How to Learn Japanese From Scratch

Summary

This video script offers an unconventional approach to learning Japanese, emphasizing the importance of starting with authentic materials like TV shows, anime, and manga with Japanese subtitles. It suggests learning through context and curiosity rather than rote memorization. The script also touches on the use of common particles and inflections to understand sentence structure, advocating for an immersive learning experience that leads to acquiring the language naturally.

Takeaways

• 📚 Start learning Japanese with hiragana and katakana, which are foundational to the language.
• 🌐 Engage with authentic materials like TV shows, anime, and manga with Japanese subtitles to enhance learning.
• 🎬 Use anime like 'Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san' for clear audio input and to learn short sentences from context.
• 🗣️ Balance scripted content with unscripted, real-life Japanese from reality shows or YouTube to understand natural speech.
• 🔍 When you recognize half of the letters, it's a good time to start memorizing the rest to complete your collection.
• 🤔 It's okay not to understand everything; language learning is not about linear progression but gradual understanding.
• 📚 For kanji, learn basic concepts to start incorporating them from authentic materials, not just from textbooks.
• 🔑 Learn common particles and inflections to help divide sentences and understand their structure.
• 📈 Use repetition and context to grasp grammatical concepts, such as particles and inflections, more effectively.
• 🎧 Repeat after native speakers in the media to practice pronunciation and intonation.
• 📈 As you progress, shift your focus from instructional materials to spending more time with authentic materials.

Q & A

What are the first two Japanese scripts one should learn according to the transcript?

The first two Japanese scripts one should learn are Hiragana and Katakana.

What alternative method is recommended to start learning Japanese instead of memorizing all the letters of Hiragana and Katakana?

The alternative method recommended is to start with authentic materials such as TV shows, books, anime with Japanese subtitles, and family-friendly manga.

Why are TV shows and anime beneficial for learning Japanese according to the transcript?

TV shows and anime are beneficial because they provide audio inputs, which help in learning short sentences and identifying each letter on the Hiragana chart.

Which anime is used as an example in the transcript to demonstrate learning Japanese through authentic materials?

The anime 'Karakai Joshi no Takamaru-san' is used as an example to demonstrate learning Japanese.

What is the importance of including unscripted, real-life Japanese in the learning process as mentioned in the transcript?

Including unscripted, real-life Japanese helps learners to hear natural language use, which can be different from scripted content, thus providing a more well-rounded learning experience.

At what point in the learning process does the transcript suggest starting to memorize the remaining letters of Hiragana and Katakana?

The transcript suggests starting to memorize the remaining letters when you know about half of them, using the motivation of completing the collection of letters.

What role does curiosity play in the language learning process according to the video script?

Curiosity and the desire to learn play a significant role as they are much better than passively memorizing what textbooks and teachers provide.

What is the transcript's stance on learning grammatical rules before using authentic materials?

The transcript suggests that it is not necessary to learn a lot of grammatical rules before using authentic materials; instead, one can start learning with easy sentences.

What are 'particles' in the context of Japanese language learning as discussed in the transcript?

Particles in the context of Japanese language learning are words that indicate relations of words or add nuances, and recognizing them helps in dividing sentences into words.

How does the transcript suggest learning about Japanese inflections?

The transcript suggests learning about inflections by encountering them in authentic materials and understanding their context, rather than memorizing rules.

What is the final advice given in the transcript regarding the balance between instructional and authentic materials in learning Japanese?

The final advice is to spend more time with authentic materials than instructional ones as you progress, which indicates that you are acquiring the language rather than just memorizing rules.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Learning Japanese with Authentic Materials

The script suggests starting Japanese language learning with hiragana and katakana, but instead of rote memorization, it recommends engaging with authentic materials like TV shows, anime, and manga with Japanese subtitles. It uses 'Karakai Joushi no Takagi-san' as an example to demonstrate learning from short sentences and emphasizes the importance of audio input for language acquisition. The script also advises not to rely solely on scripted content and to seek out real-life Japanese through reality TV, YouTube videos, or direct interaction. It suggests that a natural curiosity and desire to learn are more beneficial than passive memorization and encourages learning kanji through authentic materials after mastering hiragana and katakana.

