Why I'm learning Japanese ( Speaking in Japanese with English Subtitles )

[@伊波大輔-c1m]

Hello Germaine-san I think it's perfect Japanese. Thank you for saying you like Japan. I love Singapore too! Keep up the good work studying Japanese! 加油！！😃

[@realyua]

I really enjoyed all the contents you made so far and it have been so inspiring. You speak japanese so fluently and I am so proud of you. I have been wanting to learn japanese for a while but did not till recently. Your recommendations are so good and I found motivation to study japanese because of your videos. I started using italki as well for conversational practice based on your recommendation too. Just want to let you know you are doing very well and I can see you will go very far in your learning journey. I will support your channel.

[@GermaineJapanese]

Hi Nia, thanks for such an encouraging message! I’m actually far from fluent. You can see all the jump cuts in the video, I have to cut out the silent pauses and mistakes just to keep the video flowing. But it’s okay! I’m still learning! I’m glad to know my videos are also motivating you to study Japanese as well. It’s really nice to know that we are all improving together!

[@russellgoldie05]

Your 発音 is really impressive!!! It inspired me :)

[@styl3k1fry]

You definitely did good from my perspective !The reason why I decided to study Japanese is quite similar to your reason. Back in 2016, out of nowhere I traveled to Japan. This trip was like an epiphany I came back realising that I’d fallen in love with this country and culture. I needed to learn more about it. Even though it took me some years to find the right approach to leaning more toward it , for the last few month I have been really more consistent in my learning and progress. Hope one day to be travelling again in Japan and have more communication with Japanese people in Japanese

[@GermaineJapanese]

Right?! I feel like visiting Japan is really something. It’s such a different world, very very captivating. Glad to hear that you’ve been more consistent recently, consistency is key in language learning!

[@henrytherabbit]

Like yourself and most people who have been there, I fell completely in love with the place and the people I met there. As I spent a lot of time in the countryside, there were only a handful of people to communicate with in English, but the others made so much effort to make me feel welcome and were so kind that I decided to try and learn before there is an opportunity to return again. I knew it would be difficult, but could never have imagined it to be as difficult as I'm finding it. I'd really like to spend at least a year there, and my heart is a bit broken after talking to the embassy about visa options for next year. Probally a good thing, as I'll need another 5 years of study to have a decent conversation :) Cheers for the videos. I'm sure they help mine and many people's motivation to keep going. Your channel is evidence of your progress. Well done Germaine!

[@GermaineJapanese]

Yea, being able to go to the countryside and communicate with the people there is a huge motivating factor for me as well. I wish you the luck with your visa! Hope things work out for the best!

[@callmejobson]

Its great to see other people on the Journey of Learning Japanese as well!! Keep up the great work

[@GermaineJapanese]

Thanks, you too!!!

[@glottaquest581]

💪👏🏽❤️ honest, interesting and entertaining. Inspirational, informational and educational. Amazing and awesome video 😘. My simple reason, I love the way Japanese sounds 😁

[@GermaineJapanese]

Nice! Yea I love how Japanese sounds too. When it's spoken fast it always sounds like water bubbling to me, and I like that for some reason.

[@Kaisstruggle]

完璧すぎて笑いました！ There is no mistake in your speech! Sounds natural and fluent. You might want to be more confident! You are already in a fluent stage!😄 本当にすごいですね！これからも頑張って下さい🔥

[@GermaineJapanese]

Thank you so much, Ken! I'm not fluent yet! I had to practise many times and cut the video a lot to make it sound better. But thank you, I'm going to work hard at it!!!

[@stefanof.896]

nice video Germaine!!! My reason is I love Japan and I would love to interact with Japanese people next time I have a chance to return to japan :)

[@GermaineJapanese]

Thanks! I’m also waiting for the day I can return to Japan! 🥲

[@paulwalther5237]

