The Secret to Learning Japanese! Amazing!

by 216 Comments

Secret to Learning English

Finally! Someone has come out with a strategy for learning Japanese that is easy, simple, and not all that hard. I don’t know why I didn’t come up with this before…oh wait, I did.

Learning Japanese shouldn’t be a complicated thing. People often think that it is, and overcomplicated things for themselves. Granted, learning another language can be a difficult thing, but it shouldn’t be a complicated one. Going around finding “this program” or “that program” will waste more time than it will gain you. You’ll be spending time taking shortcuts and come out way behind in the end. The best way to learn Japanese is to sit down and study it. A lot. Every day. It won’t come right away, and you won’t feel like you’re making progress, but I promise, you are!

The real secret to learning Japanese is perservering, which is pretty fitting since the Japanese culture is obsessed with that concept. I know it takes more time. So many people, though, want to rush through things and they end up coming out with patchy Japanese that they forget a week later. If you want to take Japanese language learning seriously, then you will have to work hard at it. You’ll need to want it. I want you to want it too. I know way too many people who study for about a week and then decide that they don’t care enough anymore (then go back to watching anime 24/7, of course)

Another thing that might help you learn is to watch this video, though it will probably just tickle you a bit.

[yframe url='www.youtube.com/watch?v=flBMpY7ZNX8']

Please feel free to comment below and tell us how you study your Japanese. How are you going to learn? How are you learning? What do you do to keep yourself accountable? Share your knowledge a little with the rest of the world.

Also: Make sure you go over to whatjapanthinks.com and vote for your favorite Japan blogs!

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  • WIJ

    You’re among the very best on YouTube… don’t sell yourself short wrt your future as an entertainer, even possibly on Japanese TV！

    日本語を学ぶことについて、４.5年前に始まりました。　アメリカの大学で勉強して、関西に住んで、日本の専門学校で勉強しました。　でも、今まであまり分かりません。　ふかのうだと思う。

    So after these four years… I wonder why I still can not communicate w/ Nihonjin beyond the most simplest of phrases… I cannot follow even simple sentences in a conversation…

    Even though you discount your limited exposure to Japanese as a child, my belief is that experience taught you much. Wait till you try to learn a foreign language when you have gray hair!

    It is though for me, an older person, important to realize that the language skills developed in childhood cannot be contained merely in college language-learning texts. And there is no way around that.

    Your own Japanese is spoken more slowly than most natives, from my experience. Not a bad thing for teaching Japanese! Indeed, you would probably make an outstanding Japanese teacher and could find gainful employment in that area, if you ever become so inclined.

  • WIJ

    You’re among the very best on YouTube… don’t sell yourself short wrt your future as an entertainer, even possibly on Japanese TV！

    日本語を学ぶことについて、４.5年前に始まりました。　アメリカの大学で勉強して、関西に住んで、日本の専門学校で勉強しました。　でも、今まであまり分かりません。　ふかのうだと思う。

    So after these four years… I wonder why I still can not communicate w/ Nihonjin beyond the most simplest of phrases… I cannot follow even simple sentences in a conversation…

    Even though you discount your limited exposure to Japanese as a child, my belief is that experience taught you much. Wait till you try to learn a foreign language when you have gray hair!

    It is though for me, an older person, important to realize that the language skills developed in childhood cannot be contained merely in college language-learning texts. And there is no way around that.

    Your own Japanese is spoken more slowly than most natives, from my experience. Not a bad thing for teaching Japanese! Indeed, you would probably make an outstanding Japanese teacher and could find gainful employment in that area, if you ever become so inclined.

