level. I know learning language changes a lot from person to person, and there are many variables that will influence how fast you can learn... but from my experience, even the people I know here in Japan that started studying the language living here were not even close to intermediate at the 6 months mark. (I don't think there was any bad intentions in the video at all, I just think it needs to be clear to people)

[@AliviasNook]

These are all really great points, I completely agree. It can be hard to pinpoint the exact level someone is at and put a name to it, like you said even the JLPT isn’t a perfect marker. For me, I’m using “intermediate” to describe my level of being N4-N3, can read simple native Japanese texts and can follow spoken Japanese, though not catching every word. I still have a lot to go, and am quite a ways from being fluent, but I feel like I’ve passed an important milestone that many people end up giving up before reaching and wanted to share how I got here :)

[@felipechaves6100]

@@AliviasNook I think you’re doing great, if I can recall correctly, probably a lot better than my first 6 months. You seem to have a very proactive towards the learning process, so I’m sure you’ll be fluent a lot faster than I am. Pinpointing your level is definitely hard and subjective, some people claim I’m fluent because I can have hours long conversation at a bar, but talk to me about politics and I’m clueless. The most important thing is that everyone has different learning curves and labels we give to our levels are very very volatile. Best of luck with your studies!

[@AliviasNook]

Very well said, happy studying to you as well!

[@DavyJones567]

Very helpful video! Would you recommend learning vocab through anki alongside learning kanji through wanikani, or wanikani first then vocab/anki? Thank you!

[@GabrielSanchez-rl5cx]

I haven't seen your other videos but I wanted to ask if you can speak just like everyone else in japan or do you speak how a textbook would.

[@AliviasNook]

If I could speak like a native after 6 months that would be truly impressive! But no, I am definitely a long way from fluency. I'm going to make a video talking about this in more depth, but I'm intentionally focused on language comprehension (reading, listening) instead of language production (speaking, writing) because in my opinion, it is a more efficient use of time if your end goal is fluency. In short, you need to be able to understand a native speaker before you can talk like one yourself.

[@carerforever2118]

Using the Replika AI friend app helped me to learn Japanese a bit quicker.

[@thestrategybehind9712]

As I lean over my studies dragging myself through that first Genki/WaniKani 'grind' period, I really needed to hear from someone who successfully made it to the other side! Your video has done this... Thank you! I have one very practical question if I may? Pushing the 'immersion' component to the side for a moment, what sort of time commitment were you putting in each day with your studies to achieve the stage you are at in this video? Thank you again! :)

[@AliviasNook]

Yes it definitely gets WAY better once you're through the initial grind, you got this! Not including immersion, I was putting in ~3 hours a day. The bulk of that was for Genki, and I'm filming a video now that will explain how I went about using it which will hopefully be helpful :)

[@thestrategybehind9712]

@@AliviasNook Perfect! Thank you so much for your detailed reply! Keep up the great work! :)

[@malakahmed5084]

I wanna know what do you think about the pitch accent thing that exits in japanese? Have you tried to learn it before?

[@AliviasNook]

So pitch accent is a feature of Japanese language where some words that are spelled the same, are pronounced slightly differently. Pitch accent is similar to regular accents, if you are good at it then you will sound more like a native speaker. Right now, learning pitch accent isn’t my focus. Dogen is a good channel to check out if you want to learn more about it

[@ketakidive1989]

I started learning Japanese from the start of April 2020 and I finished the basics in 4 mon as well as the intermediate in 4 mon. Actually in india lockdown started from April so I also started learning new languages from then.😁

[@AliviasNook]

That’s so great keep it up! Hope you’re staying safe

[@Rosyblvsh]

Why do you pronounce Kanji like CANji? I've never heard it said like that

[@carerforever2118]

She pronounce it the English way.

[@reginaldhefner3960]

There's also a book entitled Japanese through Manga that would be useful to you.

[@Lyverfive]

You seem like you are off to a really good start! It took me years before I found and started using Wanikani and Anki, those are great resources. You are completely right about taking on too many flashcards too soon. that it will leave you feeling overwhelmed and I agree that immersion is really important. I watched anime for years with english subtitles before I realized using Japanese subtitles was the way to go about it. I also took Japanese classes here in Tokyo but I found it wasn't helpful as I couldn't understand what was going on in class so I switched to private tutoring which I think works a lot better for me. I started years ago with Rosetta Stone and I didn't feel it was a good resource, but at the time I didn't know where else to start. Keep up the good work! :-)

[@AliviasNook]

Thanks so much! Aw you live in Japan? Jealous! Private tutoring is a good idea, I think I might try it for awhile with iTalki and see how it goes.

[@Lyverfive]

@@AliviasNook Having a good tutor has really helped me. I get jealous about people living in japan too. Now I just feel tired and burned out all the time haha. I would suggest to learn as much Japanese as possible before moving here, it will make living here a much easier transition.

