Learn Japanese with Yuta: bit.ly/45BqdLj

The 13 month toddler probably speaks better than my 500 day Duolingo streak

I'm learning Japanese and my three year old "helps" 🤗 I noticed the other day that she says "delicious" in half English, half Japanese and it makes me so happy. She says "Oishious" ❤

The substituting of "s" for "Ch" sound is called fronting in linguistics. Toddlers do this in all languages, it's a developmental phase of oral motor skillz.

It's so adorable seeing them pick up the Japanese mannerisms... passing things with two hands, the nods and bows, etc.

Based on context, I think the little toddler was definitely saying "dislike" or "kirai" but just with incorrect pitch. The mom had just asked "What do you like to do?" and "Do you like the park?" So the little girl saying "dislike!" makes more sense than her simply saying "beautiful" or "clean" out of nowhere. Additionally, when the mom said "Hmm? Kirei?" the girl kept repeating "Kirai! Kirai!" This usually is behavior kids do when the adult has misunderstood them and they just want to be heard and understood. When the mom said "I see" the girl was satisfied, thinking mom finally got that she had said she doesn't like the park.

Good video. Some people severely underestimate how well children can speak. I always hear things like "I'm terrible! I speak like a five-year-old!" when in reality a five-year-old native speaker would absolutely wipe the floor with them lol

This is a really good video to gauge my level of skill in japanese. And as I expected, I'm at the level of a 2 year old child after 3 years of learning.

My inspiration for learning Japanese comes from a time when I went on a trip to Japan and there was a small child on the train with their family and I couldn’t even understand them. I was like “darn, I need to get my skill level above this very young child.”

iirc, Sometimes twins actually develop an understandable language slower than non twins. Well, they understand each other. But harder for other people to understand them. It can develop into a full blown "secret language." They usually grow out of it but sometimes they'll will keep a few non-words without even realizing they are doing it.

at only 2 years old, they already understand basic spoken Japanese and can already introduce themselves and speak some basic words, even though they can't pronounce them properly. at near 3 years old, they know more vocabulary and can form more complex sentence structures, as well as pronounce words closer to the correct way. at 4 and half years old, they already sound fluent and can pronounce words quite well. it will also be interesting to see the kinds of books that they can read by age. according to a hinative response, people in Japan usually learn hiragana at 3 years old, though they officially start learning kana in the 1st year of elementary. it's interesting to note that by age 10 (in grade 4), they learn enough kanji to pass N3, and by age 12 (in grade 6), they know enough kanji to pass N2 (though some might be able to pass at an even younger age). what this means in practice is that you only need to know Japanese at an elementary school level to be able to enjoy reading most manga, light novel and anime without much trouble.

Thank you for this - it confirms what i've always thought: when i'm not actively in Japanese class, my language level seems to be stuck around the level i was forced to stop speaking it. When i started kindergarten (5yo) my mother was told i'd never speak english properly if i kept speaking japanese, so despite not speaking english well, she wouldn't let me speak japanese to her any more (it was my first language). i may get beyond that in casual speech if i had someone to practise with (my mom died just after i graduated high school), i have social difficulty, so - not likely. 8(

I just turned 18 and i've been learning japanese for 4-5 months and after this video i find myself at a level of 2 yo child that makes me even feel more motivated to learn!!

At such young ages it often really depends on the baby too. One of my little cousins is almost 4 and still doesn't speak that much and slurs sentences making it hard to understand sometimes. Meanwhile I'm told that as a child I could speak very well before turning 2 even and spoke constantly. Then again I learned to walk very late. There was a blessed period where my mother still had to carry me everywhere while I could already complain in full sentences. Priorities.

My cousin who is almost 4 is very verbal. His mom (my other cousin) didn’t speak to him as if he was a baby but an older child. I saw him last week and he is such a sweetie. Love that little guy.

This is so cute! Also proof that whatever the language they speak all 2.5 year olds are the same goofy cuteness! My heart could not 🥰

I think the most interesting, and simultaneously frustrating thing, about where I’m at in my language learning (2 years of learning, sitting somewhere between the 2 year 10 months, and the 4 year old), is that I’m stuck grammatically and vocabulary-wise at such an underdeveloped level in my language learning. But I have complex ideas and concepts that I want to talk about, so I end up totally confused, or talking around the topic to reach an understanding with a native speaker. A bizarre feeling you don’t reeally get when learning as a child, as your thoughts are as simple as the sentences you’re making!

