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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  • moezy-chan

    When I first started to learn Japanese, I went the easy way out and just watched anime, but I realized that just watching it won't help my Japanese. I ended up getting software on how to learn, but that didn't work either. Quit, went back to my anime, and then saw a book at my college on how to learn Hiragana. I bought it and I'm still studying the book, and can read some sentences in Hiragana, and know just a little bit of kanji. Not too much though. I also bought a Japanese/English Dictionary in case I read something in Hiragana that I never heard or saw before. Now I'm teaching myself to read manga, and that in turn has helped me when I'm watching anime raw. I don't rely on just anime to learn, but I do use it to fine tune pronounciation for words. Still, it's not the main way I learn Japanese. I doubt I'll ever be fluent, but it's better than what my two sisters are doing, who just watch anime and think they'll learn >>;

  • ¥uri

    hi my name is Yuri i'm from brazil! (i'm sorry if my english is wrong lol)
    i've started to learn japanese 1 weak ago, i've already learn all the hiraganas and started to learn the katakanas and now i need some another way to learn words and thing like this… in my city don't have any japanese school, so i'm learnning on the net… if somebody can help me i'll be glad (bilgo_hyp@hotmail.com)
    ありがと

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Check out eduFIre – it's where I teach Japanese via live webcam. Or,
    check out my recent article “top 10 free resources for learning
    Japanese” – those are very helpful as well!

  • ¥uri

    hello koichi.
    take a look at this site ( http://www.realkana.com/hiragana/ ). it helped me a lot to learn the hiraganas and katakanas.
    it's in portuguese but u'll just need the tabs hiragana, katakana and praticar (practice)
    all u have to do is write down the “name” of the simbol, like this:
    the site shows u this “り” u write down “ri” and press enter if its correct shows you another and if it's wrong a red x appear till u say the write answer!
    hope it helps someone lol
    c ya

  • steph1993

    I think the best way to learn Japanese is to study with an actual teacher. That's what I'm doing, and I find when you have a Japanese native there in person to talk to and ask questions, it actually helps a lot. I also go on the internet constantly to try and learn kanji (I did the same for hiragana and katakana). Also, if you watch some Japanese shows (and I don't mean anime, I mean real TV shows e.g. game shows that they air in Japan) you're going to learn how people actually speak, and not end up saying sentences like anime characters do, and eventually discovering that the fansub was wrong and you said some strange phrase to your Japanese friend :)
    If you're learning Japanese, even if it's hard, you'll know if you really are interested in learning because you'll want to keep learning (I've been learning French for 10 years of my life, and just because it has gotten hard, I haven't stopped :P)

    So , yay Japanese!!!!! and thanks for reading this annoyingly long message that I wrote because I had too much time on my hands :)

  • Drew

    Arigato!

  • Asianpal (lol)

    Hajimimashte! Watashi wa smithudes. doozo yorushku

  • diwatasalangit

    hi there im already 3 months here in japan but still i cant speak or even understand what they say, i can read and write hiraganas katakana and some kanji too but i dont know why i cant learn to speak that sometimes makes me irritated and mad bcoz my husband is japanese we dont understand each other when he speak to me in jpanese.watashiwa atama warui desu ka.

  • anonymous

    I study japanese by watching youtube japanese tutor videos…… lol
    I know some of the basics, I have them stored on my computer, I read them every day, and slap myself if I don't.

  • elkarlo

    I think that making a plan is a good idea.

    For example I weightlift. Just going to the gym and trying is not going to result in me getting stronger/faster. I follow a regimen. I plan my lifts in a scientific order, to get better results. I'm trying to do this with my Japanese. Just sitting and studying can/is a waste of time/effort. Which can result in a lack of enthusiam, as results are like mini goals.

    I dunno man, I think we need to make a 21st cent approach to learning.

  • Zach

    Japanesse is easier than it looks!
    I taught myself japanesse by listening to people on CDs & it is as boaring!
    There is one set back! i can't even write the alphabet

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1027342875 Joan Jensen

    do j-drama count ?
    i am starting with anime, but i have gon over to j-dramas and i have just starte out seen som tv show (cartoon kat-tun and so) and most music i hear is all so japanish.
    any way try my best but have a hard time because there are not japanish theacher in my home town where i live and i can not read or write Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji
    so i guess i am in trouble if i follow my dream of traveling to japan
    but thanx for youre time
    joan from denmark

