Power up your Japanese on FromZero.com (lessons, quizzes, games, ask-a-teacher)

George, I've been married to a Japanese lady for 41 years, and we have been to Japan many times, but never bothered to learn the language just a few words to impress her family, and 2 years ago I came across your videos and I got hooked on it, now at the age of 64 and studying everyday ( without my wife's help) I'm making some progress but I wish I had started when I was 23, so, for those guys who are making all kinds of excuses, do it now, languages are yours and no one can take it away from you, we live in Canada and I speak 3 languages already and I'm determined to make Japanese number four. Thank you George and keep up the good work.

My favourite thing about learning Japanese are those tiny little moments when you understand something small for the first time and you just sit there like "Wow holy crap I get it now!" For example, I was looking into buying a manga in Japanese yesterday and thought Nisekoi (ニセコイ) would be fun to read since I've watched the anime, then it just randomly clicked that it was just "nise" (false; fake) and "koi" (love) mashed together into one word and it was just so amazing to understand it, even though it's such a small thing.

This video gave me strength and motivation

i've watched all your videos, this one is the best one by far.

George. Dude. I've been watching your shows for over 10 years, and I have to say that you've always been a huge motivation for my Japanese studies. And also, you're very entertaining and basically can put a smile on any day. So, just... thank you.

Korean sounds super cool. Definitely gonna be the next language I tackle after Japanese (in like 500 years). Hahaha

Thank you George, this motivated me to study harder :)

最初に見たジョ－ジさんのチャネルの動画の一つは漢字についての動画でした。その動画ではジョ－ジさんが少しだけ日本語で話したんですけど、僕はその時日本語の初心者だったので、全然分かりませんでした。１年後にまた同じ動画を見て全部分かりました！上達して本当に嬉しかった！「塵も積もれば、山となる」っていうのは本当ですよね！とにかく、僕は２年しか日本語を勉強していないので、このコメントが分かりにくいなら、ごめんなさい！ジョ－ジ先生、やる気を起こさせる動画をありがとうございました！

I sooooo needed this video. I've been at a cross roads lately with studying Japanese where I've been depressed because I feel I'm not as skilled as I should be. I've been studying for 8 years so far and would comfortably say I'm at an "intermediate" level i.e. I can talk about general topics. Since I've been back from studying abroad in Japan my Japanese has honestly deteriorated. Perhaps it's because I'm not speaking as much as I was when I was in Japan but it definitely left me in this negative state where I question if I should even continue learning Japanese (especially when I don't want to live there but I do enjoy visiting.) I wish there was some blueprint to get over this hump but stumbling on this video and your channel has provided some inspiration and genuine clarity.

You’re honestly so motivational, you make me want to learn Japanese, Korean and Chinese.

this is the most honest video on language learning that I've seen. thank you for the tips and your humbleness and encouragement.

I feel like you should preach reading more. Let's be real, a lot of people learning Japanese are anime and manga fans. The moment we can pick up a manga in Japanese and actually read it, it means a lot to us. When you start to read, you put your grammar to use, you pick new words in context, you face grammatical problems and solve them and all that works together to steadily build your Japanese. All while you do something you absolutely love, as opposed to listening about politics or something. Don't get me wrong, I realize reading and listening are different skills altogether, but at this point a lot of us just need a solid understanding of Japanese foundations, weather it be through listening or reading, and I feel like reading offers more. I recently returned to the first chapter of the manga I started to read and it was amazing how easily I could read it this time. So many words and grammatical points that were a pain when I was reading for the first time just flowed like a charm, and I only started to read a week ago. It feels great and I wish more people would take this path.

this is one of my favourite videos you've ever made. it really shows your passion for keeping our motivation going. thank you george, this is exactly what i needed.

Yes George, I really appreciate your videos! That was some great pep talk right there and relevant for whatever language you might be learning. I've been watching your videos for about a year now and they've helped me so much. Thank you so so much.

This channel is fast becoming one of my favorite places to go for help with my Japanese studying.

This is why I love your videos. Really inspirational. You're like a personal coach!

George you're SO RIGHT! It's neither easy nor quick. It requires compromise. You're such a good teacher!

Motivational Speaker George is fantastic! Thanks, George!

I just wanted to say thank you so much for the KZfaq videos you make. They have helped me so much in my learning experience.

When you showed those words, I recognised the first one and I was pumped! I've been learning Hiragana for about two weeks lol. Its progress. Great video!