05:06

🗣️ Understanding Particles and Inflections in Japanese

This paragraph delves into the importance of understanding particles and inflections in Japanese, which are key to dividing sentences and grasping meanings. It uses examples from anime titles and reality TV shows to illustrate common particles like 'no' and 'wa' and their various uses in context. The script explains how recognizing particles can simplify the process of identifying words in sentences. It also covers the concept of verb inflections, such as changing 'omo' (to think) to 'omota' (thought) for past tense, and 'omoitai' (want to think) to express desire. The paragraph encourages learning grammatical rules when they become relevant through exposure to authentic materials rather than through formal instruction.

10:09

📝 Advanced Japanese Learning through Context and Practice

The final paragraph focuses on advanced learning techniques such as understanding the te-form and its various uses, which can be grasped more effectively through context and repetition. It provides examples from a reality TV show scenario to illustrate the practical application of the te-form. The script encourages learners to say phrases aloud, record themselves, and mimic native speakers to improve pronunciation and understanding. It also touches on the importance of moving from instructional materials to spending more time with authentic materials as a sign of language acquisition. The paragraph concludes by inviting viewers to subscribe for more in-depth lessons on real-life Japanese usage.

Keywords

💡Hiragana

Hiragana is one of the three writing systems in the Japanese language, alongside Katakana and Kanji. It is used for representing native Japanese words and is the first script that learners are typically introduced to. In the video, the speaker suggests learning Hiragana through authentic materials like TV shows and anime, rather than just memorizing the letters.

💡Katakana

Katakana, like Hiragana, is a syllabary used in the Japanese writing system, primarily for transcribing foreign words and names, onomatopoeia, and for emphasis. The video script emphasizes the importance of learning both Hiragana and Katakana together as foundational to Japanese language learning.

💡Authentic materials

Authentic materials refer to the actual content that native speakers use in their daily lives, such as TV shows, books, anime, and manga. The video encourages the use of these materials to learn Japanese in a more immersive and practical way, as opposed to relying solely on textbooks.

💡Anime

Anime is a style of animation originating in Japan that has a wide range of genres and is popular worldwide. The script uses 'Karakai Joushi no Takagi-san' as an example of an anime suitable for language learners due to its clear pronunciation and realistic dialogue.

💡Particles

In Japanese, particles are function words that precede nouns and indicate their grammatical role in a sentence. The video explains that learning common particles like 'wa' for 'topic' and 'no' for 'genitive' is crucial for understanding sentence structure and dividing sentences into words.

💡Inflections

Inflections in Japanese refer to the changes in the form of a word to express different grammatical functions or meanings. The video mentions that words like 'omo' (think) can be inflected to 'omota' (thought) or 'omou' (I think), and understanding these changes is key to mastering the language.

💡Kanji

Kanji are the Chinese characters used in the Japanese writing system, representing concepts or ideas rather than sounds. The script suggests learning basic Kanji concepts to enhance understanding when using authentic materials and to build a foundation for further learning.

💡Waifu

The term 'waifu' is a slang word originating from the Japanese 'yome' meaning 'wife', often used in anime and manga fandom to refer to a fictional character one is attracted to. The video uses this term to illustrate the cultural nuances that can be learned through authentic materials.

💡Reality TV shows

Reality TV shows are a form of television programming that documents unscripted situations and real-life people. The script recommends watching reality TV in Japanese to hear natural, unscripted speech and to improve language acquisition.

💡Grammatical concepts

The video mentions the importance of learning basic grammatical concepts like particles and inflections to aid in understanding and dividing sentences in Japanese. It also suggests that these concepts should be learned in context rather than in isolation.

💡Te-form

The Te-form in Japanese is a verb form that can be used for various purposes, such as expressing a sequence of actions or making a request. The video uses the Te-form to illustrate how grammatical structures can be understood and applied in context.

