WHY Your Japanese Speaking Sucks, and One Way to Fix It

You just started learning Japanese. You should already be thinking in Japanese. Here's why, and how. It will help you be a better Japanese speaker, writer, and even consumer!
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[@dashi3l]

I really like this style of content and I definitely think you should incorporate more videos like this into your channel every now and then. Videos like these are are extremely insightful and give a different perspective for other people who are not as experienced or adept in Japanese (or any language in general). Great video as usual!

[@ToKiniAndy]

Thank you! It's definitely a style of video I'd like to work on doing more of! =) It's nice to sprinkle these in between the bigger projects. I appreciate the feedback!

[@seanspartan2023]

I'm learning Mandarin and Japanese and it's very important for me to not only understand a translation, but also what each word means literally and how they're put together in each phrase. It helps me understand how native speakers think and how to make my speech sound more authentic. When studying a language, it's very important to also learn idioms, puns, sayings, proverbs, and slang. If you dont, you're really missing out.

[@ErdanMNE]

So you learn both languages at the same time?

[@Euruzilys]

I felt the moment I became fluent in English was when I started thinking in English, instead of Thai (my first language). My internal monologue became English. Trying to think in Japanese is pretty hard now tho. You are very right with speaking isn’t the same as translating. I’m fluent in both English and Thai, but damn translating between the 2 is still very tough for me.

[@ToKiniAndy]

It's definitely hard, but it's something fun to actively try and do! It sounds like you've had the experience with English, so I imagine you'll be able to pull it off in Japanese too! =)

[@christopheriman4921]

@@ToKiniAndy Fun fact I don't really think in my native language, which is English, I basically just have a fast translation layer to English from these ideal thoughts you were talking about. So I already know why it is slow to translate from my native language to japanese and already tried to begin solving it by disconnecting the association from the English word and connecting it to the idea. The reason my japanese would probably be unnatural and suck is because I don't know much japanese and because I am probably learning japanese in a not very commonly used way.

[@niconicorenro]

This video made me realize I never really actually knew what people meant by "think in the language you're learning." Thank you so much for this!

[@ToKiniAndy]

I'm glad to hear that I was able to clear that up! =)

[@angelicasmodel]

When writing essays in school, my Japanese teacher told us something similar. She told us not to think about what we wanted to say in English, but to think about what we could say in Japanese, and write that. If we were trying to maximise our marks for essays, she'd actually encourage us to use the recent grammar points we'd learnt. This is less useful for speaking, but it got us out of the mindset of translating from English, and directing our thoughts to a different way of expressing our ideas.

[@senyarizui9146]

I really did need to hear this from someone. Thank you. I've been writing to people in Japanese more recently and became frustrated with my thought process. It takes me far too long to form a sentence, when I could just make it simpler until I become more comfortable.

[@ToKiniAndy]

That's the way forward! =) I'm glad to hear that it was helpful!

[@Mediville]

I have heard alot spoken about "not translating" but the way you described it, about boiling down the idea and use the words you do know, made something click! Thank you!

[@carlhartmann7661]

Thank you for being honest and offering good advice. I had already been doing this and it has been working, but it's so refreshing to have a Japanese assistance video that isn't clickbait and offering basics that aren't helpful.

[@matthewmurphy3286]

really like this idea, as I was listening to you explaining the concept I was already finding it easier to construct basic sentences. Really enjoy your Genki lessons and these informative videos! ありがとうございます！

[@fariesz6786]

omg i love how you put the thoughts not being verbal at first thing. i used to think i was totally weird bc so many people told me they think in words whereas i didn't, but eventually i realised that i am just much more conscious about the non-verbal phase of my thoughts (even those that are too complex to verbalise or visualise)

[@pooks_]

this is facinating to me, i have a really hard time being aware of that abiguous phase, and thinking with words or visualizations comes very naturalto me. do you at least picture something in your head or do you lack anything but the concept?? and if its just the concept, what is actually happening then?

[@fariesz6786]

@@pooks_ it often transitions to something picture-like very quickly, though it depends on the individual thought. also nowadays i start verbalising my thoughts within like half a second, but getting there took years of practice, actively translating the more abstract thing in my head into words. yet occasionally i still find myself with a very clear and concise thought in my head but don't even know where to start verbalising it (usually when i have an epiphany about a complex social interaction or some other complex system with multiple simultaneously acting agents in it). i may still get _some_ visuals out of it, but they usually feel more like an impression or association rather than like a blueprint of the system i have in my head at that moment.