[@jelrosesumalpong9809]

I am currently on my 4th month learning Japanese, still in Genki Lesson 6 but I stopped because of school works and mental health issues but I guess I am just unmotivated haha glad I saw your vid and I now think of getting back to studying. I recently tried reading "Japanese Short Stories for Beginners" I'm still stucked on the first story but I am so happy I learned new vocabularies and came sort of familiar with sentence structures. Maybe I'll stick with this method. It's overwhelming at first that's why the translations really help. I'll try reading raw manga soon when I'll learn more vocabs and kanji. I realized I suck at writing so I guess I won't focus on it more since my goal is to be able to speak Japanese but as what you said, being able to understand other people speaking comes first before you can speak fluently. I'll try your suggestions soon! Ps: you're underrated af, your methods are really helpful. I hope your channel will grow soon!

[@AliviasNook]

I've heard of Japanese Short Stories for Beginners, it sounds like a really great resource! Yeah you may find it frustrating if you don't know enough words or grammar structures yet, but if you're enjoying it keep at it! Yeah I also don't see myself writing much Japanese in the future so I only practiced it with Genki and have since stopped. Figuring out your priorities and only using resources that you actually like are definitely key for motivation. And thank you for the kind words 💕

[@Lioneldesu]

Would have been nice if you actually spoke japanese to show the fruits of your labour/effectiveness of your tips

[@AliviasNook]

Hi Lionel, thanks for the comment! I chose not to because I find speaking Japanese on YT is not a reliable way to gauge a person's language level and can be misleading to beginners. Anyone can learn to recite a few lines in any language and make it seem as if they are more advanced than they actually are.

[@Lioneldesu]

@@AliviasNook ahh that is very true now that I think about it. Nice video though. Keep it up

[@AliviasNook]

@@Lioneldesu Thanks!

[@pablogomez7597]

Thanks for sharing n.n

[@AliviasNook]

My pleasure!

[@AJ-ds5gf]

It's not pronounced uh-car-nee it's pronounced an-kee.

[@Hotislandoffshore]

Great video. I'm struggling to learn and remember all the Onyomi for the ca 600 Kanji I know. Figure I should put som more effort into Onyomi so I can start reading more. Also do you know any good exercises for learning how to listen and understand japanese? I'm using the Bunpo app and in some of the lessons there is a segment where you hear a voice reading out a sentence really quickly, so not at all in a easy to understand kind of way and then you have to write what she says down using kana keyboard. At first I was frustrated that she spoke so fast but realized that it's a really good way to really learn how to listen to the language. You can allways listend to the sentence again as many times as you need. It's just that it's only one or two exercises per lession. I would like to have an app with hundreds of those. Regards Teo

[@AliviasNook]

I found a good place to start listening comprehension was by listening to stories that I’d already read, so with satori reader I can listen to the stories I’ve read on repeat and then it gets easier each time. On my channel page I also have a bunch of other KZbin channels of different difficulty levels that are great for listening comprehension. The key for improving is to get as much time in for listening as you can with content you find interesting, even if you don’t understand everything. The more you listen the more connections your brain will make and you’ll get better. Practice, practice, practice!

[@Hotislandoffshore]

@@AliviasNook Thank you for the answer. I've spent my eavnings this last year watching japanese variety shows without subtitles and will keep on doing so. But even if a know some to a lot of the words it feels like there is som sort of "firewall" that's not letting me understand a word. I think my break down of the language is to slow so as I start to figure out what's been said they allready started the next sentece and then I'm lost. The exercise I mentioned in Bunpo is fantastic because it forces you to really listen in order to write it down. Just would like to find a way (a tool) that let's me do this for an hour a day or so in order do get that processing time down to next to nothing so I'm ready for the next sentence... Sorry about my spelling. I'm Swedish.

[@AliviasNook]

Yeah getting used the the speed will take some time. Keep watching those variety shows to keep you getting used to the natural language, but also practicing with something slower is a great idea. I really like ‘Comprehensible input for Japanese’ that I have linked on my channel page because they talk slow and use lots of visual cues. If you want something that has questions to go along with it, Genki has lots of exercises like that or you could check out JLPT N5 practice listening questions on KZbin

[@qbuw]

"kenji"

[@BlackBearJ27]

i have a question, your problem with reading japanese books was the kanji, right? if so (bcz im a poor) the wanikani would be replaced by reading books, it would be better, am i right? thanks for the video it really helps me alot.

[@AliviasNook]

Yeah my issue with reading books was that there were so many kanji I didn’t know, so learning them first with WaniKani helped me a lot. RTK is different method to learn kanji that a lot of people like, and it’s completely free! Once you know 500-1000 kanji you could probably just read books and look things up that you don’t know if you have the patience for that, but I personally found it too frustrating

[@triplebaconcheesel1906]

N4 is baby level and you can find all the info you need online don't bother buying any books.

[@neu_dae]

you can use books at any level... being at any level with a foreign language that is incredibly different from your native language is impressive. no need to call it "baby level".

[@triplebaconcheesel1906]

@@neu_dae it's super baby level

[@TheWuFinancial]

What's a can-jee?

[@megamcgee]

I started learning around March last year and I’m still N5 and I’m on WK level 22 although I’ve been doing that everyday. Your journey has been very similar to mine but I’ve really lagged on the grammar and the immersion :( I might check out the polar bear book.