I‘m not learning japanese, but I got curious since I like anything related to language learning so I clicked to watch the video. I'm glad I did because those kids are soooo cute. I love hearing kids expressing themselves it's always either cute, funny or impressive!

When my daughter was 2 years old, it was hard because "はひふへほ →あいうえお" and "さしすせそ→たちつてと". For example, like this, "はさみがほしいです → あたみがおちいでつ" The pitch pattern was the only thing I could rely on. In other words, as long as the pitch pattern is accurate, Japanese is manageable.

0:23 I think she was saying smth more like "(h)ora, juusu"(here, juice) rather than "orenji juusu"(orange juice)

I actually find very interesting watching these kinds of videos, because from these I can get strategies on how to get to learn better, and it's also interesting to know how toddlers learn their native language

What's so cute to me is how the twins are so engrossed in pretending to drink juice from the box. They can't say a whole lot, but they are already using their imaginations, playing a game. It's like, when she puts the box under the blanket, it's like the dishes are going to the kitchen, and when she takes the box out again, the "cup" of juice has been refilled. So she gives it to her sister, who pretends to drink it and says "thank you" for it.

I was spending some time with a Japanese family recently and noticed that the three young brothers would refer to themselves with くん　like ヒロ君。rather than saying 僕、俺、私、etc. I thought that was very interesting.

Japanese children make me so happy, they're adorable 😍

if its not too much trouble yuta sensei, could you manage to get more content like the last girl for another video? i feel like this is so close to my personal level and it is very nice how simply she speaks, its very easy to understand. it would be so interesting to hear more kids at this level and have your educational input. just a suggestion from a long time viewer.

It's fun hearing kids speaking other languages. I grew up with mainly just one language being spoken by the people around me. (not counting subtitled movies and TV shows) It was interesting during my time of learning English when I heard a native English speaking toddler talk. Same with Japanese through this video. Bit of a shame I don't understand it so I can't dive into details with the speech pattern the way you do. But of course, that's what your content is for. Teaching the language.

My english speaking two year old was borderline worrying her doctor and I because she was lagging a bit behind in speaking skills but at the last minute just started vomiting full sentences in english and also occasionally speaking basic Punjabi. 😳 We live around quite a few indian people and she plays with the kids on the playground but her dad and I don’t speak it at all so we were quite surprised she was absorbing so much of it!

Having four kids myself, I've definitely seen first hand how they understand a phenomenal amount more language, from very early on, than they generate themselves. At 13 to 15 months old, they understood basically everything we said to them; they just couldn't say anything in return. Also, having had them all through preschool, it's definitely normal for them to have a hard time generating certain sounds until they reach certain ages. Their teachers gave us handouts detailing at which ages they were expected to finally be able to produce certain letter sounds properly. I think the sheet went to 6 years or something.

This video was really fascinating, people have these misconceptions that kids learn languages faster than adults but that’s not true. They have 2 years of complete immersive input and then about a year to reach simple output. So by the 4th year they start to hit proficiency. I think any serious adult can reach that in 2 years. Thanks for the great content, this really opened my mind to the possibilities of language acquisition.

as a 15 yo baby myself I sounded like the 2 yo babies when starting to learn 5 months ago! lmao OMG These actual babies are SO CUTE THO

this was immensely useful to gain perspective. thanks for sharing

the children in the video are so adorable😭😭baby fever is real

This was so wholesome... nothing prepared my heart for this!!! 🥹

At 4 years and 6 months they aren't just able to describe things in detail but they probably feel the language better than someone who has lived in Japan for 10+ years. Everything important in their life has happened in Japanese.

thank you for making me smile with these kids

With the four year old girl, what caught my attention was that her mother said 昼ごはん and she instantly related that to 給食.

Really interesting video, especially the bit about pitch accent

I'm so glad my baby brother (2y5m) is quite easy to understand in all the languages he speaks. Hearing those three 2 year olds speak, I could barely match any words to the captions (granted, I don't speak Japanese, but I could mostly do it with the parents and the 4 year old). We'll see if my baby sister ends up the same.

Awesome! Thank you for this!