[@genisysconner2582]

I just want to say thank you for everything 🙏

[@kooken58]

Just wanted to say thanks for all your content! Brushing up on my Japanese for a visit to see my inlaws in Japan. My wife and I actually will be in Nagano for a few days, we intend to go to Takamine Onsen.

[@ToKiniAndy]

Nice! I've never been to Takamine Onsen but it looks beautiful! Have a great time! =)

[@kammy912]

This was eye-opening. We need more uploads🙇‍♂

[@ToKiniAndy]

I'm glad to hear that! Yes, I need to do more similar videos. =)

[@Snow-Willow]

Funny enough, I first heard this advice from an old KZbin channel called Cure Dolly. So I'm really glad to see Andy made a video on it too with his own explanation and tips for it. Definitely one of the hardest things for me with Japanese though, is figuring out the turn of phrase. The way they say things isn't always the same way we would do it in English. My favorite example of this being 道が分かりますか？ I want to say, "do you know the way" but from what I've learned the Japanese phrasing for that would be this which is more literally, "do you understand the streets". That kind of stuff is what really trips me up and makes the learning process awkward. You can see the logic behind it, but it's definitely not an intuitive way to phrase things for an English native.

[@ProfKisuto]

Dude this is incredible advice! It's SO difficult to remove english from the equation lol.

[@ToKiniAndy]

Glad to hear you think so. Thanks for watching! =)

[@kira_y]

I started thinking about this before, and I think the truth is it's difficult to translate everything and still have a conversation flow the way you want it to. People tend to rely on social cues, and translating makes it a bit unnatural in that the nuances are different. I think this subject is actually a deep one. It's very intriguing.

[@kamfuku]

This was amazing. Thanks for the advice Andy, I'll put it to good use

[@ToKiniAndy]

Glad to hear it, and hope you find it helpful!

[@m1ke273]

Even though I’ve been studying English for 12 years (it was a mandatory subject in school), only 3 years ago when I was facing the decision to study abroad that taught myself this skill. Now as I’m taking baby steps in learning Japanese and Spanish, I find this skill is extremely helpful. Thanks for pointing out this one because we subconsciously ignore inner thoughts in languages that we are comfortable with rather than the one we are trying to learn

[@ToKiniAndy]

Glad you've been finding the skill useful! =)

[@Dad-fu5bw]

Andy you're seriously the best Thank you for all of your help. あなたの動画はいつもためになるよ

[@five-toedslothbear4051]

Thanks for the video. It helps me remember to get out of the "translation trap," and that Japanese relies heavily on context and uses a lot fewer auxiliary words than English. I had to look at our next lesson for the verb "to buy", but "pan o kaimasu"? Don't know how to say "...at the" yet. I'm in a class locally where we're using Japanese for Busy People. I know not many recommend that book, but what I like is that I'm learning from situations that happen in life, and I'm learning how, presumably, someone would normally say those things in Japanese. From that, I'm working on doing some of my inner dialogue in Japanese.

[@ToKiniAndy]

I hear that many people enjoy Japanese for Busy People. Glad to hear that you are finding it useful! =) Thanks for watching!

[@yordysantana2453]

thats what i always try to do when i speak english, cuz my native languague is spanish but i want to learn japanese and this channel is helping me so much im learnign japanese little by little and i hope in the future i can have a good or decent japanese speaking and listening

[@sfgarctic]

Excellent advice! ありがとうございました😊

[@Arctagon]

Surprisingly thoughtful video. Good of you to spread the message. I've been doing this for a long time, after realising that this concept-level thinking (sometimes called mentalese) mentioned in the beginning of the video is essentially just a kind of feeling, though I haven't been doing this as a means to improve my speaking, but as a way to learn new stuff faster. This is the reason I still often use a bilingual dictionary, despite my relatively advanced stage. When I learn a new word, or review it, I focus on calling up that feeling, in effect training myself to make that association between word and feeling. A language I am already much more adept at, such as English, has already got an extensive library of such word-feeling associations, and I often leverage that to gain easy access to as close a feeling to what I am after as I can realistically get to, when the Japanese definition does not do this adequately. And then I try to pair that feeling with the word in question that way.

[@arthursalvadore]

Speaking as someone who flunked N5, I find this extremely useful! The distinction between the skills needed to do translating and the skills needed to do speaking is important to understand. As a native speaker of English, Tokini Andy understands the massive linguistic differences between English and Japanese, and he is able to use this understanding to help the rest of us get over the high hurdle of acquiring fluency in Japanese.

