[0:00]So you want to learn Japanese. Maybe you want to visit Japan. Perhaps you want to watch animes or dramas without subtitles. Read mangas and light novels. Or maybe you want to take the JLPT and work in Japan one day. But, you don't know where exactly to start. Well, that's where I'm here to help. 改めまして、ジオと申します。 To begin, my name is Giovanni. これまでに、日本語能力試験N1に合格し、 Up to this point, I've passed the JLPT N1, 日本に1年間留学し、 Studied abroad in Japan for one year, 通訳として働く機会もありました And even had the opportunity to work as an interpreter. ですが、もともとは本当にゼロからのスタートでした But originally, I truly started from zero. アメリカで生まれ育ってきたので、 I was born and raised in America, 日本語を勉強し始める前は、 So before I started studying Japanese, 日本語の知識がまったくありませんでした I had absolutely no knowledge of the language at all. この動画では、そんな長年の学習経験をもとに、 In this video, based on my many years of learning experience, 効率よく日本語を独学するための方法を話していきます I'll be talking about how to study Japanese efficiently on your own. そして、僕が歩んできたよりもっと短い時間で、 And in even less time than it took me, みなさんがもっと大きな成果を出せるようになれば嬉しいです I'd be really happy if all of you could achieve even greater results. それではまず、ひらがなとカタカナから始めましょう。 So with that, let's start with hiragana and katakana. If you're studying Japanese for the very first time, the first two things you want to learn are hiragana and katakana. These two kana systems are absolutely essential and will appear everywhere throughout your Japanese studies. When I first started learning Japanese, the method that helped me the most was pretty simple: pen and paper, repetition, and a bunch of flashcards. Writing characters by hand can make them much easier to remember, especially in the beginning, because you're not just recognizing the shape, you're actively reproducing it from memory. And if you're struggling to recall certain characters, I'd recommend using a resource like Tofugu. They provide mnemonics, visuals, worksheets, quizzes, and other tools that can make memorization much more easier. Personally, I felt ready to move on once I could write all of hiragana and katakana from memory without too much hesitation. But even if it takes time, don't stress out too much, because the more you read and review, the more natural these characters will become. One thing I highly recommend, though, is to avoid relying on romaji. It may feel much easier at first, but it often becomes a crutch that slows down your ability to read Japanese naturally later on. And once you've gotten comfortable with hiragana and katakana, then you can move on to the basics of the language. The most common way to begin learning the basics of Japanese is through a beginner textbook like Genki or Minna no Nihongo. Through these textbooks, you'll begin learning the fundamentals of Japanese, such as vocabulary, kanji, particles, and core grammar points. And what I especially like about these two resources is that the Japanese learning community around them is so large that there are countless videos and explanations online, if you ever have trouble self-studying. If you're in high school or college, there's also a pretty good chance that one of these textbooks will be used in class as well. When I was in high school, it took me about a semester to get through each beginner book, so I spent close to a year self-studying the basics of Japanese. Of course, depending on your schedule and motivation, you can probably move through it much faster than I did. But, your goal shouldn't be to rush through beginner material as quickly as possible, or rather, this is the stage where you're beginning to build the foundation for everything that comes after. So it's worth taking your time and actually making sure you understand each chapter before moving on. And more than anything, I think consistency matters far more than trying to study everything as much as possible. Because even if you're only studying a little bit each day, steadily studying every day will take you much farther than burning yourself out trying to do everything at once. And as you continue learning the basics, you can begin supplementing your studies with other resources. And that's where spaced repetition systems become especially useful. If you've spent any time looking into language learning, you've probably heard of the term "spaced repetition" before. And if your goal is passing the JLPT, or reading more fluently, then you're going to quickly realize that Japanese requires you to remember a massive amount of vocabulary and kanji. And while that might sound overwhelming at first, that's exactly where spaced repetition systems, or SRS for short, becomes extremely useful. And luckily enough, this was one of the few times AP Psychology actually came back to help me. Spaced repetition is the idea of reviewing information across intervals over time, so that when you learn something, it's much more likely to stick with you. And that matters, because when you're learning Japanese, you're not trying to remember something for just a day, you want to remember it weeks, months, and even years later on. Research has consistently shown that spacing your review out over time can be extremely effective for long-term retention, which is exactly what makes it so useful for language learning. It has also been linked to better attention and sustained engagement over time, which makes studying feel much more manageable in the long run. That's why SRS became such a huge part of my Japanese studies, and the two SRS that I relied on the most were WaniKani and Anki. WaniKani. This was the very first online resource I started using back in high school, and for a long time, it was one of my main tools for studying Japanese. This website teaches around 2,000 kanji and 6,000 vocabulary words across 60 levels. And what makes it such a great resource, especially for beginners, is how structured and beginner friendly it is. When you're first starting out, you usually don't know exactly what you should be studying, or what order you should be studying. WaniKani easily solves this problem by having everything already laid out for you from the start. So for example, you might first learn the radicals for "sun" and "moon", and then learn this kanji. And from