HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Notice I've been uploading more recently?

A big reason for that is

is that last Thursday, thanks to all of your support

and those who participated in my research last year

my graduate school thesis is now officially

SUBMITTED AND DONE!!!

I'm bursting with ideas, video ideas, things I want to try out for you

to help you guys save a little money, save a little time

but before we got into that I thought we could start

with a brief, New Years Party!

Today we're going to look at a react to:

Japanese language learning memes and language learning memes in general.

Let's do it!

We're going to have a bit of party drink~!

This is Fanta yogurt banana flavor w/ extra Vitamin B6

because that's what we drink at a party!!

I also have some seasonal, new Hi-chew!

It's called "Precious Strawberry" flavor

It's got red and white strawberry.

I've got my favorite, persmission flavored Hi-Chew in case those are terrible.

So, let's look at some memes!

"Any meme from @memesugoi "

@memesugoi ? I hope this isn't rachet...

Let me check what this is...

@memesugoi is definitely not safe for work!

Anyway! So the point is!

Learning languages is valuable.

It helps you get things like jobs, and money to pay your bills

but it's also a pain in the butt!

So, while I know a bunch of us are trying to get our game up this year

I thought, let's just have fun with it!

We'll get more into that later. Back to the memes!

KANJI!...KANJI EVERYWHERE...

What quote is this from Toy Story???

what?!

Ok, that meme has nothing to do with "everywhere".

Next, does this count?

It's like an anime girl drowning in Kanji...

kanJi KaNJi KaNjI KanJi...

Yeah pretty much! The good news is,

when I first learned Japanese 15 years ago

people were still handwriting notes and new years cards

if you wanted to learn Kanji you used one of these!

But recently you have your phone, your cellphone

and a lot of the words you need are katakana now.

For example, the only word for "health" or "healthy" when I started

was "KENKOU" or "KENKOUTEKI"

Because of the vitamins and nutrients booms in Japan

words like "herushii" (healthy) are big.

In the recent video I posted with the sumo wrestler

you can even hear him saying it!

"...so it's more HEALTHY than what we ate as sumo wrestlers!"

It's healthy, "herushii"...instead of "kenkouteki".

He may have said that just because he was talking to me obviously

but people are starting to use more westernized words

especially in commercials, branding, and buzz words

you can get away with not knowing as much Japanese as you needed to

and it's pissing me off!

Because when I learned Japanese, it was kanji kanji kanji kanji

It's not as bad as it used to be (B: "Speak for yourself!")

Boku...kanji...hiragana...

What would actually make this meme better is if it said furigana!

If there's furigana, the little readings on top,

9 time out of 10 you won't even see the kanji

your eyes are just naturally going to see the furigana on top!

Ohhh... it smells so banana-y!

Let's do a taste test real quick...

Ooo, no actually this is kind of good!

This tastes like Inca Cola!!

"I'm going to sample...."

Yeah, Inca Cola with a hint of banana!

I like it. It's good!

ketsuron ni itaru made no imeji (the thought process before coming to a conclusion),

Chinese: so you start saying something,

but then you double back on what you said

Americans: Of course...but.... BOOM!

I appreciate what you had to say,

however, you're wrong!

The actual Japanese... is that right?

JAPAN! Is this even right??

I get what they're trying to say with this squiggle

but if I were to give a more real example,

Let's say you're at the office,

so you tell your boss a new idea you have.

They'll poke holes in it, and you affirm what they say

and so you make some changes but at the end of the day

you tweak your idea based on their input, and eventually

end up doing the same thing anyway.

I get the meme but the Japanese looks wrong?

Me..... wrong particle?

...juice?

Am I just like really slow on these memes?

Like you just can't help it? Like "No, don't drink it!'

but you do anyway???

Yeah, cats can't resist milk!

Ohhhh, so like, we can't resist using the wrong particle?

("Just like a cat can't resist drinking milk")

Yeah, that happens a lot.

You say something completely wrong, then you can hear it like, echo...

Oh that was so wrong!

Pretty much @Dogen 's entire timeline

this is a mood!

Dogen's really been on top of his game recently

I feel like he found a good way to utilize his Japanese ability

and still keep it funny without just showing off.

NEXT!It's what I deserve after watching too much Terrace house...

"yabai yo ne" vs. "forming an actual coherent Japanese sentence"

Terrace House is definitely kind of pioneering the young scene

bring real, fresh Japanese to people outside of Japan

E? Yabai! Doshiyo... Eeeee

It's becoming so apparent to me

when I speak to my bosses or sit in meetings

yes, I can speak formally or try to regurgitate Keigo

but at the end of the day, the words that I actually know

[speaks hyper casually]

This is a business place... you don't talk like that!