[@light535]

It's interesting because english is my second language (Spanish is my first language) so I have to use english as a "proxy" to learn Japanese because there is a more variety of resources and study material and I have never thought about it this way. Really great video!

[@ToKiniAndy]

Thank you! I've always loved the idea of learning a 3rd language using the 2nd!

[@suhamail1998]

this is actually a great advise thank you andy. english is my second language and when i was still first learning it in school in second or third grade, my dad once told me that if i wanted to be good in english i need to start thinking in english, so i did. to this day, i still think mostly in english and it helped me in great ways since then. language learning is a continuous process but this is something everyone should do from the start

[@ToKiniAndy]

Agreed! Sounds like your Dad is pretty smart! =)

[@Brocollipy]

Great advice thank you. It keeps amazing me how different Japanese is from English.. and it’s very easy to get lost trying to translate anything beyond the most basic sentences. I shall try putting this into practice!

[@ToKiniAndy]

Thank you! Yes, that's another reason why this is so important for Japanese. Direct translations almost NEVER work. So it's better just to use what you know. =) I wish you luck in your attempts!

[@Galacticremix]

Wow I really needed to hear this, thank you Andy! I do tend to do this vocalization and thinking in English, which slows me down a lot when I have to write passages for school and what not. My thought process isn't in Japanese at all and I shy away from going with simple or what I already know because I want to sound "good." I think the exercises idea is a really good one, can't wait for them!

[@ToKiniAndy]

You're welcome! Glad it was helpful. =) I will probably take me some time to get those exercises worked out, but it's definitely something I want to do. =)

[@unclespooky]

very helpful. thank you. I found myself doing just that when writing my nikki. it was becoming to complicated, as I was looking terms I hadn't studied yet. then my sensei reminded me the point of my nikki is not actually the story, but the grammar. Your tips have helped me to remember to break it down.

[@ToKiniAndy]

That's exactly it! It can be great for trying to express things using what you already know! =) I'm glad that it was helpful!

[@adilator]

This video is probably the most important advice for learning to SPEAK Japanese better. Now I challenge you to make one as good to help people UNDERSTAND Japanese speakers.

[@ToKiniAndy]

ALMOST the same advice! haha But yes, that's next isn't it. =)

[@gamer_DJM]

This video perfectly encapsulates what I have recently started to do to improve my Japanese production. I would love to see exercises that work on this on the website, and will definitely be keeping an eye out!

[@ducaveli]

This crystallised the concept in my head and helped me so much! Thank you for the perfect video that I needed

[@MidosujiSen]

Your content has been especially great lately. I really liked the reading competition video you did like 2 months ago in particular.

[@ToKiniAndy]

Thank you! Been working hard on making fun and useful stuff lately. =) I'm glad you enjoyed that one! It was SO much work, and so fun to make.

[@HaiTomVlog]

I’m definitely guilty of translating in my head, both in speaking and listening. I find not trying to internally translate while I’m listening seems to let me absorb more of the meaning - but I still get lost pretty quick! Going to keep working on it though - thanks for the ideas, Andy!

[@ToKiniAndy]

Yeah, it takes some time to get used to! But in time it's worth it. =) Thanks for watching!

[@arzelaascoli6765]

This is super insightful! Do you have any videos that talk about yourself and how you became fluent in Japanese?

[@kyleclark8958]

I've tried studying Japanese before the current effort I am making now. And those times and this time feel a tad different because I've been teaching myself to read the Hiragana and Katakana. And I feel like that has made a huge difference too. I see the hiragana and immediately use the sounds so while I am studying because I'm working with Japanese Hiragana, Katakana, and some Kanji I am "thinking" more in the language. The more you immerse the easier it is from my limited experience so far. Translation is art and interpretation in my opinion, so I got out of the habit quickly. It was actually my Nana who speaks German as a first language who told me to not translate in my head as best I can. She told me a time she told a German joke in English and everyone just looked at her like she was crazy. Her lesson on that was that things don't always translate the way you want them to so you can't rely on your English to inform whatever language you are trying to learn or you are going to sound weird. A lot of jokes are word play though so I suspect that is part of the trouble.

[@ToKiniAndy]

It sounds like your Nana is smart! Jokes are SO hard to make work in other languages... Almost impossible! So I completely agree with her and with your opinion on translation. Glad to hear this time around learning Japanese is going well!