  • Sarah

    I just thought I’d share a little bit of how I study/have been studying Japanese. For several years I attempted to study the language, but like so many others I fell into the category of those who end up studying the language at small increments of time then I’d just kinda give up for a long time. After a while I would go back and try to pick up the language from where I left off. Needless to say, this really wasn’t the way to learn. I didn’t actually start learning Japanese seriously until I decided to take extended learning Japanese classes at the community college near by a couple years ago. Once I took the classes I sat down every night with my text book and studied as much as I could until I got tired of studying for the night. I took the effort to go through hirgana and katakana at any time I possibly could, even if I wasn’t in the mood to learn it at the time. I knew if I just gave up on that I really wouldn’t get much out of the classes I was taking. That was probably the first big bump I hit, but once I got it down, it helps sooo much!
    Anyway, from then on, I’ve found a variety of ways in and out of classes that help me improve learning the language. Amongst those, what has really been helping me more than anything, is making myself read journals and interviews of Japanese idols/musicians/etc at any time possible. The best way I’ve learned from it, is I read what I can and try to look up the kanji that I don’t know, and also use the Mozilla Firefox tool “Rikaichan” to help give me hints sometimes on translations and how to read/say the kanji. Anyway, I usually translate the journals and interviews I read all into English and share it with others on a message board. Everyone on this message board have also really helped push me because when they notice something new that needs to be translated, they always ask me to do it, so it pushes me to keep on going even when I’m not in the mood to do it at the time. I honestly believe that if you keep pushing yourself to do more, even when you really don’t feel like doing it, you’ll progress, because the only way to get better at Japanese is to find all the resources you can to actually help yourself learn and apply yourself. Its difficult at first, but I really find it enjoyable now and I’m amazed when I’m actually able to understand more and more of what I read or listen to.

  • Sarah

    I just thought I’d share a little bit of how I study/have been studying Japanese. For several years I attempted to study the language, but like so many others I fell into the category of those who end up studying the language at small increments of time then I’d just kinda give up for a long time. After a while I would go back and try to pick up the language from where I left off. Needless to say, this really wasn’t the way to learn. I didn’t actually start learning Japanese seriously until I decided to take extended learning Japanese classes at the community college near by a couple years ago. Once I took the classes I sat down every night with my text book and studied as much as I could until I got tired of studying for the night. I took the effort to go through hirgana and katakana at any time I possibly could, even if I wasn’t in the mood to learn it at the time. I knew if I just gave up on that I really wouldn’t get much out of the classes I was taking. That was probably the first big bump I hit, but once I got it down, it helps sooo much!
    Anyway, from then on, I’ve found a variety of ways in and out of classes that help me improve learning the language. Amongst those, what has really been helping me more than anything, is making myself read journals and interviews of Japanese idols/musicians/etc at any time possible. The best way I’ve learned from it, is I read what I can and try to look up the kanji that I don’t know, and also use the Mozilla Firefox tool “Rikaichan” to help give me hints sometimes on translations and how to read/say the kanji. Anyway, I usually translate the journals and interviews I read all into English and share it with others on a message board. Everyone on this message board have also really helped push me because when they notice something new that needs to be translated, they always ask me to do it, so it pushes me to keep on going even when I’m not in the mood to do it at the time. I honestly believe that if you keep pushing yourself to do more, even when you really don’t feel like doing it, you’ll progress, because the only way to get better at Japanese is to find all the resources you can to actually help yourself learn and apply yourself. Its difficult at first, but I really find it enjoyable now and I’m amazed when I’m actually able to understand more and more of what I read or listen to.

  • Sarra

    hahahah funnnnyyyy

  • Sarra

    hahahah funnnnyyyy

  • http://www.twitter.com/vomit_art Steffany

    What I can’t stand is when I’m trying to find a new place to study, all they use is romaji. I loathe learning Japanese by romaji because it doesn’t do anything for my skills. It’s lazy. All help sites should force the people to learn hiragana before hand because face it that’s where the real Japanese starts. Not by using roman letters.

  • http://www.twitter.com/vomit_art Steffany

    What I can’t stand is when I’m trying to find a new place to study, all they use is romaji. I loathe learning Japanese by romaji because it doesn’t do anything for my skills. It’s lazy. All help sites should force the people to learn hiragana before hand because face it that’s where the real Japanese starts. Not by using roman letters.

