So you just listened to it? No English subtitles?

But you need to look for the words you don't know the meaning, it's no use just listening and not understanding anything. A great example is the Otakus, they don't know how to speak anything other than the words that are repeated a lot: "Baka" "Arigatou" "Onichan".

@@bulletproofh2t no english subs, you won't get anywhere with them on

Yeah, I did the same with english

​@@sovereignty44469you need to reach a level where you can guess words from context. For that you first need to learn some basics in grammar and vocabulary

That's great! Best of luck!

you German?

@@solisimperium1203 Me or Opu? I'm British

@@baribarijapan Opu

@@solisimperium1203 yes 😩 is it that obvious from my english? 😂

Thanks a lot! I'm honoured you like my content because I always watch yours!

@@baribarijapan Thanks for always watching mine! I saw you helped my viewer in the comment! I appreciate that! And I'm sure there is something natives can provide well, and non-natives can provide well for learners as we might have different perspectives for learning Japanese! I hope my subscribers also watch your videos for their Japanese studies. (^^)/

@@kensanokaeri Thanks! I think so too. I'll be making a video to recommend KZfaq channels soon so I'll be sure to recommend yours.

Thanks! Check out my video on best podcasts for immersion if you didn't already. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orNyoaWi2MuppqM.html

Nice! I started out with Higashino Keigo and read most of his books. I recommend his books if you haven't read them already. They're all good!

@@baribarijapan I will definitly check them, I am still a starter in japanese so I need "easier" content edit: do you recomend any book in particular? I found 白夜行 online so maybe I will go with that, although feel free to recomend more!

@@user-vf2sq6pt7p I really like ナミヤ雑貨店の奇蹟(ざっかてんのきせき) and 流星の絆(りゅうせいのきずな). I'm not sure what level the book you suggested was but I think Keigo's books are fairly easy to read as far as novels go. If you're looking for easier books (from other writers), コンビニ人間 or コーヒーが冷めないうちに might be a bit easier.

Thanks for your comment! That was how I felt when I started so I'm trying to make the videos I wish I could have seen at the beginning.

Nice! Best of luck with the n2!

Well done! I'm glad you found this useful!

That's great. I think Anki can be really useful but it's easy to get too absorbed in it. I used it for a long time but found I knew so many words but not how to use them. So immersion is key for sure. I plan to make a video about this soon anyway so watch this space!

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that!

Oh, great! Glad I could help you find it.

Nice! Sounds like you are!

Great! Best of luck!

That's totally normal! Me too! That's why I always make sure to have content that I actually want to watch/read/or listen to so it never feels like something I have to do but instead like something I really want to do. That's exactly why I will be doing more videos to introduce fun materials to learn with. This was the one I did for podcasts kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orNyoaWi2MuppqM.html&ab_channel=baribarijapan

That's great to hear! I'm glad I could help!

I'm planning on doing one! In the meantime, here's one I did for podcast recommendations kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orNyoaWi2MuppqM.html

Thanks, mate!

Yeah, that's how I approached French before actually. With lots of trial and error output. And I ended up working in France without any issues communicating. Based on Krashen's research and other people's experiences I went with more input first this time (with Japanese) and in my case I found it more effective but clearly there's more than one way to skin a cat!

It depends on your objective, if you want to become good at using japanese, then yeah the more you speak the better in the beginning. But if you learn it in order to become as good as possible, you will pick up bad habits if you start speaking too soon. It's kind of like comparing someone who played tennis for years to have fun before training for actual tournaments, and someone who immediately analysed the best players, their strategies and their movements, before actually training those specific things. The latter's moves will be way "cleaner"

@@thepierre396 Could be yes. And indeed, I have no interest in sounding like a native. I get that for some it's a fun challenge, but to me it is of little interest. I grew up bilingually with two completely different languages (Swiss German and Finnish), which has helped me a lot with pronunciation in other languages. So I am never "not understood" due to wobbly pronounciation. . If I then occasionally use some "funny grammar" or just unnatural (but perfectly understandable) expressions, that is perfectly fine. To me it's always a game of diminishing returns - the moment communication is fluid, I prefer investing my time into something else, instead of obsessing over some pitch patterns or so. I mean I picked up English the same way; just started using it. And I assume you guys can understand me. ;) So if there are quirks here and there, that doesn't bother me at all.