After a short time of learning, it really helps to get such encouragement when learning Japanese as I start to feel tired of learning and sometimes feel upset when not getting something. Thank you so much for this video

I really enjoy and appreciate your videos, George. I've been studying Japanese for quite a while now. Your videos are always encouraging and teach me small but valuable pieces information about a Japanese. Thanks!

I just want to say that I love your videos, you're an amazing teacher. I just subscribed to your website, and I'm enjoying the lessons thus far! thanks for all you do.

You’re really kind George! Thanks for making this video, it helped me feel better about my current level of Japanese knowledge.

"Its like riding a bike" IDK HOW TO RIDE A BIKE QQ

thank you george, i really needed this. i am doing self study with a tutor. at the end of genki 2. started march of this year. switching to tobira after genki 2 but before i do, my teacher and i are going to solidify what i learned so i can get conversationally better. this is why i like you channel, you keep me going in self study. even though i disagree with some of the stuff you say, you still know your shit since you been doing this forever now. cant wait to see more vids like this~

Thanks a lot George you really helped me. Currently i am at that newbie stage where i constantly screw up sentences, put wrong particles in wrong place and it sometimes becomes really frustrating, but now that i have watched your video it really helped me, no matter how much i fail and screw up i WON'T give up. ありがとうございます。　Cheers.

Every single word and point you made!! sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo true! You are an inspiration George!

This video has greatly encouraged me. Many thanks George.

Thanks for the video. You are SO patient! I can see/feel that you sincerely want your students and viewers to benefit and learn. I wish our real life teachers in all subjects could give so freely without holding back. Respect. Thanks.

Great different kind of video on this topic George! Much appreciated!

Appreciate your thoughts, George. Learned a lot from "What I did NOT do" section. Thank you.

I just downloaded HelloTalk. I'm excited to start using it once I get a little further on my own and can start having conversation with the native speakers/ teachers on there. I'll keep my nose in the book. Thank you!

Thank you for making this video. I studied in school long ago, had an intensive course, and I've been stagnant(haven't studied since) I've been terrified to speak. Thank you for the motivating me. I'm not gonna give up and going to start again. I needed this so much. Thank you

Wow. Really needed this motivation right now. Definitely had those deep dark days all because of just Japanese itself... Thanks George!

George, this has really given me the motivation I needed to get back into learning Japanese! I started earlier in the year using multiple sources (mostly KZfaq) and picked up Hiragana and Katakana quite quickly. I never (and still don’t) have a goal to work towards - other than being fluent - but my motivation dipped after a few months. I’m now starting at episode 1 and binge watching whenever I can. Right now I read Japanese like a child slowly pronouncing each syllable, for example: ko-ni-chi-wa, a-ri-ga-to. I want to be able to instantly recognise the kana and read it without giving it much thought in much the same way I read English. Time will tell though and thank you!

Bro i just love your way of speaking and approaching things.

Had so many conversations just end on Hellotalk when the person stops replying. You've convinced me to get back on and try out speaking rather than just typing!

Thank you for the motivation. I'm learning Japanese on my own and there are so many tools and so many sources that I feel confused but I will take one step at the time, I'll be consistent. I like your energy and your videos. In fact I'm learning English too so I practice while Im watching you.

Super motivating and inspiring! I'm still working on improving my fluency in Korean but Japanese is next on the list and your videos are super helpful! Happy Lunar New Year~

You're actually a really big help and I've only watched 7 of your videos haha. I'm definitely gonna buy your books

As usual. Spot on! Time and effort. Thanks for the motivational video, George.

Thanks, George. I realize I've been procrastinating on really studying. I'm going to change that. I really want to be good enough to hold a conversation, but I'm not there yet. I'm going to change that, too. Thank you once again.

Hi!! I had to pause at 25:07 to finally record voice messages for my two Japanese friends on HelloTalk. I've been really worried about not knowing the pitch accent and my accent sounding awful but you have really really motivated me to just go for it and I'm so excited!! Thank you for all that you do, it's honestly life changing. Thank you George!!!

I love it, HelloTalk is great. I have started to post moments (with my broken Japanese) right after watching your youtube yesterday and I received corrections from the native Japanese. Its a good platform to exchange language experience and is a really very practical way to learn language. Thanks George a million!

This video is your BEST! So encouraging and helpful to someone like me who sometimes wonder if I could master this language one day... Thank you so much 🙏🏻 Now back to study!

I've been watching your videos for 3 months now off and on but this video really sparked me into wanting to learn more. I was always self conscious learning the Asian languages especially Japanese for the rep it gets here in the states, but your last part really stuck with me; Have fun with leaning a language once you own it it's yours forever thanks for the videos dude.

