You CAN Learn Japanese with Manga & Anime (Using ONE TRICK)

[@theodoresmith3353]

“You’re not going to be using the word “hokage” in everyday life.” Is that a challenge?

[@dima10656]

You just need to become the Hokage of Japan, so everybody is forced to use the word in conversations with you.

[@xXJ4FARGAMERXx]

I read it like "hoakage" rhyming with "rummage" because I thought it was an English word, why did I do that.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

Using American pronunciation: "at the strip club last night I sat right in front of the ho kage"

[@colorado4815162342]

Does Arabic have more soft g's than hard g's? Otherwise I don't know.

[@DisturbedVette]

Just say "what's up my hokages" use it like the word "homie"

[@asa-pi]

THIS! This is so true! My beginner level Japanese teacher would hand us very simple baby books to read, and while it's understandable to feel a little embarrassed initially, the feeling of reading and finally understanding EVERYTHING in those books is incredible! All the students who ignored the teacher and tried to jump straight in middle school and high school level material eventually quit or didn't improve from where they started. To those who are language learners, I highly recommend the advice Joey gives in this vid. Remember that the road to fluency takes time, have fun with it and the time spent will be well worth it.

[@ntrg3248]

It might be good for me to add on to that, these classmates of yours were likely impatient, and like you said, it's a long road and it takes time. You don't necessarily have to start with baby books if you think it will be boring, you just need to be able to "tolerate ambiguity" and know that you won't understand everything, and that it's not your fault. But if you're willing to use baby books then more power to you! There are a lot of different ways to learn languages which is why I always find it fascinating to hear different people's path to the same goal. You could say language is like a video game with multiple strategies but with the same ending, like a stealth game or an RPG.

[@checker297]

@@ntrg3248 eh, I find that learning a language is very repetition based. It is a similar process to learning mathematics. Some concepts are easier to understand and memorise, while others are extremely difficult. It depends on how flexible your brain is to learning new concepts. You also need to keep using concepts or you can forget them.

[@Ohrami]

And yet people using exclusively anime/manga/visual novels/light novels targeted at adults and almost nothing else as learning materials give various accounts of passing N1 in between 9-12 months of "study" (watching anime and reading visual novels). This video's advice is obviously wrong.

[@ntrg3248]

@@Ohrami just because some people can do that, doesn't mean everybody can. And besides, how are we to know if these people who passed N1 in 9-12 months aren't bullshit artists?

[@asa-pi]

@@Ohrami I haven't personally met anyone who has made those kinds of claims, so I can't attest to the validity of them, but passing N1 in 9-12 months on just manga and anime sounds pretty unbelievable. In the video, 0:37 Joey prefaces that he usually tells people to take classes or make a friend who you can converse with in the language (in this case, Japanese) that you are trying to learn, and that while it is POSSIBLE to learn with just manga and anime if you use the "proper" method/approach, it will take time. Joey even admits in the the video that he didn't feel he was at a native level until he was about 23, and while manga and anime were a big part of his learning, they weren't the only methods. So, while I think it's good to take classes and even better if you can have a native-speaking friend to practice with, I also think we shouldn't neglect consuming media that is made for native speakers in the language you are learning at the appropriate level of your grasp of the language. The purpose of doing so is to learn new words and understand how the words are used and in which context they are used. Because while taking classes is good, language textbooks can sound a little unnatural in their use of the language in a conversational setting. So, in the case of manga, having a dictionary handy while you read to look up any words/kanji you don't know helps. I would also add to make a list of those words with their definitions, review them after reading the manga, and then read the manga again without looking at the list to see if you can remember their meaning when you come across them again. Repeat and review as many times as needed. The same for anime, although Joey didn't touch on it as much as manga, but having a dictionary on hand and, most importantly, having the subtitles IN JAPANESE. Then same as with manga, make a list of the words you don't know, review, watch the anime again without the looking at the list, review, repeat until you've learned all the words on the list. This extends to all types of media not just anime and manga. This way can you hopefully immerse yourself in the language as much a possible (other than to look up definitions) in order to have a more focused language learning. This isn't the only method, but it's the one that has worked well for me when consuming japanese media, which is why I recommend it. However, if you find that it doesn't work for you, don't be afraid to try other methods and see what works best for you and your learning style. Sorry for the long reply, but I wanted to clarify and reiterate some of the points that were brought up in the video that I agreed with as well as adding some methods that work for me.

[@CyberKnightProbably]

Finally, Japanese class is now 10% easier because of Joey.

[@shashankasarikonda7813]

10% of 0 is still 0

[@alexprus7953]

Yep, 10% seems reasonable

[@jordanayala1617]

I know this off topic but can we talk about the floor led light it looks cool

[@rgbarrios0331]

*Josh

[@someoneya8505]

@@shashankasarikonda7813 LMFFAOOOOOOOO

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

As someone who struggles with learning foreign languages in general, this is pretty helpful

[@qwertyuiopchannelreal296]

Fat weeb + ratio + genshin player

[@qwertyuiopchannelreal296]

+ discord mod + redittor + touch grass

[@Yuuki-jp4ob]

I am not used to this pfp

[@shirouyasha69]

@@qwertyuiopchannelreal296 this ain't Twitter.

[@ofimportance5458]

Ok

[@xagonianaturalx]

This is exactly what my japanese teacher told me. I found a couple of kid books in japanese and started to read them, and well, it was hard. But It really, really helps. Now im waiting to enter japan and finally start the classes in the japanese school I enrolled. Great video Joey! Greetings from Chile.

[@scooty_mc_booty9977]

Good luck waiting for the Japanese borders to open 😭

[@xagonianaturalx]

The first minister said almost a week ago that borders will open in march for non tourist!

[@Art-of-Puppetry]

@@xagonianaturalx how old are you ?

[@ricku7765]

@@xagonianaturalx they always said that, even Pewdiepie is waiting for years to reopen their borders. don't get me wrong all the details and some stuff are already prepared and they're just waiting from the go signal from the government, but I hope everything will go smoothly.

[@xagonianaturalx]

@@ricku7765 yeah, I know. i've been waiting for a whole year, but I hope that I can finally enter. My life is basically "stopped" due to this.

[@wuma_]

I've been learning for nearly 3 years now, and what I tend to notice is a lot of learners spend more time debating the optimal way to learn Japanese, rather than just learning. e.g. if you post saying you're learning from Genki and with a tutor, you'll get told "oh you're doing it wrong, you should have been immersing" etc. So many videos out there on this topic, telling people the best way to learn, or how "everything you know about learning Japanese is wrong" etc. I think if you're studying the grammar, learning the words, and you consistently study, you'll progress. If that happens to be from manga/anime, more power to you. If it's from immersion only, that's fine too. From my perspective, this language is really hard to learn, I suck at it, so if you're making progress then that's amazing.

[@RocKM001]

Agreed. Folks learn in so many different ways its really about finding the most "efficient" way for you to retain the information.

[@ZombieOrgasm]

I agree and don't. I wish I knew what I knew about language learning that I do know now. It is tough when you have never seriously studied a language. I barely knew about language acquisition theories beforehand and if I understood that more and the philosophy, I feel my Japanese would be far stronger than where it is now.

[@こなた-m1o]

the arguing is often worth it in the end because its very easy to spend multiple years "learning japanese" in a very ineffective way and then getting mad when you realize someone else got way further in half the time because they did stuff that actually worked. it's worth it to have discussions to reach better strategies about learning in an effective way, especially since learning languages like japanese takes a long time. most do not want to waste their time doing something that isn't effective.

[@baronvonbeandip]

80/20 rule. Spend 80% practicing, 20% course correcting. In course correction, indentify the prime 20% that leads to 80% of outcomes and press that in your practice. In your practice, identify the 20% of practice material you make 80% of mistakes on and find better ways to practice that 20%. Welcome to Taoism.

[@isodoubIet]

Too many people in this community are afraid of learning the wrong thing and breaking their brains forever. In fact, it's much more effective to learn a bunch of right and wrong things as long as it gets you a core you can use to improve. You can always unlearn bad habits from anime or whatever, but you can't learn anything if you don't care about what you're consuming.