there, you move on to vocabulary such as akarui, fumei, and ashita. And just like Tofugu, WaniKani also uses mnemonics. So for every radical and kanji, it also gives you many ways to help you remember it. It also provides example sentences so that you can see words being used in actual context. And one of the things I personally appreciated most about WaniKani was how it made one of the hardest parts of learning kanji feel much less overwhelming. Onyomi and Kunyomi. A lot of kanjis have multiple readings, and depending on the word or context, the pronunciation can completely change. And this can be really confusing as a beginner. But WaniKani helps ease you into it by introducing kanji readings through vocabulary little by little, rather than just throwing a bunch of abstract readings at you all at once. So instead of trying to memorize readings in isolation, you begin to understand them through actual words, which made the whole process much more easier. All of those factors combined made WaniKani really enjoyable and easy to stick with. You just log in, do your lessons, do your reviews, and move on with your day. It almost felt like doing dailies in a gacha game. One of the downsides, however, is that it's a paid subscription. But for me, as someone who eventually reached level 60, the amount of time it saved me from constantly having to make my own flashcards made it well worth it. There's also a free trial at the beginning, which I would definitely recommend trying if you're interested. They also have numerous sales, so that there will be plenty of time to save money if you are heavily committed as well. And ultimately, I would say WaniKani's biggest strength is also one of its biggest weaknesses, in which everything is already set up for you. If you're a beginner or if you want something simple, structured, and easy to follow, then it's pretty amazing. But if you want more freedom and customization, that's where Anki might be the better tool for you. Anki, just like WaniKani, is also an SRS system, but unlike WaniKani, you can customize the entire process. You can make your own flashcards, choose exactly what you want to study, when you want to study, and tailor practically everything to your own fitted needs. But if you're like me and don't really want to spend time building your own decks from scratch, you can also find plenty of premade decks online. In my case, I used a deck of the 10,000 most used vocabulary and learned about 20 words a day, which made Anki one of my biggest tools for building vocabulary. But what ultimately makes Anki one of the most useful tools is sentence mining. Sentence mining is the process of taking words or sentences directly from your immersion and turning them into flashcards for later reviews. With tools like Yomitan, an interactive pop-up dictionary, and AnkiConnect, which lets you automatically create flashcards, you can quickly save words or sentences you didn't understand while reading or watching. And instead of forgetting them, you can come back and review them later through SRS. And if you're beginning to read books for the first time, there will guaranteed be a word that you don't know that you'll encounter. That's why I found using WaniKani and Anki together to be one of the most effective combinations for me. WaniKani made it much easier to learn kanji readings in a structured way in the beginning, while Anki helped me reinforce what I was actually encountering through reading and immersion. But regardless of whatever application you decide to use, I would strongly advise not overwhelming yourself with too many cards at once, because reviews can pile up very quickly, especially if you miss even a single day. And if your flashcards come with example sentences, I also recommend reading those as well, because understanding how a word is actually used in a sentence can be just as important as remembering its definition. Now, while SRS is an amazing tool for memorizing kanji and vocabulary, memorization alone isn't enough, because if you want to truly understand Japanese, you need to start hearing and reading it in real contexts. And that's where immersion comes in. Immersion simply means surrounding yourself with the language as much as possible, and basically making Japanese a part of your everyday life. That can mean reading books, listening to podcasts, watching animes or dramas, or even just having audio on in the background while you go about your day. And I don't mean immersing yourself for just one or two hours and then going sleep. I mean using Japanese whenever there is an opportunity to do so. As the more your daily life revolves around Japanese, the more progress you're going to make. Now, at first, immersion can sound pretty overwhelming, but the key is to find something you genuinely enjoy. Because if you actually like what you're consuming, studying will feel less like a chore and become much more easier to stick with you. For one of my friends, that happens to be songs, and he'd memorize vocabulary through listening to different songs. While for me, it was books and shows. I had made a Japanese Kindle account, so I could just buy books that I was genuinely interested in reading, and I would also use a VPN to watch shows on Netflix in Japanese dub with Japanese subtitles. And if you're starting out for the first time, it can really help to immerse yourself in something you already know, like rereading a manga you already read before, or rewatching a show that you're already familiar with, but this time without English. That being said, one of the things you need to accept about immersion is that it's going to suck in the beginning. There will be so many moments where you're thinking of, "What is that kanji? What does that word mean? What did they just say?" And it can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you're trying to read your first book. But that frustration will be a normal part of the process, as you're not supposed to understand everything right away. So instead of obsessing over every little thing you don't know, it's important to remember to take pride in the things you do understand. Because the more you focus