Addressing the accusations of my... negativity 知り合い、同年代、同僚、同級生

[@ClaudRodr]

Nothing negative in my view. Reality sometimes is hard, simple as that. Learning Japanese is no easy task and it is ok if anyone starts something to later realize it was not for them. Life changes, our goals and needs may change with that. Simple.

[@tompluto]

Back in 2014, I got into studying Japanese and stumbled upon YesJapan. I watched hours and hours of the George & Keiko episodes, the old videos of George as a tour guide, and just learned a ton. George's energy is overwhelmingly contagious, and his passion for teaching Japanese left a huge impression on me as a young man. This ultimately inspired me to try teaching English overseas. Because I decided to invest my time learning Japanese, I went back and forth to Japan, Korea, and eventually The Philippines, working for a Japanese company and speaking Japanese on a daily basis for work. George has said this proverb many times, and I have made it my mantra: 塵も積もれば山となる。This phrase is the truth. Specks of dust, when piled up CAN become a mountain. Your efforts, however small, really do matter in the end. Thank you for all the years of lessons, George Sensei. You are truly such an inspiration.

[@japanesefromzero]

Wow. You’ve done so much! I’m glad I was part of your adventures.

[@delrey28]

This is a fantastic video format. Learning lots.

[@JohnM...]

To me, the fact that Japanese is ‘むずい’ is what makes it interesting and fun to learn and practice! It’s just SO fascinating to find out how certain things are structured.

[@russellward4624]

Anything worthwhile doesn't come easy.

[@basstheory9384]

You're just being real!

[@sedd1234]

I love the style of questions in this, with the description in japanese and then we pick the most accurate japanese word.

[@prudencemoonbear3077]

I'm glad you're being real. I've told my teen son this countless times. I said it's going to be hard, it's going to be frustrating, and it's going to be a long road. If you accept that challenge, then I will support you. ( just to say, I could have easily just taught him Spanish or Portuguese 😂) As long as he knows what he's getting into, it's all good. I appreciate your honesty! You are most welcome in our house, sir!

[@peroqiuu]

めっちゃ幸せそうな家族ですね！！ Using the grammar that i just learned!

[@brinjpn]

Not negative, realistic! I watched your video with OrientalPearl and honestly I have become super aware of the lies so many "language influencers" feed others.

[@borisbosnjak9772]

These intros are mad good!

[@MrGuitar-z7c]

This style of video is really great, seeing the translation process in real time is really useful for learning how to deconstruct sentences. Thanks for putting the time in George.

[@rocklol2335]

wow, that's actually an awesome japanese lesson (I thought it would be a long rant in english, as the title suggests)

[@pahoopahoo]

57:30- 私は日本人ですがここは「あんまり怖いって思うってことがなくて」と言ってますね。 日本語母語話者ならはっきりわかります。 この話してる方が早口で終盤の「てことがなくて」の部分、特に「ことが」の箇所がほとんど子音を発音していないために「おおお」みたいに聞こえるかもしれませんが、音の数やリズムと微かな子音ではっきりと「てことがなくて」と言っているとわかります。

[@yana_v_v]

Thank you SO much for this video! I'm still a newbie and only understood the first part of your video, but I needed to hear that. :) Love your coursebooks, your videos. Please, keep doing what you do.

[@misterwhyte]

I suspect the people accusing you of negativity are young and a little naive. When you get older, you realize there are things you'll start and never finish, and that's okay. There are things I tried but realized after a while that I wasn't enjoying the grind and so I stopped. When you're genuinely passionate about something, you won't mind the tougher parts. So I agree with you, it's okay to quit. Of course, some people quit too quickly and that's a problem too. Life is a question of balance and putting your energy where it matters most.

[@fitzshadow]

Great video! Very insightful and a fun way of learning.

[@JustIzzan]

I'm at 15:35 right now and this is so much fun already. Hope we get more videos like this in the future will be 100% 楽しみ

[@japanesefromzero]

I plan on continuing this style. Thanks for the feedback.

[@Port712]

明菜がデビューする前、スター誕生というスター発掘番組に出演して優勝しました。 その頃から明菜に注目し、彼女がデビューしてからずっと彼女のファンです。

[@JohnDoe-oo9ll]

The family picture got me ::tears of joy::

[@Domus42]

I like how u mentioned Asaka Yui and Nakamori Akina. It was a nice touch. You definitely have a good taste!