[@JapaneseJourney]

x “How can I translate this to Japanese” o “How can I express this in Japanese?” Thankfully I never had the inclination to do the former😅

[@ToKiniAndy]

That's the essence of it! =)

[@Nyzuuka]

Thanks a lot for your video, I’m going to Japan to spend at least one year with a WHV, I’m close to the JLPT 4 Level and my speaking ability is « not bad » so I can start thinking in Japanese even it’s just idea of the context like you explained, i seriously think that it could help me to improve even faster. Thanks again 🙏😊

[@ToKiniAndy]

That's exciting! I hope you can enjoy your time here when you can come. I also hope that starting to try and think in Japanese can help. =) Thank you for watching!

[@kenshin2324]

Well said Andy

[@LostCentury91]

BANGER! GO OFF! 流石ときに先生

[@Vanessa-so9hn]

Thinking in simpler terms is a good tip because people will probably still understand what you're trying to say and you don't waste so much time thinking about what you want to say. I tend to be very impatient when it comes to language learning and it's frustrating when I can't express what's going on in my head. But I have to remind myself that I didn't learn English over night, so I can't expect that from Japanese.

[@ToKiniAndy]

That's exactly it! And a lot of the times, that shorter sentence ends up being more natural. It's very annoying when you can't say what you want, but I agree that it's important to be patient and trust the process. =)

[@Japaneseconversation-with-Masa]

Thank you Andy, this video is useful for me who lean English for2 year. Still now I think in Japanese, when I speak English.I I’m gonna try to think in English, even though It’s not exactly same what I want to say.

[@ToKiniAndy]

Thanks for watching! It's difficult, but I think it can help a lot! =) Good luck!

[@KeiVC]

My experience with learning Japanese and learning Chinese was very different and that it's very easy to tell which language I'm more confident in because I'm not using these direct translations. Part of it is also practice verbalising thoughts. As well as over time, learning how native speakers express certain ideas and how I can incoporate those patterns into my own speech. I learnt that there are just some phrases that would not translate well so I use other ways to do so, putting less emphasis on the word-for-word but essentially hone in the mian idea. As much as I am aiming to be creative in expression as I am using English, but if that means losing the meaning of what I'm trying to say, I would rather stick to simpler expressions that I know would get my point across. You've really eloquently expressed this idea in this video! And I hope other Japanese laerners out there realise this.

[@oliviaandati]

thankyou so much ,this video was so helpful

[@Crackalacking_Z]

Thinking in your target language is a great exercise and the fastest way to real time processing ...

[@ToKiniAndy]

Agreed! Thanks for watching. =)

[@spacethreads]

Thank you so much for this video Andy!

[@ToKiniAndy]

You're welcome! Thank you for watching. =)

[@JogosMofados]

Nice, simple but makes sense.

[@Danbu1988]

一月くらい日本語を勉強しました。新人の日本語ですよ。だから、アンディさんの助言はちょと難しい。でも、頑張りますよ。ようつべビデオしてくれてありがとう。安藤さんお元気ですか。

[@IsoIsak]

A lot of thinking is done in a language, as in the thought and the vocalization is done simultaneously. This is especially true for the more complex thoughts. I know this specifically because I switch my thinking language quite a lot. I think about half of my thoughts in English and about half in Swedish, but I'm trying to squeeze some Japanese thinking in there too. I love this point, and it's really good advice to follow.

[@meihara9415]

Hah.. I speak hungarian as my native language, and when I learned english, it was incredibly hard to speak fluently.. soo.. I gave up for a long time, and only read manga/novels in class (fortunately, my teacher let me, as she realized that I had no truble aswering the questions I was given after some thinking). This went on for 2 years (basically until graduation). And I hardly ever spoke even in class, but somehow managed to speak better, than any of my classmates. Why have I written all of that? Because this video made me realize that it doesn't come natural to everybody, and wanted to share how I managed it. (My friends can either speak similarly well, or never reached a level for this to be a problem, so I had no basis IRL) NOW BEFORE EVERYONE DROPS THEIR TEXTBOOKS! I was already learning english for over 2 years at that point, and had the basic grammar down to a T (or I'd like to say so, but past tenses still give me a headache somethimes), so it didn't just 'occure'. Still, reading literally thousands of pages in english/cosuming media primarily in english really helped me to speak without a hitch. Now I'm in the process of achieving the same with japanese, fortunately, hungarian grammar structure is quite similar to that of japanese. Why I wrote all of this under a quarter year old YT video I just found? I dunna.. I guess I just wanna say that reading a fkton can help you get better in speaking a language.(?)