At 24:14 I busted out laughing and nearly woke my family.

Thank you for recording this. I forgot about Hello Talk! This really encouraged me to keep going.

It wasn't the difficulty of the work, it is the constant attention of doing this and being aware.

Dude this video is the best video ever. You are such a motivation for so many people. If I could like this video 1000 times I would.

For someone who has had a few tries at learning Japanese, and always faulted at listening comprehension, this video was inspiring, and got me back to studying.

35:10 I had a very similar experience a while ago. I saw a clip of some weird Japanese folk putting dogs on tricycles, had absolutely no idea what was going on, but did manage to pick up on the fact one of the dogs was three years old. Very nice.

lmao the introduction part ( 24:13 ) i find it hilarious when people talk that way, it reminds me of myself from the start! please everyone keep practicing and studying! you will get better!

The most encouraging video! Thank you!

i wish there was like a playlist of some kind so that i could listen george talk about anything. like in a podcast sense.

Thanks a lot for this video. I really needed a little bit of motivation.

I always come back to this video because there are a lot of times were I think to my self fluency is a long road that I'll never reach. After watching this video I look back at how far I have come and how much further I can go.

My mother's tongue is Spanish and I've been learning English since I was 12 years old; I'm 23 now and I still consider myself a "student" because there's always something new about the language to learn, though I'm already on a level where I feel completely comfortable using the language. Because I already learnt a second language, I jumped at the opportunity of learning Japanese. I suck at discipline and making myself sit and study is the hardest part of the process, but George, your message has reached me. "Stop playing around, put some effort into it... and start playing around" Probably the wisest words ever said about learning a language.

The Girl Aki who's moment you shared in this video has been my friend on HelloTalk for a long time. I showed her this video and told her she's famous now! haha. She thought it was hilarious. I also showed her your EigoEgg series of videos to check out and she appreciated it! :D

Literally the BEST video to learn any language. Thank you for dispelling so many myths, especially about these three languages in particular because people seem to think they are impossible to learn. We know that this isn't true so you are preaching the truth!👏

Arigatouuuuu gozaimashita George-san! I'm at the beginning now and just stumbled upon your channel and books and I'm so glad I did! I love learning languages and I'm so excited about learning Japanese. You motivate me a LOT! Ordered your Japanese books, I'm sure they will be a huge help! Will try hello talk too! Vielen lieben Dank aus Deutschland! :)

This video inspired me to study Japanese again. Thank you George!

Happy belated birthday, George :)

Thanks for the advice. I love this show!

OmG his smile is so cute! Overall this video was a big help. ありがと ございます！

hey George I love listening to all your videos and Japanese from zero really helps me out of my Japanese a lot and I love your concept I just 30 minutes ago when you started talking about what you listen to people talk you're talking about as I definitely happen to me a Whole Foods today I walked by some Japanese people they were talking I said sumimasen and they got out of my way and I told him thank you and they really were shocked that I was able to speak to them in Japanese and I feel good about it because they understood what I said

I've been going for a good 2 months now on and off and this video really helped me get motivated to start grinding again, すごいですね！

Hello, George! You know, I've been dabbling in Japanese on and off, starting and dropping it for one reason or other, BUT I love your shows - you are fun, energetic, and unassuming, just being yourself. Thank you for all the work you've done! Keep it up! Btw, the Chinese equivalent for 久しぶりです: 好久不见:)

Thanks George for this video. I am not really good in japanese but I'm enjoying the process of learning the language. You're right that It's about time, willingness and effort to learn japanese. I may not good at it today but I am enjoying and I know I can be fluent too. Thanks for encouragement. 👍

What a refreshing video! This gave me inspiration and a dash of motivation to pursue Japanese even though it's strikingly hard. I'll keep learning this beautiful language until I become fluent with it. Anyways, thanks George for the big and helpful advice on this video! Love your videos especially your "Japanese from Zero" books. Learning a lot since your JFZ part 1 :)). ありがとうございます！

Thanks for the audio message tip for hello talk!

24:16 is probably the funniest thing I've ever heard.

Great video for people struggling along. I haven't started learning Japanese yet (finished learning Hiragana, half finished with Katakana), but it definitely gave me motivation in my Chinese learning. 加油!