Hello yuta. Well this video motivates me to move forward. It's just been 3 months since I have been studying nihongo. I completed studying N5. Compared to other students my Japanese listening, reading and writing skills are way more good than other reasons I have been watching anime since 2014 in Japanese dub with English subtitles. I'm sure about that after 3 months of hard studying today I can pass JLPT N4. Thankful for such awesome video ❤❤ love from Nepal

I've taken 2 Japanese college courses and it feels good to know that a 2 year old's Japanese is better than mine.

Interesting video I enjoy seeing the processes and how much they know compared to starter students learning the language. Also I was hoping for a plot twist ending were Yuta reveals that these are all his kids. Cool video. ^_^

7:45 Wow the Kaguya reference.

Lol.. I've been doing Duo for 620+ days now and I can confidently say I'm on a level with a 2 year old.. I started getting Yuta lessons recently so, I will obviously improve massively. I think because I am treating it as a hobby is probably blunting my progress....

Its fascinating how polite even young children are in Japan.

I love watching children learn how to speak. I don't think a lot of people consider how speech is first learnt when studying a second language later on in life. We all acquired language by listening, repeating, and engaging in conversation...and then pronouncing the words were a struggle at first and it took years to perfect that pronunciation. We learned to speak by mimicking and then trying to form those sounds in our mouths until we got used to tongue and lip movements. In all honesty, I think learning a second language is a lot like the first time, only we have more knowledge about how to learn. We have to learn how to mimic new sounds for the first time, figure out how to position our mouths like a native to produce those new sounds, learn how to repeat things back, etc. Watching how kids learn is really eye-opening because doing what they do is the best way to learn once more.

その女の子の「嫌い」はめちゃかわいいすぎ！

Its funny i want to learn Japanese not because of anime, but there are food in japan that i want to try and i want to know how to pronounce them. Plus i love how japan society is

Twins have their own language...no matter the country. Keeping that in mind also.

Very informational analysis Yuta

how adorable! 😭🙏

This is a really good video to learn about the Japanese language

I used to teach young learners English in Japan. Little ones up to age 3 did classes with a parent. We started classes at 9 months old, at which point ofc children can't speak yet, so it's all about input and having fun. Some toddlers had younger siblings, so sometimes I was teaching while holding a tiny baby less than six months old! 😂 From age 4 and up, kids would participate in class without a parent, and by then they can speak short sentences and sometimes write their first name in hiragana and in English letters. It was so fun teaching them, as they are dilligent and sweet, at least when they are out and about.😅 It was my years there that made me want to be a mom, as I got to see some first steps and hear some first words! ❤ I am now expecting my first (a boy), and since I am the only bilingual parent, I do plan to teach him Japanese, since I am fairly fluent. I look forward to it! 😊

With this video I can confidently confirm I speak Japanese like a 2yr old 😅 Which I guess makes sense since I've only studied for a little over 2yrs casually.

Japanese babies are so cute, well generally babies are cute the way they speak is just so cute!

I'm surprised kids ramble on and on, it is universal trait regardless of what languages they speak.

2nd comment: Great series of how anime characters speak Japanese. Please do Itsuki Nakano from the quintessential quintuplets or any or all the 7 main characters in TQQ. How they speak Japanese I believe is very important to understanding the plot eg the honorifics, the lost in translation stuff (eg when they say things like zurui, hatsukoi, uso, tachi, fukuzatsu Vs taihen, mote etc that are removed from the dub). I compiled a lot of the lost in translation stuff in r/gotoubun Something to consider about Itsuki: The Quintessential Quintuplets' character types are: Ichika - Onee-san / ara ara, Nino - tsundere, miku - kuudere / dandere, Yotsuba - genki Itsuki - ?? - Tsundere like Nino? - Eat-suki? - Imouto? - Someone who speaks keigo to their siblings, to Fuutarou and to Raiha and to everyone basically? Actually, the main thing I learned from Yuta's videos that keigo is basically just desu, masu & their variations. I swear when I learned elementary Japanese in bachelor's (foreign language classes are required in universities in the Philippines) we were never even taught the word keigo. All this time I had no idea Itsuki was the only quint and actually only main character who was talking keigo to EVERYONE. Anyway, I have a theory as to what Itsuki's type is, but you're not gonna like it... For more japanese stuff re TQQ, see r/gotoubun r/itsuesugi r/raitsuki etc

I'm watching this and learning so much from two year olds. Also toddlers are universal that older two year and my niece are around the same age and she does the same goofy stuff while talking かわいい❤❤❤❤❤❤

Haven't visited your channel in a while and DAMN, you've gotten so much more stylish and handsome looking! When did this change occur?! Also, those are some cute little babies.