  • japan-fan

    i used to get my lessons from animeme.com (the lessons have nothing to do with anime-they’re from sushibarnetwork.com), and i would take the lessons one at a time, each lesson twice a day- i got to lesson 4, but after 5 days they closed down and reopened, so i don’t have those any more, and sushibarnetwork.com turned into an anime download site D:
    so that was how i started learning…
    now i don’t know where i can find lessons…my parents aren’t willing to pay for a teacher or for online lessons (I’m 14), they say it isn’t worth learning a language i might never need D: and i can’t pay either because i don’t have a real allowance, i just ask my parents to buy stuff that i want and lend me money. so that is my sad tale…
    now i don’t know where to get free lessons from, if you know any sites with free japanese audio lessons, could you please send me the link on my email: animefannumb3r1@hotmail.com
    i would really appreciate it, Thanks ^_^

  • japan-fan

    i used to get my lessons from animeme.com (the lessons have nothing to do with anime-they’re from sushibarnetwork.com), and i would take the lessons one at a time, each lesson twice a day- i got to lesson 4, but after 5 days they closed down and reopened, so i don’t have those any more, and sushibarnetwork.com turned into an anime download site D:
    so that was how i started learning…
    now i don’t know where i can find lessons…my parents aren’t willing to pay for a teacher or for online lessons (I’m 14), they say it isn’t worth learning a language i might never need D: and i can’t pay either because i don’t have a real allowance, i just ask my parents to buy stuff that i want and lend me money. so that is my sad tale…
    now i don’t know where to get free lessons from, if you know any sites with free japanese audio lessons, could you please send me the link on my email: animefannumb3r1@hotmail.com
    i would really appreciate it, Thanks ^_^

  • laura

    even though i’ve only been taking japanese for a while (about 5 monthes) I honestly don’t find it that difficult. What i normally do is listen to music in japanese to help myself reconize the sounds and then study the words from the textbook. I went to http://www.thejapanesepage.com/readarticle.php?…
    for lessons in hirgana. It took me about a month to learn hirgana, and I’ll be starting katakana soon.

    As for textbooks I would recommend people get Adventures in Japanese 1 by Hiromi Person and Naomi Omizo and is illustrated by Michael Muronaka & Emiko Kaylor. The book has probably been one of the most helpful things for me. It has pictures of all the vocab, and has culture notes, maps, hirgana & katakana charts etc.
    Good luck to everyone!

  • laura

    even though i’ve only been taking japanese for a while (about 5 monthes) I honestly don’t find it that difficult. What i normally do is listen to music in japanese to help myself reconize the sounds and then study the words from the textbook. I went to http://www.thejapanesepage.com/readarticle.php?article_id=2#HIRAGANA%20LESSONS:
    for lessons in hirgana. It took me about a month to learn hirgana, and I’ll be starting katakana soon.

    As for textbooks I would recommend people get Adventures in Japanese 1 by Hiromi Person and Naomi Omizo and is illustrated by Michael Muronaka & Emiko Kaylor. The book has probably been one of the most helpful things for me. It has pictures of all the vocab, and has culture notes, maps, hirgana & katakana charts etc.
    Good luck to everyone!

  • Samantha

    what you need to do is study a few words every day of the week, then test yourself on the words that you learned that week. and studying with friends helps a lot!

  • Samantha

    what you need to do is study a few words every day of the week, then test yourself on the words that you learned that week. and studying with friends helps a lot!

  • Chimiko

    I learnt hiragana through reading Japanese lyrics and some easy kanji as well. I took the first year Japanese course in uni and love it. I am a big fan of japanese dramas and music so I practice my reading comprehension and listening comprehension by watching raw drama and their talkshows. Sometimes I learn kanji that way too.

    There are some drama CD for mangas on youtube that overlays it w/ the manga at the same time. It helps because you’re reading the manga and listening to the conversation at the same time, very helpful.