Highlights

Start learning Japanese with hiragana and katakana as they are the foundational scripts.

Instead of memorizing letters, begin with authentic materials like TV shows, books, anime, and manga with Japanese subtitles.

Use TV shows and anime for audio input and to identify short sentences and corresponding letters.

Karakai Joshi no Takakura is recommended for beginners due to its realistic Japanese and clear pronunciation.

Explore reality TV shows and YouTube videos for unscripted, real-life Japanese.

Engage with real-life people to practice conversational Japanese.

Memorize remaining letters once you know half, creating a sense of completion.

Cultivate curiosity by looking up unfamiliar words to enhance learning.

Utilize the Google Translate app for identifying letters and understanding words.

Learning a language is not linear; it involves a mix of memorization and authentic material learning.

Learn basic kanji concepts to start incorporating them from authentic materials.

Don't wait to use authentic materials; start with simple sentences even without mastering grammar.

Learn common particles to understand sentence structure and word relations in Japanese.

Particles like 'no' and 'wa' can indicate possession or addition in sentences.

Anime titles often use common particles that can be learned through exposure.

Inflections in Japanese change word forms to express different meanings, similar to English verbs.

Learn to recognize inflections like past forms, desires, and potentials to understand context.

Practice saying phrases aloud and recording them to improve pronunciation and understanding.

Focus on spending more time with authentic materials as you progress in your Japanese learning.

Explore additional concepts like levels of politeness and pitch accent for deeper understanding.

Transcripts

so you wanna learn japanese where to

start the first thing you need to learn

is hiragana and katakana because that's

what we use conventionally people start

memorizing all the letters but i wanna

recommend something else start with

authentic materials including tv shows

books anime with japanese subtitles and

family friendly manga etc tv shows and

anime are good because they have audio

inputs

find short sentences and learn the

letters

let me demonstrate using karakai josh

notakisan as i always do

they are playing hide and seek

now pick a short sentence and find each

letter on the hiragana chart

this is yo

this is

so it's

another one

visa

nanda

now it's true that anime characters

don't always talk like real life

japanese people but with anime like

karaka jones

the characters more or less talk like

real life japanese people with some

exceptions so this is a good anime to

start and voice actors pronounce words

clearly so anime are actually pretty

good for beginners but before you start

saying that 2d waifu are better than 3d

women let me just add that don't just

watch anime watch something like reality

tv shows or youtube videos where you can

hear unscripted real life japanese

or you can go outside and talk to real

life people like a normal human being if

you keep learning like this there will

be a moment where you know half of the

letters when you don't know half of the

letters this could be a good time to

start memorizing the other letters this

is like having an incomplete collection

of letters when you have an incomplete

collection it makes you want to complete

it but of course you can also keep

learning with authentic materials and

you might get curious about some of the

words you see and if you do

look them up

if you want to know what nande means

look it up it means why and if you have

trouble identifying letters you can use

google translate app technologies are

amazing but this kind of curiosity a

desire to learn something is very

important it's much better than

passively memorizing what textbooks and

teachers feed you people have this

misconception that learning a language

is a linear process like studying a

textbook from cover to cover

that's not how it works in the real

world but remember you don't have to

understand everything

[Music]

this sentence is probably too difficult

for you if you are a complete beginner

even if you use a dictionary it's

completely normal because you don't

understand everything you only

understand what you understand but how

about kanji i recommend learning the

basic concepts so that you can start

learning them from authentic materials

i have a separate video for learning

kanji and after learning hiragana and

katakana you can continue using

authentic materials to acquire the

language many people think that they

need to learn a lot of grammatical rules

before using authentic materials but

that's not true

there's many easy sentences to start

with such as

[Music]