  • reziel

    learning Japanese language is very interesting

  • leela miree

    I've been learning Japanese for about 10 months now and I'm in Japanese II. I found that the best way to “study” and expose yourself to Japanese is through music and reading it. Just learn hiragana and katakana! Even if you just know these, you can get so much farther! On the internet, whenever I have the option to change the language to Japanese I do, and then I force myself to figure it out and read everything to navigate the site. I also put my iPod in Japanese, after a while you just recognize the letters and kanji, I may not know the exact pronounciation, but I can at least recognize it.
    The best way I found to learn to write kanji is to get a dry erase board and just write them over and over and write out sentances and words. Japanese is basically a lot of repetiton and memorization just like any language. It's a lot of hard work, but if you want it enough, it shouldn't seem as hard to learn it.
    Watching Japanese television shows can help with listening comprohension, and it's more interesting than just listening to a tape over and over again. There is a really awesome site that has a ton of Japanese shows, (http://www.mysoju.com) they are all subbed, but you still get to hear actual conversations and everyday language. I have picked up so much by watching these, it's rather ridiculous, and it's really exciting as I get farther in my Japanese how much I can understand without having to read the subtitles.
    These are just a few of the things that I found that make learning Japanese easier for me.

  • leela miree

    …I still don't know English apparently though. Haha, sorry.

  • BenjiBenji

    but since it's about Nihongo, it would be “Ne?”.

  • Rose

    Hey Koichi! I just recently stumbled upon your youtube videos, and I think they're great! (No sarcasm intended XD) I was particularly “struck” with your “Japanese people aren't impressed with your Japanese”, and it made me reflect a bit. But I also think that people react the same way regardless of cultural background.Anyway, just a quick question, but do you think I'm doing the right thing, 'cos I intended not to speak so much Japanese to Japanese people until I'm an expert at it?

    Also thank you very much for waking me up to reality. Yes, I do need to stay away from YouTube (lol) or the computer for a while. XD

  • Chris

    Hey! Thanks for this blog!
    I just got back from a 6 month working holiday in Tokyo!
    I am so eager to finally set in and start hardcore studying Japanese, but I don't know where to start.
    I will major In Japanese at my Canadian university in 5 months.
    Its a 3 year program, But i want to learn lots and excel so I can do the transfer to Japan in the second or final year.
    Where would you advise starting. I start with my Japanese tutor next month!
    Thanks,
    Chris

  • anwar

    damni want to learn japanese from primary 6 but i`m still studying at the moment.i`m now 19 maybe i should take it when i have time?what`s your opinion

  • Ahmed

    Yo all !!
    how its going here :D
    am new here .. but i take some Japanese classes and i'm Addict to Anime !
    but my problems are Kanji i cant read or writ kanji and i still cant understands words from Japanese ppl :(
    am planing to join the japanese languge learning for the Japan-Embassy here :D
    but still dont have plan for how am gona study it !! i wish i can find help here :)

  • Kortney

    Do you know of a place to obtain text books to study from?

  • http://www.facebook.com/Ray.ApolloxSunburst Raymond Apollo Williams

    Found that more than funny.
    I've been studying for about 2 years…Going on 3??
    Actually to the point where dreams are in Japanese -.-
    But as you said in the Video ^(Points) I set aside about 30 to 45 minutes a day Practicing Vocabulary and my characters….Naruto Hurts my feelings….-.-

    P.S….Never seen your Videos Until now….(You've just gained a Fan lol…Non fan Boy…Those are bad…)

  • Onemimi

    Konnichiwa,

    Could some kind soul, please, suggest in specific the sites they are using to get information or how to get a nihongo learning partner?

    I want to learm nihongo since I want to work as a translator of “japanesse” to spanish.

    Arigato gozaimasu

  • paoloborla

    i have a “learn how to speak japanese, a self-study book” thingy
    is that fine? or do i need more than that to learn the japanese language??
    my purpose in learning:
    to live in japan or at least travel there and work there ^_^

    @koichi
    hehe gimme your panda hat XD
    [just a joke hehe]

  • AronWM

    i really want to take up japanese. Im 5th form (year 11, 11th grade) in highschool and have only taken japanese for half a year last year. Id really like to pick it up but im too full on subjects and sport. Any tips on where to go?
    Maybe a private tutor??

  • http://www.tofugu.com/ brandon

    I am a kid who really wants to know japanese cause they are some reasons I want to take classes so I can understand what people are saying and talk too I maybe want to have a private tutor free for almost 30 min each day.