  • Chimiko

    I learnt hiragana through reading Japanese lyrics and some easy kanji as well. I took the first year Japanese course in uni and love it. I am a big fan of japanese dramas and music so I practice my reading comprehension and listening comprehension by watching raw drama and their talkshows. Sometimes I learn kanji that way too.

    There are some drama CD for mangas on youtube that overlays it w/ the manga at the same time. It helps because you’re reading the manga and listening to the conversation at the same time, very helpful.

  • lonna

    I will agree it is a lot of hard work but so worth it!!!!
    I will say that anime can help you learn Japanese….it helps in that if I hear vocabulary that I’m learning in a show that it stays ingrained in my head better and i also learn when I can use some phrases correctly in the right situation. Anime is a nice tool as long as it’s not the main one…..

  • lonna

    Oh, p.s. JapanesePod101.com is the best place EVER to learn Japanese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • lonna

    I will agree it is a lot of hard work but so worth it!!!!
    I will say that anime can help you learn Japanese….it helps in that if I hear vocabulary that I’m learning in a show that it stays ingrained in my head better and i also learn when I can use some phrases correctly in the right situation. Anime is a nice tool as long as it’s not the main one…..

  • lonna

    Oh, p.s. JapanesePod101.com is the best place EVER to learn Japanese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • kakutaisan

    I agree JapanesePod101.com is a good website to study Japanese. I also recommend taking a course on Japanese. I think people are more motivated if they have to pay for it.

  • kakutaisan

    I agree JapanesePod101.com is a good website to study Japanese. I also recommend taking a course on Japanese. I think people are more motivated if they have to pay for it.

  • Daniel

    I’m currently learning japanese, but this isn’t the first time I’ve studied it…I did a 5 year course in Japanese, but I quit after 2..that was 3 years ago…

    Anyway

    Basically around the end of last year I decided to learn it again and so far I’ve learned more in a few months than what I learned in two years. Do you recommend cramming all the Hiragana and Katakana in a week? I managed to learn all the hiragana again in about 4 days, but I’ve not had such luck with the Katakana…anyway…I’ll end this comment with:

    Kore wa anata no inkei desuka?

  • Daniel

    I’m currently learning japanese, but this isn’t the first time I’ve studied it…I did a 5 year course in Japanese, but I quit after 2..that was 3 years ago…

    Anyway

    Basically around the end of last year I decided to learn it again and so far I’ve learned more in a few months than what I learned in two years. Do you recommend cramming all the Hiragana and Katakana in a week? I managed to learn all the hiragana again in about 4 days, but I’ve not had such luck with the Katakana…anyway…I’ll end this comment with:

    Kore wa anata no inkei desuka?

  • Lolipop

    The video made me smile, then made me feel bad that I haven’t made cards for this weeks kanji yet. I bookmarked it so when I get lazy it’ll make me go study some more.

    I have to say though that I enjoy the study of Japanese, I like how new little thinks become clear each week.

  • Lolipop

    The video made me smile, then made me feel bad that I haven’t made cards for this weeks kanji yet. I bookmarked it so when I get lazy it’ll make me go study some more.

    I have to say though that I enjoy the study of Japanese, I like how new little thinks become clear each week.

  • Christel

    I really like this one: http://www.boostyourjapanese.com!

  • Christel

    I really like this one: http://www.boostyourjapanese.com!

  • Anon

    Your video is hilarious :) I have been studying japanese in highschool for about 4-5 years, passed my JLPT 2 last year and moving on to JLPT 1 this year. Just wanted to say that once you have grasped the basics, and also an understanding of the different registers of language, watching things like anime, J-drama does help with listening, but with subtitles it’s meaningless. I find reading novels (i loved TUMUGI by Yoshimoto Banana) and listening to the news in japanese really helps. The NHK website has downloadable clips with text. Oh, and JWPce is really nice. Helped a lot with kanji.

