Learning language always makes you feel difficulties when you realize the quite large gap between where you are now and where you aim for.
As Chinese proverb says “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, you need to make continuous effort to reach where you aim for. This is a path everybody goes through without any exceptions.
However, just moving on and on earnestly in too much disciplined way towards your goal will burn you out on your way without expectation. It takes a lot of time that you return back from the setback with your motivation perfectly recovered.
It is always very important to think out the way of learning as you can enjoy it as much as you just forget making effort.
In this article, I am going to share with you about non-Japanese You tubers speaking perfect fluent Japanese, whom attract me to watch their videos.
If your know how they speak fluent Japanese, your consciousness may change.
Contents
Miss Hanake
| Nationality | Study duration | video category |
|---|---|---|
| England | 10 years | Vlog |
Her name is Hannah living in England. She graduated from Oxford university, department of Japanese studies last year. She says publicly she is really absourbed into learning foreign languages. She speaks Germany, French and Japanese except for her mother tongue.
The videos she posted is mostly picked up the scene of her speaking Japanese in every day life. Apperantely, she started learning Japanese when she was 12 or 13. As long as I listen to her Japanese, her pronounciation and her way of speaking Japanese are comparable to that of Japanese.
High Tide
| Nationality | Study duration | Video category |
|---|---|---|
| New ealand | 10 years | Couple Vlog |
This is a couple channel of New Zealander girl and Japanese boy. Primarily, their video contents are about New Zealand, language and everyday things of international couple. She has been learning Japanese for about 10 years and she seems to be Japanese language geek.
She started learning Japanese when she was 12 years old. When she went to high school, she wrote Japanese words 50 times each repeatedly on her notebook. She said she was really crazy about studying Japanese then. When she was a university student, she took her flashcards filled with Japanese words wherever she went.
When she started going out with this Japanese boy, her Japanese communication skill went up dramatically. Her Japanese listening level was only N3 of Japanese Language Proficiency Test initially but she said she had perfectly understood N2 listening test for very short time since she started going out of with this Japanese boyfriend.
Her Japanese is faultlessly perfect. I am Japanese but there is nothing more to say about her Japanese.
Going out with a bofirend or a grilfriend who is from the country where the language you’re studing is used is always the best way to be able to speak and get used to the language.
Joe Inoue
| Nationality | Study duration | Video category |
|---|---|---|
| America | More than 10 years | Language, Travel, Music |
He is Japanese American, born and raised in Los Angeles. He is musician providing his works to Japanese Anime companies and TV stations. He is also selling his works online.
Compared to other You tubers, he, who was given birth between Japanese parents, had already been in quite advantageous circumstance from the start line in terms of learning Japanese.
However, his language potential surprises us. He is multilingual speaking not only Japanese and English but also Chinese and Portuguese.
Apparently, he didn’t go to Japanese supplementary school but he said he was really into Japanese Anime and games when he was childhood. He said Japanese Anime and games are the primary things that led to him starting to learn Japanese earnestly.
As long as I hear what he is talking about on You tube, I can’t think of anything but he is just Japanese, born and raised in Japan.
Steve’s Point of View
| Nationality | Study duration | Video category |
|---|---|---|
| America | More than 20 years | Language, Car, Cultural difference |
He is a interpreter going back and forth between the USA and Japan. His videos are based on cultural difference between Japan and the USA, American and Japanese foods and car things which are one of his enthusiastic hobbies.
Originally, he hadn’t been interested in learning Japanese by the time he entered the university. When he went to the university of Wisconsin, he had a chance to learn the history of Japan through the international political science class for the first time. As he learned the way Japan had flourished so fast after WW2, he started thinking that learning Japanese was the best investment to strike gold some day in the future. This is his motivation to continue learning Japanese.
After graduation from the university, he temporarily worked for a subsidiary of a Japanese company located in Chicago for about 5 to 6 years. After that, he started working as an interpreter independently. His Japanese speaking skill is perfect. There is no problem I speak with him on business. Probably, his wife is Japanese and she supports his learning Japanese.
Sharla in Japan
| Nationality | Study duration | Video category |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | More than 10 years | Travel, shopping, everyday life |
Mostly, Sharla speaks English in this channel but she also speaks Japanese fluently. She is a You tuber posting her life in Japan about travelling, everyday life.
She started studying Japanese in optional second language class at her high school when she was 14 years old. She came to Iwate prefecture, Japan for about 2 weeks as an exchange student for the first time. She said she wasn’t able to speak Japanese at all then, so her home-stay family helped her communicate in English.
Even after she went to her university, she came to Japan frequently by using long holidays. She also had experience teaching English for 2 years in Japan. After finishing a couple of programs of her university, she came to Japan with “Student Visa”.
Apparently, she really likes to learn Japanese from a lot of experiences interacting with local Japanese people in Japan rather than textbooks.
Kemushichan
| Nationality | Study duration | Video category |
|---|---|---|
| America | More than 10 years | Language study |
She is a interpreter, translator working in Japan. Currently, she is going to a university majoring in business. She mainly spread information about language study and how-to things.
She has started learning Japanese as one of optional subjects of second language at her high school when she was 14 years old. Even when she went to university, she majored in Japanese studies and made great effort to polish her Japanese speaking skill.
After graduation from university, she started her career as an interpreter and news reporter at venture companies. Moving to Japan, when she started the activity of You tuber, she appeared on Japanese TV programs as a commentator and a reporter. Now she is going to a university majoring in business and also keep working as a part-time translator.
She is like an orthodox honor student who finally got to speak Japanese fluently by doing seriously what she had to do in her school and her university she went to. If you want to be able to speak Japanese by following in her footsteps, you may really need to be disciplined to yourself.
Conclusion
There are always something that led to you starting to learn Japanese enthusiastically. Everyone speaking fluent Japanese, whom I introduced here, realized their fondness about something related to Japan in the early stage and has been making continuous effort to learn Japanese even now.
Mostly, if you want to reach as much level of Japanese communication skills as they have, you are prepared to go on a long journey learning Japanese continuously for about 10 years.
But remember, as you learn a new language, it is always important to find something you love to do, which is related to Japanese language. Loving is the strongest mindset to make continuous effort to raise your skill dramatically. Anime, games, history, traveling, whatever, you should find the point that makes you crazy about, which is either directly and indirectly related to learning Japanese.