[@freynightfall6424]

People often forget that language goes hand in hand with culture. So when you learn a language, it's important to find out more about why certain sentences are phrased in such a way, which comes from its cultural background. This is why there are some phrases or idioms (or even words) in any language that don't necessarily have a direct equivalent in another language.

[@IchiGurou]

Funny enough I remembered the British phrase "Said the actress to the Bishop" (iirc). And the equivalent American phrase "That's what she said"

[@ceresbane]

english just goes... thats a neat word. its ours now. There is no english equivalent for ennui. So Ennui is just an english adopted word now.

[@mapl3mage]

As Tofugu once said, and I'm paraphrasing it, "You need to learn the language and culture together. If you don't know one or the other, everything falls apart".

[@pikleman5880]

Like, in Japanese desu has no english equivalent.

[@freynightfall6424]

@@pikleman5880 Same thing goes for the likes of "yoroshiku" and "otsukare" which has different translations here and there, but generally refer to the same idea.

[@Dyundu]

Language learning principles: 1) Immersion-speak it as often, hear it as often, read it as often, think it as often as you can. 2) Scaffolding-start with basics, then add complexity (Joey’s points in the video) 3) Perseverance-keep at it. Never stop. Forgive yourself when you fail, celebrate every success. 4) Diversify-learn from all sources possible: news, pop culture, magazines, literature (fiction and non-fiction), and so on are as good as textbooks with the right foundation. Don’t stick to one source-if you only learn from cartoon characters, you’ll only sound like cartoon characters. 5) Context-knowing _why_ something is going on in the language is crucial if you really want to master _communication,_ which is the point of all language learning (even if the communication is one-way, from the actors/writers/producers to you). This is especially important in a high-context language/culture like Japanese. Have fun!

[@alexprus7953]

I feel like a lot of people forget about number 4 - saying that you can't learn from songs/anime/books because that's not how real people talk, when it's important to take in the language in asany forms as possible (bonus points if it's enjoyable)

[@Tz3952ii]

The quickest and the most efficient way to learn another language is to have a native speaking girlfriend or boyfriend 😜 The Incentive to communicate with someone very important is the biggest motivation for improvement

[@ntrg3248]

Excellent points, you said it with less text than I could

[@kagehasu]

@@alexprus7953 hell yeah, shits literally made for the natives by the natives. how is that not gonna be beneficial

[@mohsenvh3619]

you're right about all of those, except speaking. it is now scientifically proven that speaking until the advanced and high intermediate levels have little to no effect on language learning process. and it also has a downside, because your brain is not used to the voices and sounds in the new language it can not differentiate them correctly, so you will end up with a bad accent. the comprehension alone will later on be redirected toward production by your brain, just like children, who first gain the ability to understand, and much later they will start speaking.

[@strongboyo7602]

Through anime, I cannot say that I have learned how to actually SPEAK the language. What I can say however, is that I can HEAR Japanese and pick out key things in their speech. I don’t understand the sentence structure or the explicit meaning of words, but hearing phrases used over and over again in a certain context means that when these phrases come up, I can figure out the rest based on what’s going on.

[@こなた-m1o]

get japanese subtitles and take off the english subtitles. then look up the words you don't know. you'll see if you really understand what's being said then. and you'll also actually learn japanese. just 30 seconds of an anime episode looks like this in raw japanese: 38 ねぇ　つかさ　チョココロネってどこから食べる？ 39 う～ん　頭からかな？ 40 そっか 41 ところでさ　頭ってどっち？ 42 太い方と細い方 43 私はこっちの細いほうが頭だと思うんだけど 44 そうか　私は太ったほうが頭だと思ったよ 45 でもなんで細い方が頭 46 だって貝みたいじゃない？ 47 こなちゃんはなんで太った方？ 48 だってさ　芋虫みたいじゃん？ 49 芋虫… 50 まー　でもそう考えると貝のほうがイメージいいね 51 あ　あの… 52 細いほうをちぎって 余ったチョコをつけて食べるという食べかたも… 53 なるほどね 54 さすがはみゆきさんだ　頭いいね 55 いえ　食べ方は人それぞれ自由ですから 56 シュークリームはどうやって食べる？ 57 え、シュークリームですか？ knowing how to understand all that without a problem will be a better judge of whether you are learning japanese or not

[@sierra991]

@MrLocomaximo he never said he was actively learning. it's just a thing that happens while you are watching.

[@xXJ4FARGAMERXx]

@MrLocomaximo but that *is* learning a language, can you imagine what happens when you "learn a word here and there" ×2000 times?

[@Φωτό-ρ7π]

​@MrLocomaximo fake polyglots are already addressed by matt vs Japan, maybe try to bear balinese gifted kid who converse daily in tourist hotspot and that one south American pres who mastered 26 langs, i think he learnt it while sailing reading a book.

[@Φωτό-ρ7π]

Try to beat the feat of*

[@wilvin2627]

Joey, I get what you are saying about having a parent that is a native speaker does not mean you can. But It can also help a lot. I have two examples. I went to high school with a guy that was born in Mexico but moved to America as a young child. His parent forbids the speaking of Spanish in their house to force their kids to be more American. So he could not speak Spanish. So this is an example of what you said. On the other hand, I was in the Air Force with a woman that had a Japanese mother and a Swedish Dad. She could only speak to her mother in Japanese and her dad in Swedish and if both parents were together she had to speak English. So she was fluent in 3 languages. In other videos, you have said your mother basically forced you to speak Japanese to her or she would ignore you. So That was a big help in forcing you to learn it. Also, you said that having someone that can fluently speak Japanese is helpful, so having one or both parents that can speak it is a natural aid.

[@oooSIDEooo]

Japanese Teachers hate him for this one trick.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

I was thinking something similar when he mentioned "this one trick" 😂😂😂

[@jordanayala1617]

Culture

[@okayfine3728]

Actually Japanese teachers might also suggest this one trick.

[@penguin-tc1cx]

i know this is a joke but my japanese teacher actually uses this w me haha

[@AmyFerguson]

one "weird" trick is the correct terminology :)

[@chanteshante]

As someone who basically "freestyle bruteforced" my english learning process and tried doing the same with japanese and didn't succeed, I so much needed this video. Thank you, dude!!!! Reading kid's manga's seems like a great idea, probably will be very helpful!!!

[@Hoppitot]

Yea if your native language grammar is similar to english this is way easier. You are also omega forced to learn english if you are online and want to do anythign but for japanese it's mostly only used for other japanese stuff. I can go an entire day studying japanese and I will probably somehow still get and even ratio of japanese to english words just because I'm surrounded by the language.

[@ohtalkwho9816]

Basically it's all about finding comprehensible input. Manga and anime made for kids use less words and often very common words. Also the concepts aren't hard to explain deep introspective topics, they are simple usually fun topics which are easier to understand. I did this type of immersion along with Anki and sentence mining to learn japanese and it worked great.

[@Reforming_LL]

^

[@pagantcg]

This video is amazing, thanks Joey, I grew up in Puerto Rico where everything is in spanish, my dad grew up in the US and had almost no influence on me learning english, and I did pick up english and became fluent with just Media and Games, Just watching kids shows and movies helped me a lot, and i agree with this method 100%, Ive been trying to learn Japanese for like 10 years but i've never focused on it 100%, I'm not a super fan of anime but i know its a great way to learn. thanks!!

[@jemfilms]

I’d love to see you do more streams teaching Japanese. There’s a lot of good tutorials on KZbin right now, but I really enjoy your explanation of Japanese concepts when it comes to vocabulary.

[@ntrg3248]

The stream he did was pretty good, even though I was already past beginner stage at the time but I learned a few fun facts from it, I feel the big weak point was that he had to handle a big Chatroom, while some of them asked a lot of pretty good questions, a lot of people were mostly all like "What's the best way to learn Japanese?" And stuff like that which he couldn't really answer, which wasn't really his fault. But maybe if he kept doing it maybe that stuff would die down a bit more, and a lot of viewers would likely look forward to when he does those streams, and it could be good fun!