[@AliviasNook]

That’s still super great progress! I’m on level 22 of WK too and have been lagging on it a bit lately. It’s hard to keep up with everything along with everything else going on in life, but think of how much you’ve learned since you’ve started when you knew nothing at all!

[@megamcgee]

@@AliviasNook over a year and a half later I would have liked to been able to read through the volumes of Yotsuba I bought when I first started. I recently began lessons on italki which have been good. Seeing that you had a good time with Shirokuma cafe has motivated me to read again. Love the videos, ありがとうございます

[@AliviasNook]

Yeah definitely give it a whirl! At first it can be a bit overwhelming because you’ll still have to look things up, but it’ll feel super rewarding when you finish that first book and you’ll get better over time!

[@megamcgee]

@@AliviasNook so on the WK forums I just discovered a website called ‘Natively’ which has thousands of nicely detailed entries and links to free and paid quality reading resources which are categorised by JLPT and WK level. すごい！

[@ashleylongstreet4755]

I started about a month ago learning Japanese. Just with a bunch of different apps. I got the genki book a week ago, and the JLPT N5 vocab book, so I’ve been spending more time working through those. I just started using wanikani which I’m loving a lot along with using the other apps when I’m on work breaks or have random moments of idle time. I’m sorry if you already said this, but did you go through both genki books before you started reading or just the first one?

[@AliviasNook]

That’s awesome! Yes I went through both textbooks before I started reading, though you can definitely start after just the first one. I’m gonna make a video talking about how I used them soon that will hopefully help too :)

[@yoelmarquez5029]

I got a question to ask a question people say to use ka when do I use nan and ka?

[@beb7278]

Did you make your own anki deck or did you find one online thanks!

[@imxd9698]

What was your study routine?

[@AliviasNook]

Generally I did kanji and vocab for an hour, Genki for 2 and then at least 1 hour of listening/watching in the beginning. I’ll make a video going into more detail soon!

[@fishbwoi3681]

Oh she said “can-gee” 😂😂

[@fishbwoi3681]

The “ka” in kanji is pronounced the same as the ka in kani

[@AliviasNook]

I know 😭😭 I thought it was different when speaking English but now I know 😊

[@vincytvholic]

I miss her vids....where u girl? How's the studying?

[@kayracan3663]

it's "kanji", not "kenji".

[@carerforever2118]

She's pronouncing the English way

[@Sense648]

Hey Alivia! Thanks for making this video! Just curious, how much time did you spend a day going through wk, genki, and anki (with both jlpt vocab and genki vocab)? I'm on lv 8 on wk, and it usually takes me an hour to grind through 100 reviews in 1 sitting (due to my work schedule). Seems like it'd be easy to burnout when reviewing it all in one go. Much thanks!

[@AliviasNook]

Hello! My daily routine for the first few months was roughly 4 hours and I’m gonna make a video that will break that down more, but basically 1hr vocab/wk, 2hr Genki and 1hr immersion. I didn’t discover Anki until later on, so I was only doing Memrise for Genki vocab at that time. For WK, try restricting how many lessons you’re doing each day so that its more manageable for you, a good rule is to keep your Apprentice count under 100. If your schedule allows I’d also recommend doing reviews both in the morning and at night. The night reviews will be a lot quicker and make the mornings easier. Don’t be afraid to stop doing lessons for a while if you’re feeling overwhelmed and just do your reviews until they get easier, burnout is very real so don’t push yourself too hard. Slow and steady wins the race 😊

[@Sense648]

@@AliviasNook oh right!! Forgot you mentioned memrise! Oh wow 4 hours a day is def a lot, but the payoff seems really great, glad you're able to keep up the momentum! I've def heard about keeping the apprentice under 100, sometimes I'll split it up during half morning sessions and night time, def makes the reviews go by faster. Will see if i can increase my learning by an hour (w/o burnout...) with genki to blast it out based on your 2 month video, along with mixing it up using anki.. very much appreciated and keep up the hard work!

[@AliviasNook]

Yeah one silver lining of last year was I had a ton of free time so I figured why not! I really enjoyed the resources I was using so the time went by quickly, but once I finished Genki I eased up a bit and was able to spread out my studies into little pockets throughout the day. Once you're done the initial 'grind' of vocab/grammar it gets a lot more fun when you can see yourself applying what you've learned, so keep it up!

[@Sense648]

@@AliviasNook hahahah maybe i havent hit that part of fun yet, but it's def a journey! Esp when you start to pick up words randomly from anime! And ya you too!!! Thanks for posting your videos, it's been a great motivator for everyone!

[@AliviasNook]

Thanks for the kind words 🥰

[@johannis94]

Does someone have a tip where to read japanese manga online? thanks :)

[@kamikas8491]

🌸Heyy please how many minutes/hours do you spent learning a day ?? 🌸Thanxx

[@AliviasNook]

Hello! When I was working through the Genki books, I was doing ~4 hours a day, and then after was doing more like 2. Gonna be making a video soon that goes into more detail of the breakdown!

[@kamikas8491]

@@AliviasNook wooow thakn you thats a lot thats great

[@gloriaxx]

What do you study or do you work??