Thanks for watching! Yeah, I wasn't very good at making stories either so I used this hochanh.github.io/rtk/index.html As for Wanikani I think they just ripped off RTK, hiked the price up and added stuff which Heisig didn't add on purpose. The point of Heisig's method was to not try to learn too many things at once (readings etc), just learn one simple name in English because our memory will have something to attach to and then learn the rest later. Personally I thought that was the beauty of the method but different strokes for different folks. I'm glad you're finding Wanikani works for you!

That's a great approach!

Thanks! That's probably my favourite edit I've done 😅

That's definitely true. That's why I just went through it as fast as possible (30 new ones a day), had a very loose memory of them, and then reminded myself of them as they came up in input.

Yeah, I totally agree. I always say to my students (I teach English) that every minute counts. Personally I get about 4-5 hours of Japanese every day if I include passive listening because I use any spare moment (between working and raising a child) but I'm planning on making a video about my routine soon because a few people have been asking questions about specific details. But I do think it's best to "just have fun". Not everyone needs to pass n1 within 4 years or at all. And if it isn't fun we're more likely to burn out and give up and therefore end up with less progress in the end anyway.

@@baribarijapan Yes, totally agree. Well said. Cheers.

Hi! I will be doing more videos for good materials. As for Anki decks, I think making your own cards is the best. I used a most-common-6000-words deck at the beginning but I found those words hard to retain and even harder to recall whereas when I made my own cards they were much easier to remember, understand in context, and recall. There's research that says making more effort helps us remember things and I think that might be what takes effect when making your own cards.

I don't like Hikakan either and like PDR too! 😂 Nakata's KZfaq Daigaku is my favourite. It's so good for people trying to get from intermediate/advanced to master level. But I plan to make a video to recommend KZfaqrs soon. Thanks for sharing your experience!

@@baribarijapan Did not know about Nakata, will check them out! :) A youtuber recommendation video sounds like a great idea! Heres two others that I also greatly enjoy: 漫画エンジェルネコオカ and フェルミ研究所 - they are kind of like videos about manga stills with voice acting to go along with the text. Great for listening AND reading comprehension! Level I would say is intermediate. Manga Angel Neko Oka focuses more on wholesome stories while Fermi is a bit more varied, talking about all sorts of topics. Both are really good and entertaining!

@@DranCh Thanks! I'll check them out!

Thanks! I hope I can help others to study. I already made a video about level appropriate podcasts kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orNyoaWi2MuppqM.html&ab_channel=baribarijapan and I'll do more videos like this. I haven't heard about cognitive load before but that sounds accurate to me. I think a lot of people never push beyond their comfort zone and have trouble progressing as a result. Thanks for your feedback!

Thanks! So for the first couple of years I tried to read regularly but I definitely did much more listening and watching stuff. When watching stuff I often used Japanese subtitles which helped with reading too. It was actually after I started trying to output more when I realized I should read more because I couldn't say many things that I thought I knew how to say because I didn't know these things as accurately as I thought I did. For example what particle to use or how to connect two grammar points etc. So I thought reading might help me focus on those little details more and I found that it worked. Listening will always be somewhat passive (even if you don't do anything the podcast will continue) but with reading every sentence has to pass through your brain for the story to continue. I think this is what makes reading very valuable input. So I started out with manga which I soon made sure didn't have furigana because I didn't want to let myself "cheat" with kanji reading. Then the switch to novels was hard at the beginning because there is a lot of new stuff but I felt much more comfortable after 4 or 5 books. Then leading up to N1 or even n2 you have to read a lot! Even though I'd read many novels (and news etc too) I still found the reading section the most challenging when I started specifically preparing for the exam. Last point, I really really recommend some mnemonic based system because I found that the more kanji you learn the more annoyingly similar ones you'll find and you need a way to differentiate them. And the JLPT exams test you on those similar looking kanji too. I'll make a video soon specifically about reading. Anyway, sounds like you're on the right track。 頑張って!