[@christineginn5991]

56:27 納棺師 would be like a mortician or an embalmer in English, perhaps? Just a thought I had 😊

[@JustIzzan]

wow the last story was intense haha

[@japanesefromzero]

I love the description of how you become a taxi driver the most.

[@StormyOne1]

I wish people would make language learning videos in this format for Korean, Cantonese, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Thai, Hindi, Tamil, Mandarin, Vietnamese and French George, your format of teaching is flawless. It got me conversational in Japanese in less than a year

[@ecgaming222]

the jab at japanesepod 101 bro i hate those guys the most unrealistic mfs

[@Zenchi01]

Hey George I want to send you something, where can I do that?

[@japanesefromzero]

A physical item or a message? If it’s a message I’ve @PolyglotGeorge on Discord.

[@fataniheart]

The lighting is good.

[@japanesefromzero]

Yes!!!! Thank you so much for saying. I might have finally figured out the best lighting. It only took 22 years of making videos. 😭

[@sesshomaru9512]

19:04 Sentences like this are the reason why I give up on Japanese. I KNOW the vocabulary, but I still just don't know what's going on. Is it "He didn't say his age"? Is "I didn't say my age"? I don't know! Listening to Japanese out of context makes me go insane.

[@japanesefromzero]

Even with context it can be a メス犬!

[@masayama1618]

41:48 Basically お天道様（おてんとうさま） means the sun. But sometimes it can b a metaphor of God. 49:51 The reason isn't an earthquake. Look at the bottom right, there is an important key word 雨雲（あまぐも） and rain clouds map. That clouds map looks like typhoon. In those days aichi prefecture had very heavy rain and broke surface of a mountain. 51:37 That japanese subtitle is an interpretative translation from aich dialects to standard japanese. He said 「話を聞くと、うん、行方不明とか言っとるだね」 うん don't have meanings. It just a filler phrase. I'm not sure but I guess とか. On going form of verb "ている" changes to "とるだね" in aichi area. 1:08:39 Location of quote mark is wrong. 一人だけ「彼、他に・・・」 is correct location. And he doesn't say は.

[@MrLanguageFanatic]

So geeeewd 私はJapaneseFromZerpが好きですね~

[@mrlucius57]

what happened to the animated story times tho ? :(

[@ManuelSuarez-s1y]

Been there, done that! Still kicking!!

[@7quantumphysics]

How’d you know I didn’t close my eyes 😮 Also, instead of 親友、 I’ve been using 友人 (because it sounds like ‘Eugene’)

[@japanesefromzero]

I’m so happy you read that joke and got it. I should do a show on the many ways to say “friend” in Japanese.

[@jplang192]

I think 'negative' videos balance things out. You want people telling you "its so easy" as a way of generating momentum. But, eventually, you crash and need someone to tell you "hey dude, this stuff is actually insanely hard. chill out a bit" as a reality check. Only positive and you wonder why you crash. Only negative and you never start. It all balances out in the end. I think people get fixated one wanting one or the other to be true, but in wanting that they forget that difficulty labels only exist to provide utility as warnings, guides, or motivators. Anyways thanks for keeping it real.

[@neilpersen]

Save the cats, the dogs and the Neko-Georges, vote Trump baby

[@pinkmarkercat]

Me: Oh look a cool japanese vide- The comments: TRUMP 2024 AMURICA YEAHH 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🏈🏈🏈🦅🦅🦅 Bro yall gotta chill frfr😭

[@JustIzzan]

comment for algo. thank you George

[@Tora234-y4i]

All I know is my sensei has swag on god g lol

[@nothingspecial9028]

Your mic is in and out and poor quality for the walking videos

[@japanesefromzero]

The mic is unfortunately fighting with the drone.

[@nothingspecial9028]

@ That’s too bad, they’re such a good format. I honestly thought it was your wife recording it lol

[@SaiyanJin85]

I quit japanese, maybe someday again

[@AniGrannyOG]

You look like Gen X. I'm 48. I'm Gen X too. I'll be your friend. 😂

[@FDK6062]

Neko Lives Matter! Trump 2024🇺🇸🙌

[@spiritsplice]

This intro is too long and too try hard.

[@japanesefromzero]

What would you change?

