The "Jeff Learns Japanese" channel on YouTube

What motivated you to start learning Japanese?

I am attending graduate school for a Master's in public health and want to take a trip to Japan after I graduate. My hope is that by studying Japanese for two years I’ll understand enough to enjoy my trip more than I would without a Japanese language background.
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Was it a hard decision to get started learning Japanese? (any doubts or constraints)

My only hesitation about learning Japanese was that it’s known as a very hard language to learn. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Japademy instructors are at teaching the material. I don’t feel overwhelmed at all and am learning a ton.
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How long have you been learning Japanese for?

I’ve been learning Japanese for almost half a year now.
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What is the most challenging thing about learning Japanese?

The biggest challenge I’ve encountered is remembering vocab words. I’ve focused a lot on mastering hiragana and katakana as I feel learning the writing system used in Japan will allow me to more effectively learn the spoken language.
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What have you enjoyed the most while learning Japanese?

It’s incredibly rewarding to be able to sound out Japanese sentences while reading hiragana. I’ve seen hiragana in random places and have been able to sound out the words even if I don’t always know what they mean. Being able to pronounce words that aren’t written using the Latin alphabet is really fun.
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How do you keep motivated to continue learning?

In order to stay motivated I started a YouTube channel called ‘Jeff Learns Japanese.’ Knowing that there are people who are subscribed to me that want to see me succeed inspires me to keep going so that I don’t let them down.
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What advice would you give to people who would like to learn Japanese but haven’t started?

If you’re interested in learning Japanese, it is incredibly important that you get a tutor. Having a tutor is the single best thing I did for my studies.
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Are you planning to live or work in Japan in the future?

At the moment I’m only planning on visiting Japan for two weeks in summer of 2024, but I’m keeping an open mind about the potential to stay longer.
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What is your favorite thing about Japan? (food, anime, history, etc.)

I love Japan. I especially love their film industry. Films such as Spirited Away and Seven Samurai are two great examples of well written Japanese films. As a fan of film, I’m looking forward to watching more Japanese language films in the coming years.
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Why did you choose to learn Japanese with Japademy?

I did a trial lesson with Kanami-san, the founder of Japademy, and immediately I knew it was the right program based on how fun the lesson was. If you have a good time learning a language you’re going to do well.
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Would you recommend Japademy to other people interested in learning Japanese? (yes or no, why?)

I’d recommend Japademy to everyone. The program has incredible instructors who will make learning fun.