Haha I guess so

Thanks! Yes, I used it every single day for 4 years. I made cards with example sentences of new grammar or vocab with explanations in English on the back for the first year and a half then switched to using Japanese explanations from Japanese dictionaries etc after that. Only recently I stopped because I felt like it would be better to use that time for immersion as now I know a lot of vocabulary etc but I need to work on my general feeling for the language. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone though, it definitely helped me tremendously. I have another channel for people learning English and I have a video on there about setting up Anki. It is for English learners so if you're interested you might want to watch it at 2x speed or something kzfaq.info/get/bejne/f8qii6yFy6-0o2Q.html

Nice one! Thanks for your comment. You can watch Shirokuma cafe here animelon.com/series/Shirokuma%20Cafe%20(Polar%20Bear%20Cafe) As for beginner stuff on Netflix I actually really like Doraemon. It's surprisingly entertaining and it teaches a lot about Japanese culture too. There's also Rilakkuma. I'll be making a video soon about Netflix shows etc so stay tuned!

@@baribarijapan Awesome! I’ll be sure to check those out. Looking forward to the Netflix vid too. ありがとう!

Yeah, if you've got subtitles on that can definitely make it more comprehensible. But for total beginners reading, especially at the speed subtitles go, is pretty challenging. Anyway, I didn't say stop watching stop watching native level stuff, I said just use some easier stuff like for kids etc (still native) or some podcasts etc aimed at Japanese learners which are still close to native level (check the video I made recommending podcasts). Do you know about Krashen's input hypothesis? He always talks about i+1 level content.

Oh, nice. Utilize those nap times! 😅

がんばって!

Nice! I think anyone that studies long enough ends up with natural input. The more you try to speak with natives the more you realise it's the only way.

I am planning to make a video soon about learning to read. If you're learning Chinese there is an equivalent book to the one I mentioned here for Chinese. I didn't use any textbooks and as I said in the video I just went through an overview of Japanese grammar to begin with and then looked up grammar points when they came up in dramas etc. If you're having trouble understanding your input just try easier stuff like stuff for children or something. Best of luck with your studies!

That's great! Well done on passing N1. One that is popular with beginners is Espanol con Juan. I mentioned it in my podcast video actually because one of the Japanese podcasters was inspired to start by Juan.

@@baribarijapan Muchas Gracias!

Do you have any live streamers you would recommend? Here or on twitch or somewhere else?

That's great! Sounds like a good way to learn. Yeah, also when it comes down to how many years it takes it also depends how much we're studying every day so "six years" is pretty vague.

who are some of the streamers you watch?

@@fourkidsforkids7847 I would strongly recommend going on twitch, searching for a game you like and sort by smallest first, with the tag 日本語 as filter and find someone with 1 or 2 viewers at most, it feels more like you're actually talking to them

@@lahagemo I would strongly recommend going on twitch, searching for a game you like and sort by smallest first, with the tag 日本語 as filter and find someone with 1 or 2 viewers at most, it feels more like you're actually talking to them

TV shows and manga will be perfect then!

Have you tried RTK (the book I talked about here) or any mnemonic based system? Personally that was the only way for me. I wrote them out a few times when I started but not many times at all. I'm not very imaginative when it comes to mnemonics so I borrowed a lot from hochanh.github.io/rtk/index.html Also I think it's important to switch to things without furigana at some stage to force yourself to remember them.

@@baribarijapan thanks for responding! I will try those ideas out!

@@ashleynv Great! 頑張って！

Have you tried out WaniKani? It’s been a HUGE help to me

When I am learning a new kanji, I take the entire phrase where I saw it and put it in my flashcards. It helps me because the context in the sentence.

Same as you, I speak a European language and studied European languages before starting on an Asian language and it's a totally different thing! For input at the beginning stage, I watched a lot of kids movies or movies I've seen many times dubbed into Japanese. For example Disney movies, Back to the Future, Star Wars etc. When you already know what people are saying it makes it much easier to follow. Netflix often has the dubbed version, you could use a VPN if you're in Brazil. Also easy input aimed at people learning Chinese would be good like KZfaq, podcasts etc. In Japan they have Doraemon (a kid's cartoon/comic) which is actually pretty entertaining and has hundreds of episodes so I watched a lot of that, so maybe something similar in Chinese could be good. As I mentioned in the video too, in the early stages I just passively listened or watched stuff after all my active study (grammar/kanji etc). As for characters, the book I mentioned here, Remembering the Kanji has a Chinese version too called Remembering the Hanzi. I don't know if that was helpful. Did I kind of answer your question?

