Secrets to learning Japanese! Amazing!
What are the secrets to learning Japanese quickly and easily? There are none! Hard work and perseverance are the only way you are going to learn the language. Check out my video above for my thoughts on that.
I haven’t had any time to work on the site today because of several reasons. One is that I made a new video blog as a response for some fellow Japan youtubers, which you should definitely check! But also because I had to run to school to pick up my History of Hong Kong final paper which I ended up getting a B+ on, and I so called that mark because I knew he wasn’t going to give me an A, even though I slaved over that thing until it was perfect! and also because I made some Curry Rice for dinner for the family, which I will also blog about soon enough.
Check the vlog for now… It’s late so I’m going to get some rest.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Nice editing skills man …. content great too, but editing caught my eye.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:19 am
so… your telling me i can’t learn japanese from watching subbed naruto hentai? wtf mate?
and why wasn’t there any mention about japanese schoolgirls with pigtails?
anyways, good vid and recommendations
May 8th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
interesting vid, the only japanese I learned from anime was BAKA and senpai…haha
anyways good looking blog, keep at it SENPAI….
May 8th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
lol @ japanese schoolgirls with pigtails… those were the days haha
keep the content coming bro, i enjoy reading it
May 8th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
OTAKU ALERT!! hahahaha
May 8th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Great vlog Cruxay! A lot of people have already brought these points up, but one can never get enough of them. I somewhat disagree on some of them though, I don’t think learning from anime has to be THAT bad actually. I’ve never tried to learn anything from anime, I don’t even watch anime anymore, but my friend did, but he also studied Japanese at his school at the same time. I think that if you want to learn anything from watching anime, you at least need to know the basics of Japanese.
I’m (hopefully) going to be studying Japanese at a university for at least a year starting September 1. But that’s also the only thing I’m going to do for that year, so I don’t think I’ll put too much pressure on myself. After that year I’ll decide on what to do next, maybe I’ll continue studying at the uni or maybe I’ll continue by self-studying, I’m pretty sure I’ll take some extra courses in practical Japanese though. The good thing about studying at a uni is that you have the opportunity to study in Japan as an exchange student, well, if you’re good enough that is.
Nice vid anyway!
Cheers
May 8th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Neil: A few people have mentioned that they liked the editing. I didn’t even think much of it when I upped it, but thanks for the comment! =) I’ll definitely try and keep that pace in future vlogs.
Mark, Rayz, Vas and Viv: Love you guys T_T thanks for your support, you’re all great friends for helping me out =) glad you enjoyed it!!!
Sano: Thanks for the input. Of course there are lots of different views on this, and that is what makes it such a great topic that is hard to get enough of. What I didn’t have time to mention in the video (along with dozens of other points I wish I could’ve included) was that the success stories from those learning from anime are the only ones you hear about, but the failures (the ones you do not hear about) largely outweigh these success stories. I started from the same standard, wanting learn from watching anime, and I found people with similar goals. However, as time progressed I noticed those were the people that didn’t end up making it through to 3rd year Japanese, and if anything gave up on studying Japanese altogether.
Also, as you said the benefit of studying Japanese in university is that you get to choose how hard you want to push yourself, and when you want to stop. University exchange is a great opportunity, but only for those who hold genuine interest… otherwise the time there can easily go to waste.
I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I leaving for university exchange to Japan in September. I was going to make a post about it shortly. =)
Thanks for the great feedback.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Most people who fail are probably just not interested enough. Anime isn’t a good enough reason to learn Japanese in my opinion, and most people probably realize that sooner or later, they’ll keep watching fansubs anyway so what’s the point? Well, there are many reasons why people interested in anime choose to stop learning Japanese. I however don’t see the point in learning a language unless you have a real interest in the country and plan to actually use the language. I have a friend who’s going to study Spanish mainly because they speak that language in many countries, so ‘it’s good to know’, which in my opinion is just stupid. If you’re not planning to use the language, you’ll forget it, and you’ll then realize that you’ve just wasted several years because you didn’t think before you decided to do something.
Japan is my main interest in life, which is why I’ve chosen to study Japanese at a university. I’m not going to study anything else while studying Japanese, I’m gonna give it my all and really focus on my goals. So hopefully I’ll be able to go as an exchange student when I’m ready for it. Congratz to you anyway, don’t forget to blog your ass off while you’re there.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:02 am
Anime is certainly not a concrete reason, but it can be a starting point (at least for me it was). I find that if a person can relate well to a certain culture then it is always easier for them to pick up the language. Back in high school (before I started with Japanese), the majority of my friends were born in Hong Kong, and had mindsets that greatly reflected where they had come from. I gravitated towards their mentality and eventually learned a lot about the culture, as well as picking up phrases here and there. On the other hand, I had taken French for 9 years prior, and couldn’t probably say a French sentence to save my life.
In terms of studying Japanese at university, you are off to a much better start than I am already. When I went into university 3 years ago, I was mainly upset that there was no Cantonese courses :D, but I wasn’t able to comprehend a word of Japanese, I knew NOTHING of the culture, language, absolutely zero. So you are definitely in a better position than I was starting out. Good luck and have fun with it!
Also thanks, and don’t worry, there will be many blogs to come haha.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
haha…can’t believe you’re spending so much time on your vblog!
good job man! very interesting stuff.
but the best thing is to get a gf who speaks japanese
that’s my way of learning japanese, aside from watching ero V
naisho ni shiteyo~
May 12th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
We all can’t be as motemote as you turbo-san =) Some of us are just too shy to speak to Japanese girls. =P
Don’t worry, your secrets are safe with me hahaha
thanks for the comments.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
very nice vid man. very deep and very true. so tell me you still watch animes? judging from your beginning half of your vid it sounds like you hate it the stuff.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Haha, I don’t hate anime man. I love the stuff, always have and probably always will. Anime takes reality to the next level, and accomplishes things that aren’t possible in regular films. I dislike it when people start basing life facts on anime however, as anime is so non-characteristic of real everyday life.