How I became fluent in Japanese Vocab

What's up guys, welcome to part 2 of how I became fluent in Japanese, where I'll show you how to not have this happen to you. A lot of people think kanji is the hardest part about learning Japanese, but really there are only so many kanji and with enough time, you will eventually learn them all. But something that never ends is learning new dojo. For example, I've learned at least six different ways to say the word Personally, I'm fine with just using one of them, but no, Japanese people need all six ways to say it. A big reason that these seemingly redundant words exist comes back to kanji. A word like production, for example, might have two kanji associated with it. One that means manufacture and one that means create. But you can replace the second kanji with one that means make, and it's a whole new word, but still essentially means production. And to add to the fun, sometimes you just change the order of the kanji, and again it's a whole new word, but still means production. And sometimes the kanji doesn't even change the pronunciation of the word. For example, the word ao, to meet in Japanese, can have five slightly different meanings depending on the character you use. But they're all pronounced ao, so you would only really notice they're different if you saw them in writing. This is why Japanese vocab can feel a bit overwhelming. But you don't necessarily need to know all these words in order to speak Japanese. Knowing just the 500 most common words in Japanese will allow you to form basic sentences and make basic conversation, paired with the appropriate level of grammar, of course. Knowing about 3,000 to 5,000 words will allow you to achieve basic fluency. You'll be able to convey virtually any of your ideas, it just might not be how a native speaker would say it. But if you learn 10,000 words, then you can achieve the highest level of Japanese proficiency, watching anime without the subtitles. And you'll know enough words to pass the JLPT N1, if you care about that too. You'll be able to have natural conversation in Japanese, and be able to understand most Japanese media. My advice for studying new vocab would be to start with the most commonly used words and work your way up. Now, stay with me. This may sound really obvious, but it can be really tempting to look up every single word you don't understand. Like I did. But there are an infinite number of words, and this method will eventually bog you down if you're not careful. I wonder what this word means. Phenomenon of feeling the urge to defecate when stepping inside of a bookstore. Do I really have to know that? I guess you never know. One of my favorite apps to use right now is called Anki, as it uses a method called space repetition. The app will show you a word and you rate how well you know it. And based on this rating, Anki will show you the word again in as soon as 10 minutes, or a couple of days, a couple of weeks, etc. However, Anki does require a bit of setup as it's just a flashcard app and not specifically for studying Japanese. So you'll need to download Japanese vocab decks from the internet and then tweak your settings to get started. Of course, there are tons of apps for studying Japanese on the App Store. Just be sure that the app constantly shows you vocab to review. Repetition is super key for retaining new words, unless you're a 200 IQ 5 head who can learn a word after hearing it just once. If you're struggling to learn a certain word, try using a mnemonic. Any kind of word association really helps me retain new words. For example, the word gomi, which means garbage, I would make a mnemonic like, I threw up my garbage. Gomi. And remember it that way. Then after a while, I'll actually learn the word and won't need the mnemonic anymore. And you don't have to just rely on vocab decks to learn new vocab. If I hear a new word in a show or see a new word in my book, then I'll add that word to a vocab list in the Japanese dictionary app on my phone. Sometimes I'll even make a note of the context that I hear the word used in. This method is great because knowing the context helps me better understand the word's correct usage in an actual sentence. And you won't have to go through the embarrassment of using the word in the wrong situation. That's not random, that's appropriate. What? Appropriate? Seriously? You dictionary liar. But at the end of the day, even if you're unsure you're using a word correctly, just go for it anyways. Your Japanese will improve far faster if you try out new vocab. And these embarrassing mistakes will actually help you remember better. There are probably going to be times where you're going to feel frustrated with learning so many new words and trying to stuff them all in your head. But sometimes you'll get a katakana word like bedo and you'll think, You know what? Learning Japanese ain't that bad. What is up, Tokyo TV crew? Hot update, I'm still trying to get into Japan but their borders are still closed. So I'm going to try to sneak in as an Olympian and I'll let you guys know how that goes. Either way, I'm still 100% moving to Japan and I'll let you know when I make it into the land of anime. But again, thanks for watching Tokyo TV.