What level are you in Chinese? I'm also learning Chinese..

I'm still in Japan. I've been here almost 5 years. I first came on a working holiday visa but I'm on a spouse visa now. I'm going to make a video at some point about how to get different kinds of visas here.

Actually I think it's best to not use English audio or subtitles. I think it's best to stick to all Japanese because when our brains have an easy option (English) they tend to just focus on that. Also translations on TV shows are not literal most of the time, they are often totally different, and I've also seen a lot of mistakes in translation.

Yeah, I think you need to use a VPN but then you'll also have a lot more japanese content. I mentioned Softether in the video. That's a pretty reliable one. I used it when I wasn't in Japan. There is also www.animelon.com

I just used Anki, the flash card app, which you can use to memorize anything. Is there any value in taking anything else? I guess you mean the other exams, if you want to work in Japan as almost anything except an English teacher or model then you'll probably need the n2. As I said in the video, I recommend studying some grammar and vocab at the beginning or as you said it will be harder to pick anything up, not impossible but harder. For me working through Tae Kim's guide was enough to get me going. I will be doing a lot more videos on Japanese and how to study it so be sure to subscribe!

@@baribarijapan Thanks for the response and yeah I just wanted to confirm what I heard N2 or N1, as I plan to live there for 1-2 years. Yeah I actually been using KZfaq to learn grammar through Game Gengo, since learning through video games is more my style been playing Yokai Watch 1 remastered. Already subscribed nice channel and I see that this video was blessed by the algorithm. Cheers

@@southcoastinventors6583 Great! That's the key for sure, to learn through something you're interested in.

That's great. Well done! Yeah, pitch accent is one of the harder parts if you really want perfect Japanese. It's something I work on and study myself. But there are plenty of people that don't pay any special attention to it and speak great Japanese (George from Japanese from Zero for example). I don't know what your native language is but for me as an English speaker I would say the hardest part of Japanese is just how different it is from European languages in structure and in how things are expressed. Knowing the natural way of expressing things can be tough sometimes. Which is why only lots and lots of input is the way!

@@baribarijapan I'm from france thanks for the advice I will focus more on grammar. So I can finally understand japanese streamers or don't need subtitles.

@@houtcheang6689 And just like how you learned English, lots of input will help you to get a natural feeling for the grammar.

It's not as difficult as other Asian languages in respect to tone. It only affects the meaning of a few words in Japanese. The Kinokuniya J-E dictionary marks tones for each word. There are only high and low tones, so it's not that hard.

Well I tried to explain the best I could. I used Anki and I was planning to make a whole separate video on that because there is a whole process to explain. The reason I didn't mention it is because everyone has their own way of memorising stuff and I don't think everyone would want to use Anki. I also think you don't need to use Anki. I really do think the key is natural immersion that suits your level. I got too absorbed in Anki and I actually think that time could have been used better by engaging with more material. If a word is important it's going to come up again naturally anyway. But as I said I will make a video about this stuff so watch this space!

Nice one! I found it a bit repetitive when I used it for Spanish but it's definitely more fun than textbooks.

@@baribarijapan yeah thats definately true. I guess what i did was as soon as i reached 1 crown for a category, i would move onto the next lesson.

@@user-lm5jf9tw3l that's a good trick!

I personally stopped using duolingo because it has a lot of issues. First, the repetitiveness of "too easy" lessons makes it a less effective use of your time. Secondly, it doesn't recognize multiple ways of translating the same message across that is grammatically correct, but it marks you wrong because it's not the answer *duolingo* wants you to input. Thirdly, the synthesized speech gets the pitch accent wrong for a lot of words and thus may teach people the wrong pronounciation of things. So overall, while it may seem like a fun app, I think for better and more correct effectiveness of learning, some other sources will be more valuable and time efficient than duolingo.