Your Japanese came off very well. I've tried speaking Japanese to a camera of course on my Channel you will see a couple videos. You won't see some of the bigger fails where I just gave up partway through lol. I was so disappointed in myself when I saw what my monologue Japanese sounded like. I know I came off better in a 2 way conversation. I think that's because it's both more natural but also you're not doing all the work. Anyway, you sounded really good. I want to emphasize that. Much better than my attempts. I was exactly like the Japanese people I met in Japan who would try speaking English but look silly instead because they're barely saying anything and looking all over the place as they try to remember or figure out how to say something in English. And you got it. I study Japanese because of Anime. I like foreign languages in general and studied German, French, Spanish on the side in college. But what I found was that I needed to combine a language with an activity I enjoyed or I wouldn't stick with it. This worked well for German because there are a lot of mystery and fantasy novels written by German authors. So I could read lots of books that I enjoyed. I somehow wasn't able to find similar content I enjoyed in Spanish so I never got too far with it. It would be useful in America though, after English it's the most common language by a lot. Anime is fun, entertaining, and makes for a good easy way to relax and practice Japanese. If you don't like anime I'm not sure what you would use to study Japanese unless you're in Japan.

[@GermaineJapanese]

Thank you for that! But truth be told, I had to practice that and make so many cuts just to make it sound smooth. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not being truthful enough in that way. But yea, recording and hearing oneself is so helpful. You suddenly hear all the mistakes you've made without realising.

[@kensanokaeri]

やっぱり、旅行をしてそこで良い経験をすると、その国に興味を持ちますよね～！　日本を好きになってくれてありがとう！　KZbinもして、日本語のレッスンも受けて、さらにはブログ！！　Germaineさん、その積極性は素晴らしいですよ！

[@GermaineJapanese]

ケン先生、ありがとうございました。いつも応援してくれて、励ましてくれてありがとうございます！

[@Rationalific]

Yeah... Anime...and video games, pretty much. Hehe. Well, kind of. I'm an American, and before school, I used to watch Sailor Moon, and then a few years later, I got into Dragon Ball Z. Of course, both were dubbed in English at that time, but I realized that this animation and these stories were not American at all. As I got more into anime, I really noticed that characters acted differently from how characters are portrayed in America. And that was still the 1990s, when America still had some good animation. It was during an American renaissance, before American animation went off a cliff where it is now just a splat at the bottom of a canyon. And even more than anime, most of the video games I loved came from Japan. I knew that something good was happening over there. When I went to Japan, all doubts went out the window. Japanese people did in fact act differently, and in many ways, I preferred their way of acting to the common American way. That's not to say that they don't have major problems, like working near to death...but I like Japan because the people (seen in very general terms) seem nice, respectful, and responsible, and they also produce some of the best entertainment in the world. Ironically, I don't think that the built environment of Japan is especially impressive at all. Traditional structures are few and far-between, and it's mostly modernist boxy stuff with powerlines strewn all over the streets. Neighborhoods look about the same, with few especially noteworthy features, unless it's a "scramble crossing" or there are some TVs on the sides of buildings. In that respect, Europe comes out way on top, even though Europeans (like the rest of humanity) have barely built anything especially beautiful or worthy of being a landmark in the past century. Europe is like a museum that allows us to see what was preserved and made it through to the current day unscathed, but if Europeans had no historical structures and instead had started building from scratch in 1945, their cities would likely be as architecturally bland as many Japanese cities are today. In the end, I think that Japan is kind of like a Galapagos for a modern human culture, and I hope it doesn't blend in to the hellscape that is modern-day Western culture (or for that matter, Chinese or other cultures). I hope it stays distinct and retains the positive aspects that it currently possesses.

[@GermaineJapanese]

Haha, actually, I really like the both the natural and built landscape of Japan. Not just the big flashy Tokyo buildings, but even the small dull houses in the inaka. I once said to my friend, places like Switzerland and New Zealand are incredibly beautiful, but Japan has a certain melancholic beauty that I'm just drawn to. I feel like those little houses somewhat representative of the Japanese people, modest and understated.

[@Rationalific]

@@GermaineJapanese The term "Wabisabi" comes to mind. But sometimes, the melancholic nature is more wabi-sobby. I wish I had gone out into the inaka a bit more. What I remember most is the "inaka" on the train line between Narita Airport and Tokyo. But hey, they did have a windmill! :)

[@gubugklarras505]

Aku suka chanelnya

[@クリスティナ-h2g]

日本に仕事して行きたいんですが勉強しております。

[@GermaineJapanese]

いいですね！一緒に頑張りましょう！

[@クリスティナ-h2g]

😍😍😍

[@matt-san7]

I'm studying it because I want to live in Japan.

[@GermaineJapanese]

Hope you get the chance to make that a reality!

[@matt-san7]

@@GermaineJapanese Just waiting for borders to open