[@SeyaLaru]

I like to do everything at once. When I started learning japanese I would constantly watch anime, do duolingo lessons & listen to japanese music. After just a few days the part of my brain that’s responsible for language stuff started hurting.

[@Devaxhfr]

So how's your leaning now?

[@turbothechicken3813]

Update us!

[@gerardoalexiscarvajaluc4814]

I've been studying and learning japanese by myself trough texts and writing kanji plus studiyng grammar. Now, sometimes, I get to understant short and simple sentences in anime/manga. I rarely ever commented before (I don't even know if I have tbh) but this video really helped me understand and grasp a little bit more how to approach my learning process. Thank you Joey, Love.

[@OpuYT]

Since most text based communication is done digital nowadays I feel like writing kanji as an beginner is almost a waste of time if you don't specifically want to be able to do japanese calligraphy or something. If your fingers hurt try RTK (Remember the Kanjis by James Heisig) or better RRTK (the Anki Version of the Book by James Heisig) It's way easier to recognize characters when you see them than to reproduce them with a pen from your memory, and recognization is all that's needed for reading and speaking, which is way more important as a languagse skill than writing in my opinion 👍 But sure in the end it comes done to fun, if you think writing kanji is fun go for it. Just know there is a way faster different way to approach Kanji

[@ntrg3248]

@@OpuYT It's also possible to learn Kanji just by looking up new words you find with them and eventually figuring the meaning out, which is what I do. But RTK is really good for a foundation of Kanji, and like everything in producing language, foundation is key

[@OpuYT]

@@ntrg3248 true, that's what I do as well I was learning the most frequent 1000 Kanji and 200 Radicals in about a month to get this foundation in Kanji and the ability to read the building blocks of Kanji. Since then I never did study Kanji specifically, like you said just learning them through new vocab

[@こなた-m1o]

writing kanji is a waste of time unless you specifically want that skill for a hobby. it is possible to learn how to read thousands of kanji without knowing how to write them, and almost no one in japan even writes kanji by hand anymore outside of work and school, and even that is starting to become obsolete. focus on reading more raw manga while using a dictionary, and make that the majority of your study time. you will improve very quickly.

[@ntrg3248]

@@こなた-m1o pretty much yeah, I can't even handwrite hiragana or katakana either even though I can read them perfectly plus all the Kanji I know from learning new words. I don't want to bother learning handwriting because if there ever comes a time in real life when I need it, I would just look up the stroke order on my phone.

[@anthonynelson6671]

I love how your advice here is basically BABY STEPS! Throw out all the pride and ego and just try with stuff to meet you at your current target language level.

[@こなた-m1o]

a way better tip is to use slice of life anime. this is a 30 second excerpt from the subtitles of an SOL anime called lucky star (which has a manga with very similar lines) 38 ねぇ　つかさ　チョココロネってどこから食べる？ 39 う～ん　頭からかな？ 40 そっか 41 ところでさ　頭ってどっち？ 42 太い方と細い方 43 私はこっちの細いほうが頭だと思うんだけど 44 そうか　私は太ったほうが頭だと思ったよ 45 でもなんで細い方が頭 46 だって貝みたいじゃない？ 47 こなちゃんはなんで太った方？ 48 だってさ　芋虫みたいじゃん？ 49 芋虫… 50 まー　でもそう考えると貝のほうがイメージいいね 51 あ　あの… 52 細いほうをちぎって 余ったチョコをつけて食べるという食べかたも… 53 なるほどね 54 さすがはみゆきさんだ　頭いいね 55 いえ　食べ方は人それぞれ自由ですから 56 シュークリームはどうやって食べる？ 57 え、シュークリームですか？ lots of commonly used words and typical conversational phrasing that even adults use. the japanese is almost as easy as a children's book but much more fun. no clue why he didn't recommend slice of life.

[@Acro_YT]

@@こなた-m1o分かりやすいなぁ

[@drpaimon2369]

Anime is a good medium for exposure to the language. Exposure is an important thing when learning a language. When only using anime it won't work. When only using textbooks it won't work. You gotta combine it. Only then will you really start learning a language.

[@tronoankirayoshikage7331]

Oh! Ok, thanks! I mean of coarse that makes sense because the more the merrier!

[@fraktaalimuoto]

Yes indeed! I learned English in school, but without movies, table top RPGs and video games, I would be so much weaker with my English. Having exposure is important for every language. Otherwise you cannot apply what you learn from formal language education.

[@ntrg3248]

@@fraktaalimuoto that's definitely the reason why a lot of people learned English in their childhoods just by going on the internet and stuff like that, I've always found it interesting but now that I'm learning Japanese, I now know exposure is key.

[@illiiilli24601]

Basically it's comprehensible input

[@xXJ4FARGAMERXx]

When using only Anime/cartoons it *will work* though, I'm a living example of that, I never studied English at all (and no, school doesn't count, learning "bag" and "ball" isn't even 0.01% of the process of learning a language), I couldn't tell you what a "to be verb" is, but I could understand 99.5% from movies, cartoons, KZbin, etc. and make sentences! sure my pronounciation is not 100% the best, but even natives don't have 100% correct pronounciation!

[@daviddamasceno6063]

I had to stop my japanese course due to the pandemic and I got so frustrated thar I pretty much quit for over two years. I ended up forgeting vocabulary and kanji. I'm back to studying now, and yes, the struggle is real, but everytime I can understant and entire sentence with no subtitles it makes it all worth it. To you, japanese learner partner that I'll never meet but is reading this comment, I say don't you ever give up. You certainly know more than you think and you're going to learn more everyday. Give yourself some credit, believe in your potencial and keep on learning. This is the thing with language learning, as long as you don't stop you can only get better.

[@Ringoroadagain6]

I totally agree with you. My cousin moved with her parents to the US when she was 5, now she is 12 and can't speak Arabic at all even though her parents only speak Arabic at home!

[@kaskwoo678]

i can relate to it, im chinese but i cant speak at all because i never studied and my parent didnt make the effort to really teach the language formaly. contrary of that ive studied japanese by myself and i can say that is way above my knowledge of chinese at this point. i guess what count is the initiative to learn

[@Ringoroadagain6]

@@kaskwoo678 Yeah kids would only use the language that's easier for them, it's the parents job to encourage their kid to study a different language other the one he/she is surrounded with at school or among friends.

[@melissamayhaps8990]

But she understands it fine, right?

[@Ringoroadagain6]

@@melissamayhaps8990 yes she does understand it mostly, but can't speak, read or write it.

[@ntrg3248]

@@kaskwoo678 As a kid I had a friend who was from China, and he was really little when he came to Australia so he obviously had to get used to English. One day when he said he didn't really know much Chinese I was obviously confused as a young kid, but I eventually understood why.

[@kovanova9409]

Honestly mix as many learning sources as you can when you can begin to at least slowly digest. Manga, anime, music, news, books, flashcards, and keep adding. The more experiences you accumulate the better you will be able to adapt to different conversations

[@billk516]

For me, musics is a good way of increasing your vocabulary. The eager to understand lyrics helps. edit: ok to be fair, being a native mandarin speaker also helps a lot in the kanji department.

[@Ojisan642]

The problem with lyrics is they are not conversational language, and they use a lot of poetic license. You can’t talk to a person using the style of song lyrics, you will sound crazy.

[@KuroShiiiiro]

music alone has grown my vocab alot

[@RandomLetterE]

Same, as a native mandarin speaker, I know quite a few of the kanji though Japanese is still confusing to me.

[@alexprus7953]

@@Ojisan642 but it still helps with learning the language. It's not like we're forced to use only a single method of studying

[@ask4982]

@@Ojisan642 Yes exactly, but most people understand this and won’t speak like that, haha! But hey, if you happen to use a word you remember from a song or something and someone laughs or tells you it sounds weird (happens to the best of us), just ask them what you should rather say. Mistakes like that are nothing to be ashamed of, they are actually learning opportunities in disguise.