  • Hello

    How do you really expect to learn Japanese then a baby could in Japan? You people are smarter then a drooling stupid baby that can't even walk. It's not the age that matters it's the exposure you set yourself in. It doesn't matter if that baby can't walk, speak, read, and do anything else. That baby HAS to learn Japanese or 日本語 listening to it for more then 9-18. It doesn't matter how happy or depressed or even stupid that baby is. By law of this world and all who achieve greatness that baby will learn Japanese by living in Japan. The people who say they took 8 years of Japanese are bull crapping themselves. The exposure to real Japanese is laughable compared to that Japanese baby who learned without knowing it to expose itself. Japanese isn't hard you people just make it hard. That baby probaley got over 9 hours of listening exposure compared to that wimpy 2 hours a day maybe not everyday. Don't believe me? Live in Japan , watch their TV, go outside, watch their shows, and expose yourself to that language for a year. Pretend that English is nonexistent in their society. THAT IS THE FASTEST WAY TO LEARN. It's the backround that matters how much did you expose yourself. I gurantee even if you make little or extreme changes to make yourself expose to Japanese you will be Japanese at least in the understanding state.

  • Hello

    How do you really expect to learn Japanese then a baby could in Japan? You people are smarter then a drooling stupid baby that can't even walk. It's not the age that matters it's the exposure you set yourself in. It doesn't matter if that baby can't walk, speak, read, and do anything else. That baby HAS to learn Japanese or 日本語 listening to it for more then 9-18. It doesn't matter how happy or depressed or even stupid that baby is. By law of this world and all who achieve greatness that baby will learn Japanese by living in Japan. The people who say they took 8 years of Japanese are bull crapping themselves. The exposure to real Japanese is laughable compared to that Japanese baby who learned without knowing it to expose itself. Japanese isn't hard you people just make it hard. That baby probaley got over 9 hours of listening exposure compared to that wimpy 2 hours a day maybe not everyday. Don't believe me? Live in Japan , watch their TV, go outside, watch their shows, and expose yourself to that language for a year. Pretend that English is nonexistent in their society. THAT IS THE FASTEST WAY TO LEARN. It's the backround that matters how much did you expose yourself. I gurantee even if you make little or extreme changes to make yourself expose to Japanese you will be Japanese at least in the understanding state.

  • himawari18

    hi my name is danielle!
    im an exchange student from mexico.. living in japan.
    And god knows ive tried everything to learn .. i know alot more then when i got here and
    ive seen alot of your videos :) i think there great and well i wanted to contact you.
    I really intrested in getting to know you or at least talk.
    kiotsukete !

  • Cathrine

    … I'm a Dane as well, and I learned both German and English from watching German/English television as a kid. So no, it's not impossible. I'm not as good at German as I was due to lack of use, but I still understand it fully and do speak a great deal German, just not flawless ^^. But well, I think you and Koichi are right – when you say it's impossible to learn Japanese only from watching anime (at least when we're this old)… Ganbatte, ne?

  • mr. kissable

    i want to learn jappanese, but i don't want to got out and ask my jappanese friends if they have any, they may think i'm raceist even though i'm jappanese aswell and black (thats right blackanese)

  • KASUKI

    i want to learn jappanese, but i don't want to got out and ask my jappanese friends if they have any, they may think i'm raceist even though i'm jappanese aswell and black (thats right blackanese)

  • ekopilosopo

    hi! im eko from the philippines. im really, really interested in learning japanese. ive already taught myself the curvy,sexy Hiragana…and im currently in the process of “mastering” (if that's what even an appropriate word) Katakana. but my problem is Kanji. i just can not seem to find a good resource here on the web on how to learn kanji…and kanji is, well, it intimidates me. i mean, 3,000 characters??! how am i gonna learn that? T_T (from where i am, there are no basic japanese courses… and the ironic thing is, our government teamed up with the japanese govt in that JPEPA thing…wherein part of it involves japan hiring filipinos to work there..and our govt's not exerting any effort in teaching us the language) i havent browsed your site to the smallest detail yet, but can you help me with this? im really looking forward for a reply.. :}
    btw, big fan of ur vids in youtube. :D

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jarmone-Porter/100000366365934 Jarmone Porter

    Whats up dude, well I'm super lazy and a little busy with having a job and going to college. I just wanted to say that I decided to learn only how to speak japanese and not read it. Well because like I said earlier, I'm super lazy, so I've been trying to learn japanese seriuosly for a month now and doing pretty well. I'm poor, so I've been watching all these youtube videos on learning japanese, going to language exchange sites, watching japanese movies, japanese shows, japanese music and skyping with japanese people from japan to make sure what I'm saying is right and makes sense. So it's been going good and even people from japan that sometimes I sound native and I was born in houston. Next year I plan to study there through a foreighn exchange program from school. So for people who want to just speak japanese, I would suggest doing what 'm doing and also trying to simply think in japanese instead of translating it in your head.

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  • Maximilian Pfeiffer

    Arg, my only reason for learning Japanese would be… of course, Anime.