[@kadoferusuraimu]

Thanks, this is good to keep in mind. I had figured this out at some point when learning my second language (French), but with Japanese I think this is even more important to keep in mind because the structure is so different from English. On another note, if you don't mind the feedback, I found the camera zooming in and out a little distracting/dizzying; I'd prefer a constant zoom. But maybe that's just me.

[@Yotanido]

I've avoided direct translations from the very start. It is always my goal to translate from "meaning" (as I call it) to the actual language, rather than insert another step. This is pretty important for production, but if you need to translate to your native language first for comprehension, you are at a ridiculous disadvantage. Especially since translation is actually harder than just speaking and understanding both languages. There is a kind of silly term for this "meaning", but I can't remember what it is. It's something along the lines of "brainese". It probably does help that I already speak two languages at a native level. (Though I do have a slight accent when speaking English, but that is irrelevant here) As such I'm already accustomed to thinking in different languages. I have to say though, it's really hard in Japanese. When I practice Japanese, I do tend to only think in Japanese... or try, at least... but the expressiveness just isn't there. But in all fairness, I'm not really taking it seriously. I may have started learning Japanese 15 years ago, but only really studied very sporadically.

[@_anime_kirei_]

Perfect video 🙌

[@ToKiniAndy]

Thank you! I hope it can help! =)

[@hiddensamurai]

I don't even know all the basics of japanese grammar but while studying hiragana I always thought about this and asked myself. Why I'm trying to think what I'm going to say in spanish and then translate? I was skeptical about my own "process" of thinking how to even formulate what I'm going to say in japanese. This video definitively helped. Now I'm going to ignore my "little spanish devil". Great video! Thanks Andy!

[@ToKiniAndy]

Love it. "little spanish devil!" haha Thank you for watching! I hope it can help. =)

[@KyushuTrail]

Spitting facts!

[@ToKiniAndy]

Ha! Yesss! Thank you for watching! =)

[@demoness2005]

I never thought about it like this, but now that you mention it, I do tend to automatically think of meanings without words for Japanese words or expressions that I know really well (ie - things I learned a long long time ago when I lived in Japan that stuck with me all these years). I never did understand back then how a Japanese friend could read something in a Japanese magazine and understand it, but not be able to directly translate it to me in English, but I understand why now. There are some things I understand, but don't ask me to explain why I know in English. LOL! Anyway, I think a great way to learning with this method is - you know how in Genki they just give the Japanese and English words, or in some other places you get the Japanese word, English and a picture? Well, perhaps removing the English word, and provide a picture or an illustration of an action. Like buying the bread, we know what the action is in our own language without giving words to it, so then we learn what it is in Japanese. So when you hear or see the word/phrase, the image comes to mind. Just a thought, and I think I'm going to give it a try with some words that I can read and/or say, but somehow just never could remember what they mean.

[@ToKiniAndy]

Yeah, it can be VERY difficult to explain Japanese in English. Especially if you learned the word FIRST in Japanese... hah And yes, pictures can be great. I often do a Google image search instead of looking on the dictionary. Especially for nouns.

[@sasuke1243]

what I came up with was スーパに行って、パンを買います。I don't know how native this is, but I do know I only just learned teh 買っていく・買ってくる expressions in my ODU class, and they weren't really emphasized. I'd love some exercises on how to flip this switch, cause my thoughts are words. (not like images, it's like word lists) I was so frustrated when my ODU proff for my intermediate courses stopped giving us more and more native / natural / complex vocabulary to use. xP

[@jonz9296]

Has no idea about this until I got native level in Chinese. I just… express. But it took a while before that process took hold and sometimes I’ll legit forget entire concepts and how to say them in both languages 😂

[@baliorne]

I always think of languages as learning now words for things you already know, instead of translating the words

[@Jhud69]

I'm Polish and I think pretty much exclusively in English now. I even swear in English sometimes which if you know Polish is a pretty big downgrade lol. Thinking in Japanese or Spanish (the two languages I aim to learn now) sure is a goal for me in the future.

[@UltraPoyoColt]

This seems interesting.. I might try this sometime. Neat!

[@ToKiniAndy]

I hope it helps if you do! =)

[@greggaines3482]

Brilliant! Being able to "use" a language is the goal of language learners and is often mistaken for translation, which is a very advance skill. Thinking n a language is the key. If you can manage lessons and exercise to foster this sort of learning process... WOW! Simply WOW! To be able to break free from MEMORIZING words/grammars relative to their translation into another language and moving on to KNOWING words/grammars outright would be great. BRAVO!!!