[@OpuYT]

I've been learning Japanese through Anime and Manga for over 1,5 years now and I can proudly say I'm able to read the Mushoku Tensei Light Novel with a few lookups and sometimes a bit ambiguity here and there. My approach was something like that: 1. Learn Kana (tofugu guide or something, not writing Mnemonics) 2. Learn Kanji ( RRTK Anki Deck, learned the 1000 most frequent characters, since the I'm learning new Kanji through vocab) 3. Learn Basic Vocab (I used a Tango N5 and Tango N4 Deck on Anki even tough I only did about half of the N4 deck because it sucked) 4. Learn some basic Grammar (Cure Dolly is absolute King even though a bit creepy at first 5. F U N, I'm using the Migaku Toolset to get sentences together with Screenshot, Audio and Context from Anime and Stuff from Netflix and KZbin for learning new vocab and usages of words For more details I can recommend LearnJapanesetheMoeWay or Refold as a guide. Most important thing in language Learning: FUN (often forgotten by textbooks and language classes which mean pain and suffering most of the time)

[@changer6270]

Which RRTK deck are you referring to? There are RRTK remembering the kanji v1 and V2 and there is also RRTK deck

[@OpuYT]

@@changer6270 I personally used the MIA RRTK Anki Deck which is basically the 1000 most frequent Kanji and 200 Radicals. I think it is not necessary to do the entirety of RTK since the real goal of of it is not exactly to learn the Kanji but to gain the ability of treating them like faces, to be able to recognize them. If you have this ability you can learn new kanji together with new vocab without dedicated kanji study

[@changer6270]

@@OpuYT ok so which decks(in total till now in the present) are you using for vocab since tango N4 sucked as you said then which one I should use ?

[@OpuYT]

@@changer6270 I cant say that everything I did is the definite best way I can only tell you what I used and what my experience was. So basically first I did the kana through the tofugu guide. Then I spent a bit over 4 Weeks on RTK (it was the biggest pain in my life but afterwards I was able to handle kanji much better). I haven't tried this one but maybe nowadays the Migaku Kanji God Addon is even better than RTK, check out the newest video from BritVsJapan if you are interested. After RTK I started with basic vocab, what I used was the MIA Tango N5 Deck. Meanwhile I also watched anime without any english or german subs in japanese to get used to how the language sounds. Even though I understood nothing. The best thing you can do in this case is rewatching something so you can follow the story nevertheless. After Tango N5 I started the Tango N4 Deck but I only learned about half of its words because in my opinion there are way too many useless words. What I did then and what I'm doing until today is sentence mining. This basically means I'm consuming Japanese media, for example Anime, Books etc and I'm creating my own anki deck from them. Basically I read the anime subtitles and if I encounter a sentence with every word known except one I will usually put this sentence on an Anki card to learn this unkown word. There are tools that help you very much with this card creation progress, I personally use the Migaku Browser Extension with Netflix and Softether VPN Gate (to access japanese Netflix) There are free alternatives tho like asb player and other things The last thing I want to mention are frequency lists I'm using the Netflix Frequency list from the KZbinr OhTalkWho. It helps me to know which word is very important to learn so that if I learn the most frequent words first I will faster understand more on Netflix.

[@changer6270]

@@OpuYT Thanks for such a simple but clear explanation summarising your experience but I have a single doubt regarding kanji learning method , I cannot understand properly foreign accent English( English is not even my second language and I am mediocre at it) so can you explain what the method britsvsJapan taught in his video rather than learning kanji through RTK ( the way you did it) and then learning vocab. I am asking too much from you (like explaining me this much)but I am really confused on what I should do so if you can please tell about this new kanji learning method since it's better like you said. Otherwise what I can do is to learn kanji from RTK first like you.

[@Mic_Mike]

Great video! Thanks Joey! I recently started learning hiragana and katakana from a book I bought and am also watching videos on KZbin (Japanese Ammo with Misa). I'm really starting to love this language more and more every day and can't wait to start taking serious lessons (once my budget allows it...). I'd love to visit Japan and maybe live there for a few years to really learn the language and discover this amazing culture.

[@4orinrin]

misa’a videos are god tier

[@Hetachan]

Honestly, this is really spot on great advice for learning any language! I started with Children's picture books and then moved onto short kids novels, then longer kids novels, before moving onto teen aimed novels. It's probably the fastest way to work your way up and it's also a really easy way to visualise your knowledge too!

[@ratfink2079]

I've been using the refold method, this is day 2 of immersion based learning for me, and honestly I find that even though at first it hurts the pride to read kid stuff, it will be worth it in the long run. Thanks for the video, and I hope you have a great day

[@justalameusername1736]

I went straight into harder stuff and it turned out alright. But now I'm planning on learning a new language, I'll prolly start out on easy manga then move on to visual novels and books.

[@pestrat_]

I started with Shirokuma Café like a year ago for listening comprehension, just to learn how to separate the words as I heard them, since they speak fairly slowly. Worked a charm. Plus, it's fucking adorable 🐻‍❄️🐧🐼

[@Acro_YT]

Honestly not bad of a manga to read ngl.

[@Reforming_LL]

@@Acro_YTW

[@ultimecia102]

When I went to Japan I literally bought the first few HunterXHunter volumes to practice and quickly realised how challenging the level was for me.

[@morinyuu]

I studied Japanese in highschool in sweden and our teacher was a swedish person who happened to fall into the japanese rabbit hole due to family connection. we studied with the genki book but our teacher would use different terms. so instead of "bob kicks balls", he'd say "aragorn kill orcs". things like that made it very amusing and made us remember much easier.

[@peebles3710]

Fabulous video, Joseph!

[@RazorTH]

When I was around 17 years old I was taking japanese basic classes and managed to watch some japanese tv live while I was studying, on the breaks between shows, a mini show sometimes shown up called Keshikasu-kun, I haven't seen it since, but seeing the show's character on that magazine cover reminded me of it.

[@gamefaq]

I think it also depends on your specific goals for learning Japanese. If your goal is to become conversationally fluent in Japanese, then you should be focusing mostly on speaking with natives rather than reading manga. On the other hand, if your goal is to be able to read manga fluently, then focusing mostly on reading manga makes more sense.

[@nguyenduyminh2155]

I think reading manga is an essential part of the language learning since it will help you understand more about the culture based on the context or sentence usage rather just swallow the definitions of a bunch of vocabularies.

[@ntrg3248]

Manga will give you a foundation, which is your greatest weapon when speaking in real life. The more you understand, the more you will be able to produce yourself. So even if you focus a lot on manga in earlier stages, you can still eventually get fluent if you don't stay in that one bubble

[@こなた-m1o]

you will suck at speaking for an unnecessarily prolonged amount of time if you don't get a couple hundred hours of raw native input (reading, listening) first. reading several volumes of good slice of life manga while learning the words and phrases you don't know, can make it so that you understand the majority of what natives are saying in a conversation, and internalize some native-like sentences that you're able to use correctly in conversation because you've seen them used in media. without some kind of foundation like that, your conversations are going to suck ass for a really long time. that's just the truth. no matter what your goal is, avoiding input is a bad idea because it's literally the foundation for everything else. you can't know what to say without reading or listening to things natives say. and that can be done to a high level on your own. you don't need to wait for a real life native speaker to hold your hand in baby conversations and teach you everything.

[@Littlefighter1911]

@@こなた-m1o In my opinion the best way to learn Japanese is by playing fully voiced Visual Novels with a simple story. You get Japanese subtitles, you sometimes get to make decisions, you get the log that will allow you to repeat sentences and you get both textual and acoustic input. Sometimes you only get text (for example the main character often isn't voiced), but that only helps in my opinion. Because it prompts you to learn these words and kanji that you don't know yet, when you see them the next time. The problem is obviously that you probably need to have at least some basics to really get something from that. But after that, in my opinion it's one of the best and most rewarding ways to learn. It might not work for everyone, but it certainly works for me, better than a textbook, where I do an exercise and immediately forget about it once I'm done.

[@こなた-m1o]

@@Littlefighter1911 i agree that visual novels are the most powerful because they have audio as well.