    Just kidding. I am kind of fascinated by the utterly different culture that Japan represents- yet beeing a totally western county.
    But regarding the fact that I already know 3 different languages (and therefore knowing how much work learning one is), I kind of can't make myself get motivated.
    Yeah, that's the SuperSaiyajinLevel4 of LAME.
    But why learn Japanese? I'd kind of like to hear your opinion on that one. I mean, learning english is a given. German is my native tongue, and half of my family is french, so all these are natural for me.
    But Japanese? If I ever were to live in Japan, I'd probably be repelled by the different savoir vivre over there- The very concept of thinking is different, in my opinion at least.
    I once saw a whole company sitting through its break and continue working like it was nothing, in Japan. Where this was self-evident.
    And I've never seen a culture that pays so much attention to rituals, bearing and status; a friend of my family was actually a succesful scientist (endocrinology, to be exact) in the USA, as the leader of his team, but when he tried to continue working in Japan, having published lots of papers, he actually was treated like a greenhorn, given no responsibility at all.
    Because he had no connections and standing over there, as he explained himself.

    I can't picture myself beeing successful, thus happy in Japan. And making Japanese acquaintances would be kind of difficult without living there, no?

    P.S.: Congratulations to everyone who read the whole roman above … you've achieved the very first step for learning Japanese! Perseverance! xD

  • http://youtube.com/ asdfghjkl

    you should sub japanese in english with your videos then it would be a bit easier to learn with you in your video blog btw.. your videos are too short and not enough teaching…

  • Sara

    Um hi. I was going to say that the way that I learn Japanese is by my aunt Shia teaching me. She lived in Japan all her life and came to America for collage. She married my uncle Shannon and she taught him how to read, speak, and write japanese. I learn by sitting down about 10 min. a few times during the day. I can learn about 10-20 new characters a day if I really try. I learned all the numbers in a day. I have already learned all the Hiragana and Katakana. Now I'm learning kanji and what the meaning of words are because Shia said if I wanted to learn the whole language I should start by learning to read and write it.

  • Sarah

    comment to ekopilosopo. japanese is not 3,000 characters. The goverment has made it only 1,945 characters, but i've heard there is about 50,000 caracters that people just madeup i guess but you only need to know the ones the gov. approved of to read things.

  • kimie

    …so u mean to say that when their cursing in anime, it's not translated properly? That sucks…but i still love anime anyway haha. My bf got me into it and he watches it cause he likes the stories. Anime is more then just a cartoon because most anime stories are put together in a very clever way, which is my opinion… besides that, we've learned alot of words by watching it…so one could probably see it in both positive and negative ways…and it also helps if you know another language. In that case, i'm half asian and i speak another language, and our words are also translated differently in english, so i could understand that fact. I think it would be easier for me and my bf to catch on with tons of practice…don't get me wrong, it's still a very complicated language to even try to consider perfecting…but i would love to visit japan one day!=)

  • kimie

    …so u mean to say that when their cursing in anime, it's not translated properly? That sucks…but i still love anime anyway haha. My bf got me into it and he watches it cause he likes the stories. Anime is more then just a cartoon because most anime stories are put together in a very clever way, which is my opinion… besides that, we've learned alot of words by watching it…so one could probably see it in both positive and negative ways…and it also helps if you know another language. In that case, i'm half asian and i speak another language, and our words are also translated differently in english, so i could understand that fact. I think it would be easier for me and my bf to catch on with tons of practice…don't get me wrong, it's still a very complicated language to even try to consider perfecting…but i would love to visit japan one day!=)

  • nutsu

    I wish to learn Japanese language.Kanji is so difficult

  • Paul

    I've not even begun to dive into Japanese as much as I'd like to.
    I took a year of basic Japanese my freshman year in highschool (sophomore now).
    I forgot most of it… (tear tear) but now I know how much I missed it. I've been reading up on the culture of Japan and daily life there, in hopes that it will get me more motivated to start actually independently studying.
    I thought the mention of Skype was a terrific idea. I just need to actually be able to find Japanese friends!

  • Paul

    I've not even begun to dive into Japanese as much as I'd like to.
    I took a year of basic Japanese my freshman year in highschool (sophomore now).
    I forgot most of it… (tear tear) but now I know how much I missed it. I've been reading up on the culture of Japan and daily life there, in hopes that it will get me more motivated to start actually independently studying.
    I thought the mention of Skype was a terrific idea. I just need to actually be able to find Japanese friends!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Penny-Davis/100000272015774 Penny Davis

    Do you have any advice for learning the difference between pronouncing ii and i? I'm having a lot of trouble with it…

  • http://www.handbags-club.com/ Designer handbags

    I was expecting “Eh?” at the end considering it was Canada Dry or whatever that's called. haha. I need to practice more… I haven't seriously since summer. Time to crack open those Japanese textbooks that I never gave back to my school during the break.

  • http://hi.baidu.com/yishiym123 TwoBlue

    oooo and hooray for typos (slap me)

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