[@ToKiniAndy]

I don't know if I'll be able to manage is completely, but I'm going to try! =) Thanks for watching!

[@niikasd]

It's important to remember that the goal is to be understood, not to express your thoughts exactly as you would in your first language. Monolinguals, in my experience, often link their identity too strongly with the phrases they would use in their first language. I don't know how many Japanese people have asked me how to say "otsukaresama" in English as if it's obvious it must exist.

[@JelloFluoride]

It kind of made me laugh that the best I could do was "I bread store go" but it also shows me that I have more vocabulary to brush up on. It was a fun problem solving exercise! Thank you!

[@ToKiniAndy]

I'm glad you enjoyed that! =D

[@Itzak15]

THIS!! I improved a lot when I tried to express my thoughts rather than translate what I'd say in my native language. Ask yourself "What would a native speaker have said?" or "How can I express what I want to say with words I know".

[@ToKiniAndy]

Yup! Thanks for watching!

[@JonnyOxtricks]

Sorry - late the part... AMIRIGHT?! Anyways, so hello, Jonathan です。 been living in Japan, working for a Japanese company for almost one year. Although my Japanese has greatly improved I still find that I'm too scared to think in Japanese in case my grammar is wrong. Especially as I don't have a teacher to check in with frequently. I'm just wondering, if I don't know how to formulate the sentences of a particular topic - should I try, even if there's a chance I'll create bad habits? Love the videos!

[@susancannmusic5895]

I have a rare thing where I don't 'vocalise' my thoughts, I don't generally think in words, so it's a bit easier for me to do this 😊

[@petersillie7421]

I always found it fascinating how, when learning a new language, I would sometimes form random sentences in that language in my head, and after that think "wait, was that even correct?" only to realise after 10 seconds of thinking that "yes, it somehow was exactly what I was trying to say and all correct as well" :D

[@JSmithSpeaks]

Really good video! I would like some advice... I am a student of Japanese culture and linguistics who wants to work as a translator for the USAF. I have learned how to associate an airplane and its related words in Japanese naturally, but I don’t know how to do the same for new vocabulary and grammar. Can you give me some advice on how to use this ideology to learn new words and grammar in Japanese? Thanks c:

[@mirandaart3012]

got me thinking about thinking. 🤔

[@ToKiniAndy]

One of my favorite things to do. ;-)

[@lightfeather7948]

I dont wanna admit it but trying to translate "I'm going to the store to buy bread " took me a while. My translation was "パンは店で買う" not even sure if its correct. edit: I probably wrote it incorrectly

[@DoinStuff4Life]

I have to start your classes all over again. I've been paying for months but not using them.

[@ToKiniAndy]

Send me a message and I'll refund a few months that you weren't able to use it. =)

[@DoinStuff4Life]

@@ToKiniAndy I appreciate that but you dont need to, It is my responsibility to be there, I need to just do what I intended. I think I just got frustrated cause i'd nail the lesson and as soon as I logged off, forget everything. Andy you rock, thank you so much for everything.

[@roufas7595]

Yup, totally agree, people think they "think" all the time whatever it is they are going to do, but in reality if you pay attention when you feel like taking a shower or "buying bread" because you are hungry, you 99% of the time never even vocalize those things in your mind, they come mostly as feelings or images and you just go and do the thing. Speaking 3 languages before I started japanese, I can tell you that when I think about the "word" "apple", the image of an apple comes to mind, not the word "manzana"(spanish), nor "maçã" (portuguese my native language), the literal idea pops in my head, and then maybe the feeling of chewing on the apple, and its flavor and smell. Language is just a tool that allows us to express ideas to which we connect words to. A lot of the times the same idea will not use the same words, specially when it comes to idiomatic phrases.

[@ToKiniAndy]

That's it! =) It's just sort of floating there, and you KNOW what it is without even having to "think" about it.

[@goigadol1420]

when you start to lose ways to say things in your native language you know youv'e done it, happened to me with english, hopefully the same with japanese

[@kingjulian1202]

I feel like once you master thinking in another language, just forming speech naturally is way easier, for example my native language is German, but I can write my ideas freely and almost unrestricted on the spot. Like I don't have to translate stuff, I just create the vocalization in my target language. However, whenever I try to vocalize in Japanese, I go into long monologues in Japanese about the meaning of single words. When I'm in a conversation with JP ppl tho, it also vocalize in Japanese naturally

[@ToKiniAndy]

Yes, it becomes much easier. =)

[@TenchiBushi]

I did those mistakes exactly my first year in learning. It wasn't until a friend of mine corrected me. I speak limited "caveman" Japanese but it's a far cry from what was before.