[@spiritsplice]

@@japanesefromzero I get what you are trying to do, and I'm not trying to dog on you. It just feels like an amateur trying to look super professional. Not sure if it is the equipment or the production. Just the overall impression I get is like trying to kill shoes that are too big. I think the camera is too far away from you when you are walking. The distance makes it feel too impersonal and doesn't draw the viewer in. Like, your presentation is trying to show how much you care about the viewer, but then you are physically far away from them while you are talking so it gives the impression that you are keeping your distance. Maybe also change the mic position to be a bit closer (or change the gain) so the audio sounds more like a studio. Professional and clean audio makes a huge difference in how an impression is made. When the audio sounds weak or cheap it makes the end result feel amateurish. But I definitely feel like it is too long and too many media clips (feels like someone's dad trying to be cool with his teenage son's friends. That kind of vibe.) Seems like your other ones like this were about half as long for the intro. I didn't check so that might just be perception.

[@spiritsplice]

@@deeperanddown I am sure he wants it to look as professional as possible or he wouldn't have upgraded from his old equipment.

[@Elizabeth-jr5pt]

What's truly ironic about someone saying he seems amateurish and like he's trying too hard, is that George has been doing this since long before any of the other jvloggers. He didn't start on KZbin. In my mind he's the absolute king (not to mention one of the OG founders) of online Japanese language content, and the best thing about him is his personal style that was forged long before the web 2.0 "everything must fit into this box or it sucks" sort of model that people are used to nowadays. I personally feel that people who are bothered by his style or who feel it's "amateurish" mostly grew up in the new cookie-cutter internet days. It would be a huge loss if George were to change his style and adapt to the new algorithms and squeeze himself into a box. And nothing would be more "try hard" than that, right? This is coming from someone who has been really familiar with George's content for over 20 years. I even took his in-person Japanese lessons back in the day. But his video content has always been the holy grail. I know he asked you for feedback after your initial criticism, and I don't fault you for that, but it's just such a shame to see someone talk to George without recognizing his unique value-add to this space, not to mention the legacy he has established. That he's been able to maintain his unique vibe for decades is something that differentiates him from the others.

[@spiritsplice]

@@Elizabeth-jr5pt I'm as old as he is. I didn't grow up on the zoomer net. I see what he is trying to accomplish and he is missing what he is aiming for. He wouldn't be trying new things if he were already satisfied with what he was doing and wasn't trying to grow. I didn't say anything about his regular videos. My comment was about these new intros he is experimenting with.

[@rukiichi85]

nice video, but try to make it shorter

[@japanesefromzero]

Not a chance. This is for the people that want a deep dive. You can stop watching at any time.

[@rukiichi85]

@@japanesefromzero didn’t mean to sound like i don’t want to leanrn but the video name felt like you just gonna state your opinion or talk about a topic and thats it but suddenly you started teaching words later in the video i got quite confused so i meant by make it short like to divide the video into multiple videos each focusing on a specific topic thats all for views and attracting audience purpose, but i intended to finish the video to learn what u were teaching anyways ❤️ your content is always awesome sensei dont mean to offend u

[@phillipnelson8567]

People have enough negativity in our lives...we don't need more. You know how many people bum us out about learning Japanese? Saying stuff like "why are you learning that? You'll never use it. Why are you wasting your time? Learn Spanish instead".... We watch for positivity, encouragement, and inspiration. Especially on those days when you just don't feel like studying....and when you hear a youtube teacher be negative, we just don't need another voice telling us to quit. Gtfo with that negativity.

[@Mingumingumingu]

It’s not negativity, he’s just being real. Japanese is hard! It will make you frustrated sometimes! Students need to know that it’s not always going to be fun and easy AND that it’s okay!! Take a chill pill

[@japanesefromzero]

You need better friends. The people saying such negative things in your life are probably not doing anything themselves. Imagine if I had been realistic and told you there would be people that think it’s weird to learn Japanese. And that there will be people that don’t support your dream. You would be ready for it. And after you got through 1000 people telling you your dream wasn’t worth it, you would already have achieved your dream. Then you know what happens, they begin to tell you how cool it is that you speak Japanese. I am not going to sugarcoat Japanese but as I said in the video, Japanese is the greatest thing I’ve done in my life. But it would be a lie if I said it wasn’t hard. I tell you this because I care about you (in general… I won’t help you move). The positivity I hope I provide is the seeds to get you past the days when it sucks. So, if you need more than that I’m sorry my content doesn’t match your style, but I really sincerely wish you well on your journey to Japanese fluency.

[@rukiichi85]

get better enviornment jfz book's server they are very supportive and when i told them i feel down all of them typed nice words for me and enjouraged me

[@pinkmarkercat]

Honestly I don't really like this guy either but I think he's just trying to motivate us by telling us that japanese is a hard language to learn (because it is) and he's trying to kind of prepare us for the stress of it and stuff but idk