but the japanese writing system isn't

big enough friendly because it's not

easy for beginners to divide sentences

into words to solve this problem you can

learn a couple of grammatical concepts

particles

and inflections there's a lot of

resources for this but if you want to

learn japanese with me i will teach you

the kind of japanese that real life

japanese people today actually speak

because textbooks and apps don't explain

real life japanese so click the link in

the description and subscribe so

particles

these are some of the most common ones

particles generally indicate relations

of words or add nuances for example no

indicates possession as in oregon

is a masculine way of saying i

and yome is wife but this particular

expression is actually a slang word for

your favorite female anime character aka

waifu so this is where the word waifu

came from another example

he said

so it means

next class

no is actually used a lot in anime

titles boku no hero academia

boku is another masculine first-person

pronoun

what is another particle by the way this

hiragana is ha but when it's a particle

you read it as what

in this context is and kamikakshi is a

supernatural phenomenon where somebody

disappears for no reason but how about

this no this is a dating show and the

guy is talking about meeting his

girlfriend's parents

[Music]

no here is a very contextual word that

refers to something like a pre-existing

context and in this case it's the fact

that the guy hasn't met his girlfriend's

parents

this is not a very easy word to use for

english speakers so it's okay if you

don't understand it right away now

recognizing particles makes it easy to

divide sentences into words

this is another dating show

[Music]

let me highlight the particles now it's

easy to identify words like

coco here

[Music]

let me highlight the particles did you

notice that they used the word mokteki

many times

if you see the same word repeatedly it

would be a good idea to look it up and

mokteki means objective but can i just

talk about how i love this scene so this

is a popular reality tv show called

ainori where guys and girls travel

together in a foreign country and hope

to fall in love

but the girls are unhappy because the

guys aren't trying hard enough to find

the romance so they are questioning the

guys why did you come here

anyway did you notice no in these

sentences

objective

which is pronounced as nan here ainari

is a title of the show and tabi is

chip

as you can see learning common particles

really helps you understand japanese and

another useful grammatical concept is

inflections

japanese words often change or inflect

to express different meanings

for example

omo

means to think this is called a

dictionary form because you find this

form in a dictionary and omota is a past

form of omo this is probably not very

hard to understand because english verbs

also have past forms speak spoke watch

watched take a look at this

[Music]

now you know they are describing a past

action you can also inflect omou to

omoitai to express a desire i want to

think when you see tai

you know that they are expressing a

desire now how about kateru

[Music]

is an inflection of katsu to win

kateru means to be able to win so this

form expresses a possibility of

potential

can do something how about this one

is a dictionary form and it means to go

and ikanai is actually a negative form

so not to go they're talking about

adjusting his appearance to see his

girlfriend's parents and he said no i

don't go making these adjustments

meaning shaving his facial hair now if

this makes you want to learn the rules

of inflections you can certainly do it

but if you find the idea kind of boring

you don't have to you can use

grammatical rules and explanations to

understand authentic materials it's

better to learn them when you feel like

they are relevant to you for example

in this sentence is an inflection of

and

is called the te-form because it ends

with te there's many ways of using the

platform but if i just randomly talk

about the te-form you might not feel

that it's very relevant to you but what

if you come across this scene

[Music]

to wait can you guess what she meant

she told the guy to wait now it's easier

to understand one of the ways of using

the te-form because you have a context

and when you come across a short phrase

like this

you should say it yourself and you

should say it exactly the way it said

and you should record it

[Music]

mate

[Music]

oh to think you can also use the tefon

this way to connect sentences or a

series of actions

[Music]

to meet and do you see nai so maybe it's

a negative form of something here the te

form plus nai expresses that you haven't

done something and when you see the same

form over and over again it makes you

want to know more about it in the

beginning you might spend a lot of time

on instructional materials but as you

progress and maybe sooner than you think

you can spend a lot of time on authentic

materials and that's a sign that you are

actually acquiring japanese rather than

just memorizing a bunch of rules

if you're spending more time with

authentic materials than instructional

materials you are doing it right but i

haven't covered everything in this video

there are other important concepts like

levels of politeness or pitch accent so

if you want to learn japanese with me i

will explain the kind of japanese that

real life japanese people today

actually speak because textbooks and

apps don't do that so click the link and

subscribe to my email group japanese

with utah