[@SkaterStimm]

Funny enough I am better at translating English into Japanese or vise versa than to naturally come up with complete Japanese sentences to express my thoughts. However the translating takes me a while as well but I can figure out what is completely wrong. Like your example "I will run to the store to pick up bread" is a very good example of something I naturally would know would be impossible to translate without rewording. "I am going to the store, I will buy bread", or "because I need bread I will go to the store", are much easier to translate. However I have no idea what is most natural for Japanese to say.

[@ToKiniAndy]

Finding the most natural way is a matter of lots of exposure over time I'd say. =)

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

5:09 yeah I try to stick to what the point is find the way it comes across.

[@Siinory]

That's literally what I did for English. I can translate on the spot since a few years now while it's not my native language (Hello from France!)

[@ToKiniAndy]

Hello from Japan! Thanks for watching. =)

[@Roxas13]

Hey Andy, not sure if you've talked about this before but figured I'd ask anyway. So basically the number one problem I have with learning Japanese is simply remembering a lot of the vocab that I learn. When I learn a new word while reading a story book, or watching anime or whatever I tend to have absolutely no trouble remembering it, but when I learn a new word on a flash card I just can't seem to remember them at all, no matter how many times I review it. When I hear/see a word that I learned later I always remember the meaning but my problem is really remembering the words from my flashcards when I need to use them. Not sure what exactly I can do to help this, but if you have any advice please let me know.

[@jays8083]

I have a similar issue. I learned a lot of vocab through studying kanji on wanikani, and while I get it right there, I can't pull it from memory when forming a sentence. I don't wanna reply on his behalf, but I think Andy recommended studying vocab words with example sentences. It helps with learning how the word is used in context, not just a flash card, and it should stick even more if you try making your own sentences too. I only started doing it recently, and I think it's good practice. I just need to learn more grammar so I can make more sentences.

[@Roxas13]

@@jays8083 Thanks for the advice man! That makes perfect sense to me, I’ll definitely try that out.

[@christendombaffler]

As a non-native speaker, I started picking up bits and pieces of English at the age of 3, mainly through untranslated cartoons, other TV broadcasts and, eventually, the internet. At some point I noticed I was doing most of my thinking directly in English, yet somehow it took me a very long time to pick up on how the absence of this factor was why I had such a hard time learning other languages like French or German back in school. Life circumstances have led to me greatly slowing down the amount of learning and immersion I do on a daily basis, but the grind has never even come close to coming to a halt, and a lot of that is because of how much I've prioritized this. Not only do I trust the process, but I also trust that the gains I make are genuine, because I *know* that it's already working for me on a daily basis with another language. It's almost like a cheat code, the kind that teaches you a fantastic habit.

[@TheWaterMiners]

I'm going to try to not focus on output until I get a lot more input. I feel like if I get a lot of input of natural Japanese and internalize it, it'll be a lot easier to do output.

[@ToKiniAndy]

It will still take lots of practice when you start, regardless, but it can certainly help. =)

[@rizzgod-wj6ty]

Yep iam learning japanese too i watched same kind of video on xiaomanyc KZbin channel it happens because of people mostly learn from textbooks and you actually don't say things exactly like textbooks it sounds robotic and unnatural that's why you need to learn language not only from textbooks but from movies news also talking with a local language speaker would be more good etc thus it increases your ability too think naturally in that specific language

[@ToKiniAndy]

It can definitely help, I agree. Even if you did use a textbook though, using what you know from them to express your thoughts until you learn better ways to say it is still a good bet. =)

[@neversleep4334]

Love the tips for learning! This is something I've been struggling with recently while learning new grammar points. I feel that I try to translate too much of the sentence while trying to grasp how the grammar changes the sentence. Not sure how much I should be trying to make sense of it in English first >.< Probably way too much 1 to 1 translations going on in my head during the process.

[@daniarisroilov2136]

Me trying to learn English and seeing the poster: something went wrong...

[@Psychommuniter]

I'm Catalan, i have learned spanish in catalan, and english in spanish, now i'm learning japanese in english. I'm sorry but I think IN as well as I can.

[@EastWindCommunity1973]

I thought my carefree morning was going alright until a stern look from thumbnail Sensei Andy whipped me into shape!