  • Anon

    Your video is hilarious :) I have been studying japanese in highschool for about 4-5 years, passed my JLPT 2 last year and moving on to JLPT 1 this year. Just wanted to say that once you have grasped the basics, and also an understanding of the different registers of language, watching things like anime, J-drama does help with listening, but with subtitles it’s meaningless. I find reading novels (i loved TUMUGI by Yoshimoto Banana) and listening to the news in japanese really helps. The NHK website has downloadable clips with text. Oh, and JWPce is really nice. Helped a lot with kanji.

  • Kirin

    I spend about 30 minutes everyday reading random Japanese articles, and also looking up random slang….It makes my Japanese class more fun and now my teacher gets scared everytime I open my mouth to speak because I once asked if anyone wanted to eat babies for breakfast….>.>
    But it makes class more fun and not as boring as it would’ve been if I didn’t know so much funny Japanese tongue twisters (のむならのるな、のるならのむな*)!

    *nomu nara noru na, noru nara nomu na. “If you drink don’t drive, if you drive don’t drink.”

  • Kirin

    I spend about 30 minutes everyday reading random Japanese articles, and also looking up random slang….It makes my Japanese class more fun and now my teacher gets scared everytime I open my mouth to speak because I once asked if anyone wanted to eat babies for breakfast….>.>
    But it makes class more fun and not as boring as it would’ve been if I didn’t know so much funny Japanese tongue twisters (のむならのるな、のるならのむな*)!

    *nomu nara noru na, noru nara nomu na. “If you drink don’t drive, if you drive don’t drink.”

  • Jappers

    If you guys know any free sites to learn japanese could you please tell me. This is currently the only way I can learn Japanese. If you know any, please email me at

    flowerpainter3@yahoo.com

  • Jappers

    If you guys know any free sites to learn japanese could you please tell me. This is currently the only way I can learn Japanese. If you know any, please email me at

    flowerpainter3@yahoo.com

  • noneofyoubuissnes

    Wow all these comments helped me to find out new ways to learn Japanese.I’m thinking of getting a tutor.I have a learn Japanese problem and some videos,but having a tutor would be a cool experience.

  • noneofyoubuissnes

    I meant i had a program

  • noneofyoubuissnes

    Wow all these comments helped me to find out new ways to learn Japanese.I’m thinking of getting a tutor.I have a learn Japanese problem and some videos,but having a tutor would be a cool experience.

  • noneofyoubuissnes

    I meant i had a program

  • Una

    I think the best way to learn any language is to have motivation. Mine is to understand my favourite music, films, friends etc. I`m able to learn a lot without much effort then.

  • Una

    I think the best way to learn any language is to have motivation. Mine is to understand my favourite music, films, friends etc. I`m able to learn a lot without much effort then.

  • Bi-chan

    Dude
    i happened to stumble in your video today…what a blessing, it MADE MY DAY

    holy crap…you’re so funny.People get inspired after seeing this…i got.

    u kinda became my idol today, i hope u keep doing that..what a beautiful art of making people laugh (now i got dramatic)

    c ya o/

  • Bi-chan

    Dude
    i happened to stumble in your video today…what a blessing, it MADE MY DAY

    holy crap…you’re so funny.People get inspired after seeing this…i got.

    u kinda became my idol today, i hope u keep doing that..what a beautiful art of making people laugh (now i got dramatic)

    c ya o/

  • Byaako

    Hey, I also stumbled onto your video. It came at a very opportune time. I have taken some university courses before… But well, yeah, I was an anime enthusiast first, so perseverance was not my forte. It didn’t help that my first teacher was native from Tokyo, and my second teacher was from Osaka. Hugely different accents made it impossible to understand her. I passed both courses, but then I dropped it for a few years (mainly cause I stopped going to university).

    I’ve now gotten my coursework, and the two “complete courses” (aka-Learn Japanese in 6 weeks by listening to this while you drop off your mail for less than 5 seconds a day) that I bought before university together, and I’m completing my new years resolution of listening to the lessons on my way to and from work, and at least a half hour a day otherwise until I’ve learned it. Even if it takes me years!