@@musthabe_ yeah i agree with you. I only do like a few lessons a week because it has taught me grammar structures and vocab that i later heard in my immersion which is nice. But in my opinion the best piece of content for learning japanese is anime. Tbh all i do is just watch 4 hrs of anime everyday and its been the most effective content so far

お勧めしてくれてありがとうございます！原作を読んですごく面白かったです。映画は見たことないけど観てみます！ちなみに東野圭吾の大ファンなんです。ほとんど読みました。

I'm sure there is nothing wrong with you. 4 years can mean something very different when we consider how many hours you study per day. I started learning Japanese before my daughter was born so I had a bit more time at the beginning and I was studying at least 6 hours per day. Now I'm still studying about 4 hours a day if I include time just listening to podcasts, which btw is definitely the best way to get more Japanese into your day.

Something I've found through my own studies and through teaching English is that when it comes to learning grammar or vocabulary it isn't as simple as knowing and not knowing. I think textbooks have made us think that's the case. It's more like knowing a bit, then a bit more, then a bit more. So I always think it's best to learn a grammar rule or the meaning of a word, keep that loose idea in mind, and then just continue with your immersion. Then when that grammar point or word comes up check if it matches with your understanding or do you need to rethink it a little, and just take a little mental note. You'll find that with time your understanding of these grammar points will grow and you'll find it hard to believe you ever had a problem before.

@@baribarijapan thank you for the advice! I'll implement this immediately to my studies!

@@sprenzy7936 Nice! I'll be making some videos soon about this kind of thing so I'll be able to explain better in those.

I just put up a video all about that kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jr2arJSFvsynoaM.html

Well if you're somewhere busy/loud, I would definitely recommend some noise cancelling headphones with good casing to block out noise. Decent ones are pretty expensive (usually over $150) but really worth it if you can afford them. I used to work in the centre of Tokyo and could still clearly hear podcasts. I use some big Sennheisers but AKG, Sony, Bose etc make them too. When it isn't so loud though (like when I walk around my residential neighbourhood) I just use some 30 dollar bluetooth earphones. Is that what you meant by your question?

@@baribarijapan well actually I meant what podcast you recommend

@@krisaore Oh, sorry! I didn't look what video this comment was on and assumed this was the video I put up recently to recommend podcasts. Did you see this one already? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orNyoaWi2MuppqM.html&ab_channel=baribarijapan

I did that at the beginning. Sometimes I'd pick up some stuff during the moments when I lost focus on what I was reading. But as I started to understand more it got too distracting.

The title says "without REALLY studying". When most people think of the word "study" they think of some arduous task that perhaps has to be done. I didn't and still don't feel that way about learning Japanese. I often feel a bit weird using the word "study" because, yes I look things up sometimes (not that often), but the rest of the time I really am just having fun with Japanese content. We don't use the word "study" when talking about learning to play the guitar or learning to play basketball so I think learning languages can seem more inviting if we reframe the way we talk about it.

Really the only option is to read a lot. If you've only got a couple of months left you should be using the preparation books or past exam papers so you can get used to the question structure. I found with the n1 I had to learn what kind of answer the examiner is looking for. But I've never taken n3 so I can't speak exactly about that.

It will! This happens to most people. Phonemic awareness takes a while to develop and it happens unconsciously so you won't really notice it happening. It really does just take a lot of listening. Listen during any spare moment you can, while cooking, walking, driving etc. I remember not being able to hear clearly enough to search the words people were using but that gradually got easier and easier, now it's no problem at all, I can hear words that I don't know the meaning to and look them up.

Here is a video about the 30 best Japanese podcasts: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orNyoaWi2MuppqM.html And this is how I get 6 hours of Japanese (mostly listening) into my day: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p9uZls2ev9DGgJs.html

Hi! As I said in the video I didn't go to classes. Just studied by myself. Check out nihongo no mori on KZfaq for JLPT stuff.

Right on the website: guidetojapanese.org/learn/ You only need to pay if you want a printed version.

@@baribarijapan thank you! I found this but wasn’t positive it was the correct one :-D

I just worked through RTK, wrote them out a few times from memory and then tried to read as much as possible to retain them. I didn't use Anki specifically to memorize kanji but I did use it for vocabulary/grammar. For me what worked best was to get a loose understanding of all the standard kanji and then just kept jogging my memory as I went along.

@@baribarijapan Alright. Thanks

@@ryvlaw I'm going to be making a video soon about the pros/cons of spaced repetition and how to use it.