on your progress, rather than your shortcomings, the more enjoyable immersion will become for you. Now, you might have noticed that I grouped immersion and grammar together, and that is because the two are deeply connected. Especially when it comes to reading, immersion and grammar study are practically inseparable. Grammar isn't like vocabulary or kanji where you can just memorize a meaning and move on. To really understand grammar, you need to keep seeing it used in actual sentences and real contexts over and over again. That's why rather than trying to memorize every grammar point the same way you would with flashcards, I would recommend reading as much as possible and then looking up grammar as you encounter it. One resource I absolutely recommend for that is the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar series by Seiichi Makino and Michio Tsutsui. These books explain not only the definition of a grammar point, but also how it's used, what nuances it carries, and how it compares to similar expressions. I also used Bunpro, which is essentially another SRS resource specifically dedicated for grammar. And while I do think it's useful, I found that stacking another SRS on top of WaniKani and Anki could feel pretty taxing at times. And to be honest, there were many times when a grammar point stuck better in my head from repeatedly seeing it in books rather than reviewing it in isolation. So while grammar resources are definitely helpful, I think grammar makes the most sense when it's reinforced through immersion. And once you start getting more comfortable with Japanese, the next thing you'll probably start thinking about is how to listen to Japanese, and how to speak it yourself. Listening and speaking go hand in hand, but before you can speak well, you first need to be able to hear and understand how Japanese actually sounds. And while the simple answer for improving listening is immersion, the real question is, how do you go from understanding nothing to being able to follow native material? And the answer to that question would be repetition. Personally, I would start with very short and simple podcasts, usually only two to three minutes long. I would replay the same podcast over and over, maybe even tens or even twenties of times, until you're able to catch nearly every word before moving on to the next podcast. As you practice listening, you should try your best not to rely too much on a transcript, only using it to confirm if what you were hearing was indeed what was being said. And as your listening slowly improves, the number of times needed to repeat something will naturally begin to decline. Then once you feel more confident, you can start moving on from short clips to longer podcasts, animes, or even dramas. At that stage, instead of replaying the entire episode, you could just repeat the parts you don't understand. One thing I would be careful about, though, is subtitles. Japanese subtitles can be very useful, especially in the beginning, but if you focus on them too much, they can easily become a crutch where you end up reading. So similarly to a transcript, I would suggest watching something once without subtitles, and then watch it again with them to see how much you could actually catch by ear. Once again, I highly recommend listening to shows or topics that you're interested in, as it'll make the experience much more enjoyable for you. Once you become more comfortable with listening and have a better feel for how spoken Japanese sounds, that's when I suggest focusing more seriously on speaking. As obvious as it may sound, there really is no shortcut to improving your speaking, other than actually speaking. That being said, there are several methods that can help you improve, and you can use whichever one fits you best. One of the methods that helped me the most was simply talking to myself. This is especially useful, as you don't need anyone else, and you can do it anytime and anywhere. The goal is to think in Japanese and hold as many small conversations with yourself as possible. It can be as simple as describing your day to yourself, or simulating situations in your head, like going to a restaurant, introducing yourself to someone, or talking about your hobbies and interests. The more you practice forming these thoughts on your own, the easier it will become to speak when you're actually talking to another person. And if building full conversations feel difficult at first, a great way to start is by simply describing the things around you. It can be something basic like naming objects in your environment. Hon, pasokon, isu. Then you can make it more complex by adding adjectives or verbs. Shiroi kabe, aoi shatsu, fuwafuwa no nuigurumi. And as you continue practicing, you gradually become more articulate and more comfortable expressing yourself. And whenever you don't know how to say something, you can ask a native speaker, search it up online, or use a translator to get the idea. And in a very similar way, writing or journaling can also be really helpful. Not necessarily writing by hand, but opening a Google Doc or notepad and typing out your thoughts in Japanese. While talking to yourself helps you become more spontaneous in your responses, writing will help you slow down and organize your thoughts more clearly. This is something I only started taking more seriously in recent years by keeping a diary in Japanese. And through that, I found that I became much better at expressing more complex thoughts. It helped me talk about things I wouldn't normally bring up in everyday conversation, like my emotions, worries, or serious thoughts. But it doesn't even have to be that deep. Even just writing about your day helps you practice putting your thoughts into Japanese, and that naturally carries over into speaking. Another method that helped me a lot was shadowing. Shadowing is essentially just repeating aloud exactly what you hear, word for word. But the goal is to match the audio as closely as possible, not just in words, but in rhythm, flow, and pronunciation. I found that shadowing was especially helpful for getting used to the natural rhythm of Japanese, which in turn