  • Byaako

    Hey, I also stumbled onto your video. It came at a very opportune time. I have taken some university courses before… But well, yeah, I was an anime enthusiast first, so perseverance was not my forte. It didn’t help that my first teacher was native from Tokyo, and my second teacher was from Osaka. Hugely different accents made it impossible to understand her. I passed both courses, but then I dropped it for a few years (mainly cause I stopped going to university).

    I’ve now gotten my coursework, and the two “complete courses” (aka-Learn Japanese in 6 weeks by listening to this while you drop off your mail for less than 5 seconds a day) that I bought before university together, and I’m completing my new years resolution of listening to the lessons on my way to and from work, and at least a half hour a day otherwise until I’ve learned it. Even if it takes me years!

  • MusicalLuna

    I just started reading your blog today, and found the video of you in this particular article (…?) too freaking adorable NOT to comment.

    You are cute. Like whoas.

    Sorry. As for the “professional and smart human being” sounding part: I’ve been taking Japanese for three semesters (I’m currently nearing the end of my fourth) and I actually found that in the way of learning vocab/kanji, if I sit down and make digital “flashcards” for the words we learn in class, I actually learn them pretty well.

    I make the “flashcards” using GIMP, so they’re just 800×600 images with the kanji and the furigana in the image, and then the English meaning as the file name. I set my computer’s screensaver to the “Slideshow” option for my Kanji folder, so whenever it goes to the screensaver, I can review just by glancing at the screen. True, it’s not particularly efficient, since I never know which words are going to pop up, but it is a good way to keep Kanji on the brain at the very least.

    Anyway. I’m done now. Maybe I actually will NOT be lazy and keep up with your blogoricious blog from now on. :D

  • MusicalLuna

    Maybe I should mention that I haven’t mastered the “typing Japanese on my computer” because I’m missing some important files/programs/fonts/whatever and so thus I have to go out on to the internets (specifically Jim Breen’s site), search for the word in romanji so as to get the hiragana, then search using the hiragana to hunt down the kanji.

    That probably helps with the “learning”.

  • MusicalLuna

    I just started reading your blog today, and found the video of you in this particular article (…?) too freaking adorable NOT to comment.

    You are cute. Like whoas.

    Sorry. As for the “professional and smart human being” sounding part: I’ve been taking Japanese for three semesters (I’m currently nearing the end of my fourth) and I actually found that in the way of learning vocab/kanji, if I sit down and make digital “flashcards” for the words we learn in class, I actually learn them pretty well.

    I make the “flashcards” using GIMP, so they’re just 800×600 images with the kanji and the furigana in the image, and then the English meaning as the file name. I set my computer’s screensaver to the “Slideshow” option for my Kanji folder, so whenever it goes to the screensaver, I can review just by glancing at the screen. True, it’s not particularly efficient, since I never know which words are going to pop up, but it is a good way to keep Kanji on the brain at the very least.

    Anyway. I’m done now. Maybe I actually will NOT be lazy and keep up with your blogoricious blog from now on. :D

  • MusicalLuna

    Maybe I should mention that I haven’t mastered the “typing Japanese on my computer” because I’m missing some important files/programs/fonts/whatever and so thus I have to go out on to the internets (specifically Jim Breen’s site), search for the word in romanji so as to get the hiragana, then search using the hiragana to hunt down the kanji.

    That probably helps with the “learning”.

  • FABIO

    I’m learning a lot, and pretty fast as well through the series “Let’s Learn Japanese” at youtube. They are just great for those who does not know japense at all.

    *PS: I’m from Brazil and I live near a Japanese neighborhood. I love to go there!!

  • FABIO

    I’m learning a lot, and pretty fast as well through the series “Let’s Learn Japanese” at youtube. They are just great for those who does not know japense at all.

    *PS: I’m from Brazil and I live near a Japanese neighborhood. I love to go there!!

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