I know you're just reading the furigana on top!
Lol!!
Hey guys! Welcome to my channel "KemushiChan"! I'm Loretta and
today we have a special guest...
named Akkie!
Today I wanted to talk about the way foreign languages (Kanji) are taught in America
versus how foreign languages are taught in Japan.
The reason Akkie is here,
well, I should just let him explain.
Let me introduce myself then!
My name is Akkie and I run a YouTube channel called "Sambon Juku" !
I teach Japanese on that channel.
But outside of YouTube also have a job,
I'm a Japanese teacher.
Here's a Japanese, native speaker
and I've always wanted to ask how Japanese people learn Japanese
especially...KANJI.
I get so many comments asking how to learn kanji
and I wonder if maybe Japan has a better way of learning
and if somehow we missed that as non-native speakers.
Well, you tell me!
As a non-native speaker,
how did you study Japanese Kanji?
Let's see...
What were your methods?
Often there's a kanji section within a textbook
so after you read the dialog, you learn the kanji you saw in that chapter
and that's just a part of homework that you have to memorize for quizzes.
I'd characterize it that way...
CHARACTER-ize it! Haha.
So you go home, and memorize it for homework,
but like, HOW do you memorize it?
For example, the parts of the Kanji
called "Radicals" yes!
Yeah, exactly!
If you learn how to break up the kanji into it's parts
then you can create a story around it
A story? ...Oh... I see.
For example,
You did this on your channel but,
For example, if you made a kanji for "hamburger",
what might that look like?
And you put "meat" between the kanji for two "wheat" (buns).
Yeah! Haha.
It's made up but
In that same way, Iike to make memorable little stories
around the meanings of the parts of a kanji.
Even so... I still forget so many.
Like, the subtly different ones
or perfect stroke order are really hard to write.
How is it done in Japan?
I mean, it's not like we're born knowing Kanji, so we have to study, too!
You learn all throughout grade school
learning the most used ones by high school.
That's about 2,000 characters.
Wait, by when?
By High school. From Elementary, to High School.
So like... in 12 years!
But if you put it that way....
2,000 across 10+ years isn't that bad, I guess.
Did you have a special class?
We really didn't ever learn Kanji in class.
They're just in our textbooks.
And there are special workbooks, too.
But like, that's all homework you do on your own.
I don't remember ever going over Kanji in school.
The kanji are written lightly and you trace over that.
You just trace over the guide.
And then you do it over and over again.
Just. Keep. Writing.
For homework, they'd be like "Here are your 10!"
"Please write each one 10 times!"
And you hate it but
KRKKRKRKRKRKKRKRKRK
you just do it.
The way I teach it to foreign students, though,
is probably more similar to what you said.
We group the kanji by their "radical" part meanings.
So like, fish names have the part for "Fish" in them
Plants usually have "tree" in them,
but Japanese elementary students
don't know any of that.
I'm pretty sure Japanese kids are just rote memorizing.
What about the readings! The original Chinese and Japanese readings,
It's like, I'm not ever learning this again so I should learn all the readings at once.
But like... that's so impossible so you just give up.
I have no idea which ones actually used just by looking at it
Yeah, I think that's backwards!
You should look up only the reading or meaning you find as it is in, say, like in a book!
That's a better way.
When you find it or hear it, just look up that one way to use it
Yeah, that way you can find a book you like, Harry Potter or whatever
and as you find a new Kanji on the page
just look up the reading as you need it in that particular context.
And just... don't worry about the rest.
I really think that's key!
Dictionaries are full of useless words that
are often outdated.
So don't memorize kanji from a textbook.
It's Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up learning.
Don't try to learn each little kanji and then struggle to fit them in a sentence,
start with a full sentence
and figure out how one character works in that context.
If you go in that way, instead of memorizing, you're learning how to use it.
Yeah, I think that's a big difference between Japanese and non-Japanese students.
Japanese kids aren't born knowing Kanji.
But they're surrounding by Japanese everyday
so their life naturally gives them context.
They start with what they see and what they hear around them.
So it's good if you, too, can start from a sentence in context.
Also, one more thing about Kanji I learned from teaching,
I think most kids are guilty of this
but it's pretty bad to do,
um...
well first is
to use textbooks that are FULL of furigana.
And romaji!
I really think that sets you back!
If you don't have furigana it takes longer and it's a pain in the butt
but I know if there's furigana that's all students read!
They don't even see the Kanji and just see the kana on top of it.
You're right!!!
By the way, can you recommend some kind of resource?
A book, or not a book, whatever.
Well, for something free,
for those who also speak English
I think weblio is a really good resource.
It has an app, too! It's orange!
I like this one website, but you need to be able to read a bit,
it's Chiebukuro. Oh yeah, it's like Q&A style!
There are other apps obviously
But I really like Chiebukuro. I like being able to look up real words in real time.
The people who answer are just average Joe's though.
But their responses are ranked!
Tell me what I should dooooo
....with kanji!
Well if you want to study Kanji
there's this amazing channel called Sambon Juku!
We filmed a really hilarious quiz video, but it's taking a LONG time to edit.
So for now, please check out Akkie's channel
We filmed an interview about tips on making Japanese friends
talking about relationships, romance and otherwise
so it's a lot of practical talk.
I mainly teach Japanese on my channel, Sambon Juku, so please check it out if you're interested!
Please check it out!
Thanks for coming today!