[@flarifairi]

This advice honestly applies to any language. For me, I progressed the most in my English when I started reading Harry Potter series. It starts with smaller books with simpler themes appropriate for middle schoolers and grows into more difficult adult themes towards the end. But I would not recommend reading these books for absolute beginners as well. You should choose content that actually is appropriate for your level. I am now studying Japanese with short videos with characters set in real life situations. So, for beginners regular media might not be the best choice, KZbin on the other hand with level appropriate content is perfect.

[@alexanderkanar3419]

Hey Joey, as someone who's experienced much success using anime and manga, I'm glad to see you acknowledging its value. I agree with you that the most valuable thing for language learning is being able to be there and immerse in it, but I do have a gripe about your age-appropriateness trick. I've personally tried using media for children but most of the time I lose interest. Of course immersion in language at your level is ideal, but I could hardly get myself to go and do it. I've found more success with the slightly more mature nichijou and comedy genres. I'll admit, it was really overwhelming at first to get into tougher material, but I found it infinitely more interesting, so I picked it up quick, and now I can watch attack on titan and demon slayer. To any fellow language learners out there, this technique has worked for me, so maybe its worth a try. Great video as always Joey, have a great day. 👍

[@Esvald]

I think the 'age appropriateness' isn't strictly about the target demographic, but more about the material. Like don't start with some deep philosophical discussion or something like that. Relatively normal everyday, easy to understand stories like Love Live, Nichijou, Horimiya etc... are a good start imo.

[@Reforming_LL]

Yeah, that’s one little gripe I had too. When I started immersing, I used Chainsaw Man as the first manga I read in Japanese lol.

[@justintimberlake8225]

What you said perfectly reflects the esl classes you’re put into when crash learning English. I came to the US as a teen and in school I spent 2-3 hours daily strictly learning English as fast as possible. I remember my instructor starting out with simple things like numbers, common words and phrases, then moving onto simple sentences, then onto kids books like the hungry caterpillar, Dr. Seuss and so on. you move up from then as you get more comfortable. It’s also important to immerse yourself in the language. I was told by my instructor to try my best to strictly speak English in school and consume as much English media as possible even if I struggled or was wrong. I remember struggling really hard in English class with only conversational English under my belt, trying to follow the class that was reading Seamus Heaney or Garcia Marquez and the sentences seeming incomprehensible even though I knew the individual words. You described the method and experience perfectly!

[@MrGhoster]

I am on my second year on learning Japanese through classes and I think classes is a great start as a base and then I started buying Japanese manga that I was interested in after I had a decent solid foundation and started learning vocabulary from those and I also read manga that are more slice of life and has a more grounded view so you get in touch with more realistic dialogue and I feel like that helped me learn it better. Good luck to anyone learning Japanese!

[@piggygr2665]

As a person that already used Japanese manga as a way to study (though mostly shounen jump stuff and Yotsuba to! i didn't know about korokoro so thanks a lot) I can say that it really helps you with the ACTUAL language and not just the grammar or vocabulary, although I'll say that learning grammar while reading manga is a bit difficult so I'd personally recommend buying a book or getting a good "Japanese learning app" like Minnanihongo to help you with that Thanks a lot Joey :)

[@Fairly-odd-kel]

Joey is quelling my anxiety right now, thank you for what you do 😊

[@ToTheStars327]

I've never been on your channel. I just thought this would be another click-baity video with that title but nevertheless clicked on it. And I'm very glad that I stayed and wasn't disappointed. I really appreciate that you told the truth about this method being far from the optimum, that it takes a really long time to get the hang of a language and that speaking to natives and sorrounding yourself with different media of the language is the best way to learn it. You also have a great quitle subtle sense of humor and you're very sympathic as well as empathic towards your audience. I'm also currently trying to learn the language because it is a really great way to get to know the culture and traditions of a country. I also like that the system is so very diffrent from my native language german and it is a thrill, even though a difficult one, to understand the concepts and reasoning behind it better! I don't just want to learn the language because of anime and manga (but not to say I don't like it :P) but because I'm deeply interested in the culture itself. I also don't want to paint a utopia of Japan, as many western countries and people do and because of that I'm also interested in the not-so-good sides of the country. It's quite impressive how Japan does so many things far better than western countries while making other things way worse (mostly because of conservative old standards as far as my feelings go). But what astonishes me most is how japanese people see even little things and gestures so diffrent compared to my (or most western) culture. I like how they respect their sorroundings, may it be other people or nature (often to the point that they neglect themselve too much) or just the little but important gestures they do to each other. Sadly I don't have a japanese friend to share even more interesting differences of our cultures and get better at the language while having a blast, but maybe I will one day :D. Again, thank you for your honest video. Gonna let me get clickbaited by you again

[@BuPan]

Very valuable information, also the most important investment you can make in a second language is TIME. Make sure you dedicate your time to it, even if you get stuck or have trouble remembering every little thing, just take the time to push through it. It's not going to be instant gratification, i am still at a second grade ish reading level and I have been doing it for two years spending hours of my day processing new words and studying sentence structure. Just remember why you are trying so hard and keep that goal as motivation to keep trying.

[@501clonetrooper]

Overall, the best starting point would probably be a Japanese class, preferably before you exit university, becaise after then learning will be interrupted by work related things. Taking like a course in Japanese, and then expanding your knowledge through vocab, kanji and mnemoics, listening, reading, will be so much easier than trying to study and starting it all on your own. For anime, i do recommend listening to as much anime as possible since it generally reinforces the concepts.

[@jollofboy8045]

Joey: "You're not gonna be going around Japan using the word "Hokage" in your day to day conversations." Me: "Are you challenging me?🤨😈"

[@SY-mn6qb]

I use games to supplement, it’s how I learned English. Because it forces you to understand the context to perform the tasks. But only to supplement and pick up vocabulary.

[@ggman8216]

That's exactly what I did. I've gone through children manga with no kanji to manga with furigana to manga without furigana to light novels without furigana. All while learning kanji with Wanikani, talking with japanese people in VR chat and watching anime without subtitles. Now finally after some long years of hard work I'm going to Japan in less than a week to study and work.

[@SynysterGoose]

I just like going around and yelling “NANI?!” Really loud and gravely.

[@its_seabass9668]

Great advice all throughout. The great thing about manga is it's translated into so many languages that Japanese isn't the only one you can learn from reading it. I'm re-reading Tower of God (manhwa ik) to help study Vietnamese. And just like Joey said there's gonna be a lot of vocab you learn from anime that isn't used in real life. Irregular, administrator, tower guardian, dagger, sword, and many words like these fill up space in my head so that I can keep reading the story, even though they are pretty much useless.

[@ruri1706]

I agree on this. I'm not fluent or anything, but I do have some background in learning Japanese through classes and such. And after my official studies were over, I took up watching anime without subtitles. The one I found really good for learning phrases and intonation and even some keigo was watching Tanoshii Moomin Ikka. I grew up with the show in Finnish, so I knew every episode by heart, which made watching it in Japanese much easier than any series I didn't already know the context for. So I had a fair bit of understanding on what themes were going to be discussed going in, and thus could pick up what unknown words meant based on the context. Hella useful, and the show uses a ton of keigo because Moomins are polite to the core, so I could absorb a lot of that as well. Should rewatch it again, it's a super fun show otherwise too, though that might be nostalgia bias talking.

[@tako9260]

I learn a lot nihongo words from anime / vtuber and other japanese streamer and if you're passionate enough about learning japanese then you will understand it even faster.. btw im not fluent and still a lot to learn so I'll keep watching them..

[@gkygrl7]

This was the most useful “learn Japanese with anime/manga” that I’ve ever seen. Thank you!

[@AR-mm9lo]

"Joey explaining" Me : looking at those blue and red lights.

[@Alexandr.A.P.]

Using ONE TRICK... *Time and Patience.* Great video, dude. Actually good advices that I'll probably will follow when get to actually studying Japanese.

