Want to learn Japanese by playing video games and watching anime? A team of YouTubers – using contemporary tools – made learning one of the most challenging languages in the world fun, not tedious work.
But let’s set expectations: You shouldn’t be expected to play Metaphor: ReFantasia soon without English subtitles.
Over the last three years, I have been gradually learning Japanese. During this time, especially in the first year, I tried dozens of learning methods, tools, apps and online tutorials. I don’t regret this period of soul searching because finding the right learning process is the key to long-term language acquisition. That said, it’s helpful to have some starting points.
I’ve selected three developers and two software projects that I think are perfect for beginners. I will be busy in the comments if you need personal recommendations or have recommendations of your own.
What was launched YouTube as ToKini Andy in 2019 it became whole educational platformdistributed in videos, on Discord and on the company’s official website. Lessons taught by Andy and Yuki focus on the basic elements of learning Japanese, using textbooks such as Genki and handmade kanji study guides. Although the hosts do not focus on gaming or anime, their love for both media is obvious, and references to the media appear in the lessons.
Sometimes they also post a video like “Is Dorohedoro perfect for learning Japanese?“And”I learned Japanese ALL DAY LONG on Nintendo 3DS for 1 month. Here’s what happened.“
Tokini Andy is the most time-honored starting point on this list, and while going through textbooks and kanji lessons will take you away from games and anime, it will lay the groundwork. Some people (read: me) find it helpful to spend months or even years truly understanding the mechanics of language.
Yuta is the clearest, most concise and smartest YouTuber in the Japanese-speaking community. His moviesreleased approximately every month, explain specific grammar points that you probably won’t find in the manual but they are very likely to be found in Japanese media such as games and anime. While boasting about this learning material, he also remembers that learning Japanese solely through anime can make foreign-speaking visitors to Tokyo sound like shonen characters whenever they try to ask for directions.
Like the other creators here, Yuta holds his own own website which offers additional learning tools, including helpful and explanatory PDFs. And his Instagram account is a great way to regularly receive quick language tips, like why you shouldn’t say “received“, the Japanese equivalent of “you”.
Game Gengo is run by Matt, a native English speaker living in Western Japan. The YouTube teacher hosts many series dedicated to learning Japanese through games. You can watch above Metaphor: ReFantasia episode of the series “Learn Japanese With” in which Matt takes a piece of gameplay and breaks down each line word by word, particle by particle, grammatical structure by grammatical structure.
Starting with this series is like being thrown into the deep end during your first swimming lesson, so I recommend his N5-N1 grammar playlists for beginners. The Japanese language proficiency test starts with N5 (beginner) and gradually reaches N1 (fluency). If you learn best with a textbook on your desk, Matt also produced one movies containing in-game examples of lessons from the most popular Japanese textbook, Genki.
Photo: Nativshark
The most crucial trick to learning a language is to develop a habit – something you look forward to doing at least 30 minutes a day, every day, for the foreseeable future. Few things in life create this kind of feedback loop better than the apps we keep on the front page of our smartphones. Things like Instagram, WhatsApp, Spotify.
When I started learning Japanese, I saved time and space (quite literally) by deleting some of my favorite social media apps and replacing them with language apps. Duolingo, for all its technical wizardry, was excellent at building a habit, although I found I retained little of its simplified lessons. From there I tried different services:
Each of these apps will be a great apply of your time – and you can apply several of them at once. But my current favorite platform is NativeShark. It’s everything I need in one place: spaced review flashcards, grammar charts, kanji memorization techniques, and an easy-to-use design.
It’s not free like Anki, but I prefer to spend some money to avoid tinkering and focus on learning. The image above shows the layout of a single flashcard. Take a look at all this useful information!
Image: Migaku
As much as I’d love to be one of the few language geniuses on YouTube who claim to have completed the infamous N1 Japanese language proficiency test in a matter of months, that’s not the case. I knew that learning a modern language as an adult would, realistically, be a lifelong activity. So I prioritized a study routine that I looked forward to each day, rather than one that felt like a high-impact workout.
This brings us to the meat and potatoes of my recommendations: Migaku. It’s the perfect tool for learning Japanese via Netflix and YouTube. In tiny, Migaku can display Japanese and English subtitles simultaneously, provide instant definitions for words and phrases, and convert movie moments into flashcards containing a screenshot, audio snippet, subtitles, and a brief explanation of their meaning.
All of this can be done for free using other tools like Anki, but it requires a significant amount of elbow grease. As I said at the top, the most crucial trick to learning a language is to develop a habit, and if you can do that during technical QA hiccups, all the more power to you. But for people who want to immerse themselves in their favorite anime on Netflix and YouTube as quickly as possible, Migaku is the easiest, fastest and most enjoyable app to add to your phone.