@@baribarijapan other things I would be interested in are: - generally how much hours did you do per day and how much time did you spend on what - how do your grammar cards look - what do you consider the standard kanji?

My next video is going to be about this stuff but the standard kanji (常用漢字) are the 2163 kanji that the government deems the most important to be taught at school. At least 6 hours a day before, now at least about 4 hours a day. Japanese sentence on the front, japanese explanation on the back from a dictionary or from somewhere on the internet.

It says in the thumbnail: 4 years

I made a whole list of them kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orNyoaWi2MuppqM.html&ab_channel=baribarijapan

Thanks! No, I'm not. What gave you that impression?

Oh! I just remembered I said I was living in Spain! That was just for a year. I'm from the UK.

@@baribarijapan Your English accent is very clear and easy to understand. I would wish all native English speakers speak like you.

@@profesordanielalvarez3498 Oh, well I am an English teacher 😅. This is my English teaching channel if you're interested kzfaq.info/love/I2xkI6T7R_ZPt6i4kB0Jkw

いや、ｎ１持ってる人大勢います　😅

@@baribarijapan いや、それが言えるあなたの人柄が明るい未来を示唆しています。

I didn't. It could be useful though. I just tried to write them from memory a few times. Then I tried to get reading as quickly as possible so I could keep refreshing my memory.

Thanks for the reply. I'm happy to hear that, I've used Anki for RTK in the past and I'm dreading it this time around (it's been a while and need to refresh my memory). Nice to see an example of someone that didn't use it 🙂

@@ker82ker I used Anki for memorising vocabulary but I think there are pros and cons to using it. I'm going to make a video about it soon.

I did one a while ago kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iauDatdj05-tfps.html But I've got a lot more comfortable speaking since then so I need to do some more videos in Japanese.

I already did. Right here kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orNyoaWi2MuppqM.html

I did. I'm going to make a video soon about my study routine so I plan to explain specific things like that in that video.

Haha it's a great show.

Yeah, 152.

@@baribarijapan That’s a solid score! Thanks for sharing

@@DanneoYT thanks! My perfectionist side wants to do it again when I can get a perfect score 😅

PC and free 👍

@@baribarijapan You should make a Tutorial XD I dont know how to use it. XD お願いいたします。

I often do that too!

I did. Every day for 4 years. Over 15 thousand cards in the end. I didn't mention it in this video because I don't think it's necessary and I was planning on making a whole separate video about it.

wanna use it particularly for tver

www.softether.org/ Download it from here. I haven't used it in a long time but if I remember rightly, when you open it you go to "choose server", a list of countries pop up, and you want to find one that has a good speed but not so people using it.

If you're still having trouble, let me know and I'll just make a short video on it because others will probably have the same issues.

Yeah, that's much more doable when the languages are from the same family.

Hey! That sounds interesting. Yeah, I'd be happy to take a look at that. I have a TikTok account. I haven't really done anything with it yet but you could message me on there. It's baribarijapan.

@@baribarijapan Cheers! I created an account (shugyosha89) and followed you. I think you need to follow me back to give me permission to send you a message.

@@baribarijapan Hey man, please give my account permission to send you a message on TikTok. I followed your account. Cheers.

@@shugyosha7924 Done!

It's a great program to have if you're living outside of Japan!

It didn't really feel like studying though. 😅

It is! It's a show called zenra kantoku about Japan's most famous porn director. Highly recommend 👍

@@baribarijapan wait wot. the fact that you said "highly recommended" though lol.

@@gapedandamazed6988 yeah, check it out!

Haha maybe. I watched a lot of Doraemon. It's actually really enjoyable and teaches a lot about Japanese traditions and culture too.

By using this www.softether.org/

The title says without "really" studying. Being as my time spent on those tasks you mentioned equate to about 10% of overall time compared to immersion based learning over the last 4 years I think it is fair to say that compared to the usual route of attending classes and hitting textbooks that I didn't really study, especially not in the traditional sense. Also if you ever make videos and want people to actually click on then you'll understand a bit better what I'm doing here. As for your comment about 2 years without output actually hurting pronunciation (it's the total opposite btw) I guess you don't anything about phonemic awareness "yikes lol".

This video is about going from zero to n1.

What's that?

Thanks a lot! There'll be more to come!