made me sound less stiff when I spoke. And as you continue to shadow more, you'll begin to pick up habits, phrases, speech patterns, and as a result, your own speech will start to sound more natural. And while methods like shadowing are great, there will eventually come a point where you have to take everything you have practiced on your own and use it in a real conversation, as nothing will help your speaking more than actual conversations with native Japanese speakers. I was personally lucky enough to have opportunities to speak with Japanese people through work, school, and local events, and even being able to study abroad in Japan. Being in environments like that gave me far more chances to actually use Japanese in everyday situations, and that helped my speaking improve in a way that studying alone could never replicate. And so, I would highly recommend seeking out your local communities first. But if you don't have access to opportunities like that, it doesn't mean you're necessarily out of options, as you can still get speaking practice through the internet.
[15:07]The app I personally found the most success with was HelloTalk. I could easily open my own voice rooms, wait for people to join, and then spend time speaking with them in Japanese. And as an added bonus, I was even able to make my own friends that I could continue speaking with afterwards, which made it much easier to keep practicing consistently. I've also heard plenty of success stories from people who use VRChat or Discord, but really, any app, website, or social media platform with a Japanese-speaking community can work. But what matters most isn't the platform itself, but whether you're constantly putting yourself in situations where you actually have to use the language. And as you continue to practice speaking more, one of the next things you naturally begin to notice isn't just what you're saying, but how you sound when you say it. And that's where phonetics and pitch accent may come in. I was honestly debating whether or not to include this part in the video, because I'm a little torn on the importance of studying phonetics and pitch accent. And this is coming from someone who has watched dozens of videos on the topic, and even bought the NHK dictionary on pronunciation. So I've definitely gone down the rabbit hole. But personally, if your goal isn't to sound as close to a native speaker as possible, I would not worry too much about pitch accent. That's not to say pitch accent is meaningless, as it's a real part of Japanese pronunciation, and it can sometimes affect how natural you sound. But in most everyday situations, even if your pitch accent isn't perfect, people will still understand what you mean through context. And unlike tonal languages like Chinese or Vietnamese, a slight mistake in pitch accent isn't going to completely ruin comprehension. Another thing to keep in mind is that pitch accent can also vary depending on the region, so even within Japanese itself, pronunciation isn't always uniform. But the biggest reason I wouldn't prioritize pitch accent is simply time. The return on investment isn't just as high compared to spending that same time on immersion, vocabulary, grammar, and actual speaking practice. Because if you're immersing yourself in Japanese consistently anyways, you will naturally start to develop a better sense of what sounds right and what sounds off, even without heavily studying pitch accent on your own. That's especially true if you already have experience learning or speaking another language. Now, with that being said, I'm not trying to discourage you from learning pitch accent, nor am I saying it has no value. As if you have extra time and you care about sounding more natural, I do think it's worth at least becoming aware of the general patterns, in which I would highly recommend checking out Dogen. As he was the very first person that got me interested in studying pitch accent, and he has numerous informative videos on this specific subject. And if you use WaniKani, I would highly recommend adding a pitch accent script. And similarly, if you're using Anki, you should add the pitch accent add-on. That way, regardless of whatever application you use, you can learn pitch accent while reviewing. But do note, that is more information you're trying to memorize on top of the long list of things already mentioned. So overall, my advice is to be aware of pitch accent, but don't obsess over it too much. As for most learners, your time is probably better spent building comprehension first, and letting your pronunciation improve gradually through exposure and practice. And that covers basically all there is to studying Japanese. If you've made it this far, then I'm genuinely really happy, because this video is quite literally the culmination of my entire self-studying journey over the past 8 years, from high school, all the way to post-college. And while you don't have to take everything I said word for word, I can confidently say that the general process I talked about here is very similar to what not only Japanese learners, but really, language learners in general tend to go through. And by following a process like this, I really do believe your language learning will improve drastically. But at the same time, I would absolutely encourage you to continue doing research on your own, on the topics that interest you. Because there are hundreds of millions, if not over a billion of people, learning a second language, and there is always more to learn. Learning Japanese may seem daunting at first, but if you break it down step by step, it really is much more simpler than what people make it out to be. And my final piece of advice is to make sure you actually enjoy studying the language, and don't get too hung up on the frustrations that come with learning. At one point, I became so obsessed with trying to maximize my studying and never taking a real break, that I ended up burning out for nearly two years. Anyways, that's enough yapping from me. I genuinely hope everyone watching this video finds this information very helpful, and I truly wish the best in your language learning journey. Thank you.