Sorry if this is unrelated, but I think you should make a video on how to react to compliments in Japanese. Is it still true that you should reject compliments in Japan, even among my generation of 20-somethings? As an American, it really goes against my intuition that saying, "No, you're wrong. I'm not good" is going to get a positive reaction. Don't people want to know that their compliment made you happy, and that you don't think they're lying to you just to be nice?

Omg…SO STINKING CUTE!!

I wish there were dictionaries of pitch accent where you can type in a word and the program will show lines on top or below syllables.

THIS VIDEO BROKE ME

The 1st toddler speaks better Japanese than me.

0:40 Sooo adorable 🥰

Omg these kids are soooo cute

kazu-san is so cute!

やはり4歳の子供が日本語能力試験2級を持つ人より良く喋れるんだ！

Very motivating! Any Japanese family that would like to adopt-an-adult? I hope you make more videos with kids speaking Japanese, it brings the language alive and is fun.

When I studied in Japan I remember watching after-school children programs in hopes that they'd be teaching things at my level XD That was only kind of true, you learn things in a different order as an adult and as a fully-immersed child, haha. This was interesting, though, thanks!

Very interesting! One thing you don’t comment on is how often the 34-month-old toddler uses the words she’s just heard in her own sentences. She was mostly asked leading questions, and the younger girls just before her were having some difficulty with more open-ended questions.

As a Japanese language student it's fun to learn Japanese language!!!

So cuuuuuuute ❤

Very very cute 🥰

The 2yr 10 month old reminds me of the way my nephew (same age) speaks. (although my nephew speaks English and not Japanese but the way the sentences are spoken, and the silly faces).

なんだこの可愛い動画は

If I had a teacher for 4 years, 24/7 I'd be fluent too!

I can basically understand the 4 year old girl's content with the subs. What makes me feel hard is that Japanese conversations tend to hide so many information so I not only need to understand the words but the complex intention lol Thankfully my Japanese friend is not indirect at all! 😆

1:16

Such cute kiddos!

I'm glad my Japanese is at a level of a 2-year-old baby. Though since I live here and listen to the language every day, I feel like the 10-month-old.

10:48 "ありがとう~" "Yay! :D" So cute!

I'm somewhere between 2 yr old and 4 yr old level, I think. I don't fully know how to use many particles yet and there's still tons of words that I don't know, but I can form sentences and have conversations. I'm still really bad at listening though. I've been learning for about 2 or 3 years and I'm 14 :)

I googled up this video wondering if the Japanese speaking progression of children were any different than English speaking children.

This was interesting.

Better than me it seems

Many people say that children are just naturally better at language acquisition than adults but the truth is that they are literally fully immersed in their language all the time, they have no responsibilities so they just absorb. Adults don't have the time to do that but they can still immerse for significantly less time and learn much more efficiently than the brute force way which is how babies learn. To put it into perspective, we can look at someone who has learned a language for 10 whole years and that seems very impressive but they don't even have as close to as much experience as a 10 year old kid native speaker. There's a massive immersion gap so it's not necessarily that babies are better at learning it's just that they have so much more experience.

This is why I get along best with my youngest students, my Japanese is around their level 😅

Good to know i can speak like a 2 and half year old Japanese toddler 🥲

I’m friends with a Japanese American toddler and he won’t be learning Japanese til he starts kindergarten the year i graduate high school in 2025. His mom is from Japan and he & his little brother got to go there for the very first time this year.

At 09:50 it's interesting because she actually corrects herself, but that's not reflected in the subtitles. I can't tell what verb she uses, but she says あ、まちがえた、ぬいて…

Bruv was speaking better that my 1 year endeavors

I was pleasantly surprised by the Kaguya reference

We're just here for the cute kiddos

I think it’s one of the super powers of mothers, being able to instantly interpret a child

This video broke me

I was pretty confident in my speaking. Turns out, I speak on the level of a 4 years old. Aaaaaaand that means I've got a lot more to learn XD

This is me with spanish i can listen to a whole conversion once i need to speak my brain blow out

ただの癒しホームビデオで草

For me, kazu said “orange juice”, too. Both mean almost the same tho. レスポンスが返ってくる会話の中で、大人の発した言葉を真似することをほぼ24時間していたらどの言語でもちょっとずつ上達していけるんだろなぁ。