[@dietmar_schwarz5046]

While I don't disagree with your argument, of course content aimed at kids is easier to understand, I think you don't have that much authority to speak on that topic. I for example am a native German speaker and learned English when I was in high school. In other words my expertise on learning German is close to none, but I'm confident in my ability to give language learning tips when it comes to English. Specifically because I'm NOT a native speaker in that language. You on the other hand speak two languages that you're native in, so you don't have much experience learning a language as an adult, to a competent level (Which shows when you recommend classes and textbooks for Japanese learners...). As someone who learns Japanese himself I would agree and also disagree with his argument. Sure kids shows are easier, but honestly just stick with what keeps you engaged and motivated. If that is kids shows, because you understand more, or shows aimed at adults, because the show itself is more interesting, even though you understand less, isn't that important. Important is, that you put it in the hours and immerse yourself in the language you want to learn!

[@hermdude]

I'm just distracted by the lights behind Joey to determine the length of time between the cuts.

[@RyanBaxter221]

I've been self teaching seriously for about 4 years now, and this was so nice to hear! I've felt like my progress has been slower than I liked, but knowing it took you 20 years to get to fluency makes me feel a lot better about the effort I've put in and the results it's gotten me! Thanks, Joey!

[@Xweetibird]

Related tip, the Nintendo Switch isn't region locked, so if you have downloaded games with a Japanese version you can play them in Japanese as well as English. I often set Okami to Japanese since I've beaten it so many times, and knowing what's going on already really helps me understand the Japanese text more. You can also set games like animal crossing to Japanese, and I believe that both of those games use Furigana as well which is very helpful w Kanji. With Okami I've found it helps mostly with grammar bc of it's setting, and I'm not often going to be talking about old samurai and gods and demons and celestial painting techniques, but animal crossing is cute for every day easy small talk type stuff. It also helps with immersion imo because even my non-dedicated study time is contributing to my learning. Anyway, everyone might already know that stuff but just in case it can help someone!

[@brianuuuSonicReborn]

surely if you have a Japanese parent you at least have some advantage cuz you can speak with them, like you said the best way to learn is to talk to a native person which most people can't. Those who have a Japanese parent who doesn't know any Japanese is because they didn't start learning it in the first place

[@ngoxuanloc9289]

This video is the most suitable advice (for me) that I've picked from KZbin. Thanks Mr. Joey!

[@jokeronline702]

I’ve wanted to learn at the very least basic Japanese for a while, but I don’t know that best way to do it, especially for me personally. This seems useful, but it’ll still be extremely hard

[@TheVampireCafe]

I hear some people go to sleep with japanese lessons playing with headphones

[@Zenkyuu8921]

The best way is really to just start somewhere and try different things that might work better for you than the other. I use the Refold method to learn Japanese, and it’s been so easy to start with this method because it’s really straight forward. What Joey said is really something that can optimize the experience as a whole and might actually speed up the process because you’re not reluctant to do more when it’s all just fun. Everything that Joey said makes the whole experience quicker in your hear and/or quicker to learn.

[@tob.i.s8360]

Start by learning hiragana and katakana and then move on to basic kanji , vocabulary and grammar

[@Bethan1545]

I started with the drops app. It will teach you how to read and write and basic kanji. Then it builds up to basic vocabulary and simple sentences etc. once you get familiar with the language, it’s form and pronunciation, you can then move onto a syllabus of some kind. Thousands about, KZbins a great resource, other people who are studying have great resource videos.

[@ChefMonke07]

That point at the end about having a parent who speaks another language being an advantage is such a good point. English is my second language and it took me until I was 14 to be able to comfortably speak English. I had this one friend who I practice with. He's better than me in every way and by the end of middle school, we were both at the same level. Of course, he also improved from speaking with me so it wasn't a one sided relationship, so I guess we both won at the end.

[@crazygalaxy231]

When I took Japanese in college, after a test in each unit instead of being able to leave like in other classes we'd have to read children's books. For the most part I could read it well but I did struggle in some of the books. I regret not continuing with Japanese, but If I wanted to continue with it I would have had to base my schedule around Japanese class rather than the classes that went towards my major so I decided to drop it. I still have some of the knowledge from class but man it'd be a rough time trying to speak it again. Still it's fun when I watch vtubers and I vaguely recognize a word that an average anime watcher would know, or when I can recognize a kanji from seeing tweets and what not. I can read hiragana tweets just fine, but with no vocab knowledge it pointless lol

[@lemonburry8388]

This make sense because when you think about it this is what kids do, watching easy shows and talking with other speakers of the language

[@Honovi_]

As someone who grew up with two Spanish speaking parents but didn’t learn Spanish until later in life I can confirm that going to the basic “kiddie” stuff is helpful. I learned English first because I watched a lot of English tv like Sesame Street. When I got older I watched Stuff like Plaza Sesamo despite the fact that I was well past the age demographic that it was targeted at. It feels silly but it’s really helpful to start with stuff meant for kids because it’s simplified enough that any beginner can potentially use kids tv or books as a learning tool.

[@kohakuhunter]

As a half Japanese half American, Joey is so right about not having it easier just because you have a Japanese parent. I spent most of my life speaking at a level equivalent to a 6 year old in Japanese and didn't really seriously start studying until I got to college. I'm still studying and I'm almost 30 and still far from native level. It's a long and arduous journey, but I'm going to take my time to eventually get there and try to have fun along the way :)

[@moyga]

Of course it's a huge advantage. Speaking Japanese completely naturally at the level of a 6 year old is still an enormous headstart over someone starting to learn from zero. There are plently of people who pass N1 who still cant speak as smoothly and naturally as the average 6 year old in many respects even though they can read a lot of words. You got all that core grammar to sink deeply into your subsconscious as a child with years of input and output practise that other people need to spend hundreds of hours trying to mimic and often still cant get deep in their head as adults. There are also other things like your brains ability to hear pitch accent. Try learning another language now that has little connection to your native languages like arabic and see how much harder it is.

[@kohakuhunter]

@@moyga I agree that it’s a large advantage, especially since they gain those skills at a young age with relatively little effort. But I think you overestimate how “completely natural” a 6 year old sounds. There are still tons of grammatical errors and incorrect ways of speaking. In my case, it’s really hard to unlearn the bad habits that cemented over the years since I learned Japanese improperly. Speaking like a 6-year old as an adult that presents as an actual Japanese person isn’t impressive and there are higher expectations held of you since you are “Japanese”. Foreign language learners don’t have this extra baggage and have the luxury of not being judged for making mistakes since there is all the reason to expect their Japanese to be far from perfect. I think Joey’s point was that learning Japanese to a high level of fluency is hard and takes years of dedication, no matter where you start. To your point though, it’s one of my goals to learn another completely different language to understand what it’s like on the other side.

[@moyga]

​@@kohakuhunter Just out of curiosity, what types of bad habits did you form? The reason I am wondering is because if one of your parents is a native Japanese speaker and you learned Japanese by imitating them as a child, I wonder why you would have picked up incorrect grammar. I agree that Joey had to work hard to get to his current level of Japanese, but I disagree with the idea that it was not a huge advantage compared to other people. I think this video itself really shows that Joey doesn't understand what it is like for other people to learn Japanese from scratch. What he is advocating isn't very practical or effective. The reason he could read those children's manga when he was growing up is because he was a child. Adults are not going to find the stories engaging and they are often learning Japanese because they need it for a job or university. It's also the case that content for children actually has quite a lot of difficult language (due to slang and childish words and unsual inflections etc.) that is both hard for learners to understand and also not useful for them in everyday life or at work or uni etc. so it seems silly to advise people to spend a few years reading childrends stories they are not interested in to master how children talk before moving up to more adult content.

[@kohakuhunter]

​@@moyga For me personally, I didn't formally study verb conjugations as a child so I frequently mess up transitive vs intransitive verbs and potential vs passive verbs. I also never really understood how to use particles correctly since you frequently omit particles in casual speech. Also, as Joey was saying, knowing which words/phrases are supposed to be used in which contexts, especially when you consider social hierarchy and what position you stand in when addressing people (e.g. keigo), isn't fully developed when you're a child. There is also the added complexity of learning a dominant language (English or the primary language of your country) and having that consume most of your exposure to language over Japanese. Like Joey, I know tons of Japanese people that grew up around the language outside of Japan but have accents in Japanese and don't speak naturally like a native speaker. They also studied it less than I did and that's not saying much. My experience is going to vary from others but it's a unique phenomenon in and of itself - look up heritage language learning if you're interested. I think Joey was trying to address this unrealistic expectation peddled around a lot in the language learning community that it’s very attainable to become a native-like speaker in a short amount of time. Having a Japanese parent is an advantage, sure, but it’s not this magical leg up that everyone assumes. Part of that is the dunning-kruger effect where people that are at beginner-level don’t really know what it means to be expert level or “native” in a language. As for the children’s content advice, my Japanese mom has frequently cited learning a lot of her English from watching sesame street with us as kids. Yes, that worked out conveniently for her and it may not be as easily transferable or enjoyable for other adults, but I think there is definitely merit to what he’s advocating.