[@ToKiniAndy]

😂😂😂

[@boshlevison9341]

I'm more of an advanced learner (~n2 level) and I've never been able to work on this explicitly. There's a certain amount of base I know I don't struggle with coming up straight to Japanese, but anything even slightly complicated I have to pause and think on. I can say a ton still in my comfort zone, but to keep pushing forward I want to push beyond it. My comprehension level is significantly higher than my conversation level. I'm not like actually forming an entire English sentence in my brain or anything but it still feels like I'm trying to map English logical structure and grammar on to Japanese the second I don't instantly know what to say from immersion. I've heard this advice a lot and I believe it but it's so unactionable which is frustrating (as a learner). The only way I get better at speaking so far has been output lessons and immersion time. Do you think something like narrating your day to yourself in Japanese could help? The idea would be to force yourself to practice that thoughts to second language pathway. Maybe one could also take notes while you go about things that you didn't know how to phrase and study it later.

[@ToKiniAndy]

If, when narrating, you restrict yourself to Japanese you know to be correct then it can be helpful. If you have any doubts that what you just vocalized in Japanese might be incorrect, it's probably best to put that aside so you don't end up getting into the habit of thinking that particular thing until you know it's correct. Journaling can be great, as are output lessons as you mentioned, or just speaking with someone if possible.

[@CarmenOfSpades]

Not living in Japan and being surrounded by Japanese on a daily basis makes thinking in the language pretty tough

[@stuch1435]

I'm into my second week of travelling around Japan and when I leave a city, I do a little Instagram post in Japanese for the people back home (with an English translation). I do what you happen to have suggested here, look nothing up and use words/grammar I know to describe the experience or thing. I'm translating events more than words. Here's the latest; 昨晩、道頓堀で雪を２時間待ちました。無し。今朝起きたとき、無し。大坂城に行って、嬉しくなりました。 大坂をたくさん楽しみました。今日、広島に行きます。 Plug that into Google just to double check my particles and when I read back the English translation, I felt underwhelmed. Then remembered that it came to me without a dictionary or textbook and it's all worth it.

[@ToKiniAndy]

That's great! Yes, it might come up simple, but being able to create even simple sentences in a new language is a huge win. =) Especially when it's comprehensible. Keep it up!

[@MysticMicrowave]

I, the individual currently engaging in this conversation, hereby declare and proclaim my imminent departure from my present location in order to undertake a journey towards a commercial establishment commonly referred to as a "store" with the explicit intention and purpose of engaging in a transaction involving the acquisition of a food item known as "bread."

[@h42cal31]

So many unanswered questions 😂

[@adityaroychowdhury3709]

read the title, and THOUGH "hehe yea that's me"

[@ToKiniAndy]

Not for long though! You've got this. =)

[@betafishie]

really interesting video

[@ToKiniAndy]

Glad to hear it. Thanks for watching!

[@narsplace]

I have never done that before.

[@ariah5093]

I'm struggling with auto-translating kanji to English, first to understand the meaning, then I seem to forget the pronunciation in Japanese.

[@CmdrEsteban]

Great advice. I wonder though: do people really internally vocalise the whole padded-out phrase “I’m gonna run to the store to pick up some bread”? Seems excessive; maybe it’s an American thing. For me simply “I’m going to the shops for bread” is natural and suffices as a vocalisation in English, which matches nicely with the simplicity of my Japanese level. Now ask me if I can vocalise the Japanese equivalent of thoughts like “I wonder how much local price rises of bread are correlated with grain shortages caused by the supply problems arising from the Russo-Ukrainian war.” Nope! Give me another ten years…

[@NexxGenDrue]

This is my biggest problem. I’m a year in and in a conversation on italki and only the few things I say over and over are natural not translated. Everything else is trying to translate my sentence and it takes me forever to spit it out. I always thought it was just a matter of repetition. Now I’m thinking it’s cus of how I’m thinking while thinking. My mind is now twisted.

[@ToKiniAndy]

Repetition can help you naturally get into this sort of mode. But making an effort to get into the mode is faster (though very hard at first!). =) I hope it can help!

[@kvcsnikol]

YES

[@xnohr4]

Do you have any tips for those of us that don’t have an internal monologue? I only recently learned about this difference myself, and it explained why I struggle so much to “think” in Japanese. Any knowledge on this topic?

[@ToKiniAndy]

I am aware that some people don't seem to vocalize their thoughts. In a way, you may have an advantage over us vocalizers! Unfortunately, I am NOT like this, so I'm not able to give specific advice. BUT, I imagine that the same still applies. Trying to express the thought object in your mind (even if you haven't vocalized) using only the Japanese you've learned. =)

[@xnohr4]

Thank you!