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Q&A with MattvsJapan!

🕑 Added 2020-03-11 07:13:44 +0000 UTC

Comments

greyface

I wouldn't worry about it. I've being doing Ajatt for about two years now and I can read quite a lot, but my retention rate in RTK was so shit that I deleted my deck about a year ago with no negative side effects except for the fact that I have forgotten the vast majority of key words I once knew. That doesn't bother me, because I feel like I can learn a more accurate understanding of the kanji in context without relying on an English crutch

Tomoki有基

I've been wondering what you think about AJATT/MIA vs traditional textbook studying, I kinda already know what he thinks, lol. Ask him why listening indiscriminately feels more akin to banging one's head against a wall than actually learning. (The question comes from experience, I'm not just nay-saying)

chieCheveeyai1o

Do you think Heisig's Remembering The Kanji retains its value after one gains a certain level of Japanese proficiency? Context: I'm about 3 years into some halfhearted AJATT. I'm satisfied with how my Japanese reading level has progressed, but my recall rate on my RTK deck is atrocious. I can't remember any of these keywords, even if I know the reading by now. I've been considering re-doing RTK.

Eliam Rodríguez

Hi, I appreciate the work you two make for the language learning community. I would like to see what do you guys think about meditation in a language learning perspective, and I would like to know why it seems that Matt doesn't recommend it anymore since it is not present in any of the stages. By the way, in the pronunciation aspect, do you think that spanish phonetics is similar to japanese?

orupabu

I'm a big fan of both of yours and there's one place I've noticed your ideas on language learning seemingly contradict. You seem to advocate for learning and practicing phonetics and accent as soon as possible on the basis that your ability to imitate foreign sounds gets weaker as you get older, whereas Matt advocates waiting to practice any kind of output on the basis that you need a strong foundation in input to pick up nuances and reproduce your target language, and early practice can produce bad habits that are difficult to correct (forgive me if these single sentence paraphrasings are at all unrepresentative). This is the topic I'd most like to see you two discuss. Thanks.

Andre Podzierski

Maybe Dōgen should interview a Japanese linguist who does research on language acquisition and knows what he or she is speaking about. I'm not saying that everything Matt says is wrong, but nobody needs 100 videos like "Why You Shoud Read Novels in your Target Language", because this is the part of language learning that every serious language learner understands even without an instructor. Many youtubers constantly use straw men arguments, pretending that language courses and books are as they were 30 years ago. To be honest, I am a big fan of immersion, but language acquisition involves much more and it's great that there are trained teachers, textbooks and so on. Lately it seems that only the parts of it where you don't have to use your brain are especially popular.

Yan Garza

This is awesome! I'm curious if you could discuss each other's favorite shows/movies/books that helped you during your learning process and and how your immersion approaches might differ or not. Thanks!

ケジ

I would like for you two to discuss the feasibility of an adult learner acquiring a near native accent by simply immersing. In linguistics we are taught that it is difficult to perceive sounds that are not in our L1 language, and it’s even more harder to make those sounds without defaulting back to what we know. How can one acquire that consonants p/t/k are less aspirated without previously being told about this. Or that t/d/n are laminal denti-alveolar? Or that ɕ し isn’t the same as it’s English ∫ sh? These sounds can easily be glossed over but how does (or does it at all) immersion guarantee such a high level of fluency if you are not aware of differences in your target language when you immerse? My assumption at this time is that doing so requires a large amount of natural ability.

Linck

do you think Dogen's absence of a mustache fits his personality?

Vibelifefilms

So I know that a lot of ppl don’t agree with learning from books and all but do you Matt? Cause I want to get serious about it and I understand some conversations ppl have but only certain words and I have to try and piece it together but how do I get better at understanding it and speaking it?

QsavrQuest

Yay, my two favorite YouTubers are making a collaboration together! Am I dreaming? :D Anyway, my question, or I guess it's more of a request, is can you guys chat a bit about your favorite Japanese movies, tv shows, anime, books, etc.? Both from an immersion standpoint, but also just from an entertainment one.

BillBull

Hey Matt, at age 27, for my learning process, would it be more beneficial for me to study abroad in Japan for immersion purposes, or is AJATT @ home in America still viable?

Johannes

That's really nice to hear! I've been following Matt for a couple of years and if I remember correctly he's also a Patron of you, Dogen. With MIA and AJATT being rather aggressive approaches of learning Japanese, many members of the audience grow very passionate about the approach, sometimes even religious, with all its positive and negative consequences. What is Matt's take on that?

Maksymilian Strzelecki

From what I know Matt wasn't really aware/didn't care about pitch accent at the beginning of his journey. Ask him if he regrets not paying attention to it since the get-go.