[@kawosdhdos]

​@@moygai speak arabic actually and i grew up in an arabic country for the first 8 years of my life. I started studying english when i was 6 for an hour everyday (my parents forced me lol) and then obv moved to america at 8. I consider English to essentially be my second first language, so if im asked, i just say im a native. Since moving though, my arabic has deteoriated. I dont have any accent and i understand pretty much every nuance and grammar, however, im missing a large amount of vocabulary. Since i never spoke arabic outside of my home, i did not become immersed in it. I also forgot how to read or write, although i did attempt to learn again with my dad, and i was able to write sentences again, but then i quickly forgot because i stopped practicing and literally never used anything i learned. Sometimes, if i encounter words i forgot, it feels like my brain lights up because it remembers having used those words before. If i decided to seriously study arabic, i could easily master it within a few months, unlike OP who said that they studied in college and still are far from a native level. That surprised me. This is probably the different between growing up in a country that spoke a language (total immersion) versus living in america with only 1 parent talking to you in that language. Its essentially imbedded in my brain, waiting to be reactivated lol. Luckily for me, since i was young, i was immersed in both english and arabic, making me (almost; i would need to improve my arabic) fluent in both. Im also what they consider the type 3 billingual or something; someone who can mix sentences using both languages. My family often made fun of me for that😅 because they thought it was funny how i would say an english word followed by an arabic word then an english word again. My brother too, who is 2 years older (meaning he moved to america at 10), is also completely fluent although he does not fix sentences like i do. So children can learn a language properly up to 10 if theyre immersed. However ive also seen foreigners who speak english fluently except that they have an accent on it. These people grew up watching english media but not living in a country that speaks english. School also forced me to learn spanish, and to my surprise, the concepts that confused me actually made sense to me when i spoke it. As i was learning spanish, i was quite confused by the pronouns because you can say "A mi me gusta las fruitas" or "Carla le encanta bailar" There wasnt a translation so i didnt understand that concept, but when i tried to speak in spanish to somebody, saying things like "Carla gusta la camisa" didnt sound right and i found myself wanting to add "le" after Carla. I think then, i understood that Carla is just a name in Spanish, a place holder, while le is the actual pronoun, the one that is doing the action. Im not sure if thats correct actually, but thats how i interpreted it. Oh and the gender stuff wasnt foreign since i knew arabic and english pretty much filled in a lot of stuff. Sorry for this long post; i just wanted to brag since i have no talents besides this

[@byno3862]

Ok, this makes so much more sense, and I can't understand why I've never thought of it before. There is one thing that you didn't mention in the video though, and that's how to read katakana/Kanji/Hiragana. I'd imagine to start reading the Monthly Corocoro comics, you'd need a basic understanding of some of those. For those of you that don't know Katakana/Kanji/Hiragana, may I recommend a Steam game for you guys (Well, it's three, but get the one you need. It's got the subject in the names.) Learn Japanese to Survive series. There's 3 games, one for each of them. I'm not sure if they're sequels to one another or whatnot, since I've only played the start for Katakana, and that was like, 9 months ago XD But it definitely gets the sound and letters? (Are they called letters?) across. And also teaches you how to write/read them

[@_Mashu_]

I just read キリンジ on ジャンプ＋ and it felt like the author was using 解る instead of 分かる for the sole purpose of vibe checking my kanji knowledge. I find it particularly common in MHA and JJK where the authors often choose N2 level phrases instead of an easy N3 or N4 phrase.

[@エドゥエドゥ]

This is very very good advice, not only when it comes to learning Japanese specifically, but any language for that matter. In order for you to progress in a language, you HAVE to consume COMPREHENSIBLE content. Reading or listening to language which you don't understand at all will never teach you anything. You must understand the underlying message of what is being written or said. That is the only time where you actually acquire language, when you actually understand it.

[@dylives7667]

Schools for learning japanese HATE this man. He teaches you how to learn japanese quick and easy with one simple trick.

[@johnforde7735]

You obviously weren't listening to him. There is no quick and simple trick. (Unless you were being sarcastic)

[@kegale5538]

I’m really glad I’m learning this now. I’ve always been interested in Japanese and the culture in Japan and have been reading manga and anime for years. Now I’m finally getting closer to college where I’m planning on taking Japanese as a minor. I’ll definitely be using these tips to help me as I begin the process of learning the language. Thank you so much for these tips Joey!!!

[@Thryx20]

Actually I did actually learn to read Japanese with Visual novels, video games, manga and light novels my way might be a bit different though. I can't speak it but I can play games like ace attourney, persona, read vns like sakura no uta, read manga and doujinshi that isn't translated, my main problem is just I might not recognise a word I wouldn't say I'm fluent but I'm close. You don't need to live in another country or experience culture to learn a language. I even learnt my mother tongue from my parents despite not living in my native country, loads of other people I know did similar things.

[@BobbiHiru]

what was your process of learning japanese?

[@charlottemansfield6916]

I found anime and manga was a great way to get familiar with the language, I picked up lots of common phrases and gradually got a decent grasp of how its spoken and how sentences are formed which helped a lot when starting to properly learn Japanese as a foundation to start off of. You def shouldn't rely only on anime and manga to learn it but I found it does help get a exposure to a lot of different words/conversations that are repeated over time and because you are engaged in the anime it works quite well to get those in your head if that makes sense? I also listened to a lot of japanese radio shows which were really good for hearing casual speaking and more fast paced speaking

[@tomukurisuchan9593]

learning japanese right now, using mostly duolingo, which i know isn't the best, but it is a starting place, planning to switch to human japanese, and human japanese intermediate, i really enjoy learning a new language, and japanese is just nice, cus if you go to japan, and there is no subtitles, that shit difficult xD

[@thehipsterhamster1929]

Have you tried Anki? It's like doulingo in the sense of you need to use it every day. But is more efficient in expanding your knowledge. You should try the 2K/6K deck for japanese. It give you the most common 6000 words. Very good for building comprehension

[@tomukurisuchan9593]

@@thehipsterhamster1929 i have not, but thanks for the recommendation

[@joshuaabbey9479]

So glad that Joey rebooted his second channel. Love the videos from here compared to the main channel. He also seems to enjoy making stuff like this much more and seems reinvigorated.

[@bencebob8055]

i think Yotsuba! is a pretty good manga for beginners.

[@lester2162]

I would say for upper beginners like n4

[@loleo123]

Personally I think it also depends on how much of the media you put into your head. Like I was piss poor at english, but then I started watching youtube videos without subtitle (While knowing just a little bit of english), and it helped me understand certain contexts and my brain just pieced in the missing puzzle pieces.

[@xylathoth]

I did this when I was a kid too when learning mandarin. I watched a lot of donghua for kids and learned a lot of vocab, even got pretty good at reading. Sadly I've forgotten most of that knowledge

[@RenSkywalker2187]

This just game me the motivation to pick my japanese study back up, I had been struggling with finding things in Japanese at the level I need as a beginner

[@eric1800es]

This is the most realistic thing any J Tuber has ever said. You deserve a medal for the amount of mental health this will preserve if people listen. I would say as a gaijin who did meet Japanese people in school long ago in Japan, finding Japanese friends to practice with is not quite as easy as you'd think. You tend to attract the people who want to learn your language and you will end up defaulting to that without great effort. But yes, it's true in general. Thanks Joey. Honestly.