George, you are a great teacher. Thank you! : )

Thank you for your suggestions. You are a great guy! 🥰

Hi! I am Tiffany from Minnesota. I decided to learn Japanese because of your video's. I have always wanted to be bilingual. I have been watching Anime for the last 5 years, very steadily. So I figured It would be great to learn, so that I am not limiting my self on only dubbed Anime. I started watching your videos, around 5 months ago. your video's are amazing! Thank you and your wife so much! For my back round sound I started listening to Japanese music, and interviews with the bands I like to listen to. Since I decided to learn Japanese it has been like a explosion of things I enjoy listening to and learning. Please keep up the great work! You are a great inspiration to many. 😃

Thanks for showing us ザ・ボイス. I was just looking for stuff to listen to earlier today!

Outstanding video. Really inspiring and motivates me a lot now.

Thank you for your encouraging words

I'm currently in Japan, trying to learn Japanese, and I have found myself getting frustrated, and my motivation slipping. This was a great pep talk! Thank you!

thank very much for your Efforts . you really helped me

I think that When you start Japanese, you will be drowning in the ocean with to goal of reaching the shore. You at first have a hard time, choking on the water. But then you get part the first step and can now breath. Your head is above the water and things have got easier, but there's still a very long way to go antil you can reach to shore.

George, I love your work! I have been following your videos for a while now and have found the information incredibly helpful. I live in Japan at the moment for almost a year and I have studied Japanese every day for the past 2 years or so. My biggest roadblock for becoming fluent is that it takes me so long to think of what I want to say to people when in conversation. What would you say I need to focus on here? I work in Tokyo and I am in an office with Japanese people every day and so my reading and comprehension is getting better, I'm just struggling with thinking of the right thing to say before the other person in the conversation walks off or switches to English to make it easier for me haha.

I agree with most of you said in this video, except about flashcards. My ever-growing flashcard deck is the the keystone of my Japanese studies. For one, it helps me get a lot of practice writing kanji. Secondly, anytime I start to forget a word or phrase, it pops up in my deck forcing my brain to remember it.

Inspiring THANK YOU!!!

I believe that it depends on your own surroundings, situation and priorities that can keep you motivated to put most of your free time to learn as hard as you can to be fluent in a language. If you aren't actually living in Japan, if there aren't actually any Japanese people or Japanese speakers around you to even be able to speak Japanese with, then it's very difficult to learn and somewhat even pointless to learn unless it's just for fun. If you are trying to learn it for a job, then you may find more motivation to learn, but still you need to be able to have people around you speaking Japanese in order to be fluent. There is only so much you can learn by reading a book, watching videos or trying to find someone in a chat room who is helpful.

The out-of-orderness is what really nailed me.. Ive struggled with japanese for YEARS!! agggghh.. but you know I recently started just going for it. sitting down and suffering.. actually Ive been using the Iversen word list to learn vocabulary and its amazing.. totally works for me.

Man, I had a Japanese quiz last week and I was lost in the quiz and I felt so bad because I was studying all the week, but your video make me believe in myself again thanks :)

I appreciate this video so so so much. A million thank you's.

I really like you. I wish you put out more videos on a daily basis

Soo good George, thank you so much!!

Love this guy, gonna subscribe to his website right now.

7:32 - LOL!!! I never get tired of these moments in your videos.

This was really entertaining :D I have been learning Japanese for 1.5 years and recently, I have really been doubting if I was able to actually become fluent. But I created a language blog on tumblr right at the beginning of my studies and I saw one of my very first posts. And then it dawned on me how much progress I have made in this time. I found good friends, and now we almost only talk in Japanese (though the conversations are light, serious topics are discussed in English). The fun thing is that I have regained my passion for the language because of my friends Next up is Swedish :D for once a language that I can write

This video was exactly what I needed. I've been studying and living in Japan for two years now and it can get so demotivating when you study a lot but you still can't talk to the hair dresser. I'm going to try out HelloTalk and do my best to use no English at all, unless I'm helping someone else learn English.

The little exercise at 11 minutes was quite nice. I study Japanese for about a weak and a half and I could get half of the words... I had the sound of the words in my head not the meaning because I focused on Hiragana and Katakana first. Thx for the Video. Appreciate your hard work =)

I love you George! u r the best! Your books finally arrived! Can't wait to start studying from them ! I think u deserve a fanclub and the name of the COOLEST japanese tutor?youtuber?teacher?author? Anyway, all the best and continue with these kanji books pls! So we get part 2, part 3 ...

Hey George brilliant video. I'd love to see a video on how you manage your study/work/family/life balance. My kids are quite young and I'm finding it difficult to stick to my goal of language learning. My kids are 8 and 5 and I've tried and failed many times. How are you finding your chinese and Korean studies fitting in with your life commitments