Japanese Language Teacher 🇯🇵 I teach People how to Read / Write Japanese in 10 Minutes ⏳ BA in Japanese | JLPT N2 certified 🏆 2500 + students from 7+ countries🌏
5 years of learning Japanese language and this is what I wished I knew when I was starting: 1. No Japanese is not difficult, ABSOLUTELY NOT! No language is difficult to learn, it is your laziness, be committed - only then you will get the results 2. Focus more on Vocabulary 3. Be curious about other things besides JLPT, MEXT, Jobs, Opportunities - like Japanese culture, Japanese literature, videos 4. Connect with more like-minded people who are equally passionate about Japanese 5. Start teaching Japanese (don’t listen to anyone who says or gives you advice about not doing it) - because this way I would go on and make soooo many people enjoy Japanese and meet all of ENSO’s now team members who are LITERAL DIAMONDS 💎 6. Nothing comes without consistency, cracked N5? Great!!! If you don’t study you will forget everything. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. 7. If you are not willing to work for the results, don’t cry about getting NOT getting the results As you can see, 6/7 suggestions are NOT related to Japanese language, because it is not about the language It is about YOU! Your excuses and the results you get Do you seriously think you can get results by doing this? No seriously, do you want to learn Japanese or not? If yes, you better take some action If no, stop kidding yourself and don’t complain about it Oops! Got too heavy too suddenly right? That’s life! #japanese #japaneselanguage #foreignlanguage
I do not agree fully with your analysis. I have seen people catching up on the language very fast and few spent lot many years and still struggling. Not everyone has the capability to learn the language at the same speed. example, if you are able to draw well or act well, doesn't mean I can do the same, it has to come from within, same with all other skills. Few people are good with coding but few aren't even if they try double the time the previous person put it in , not everyone`s brain works the same. So please do not generalize the language learning capabilities too.
I do not agree. I think the level of difficulty of a language depends on what one’s mother tongue is. Mine is French. Learning Spanish took me less than half of the time it took me to learn Japanese. I also would not say it is a question of laziness but more a question of what are the priorities of a person.
I agree about the "working hard to get the results" part but having learnt Spanish to an advanced level as well, I can definitely say from experience that, "Japanese took twice the time to get half the results".
Any tips on good study material ?
As shown by the image you included in the post, writing helps retain the information better. I find it also meditative to just write kanji or new vocabulary. You nailed on the head by stressing about a learner's motivation. I stay motivated by the fact I look forward to watching anime or reading manga completely in Japanese. Also, you have to immerse yourself in the language. 没入は大事 If you completely lose yourself in whatever you are consuming, regardless of how high the language barrier you are trying to overcome is, you are genuinely enjoying the process.
Thank you for your interesting suggestions about learning Japanese. While my mother tongue is Japanese, I learn English and French as a foreigner. According to your comment 2, vocabulary is imortant. Indeed, it is the case. However, the more I become versed in foreign languages as well as mine, the clearer it became how important it is to be sensitive to collocations. A word never exists by its own. Rather, it is located in the middle of the linguistic relationships and it is charged with a meaning when it is chained with other ones. For example, the word 雨（rain) is not necessarily employed alone. We only find it in such sentences as 雨が降る（It is raning), or雨に濡れる（soaked with rain). This is what I learned when I studied French and French linguistics and this point of view would also be applicable to other languages. Anyway, thank you for your interesting comments as well as a nice volacubary notebook!
Thank you for the passionate advice and emphasis on consistency, curiosity, and building a supportive community. Your point about teaching to solidify knowledge is insightful, and your tough-love approach serves as a strong reminder that learning a language requires dedication and action. While some may face challenges beyond motivation, balancing this with encouragement could resonate more effectively. Your message is an inspiring reminder that mastering a language is as much about personal growth as it is about acquiring skills.
An old Japanese colleague suggested the following. Make the Japanese memorable by picking something it sounds like in English. Hence “Do itashimashta” became “Dont touch my sister” and “Mondai Nai” became “Monday night” with the real meanings of the Japanese now tied to English like a mnemonic, highly effective! Also, ichi nee san shi go becomes easy when you visualize it as “Itchy knee-san she go”
Financial Translator/Interpreter (Japanese-to-English)
3wJust keep plugging away. I passed N1 over 20 years ago, but even now I make it a rule to read a Nikkei article every morning with my coffee. I buy one paper a week, look up any words I don't know with the Weblio app, and then read the article aloud (ondoku). Simple habits, repeated, are pure gold.