I wish there was Terrace House all in business Japanese.

Seen this prior to taking my last JLPT!

This is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

"Have you studied?" "Nope, not one bit. "Well, say goodbye to $55!"

Show of hands guys!

How many of you actually studied for the JLPT

in a planned out, organized way?

You set a goal, worked backwards and made a plan for everyday

How many of you actually did that and followed through?

[ *stares the your screen into your soul* ]

Yeah, I didn't think so!!

There's probably just one of you guys back there.

We all think the JLPT will be this great motivator and it's just depressing!

It's that time of year too! Who's signing up again?

Next meme!

Sashimi Rollin... They hatin'...

I love it!

When you speak two languages and start losing vocabulary in both of them...

BYE-lingual!

*wheezes*

I definitely appreciate this one!

This did start to happen to me!

My English is gotten pretty clunky.

It's getting better actually now that Boomer moved here

This is so true! "BYE-lingual!"

I really respect people who are truly bilingual

I did my first variety show last year

I got to co-host the show, but it might actually be live this week?

There was this girl who was half American/Japanese

she does an Kids English program on NHK

and she was the definition of actually bilingual!

This girl, from a young age, was proficient

and had no problem code-switching

but also completely switching between languages

The amount of RAM or memory

that she has to have going in her brain all the time

the mechanism that switches between both languages is well oiled!

Like omg! I'm a little jealous!

That's OK, I'll just have amazing babies who can do amazing things!

NEXT!

So these are counters!

You can count using different suffixes

I like "-ko" ikko, niko sanko

You're supposed to use certain counters for certain objects

but it's just easier to use the general counter "tsu".

[counts]

It can be hard sometimes!

You order all you can eat shabu-shabu steak

and they ask you to count how many orders to bring out at a time

But to be fair, we do this in English too!

With bread we have loaves and slices

With chickens we have wings and drumsticks...

We do the same thing!

Hehe! Speaking another language: MmmMm!

Learning another language: -__-

The idea of being able to speak another language

can be so much more glamorous than the work it takes.

"Omg are you kidding me!? There's another word?!"

"I'm still not fluent?!"

That's how I feel everyday at work!

But it's worth it! It's fun!

I made this yesterday: JOUZU

*wheezy wheezeeee*

chortle!

Did you really make this?!

This is hilarious!

Ohhh, that's too funny!

I feel like the better you get a Japanese

it's like the forbidden fruit!

You just start seeing how much more you don't know

like, "I thought I was good at this, I just learned how to doggie paddle

and now this endless ocean of languages is coming to eat me alive?!

Yeah, it definitely feels that way

the thing that also trips me up recently is that

Japanese people don't correct you as often

and even more so,

they don't speak real Japanese in front of you

if they assume you're not at that level.

Everytime I get a little bit better,

I still find myself in situations where I still have NO idea what's being said

but everyone's laughing...sO I'm lAuGhING tOo!?

WHAT IS GOING ON?!

I still have NO idea what's being said?!

When they know that you're listen and trying to keep up

you'll see people bring their Japanese level down

to something that's a big more digestible for you

but then when they talk to their friends its like

whA---?! What are they EVEN SAYING?!

I find it's actually hard to get better in Japanese

because real Japanese is being withheld.

They only speak advanced Japanese in front of you

if you speak advanced Japanese.

So it's like this weird Catch 22

where you have to get in the door before they even let you in.

This JOUZU/Jaws thing makes me think of that.

No matter how JOUZU you get

you're still gonna get eaten alive.

BUT IT'S FUN!!

I PROMISE!!

Oh god... NEXT!

(You think you're smart cuz you know Katakana?!)

Specifically working in business and in apps

and things like that,

so many words are just English words with a Japanese accent

It's like REALLY?! How much of that was Japanese?!

But if you don't say it with Japanese pronunciation

no one will know what you're saying. Be careful of that.

I wan't to try this.... KOUHAKU?

KOUHAKU (red and white) sounds like KOKUHAKU (confession)!

It tastes like a strawberry chupchup!

I'm going to have these persimmon ones later they're my favorite!

Suppaichu, the crunchy sour lemon ones are #1

and then it's kind of a toss up between the watermelon and persimmon ones!

You guys sent in some REALLY good memes!

I'm especially impressed by the JOUZU/Jaws one!

I can't believe I'm saying this but thank you for the memes!

They were actually really funny!

It is a new year

and a lot of you are getting restarted on your language learning journey.

Just don't forget to have fun!

If you're not having fun, you're not going to follow through with it

if it's frustrating or you're feeling stuck

just take a break, watch an anime, watch a drama

turn your audio on Netflix into Japanese

just do something light so you don't get too frustrated!