[@kylespevak6781]

Sounds like you watch anime-tubers, not J-tubers. Only snake oil salesman would say you can learn Japanese from anime, or someone who thinks quoting lines is "knowing Japanese"

[@MrsLPAmy]

100% Agree. When I started learning English, I studied the basic stuff in class and watched Barbie movies that I've already seen many times in my Native language in English. Helped a lot and also made me more motivated to study English to understand even more.

[@duxduxanor6641]

So basically, JUST WATCH JAPANESE PEPPA PIG! That's what I'm doing and I did it after learning hiragana, katakana, and watching all of Japanese 101 and his 3 hour japanese learning stream, all of which was helpful. Side note: I did live Okinawa for two years, when I was 2, and I did pick up basic things like ohiyo and sumimasen.

[@isaacgleeth3609]

From what I've heard, Okinawan Japanese is so much different from mainland Japanese, like it's almost a foreign language.

[@duxduxanor6641]

@yep Like how Americans, UKs, and Aussies all speak different kinds of english?

[@duxduxanor6641]

@yep I get your point, and I like the idea of the Irish dude decking the American, I said Aussie, UK and American, and MOST of Ireland isn't part of it, also, aren't we getting off topic from talking about learning Japanese?

[@IKEMENOsakaman]

俺もアニメから勉強したで！OMAE WA MOU SHINDERU...!!!!!

[@brendonk.1664]

Nani?????

[@tronoankirayoshikage7331]

NANI!!!!!!!

[@firefly618]

Can confirm everything. In fact, if you can afford it or plan for it at all, go to Japan to study Japanese at a language school. It's 100x more effective than any other method (assuming you actually do the work they give you, which will be a lot!) 俺には、漢字がまだ苦手だけど、日本語学校に通っていたら、気がつくと文法や日本文化が分かるようになった。It's like magic! ✨ For anybody interested, my school was the "Intercultural Institute of Japan" in Okachimachi, near Akihabara. _Highly_ recommended. The teachers were some of the most hard working, earnest people I've ever known and their teaching methods were always on point. The only thing they won't do is put in the effort in your place. Nobody can do that except for you.

[@MindsEye]

Jokes on you, I learnt Japanese through the VTuber rabbit hole..... (sadness).

[@4orinrin]

fandeads in shambles

[@nateriver8503]

You just described comprehensible input mate. Immersing yourself in comprehensible content is the best way of acquiring a language.

[@just.some.girl_____]

Now I'm listening.... I ain't a weeb, but learning a language through pictures does seem much cooler than just japanese101 (no hate though, it's a great source!). However, I am usually quite quivkly deterred from doing it during the beginner phase (the constant looking up words in a dict is tiring!). When it comes to books though, I found out that the ones intended at 2-5 year olds are NOT always the best - as in, they are good in terms of grammar, but they use a lot of UNNECESSARY vocab (stories involving muppets, hedgehogs, broccoli, etc). Good luck to all you language learners out there! P.S. Anyone learning some rare languages?

[@lynxesexe2837]

Thanks man, finally a source of beginner level stuff to check out. I think that most of what you said is pretty much universally shared by everyone, learning by reading baby level content is going to take much longer if you don't get on a textbook first; and I think pretty much everybody agrees. The problem is finding the right steps to take after learning about the grammar points and learning some words on Anki. Learning words on Anki become extremely dull, very time consuming and really kills your will to learn Japanese once you realize that even though you're learning words, you're not using them, and you have no idea about how to use them. Everybody gets exposed to the idea of comprehensible input, but until now I found nobody pointing to beginner level content... If you don't somehow feel a sense of progression or make study sessions a bit less dull, learning anything becomes impossible.

[@xo7evenxo279]

Wait joey you finally reading hxh?

[@Shion.U27]

This is actually so true! When I first started reading Japanese books after taking about 1 full year of Japanese in collage I first read doraemon. 1 because it was easy to access and 2 because if I couldn't find the meaning of the world with jisho or online, there are translations online because is so well know.

[@aaclovern9804]

Just remember to not try to sound like anime/manga character. Use anime and manga as motivation, and probably as a source of new kanji.

[@こなた-m1o]

false. depends entirely on the character and the genre of show. i learned how to speak conversationally from slice of life manga and anime and when i got to japan it was literally indistinguishable from how my coworkers talked to eachother. 2 minute excerpt from a slice of life anime thats almost indistinguishable from how people talk in real life: 38 ねぇ　つかさ　チョココロネってどこから食べる？ 39 う～ん　頭からかな？ 40 そっか 41 ところでさ　頭ってどっち？ 42 太い方と細い方 43 私はこっちの細いほうが頭だと思うんだけど 44 そうか　私は太ったほうが頭だと思ったよ 45 でもなんで細い方が頭 46 だって貝みたいじゃない？ 47 こなちゃんはなんで太った方？ 48 だってさ　芋虫みたいじゃん？ 49 芋虫… 50 まー　でもそう考えると貝のほうがイメージいいね 51 あ　あの… 52 細いほうをちぎって 余ったチョコをつけて食べるという食べかたも… 53 なるほどね 54 さすがはみゆきさんだ　頭いいね 55 いえ　食べ方は人それぞれ自由ですから 56 シュークリームはどうやって食べる？ 57 え、シュークリームですか？ 58 そうですね　私はまず二つに割って 59 蓋部分をポット部分のクリームにつけて食べて 60 で、その後、今度はポット部分を食べます 61 そうすると　クリームがはみ出したりすることなく 62 クリームとシューもバランスよく食べられるんですよね and this is just 2 minutes of a single episode. if you study that you're going to get a LOT more than just "picking up a few kanji". that's entire words in context, sentences and conversation flow.

[@4ohf]

You really hit the nail on the head. This applies to all languages. A language dictates how you experiance the world in a way. Its super important to put in the effort to understand how each language *works*, and I dont mean vocab or grammar, you just need to get the way that language interacts with everyday stuff. Imo this is the hard part of learning a language, cause the rest is essentaly a memory game.

[@munzutai]

I'm not sure where the notion comes from that this "trick" isn't being talked about. It's called comprehensible input and it's very much known and talked about in the language learning community, even to the point where it gets circlejerky sometimes.

[@Renitsiki]

those lights behind you are so cool^ thanks for the video

[@kenizl86]

This is very true. I started with the Demon Slayer manga for my reading practice, but quickly became discouraged. I then picked up Yotsubato! and have been having a blast. Interestingly, this is basically a re-titled tip of the "i+1" methodology, which means "consume media which is one step above your level", and when you're first starting off that basically means "one step above baby". Which in this case is Kodomo manga :D

[@drewsclues5394]

This sounds like a fun idea. I don’t have a fluent Japanese friend, but my dad went on an LDS mission to Okinawa Japan a long time ago. His Japanese isn’t what it used to be, but I feel like learning in similar methods alongside him would be fun.

[@monkeyking7279]

this is a great idea! I'm fluent in japanese but i struggle with learning kanji and reading/writing. i diddn't want to read manga i like because i wouldn't be able to understand it fully but koro koro is a great idea thank you!

[@byusaranicole]

Ahhhhh... This makes SO MUCH sense.... Also... you list all the Shonen magazines... don't forget the SHOUJO magazines.

[@zackaerith1872]

Thanks for the encouragement. I have been struggling with this language for 6years now. Not easy to maintain the level of focus when one is not forced to learn due to circumstances.

[@TheGalderis]

Perfect 2nd channel content for 2nd monitor to consume. Thank you Joey.

[@gruu]

One of The most important points he makes is ’Don’t rush it’. This is 100% true, I took Japanese lessons after work once a week for 5 years before I had the chance to go and study Japanese in Japan, after that I was sufficient enough to study on my own which I only do like 30 mins once or twice a week since then. But cut to 10 years since I stared and now I’m fluent in casual Japanese & formal (desu/masu系). Don’t rush but also DONT give up!

[@MasuseDeMojo]

I agree with this totally. I have been working on Japanese for several years now; I am not proficient, but I have gained a lot of understanding of culture, and now working on combing characters with words and phrases to have a working knowledge of conversational Japanese. None of this is easy, and I do spend a lot of hours of study!! Thank You for putting this out there!!!