Dogen / Episode 4: Phonetic Awareness and Useful Practices

Is the film Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa in standard Japanese?

John Hamamoto

2025-05-20 03:08:34 +0000 UTC

Hi, DoubleDoubleYea. JP here.   The question of using anime comes up quite a bit. I know Dōgen talks about this in lesson 31 (“Japanese Phonetics #31: Pitch-accent FAQ”), and it has possibly been mentioned in a few other places. The short answer, unfortunately, is that he can’t recommend anime or dubbed foreign movies for listening practice. For both anime and movies dubbed by voice actors, most of the time the acting of the voice actors is too unnatural and exaggerated to help with phonetic studies. (I believe he also mentions that the language and subject matter in anime is quite often too far removed from real life to be an effective study tool.) The good news is that the number of movies and J-dramas accessible to learners of Japanese that are also suitable for study continues of grow. I hope this helps! — JP

Dogen

2024-09-03 09:19:16 +0000 UTC

Hey everyone, I was wondering if youd had any recommendations on any anime that would work for the voice recording/script reciting. I watched Tokyo Sonata but I cant find japanese subtitles to be able to read the script during the moments I cant understand what the actors are saying. I have Crunchyroll and can activate subtitles there. Im not sure which anime Dogen would recommend for this assignment though. Id appreciate your help, thank you very much!

DoubleDoubleYea

2024-09-03 01:03:19 +0000 UTC

Hi, Sashin. JP here. Apologies for the late reply; I didn't see a notification for your comment until today. Thank you for reaching out and for your interest in receiving feedback from Dōgen. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Dōgen isn’t able to fulfill all such requests. To ensure fairness to everyone, individual feedback on recordings isn't currently possible. Thank you for your understanding about this. However, if you're looking for direct, personalized feedback, consider scheduling a private lesson with Natsumi Sensei. Even a single session would allow for a focused lesson tailored to your specific needs. Additionally, the new monthly group lessons here on Patreon with Natsumi Sensei are a fantastic opportunity to ask questions and get practice and feedback in a group setting. Remember these lessons are free for all members in the Japanese Phonetics tier, and could be helpful for specific questions you might have. As you’ve seen in the series, Dōgen emphasizes recording yourself and reviewing those recordings, as well as finding a movie or series to watch over and over. Keep practicing and consider exploring these options. Best of luck in your studies! — JP

Dogen

2024-05-17 06:59:52 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, I hope you are well. I made a recording of myself shadowing a few super simple phrases and would love some feedback. Basically I did the first twenty phrases from this website https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/easy-japanese-words-phrases/ The video here is about three minutes, I am listening to the phrases and doing my best to repeat them https://spectra.video/w/mWYwjL4wSUtbm5BD9K9KhWY I will try to actively get in the habit of recording myself and listening to the recordings, I have held off trying to speak much out of a fear of developing bad habits.

Sashin Exists

2024-04-26 20:31:49 +0000 UTC

Hi, Trainfan. JP here, Dōgen's business partner. I'm helping manage the messages here on Patreon. Dubs of foreign movies can be problematic. Dōgen once did a comedic video about this—sometimes the voice actors can be overly dramatic, speaking and acting in an over-the-top fashion people wouldn't normally use in real life (similar to a lot of anime). A smaller issue is that you also won't have the actors on screen for visual cues and to be able to see their acting/expressions. I hope this helps!

Dogen

2024-04-15 02:46:02 +0000 UTC

Is it Okay to use Japanese dubs of American movies? I happen to have a huge collection of those.

Trainfan1055

2024-04-14 01:36:56 +0000 UTC

Hi there. JP here, Dōgen's business partner. I'm helping manage the messages here on Patreon. It's easy to miss, but Dōgen talks a little about what material to use starting around 3:14 in this video. He also mentions a little more around 8:10. Hope this helps, and best of luck with your studies!

Dogen

2023-09-20 09:43:46 +0000 UTC

Hey, just started this course. When you say to record myself, what sort of things/sentences/words should I go for? Should I record the same thing every day? Are there lists that I can use?

טסטס

2023-07-01 23:43:55 +0000 UTC

Just found the answer to this question in Episode #31. For anyone else wondering, the answer is to start without subtitles, and after a few watches, add them back in and then take them out again later.

Jeremy Irons

2023-02-20 01:04:11 +0000 UTC

Do you recommend watching specifically with or without subtitles? (I looked through all the comments and I’m sure someone’s ask this, but please let me know if there’s a way to search comments)

Jeremy Irons

2023-02-20 01:02:11 +0000 UTC

Dogen-san, Thank you for creating this and sharing with us. After years of studying Japanese, then quitting (because of work, family, health), then recommitting, then quitting, I realized that my love for Japan, for the Japanese language, will never go away regardless of how terrible my Japanese is. So I am not going to repeat my past failures, which are exactly as you have described them. Instead, my plan is to pause here, on this Phonetic Lesson #4, and take your advice: 1) Record myself (it's so bad ... very hard to watch / listen), 2) Start watching a movie on Repeat (I have started Adrift In Tokyo ... seems really good, but is it too slangy?), 3) Pay attention to phonetics (which I've never done. GAkusei, gaKUsei, gakuSEi, gakuseIIIIIII, I never even thought about it, which is clearly a problem. I'm 52, so much older than most of your Patrons probably, but Japanese is what I love, and the language, and the culture ... so I need to just man up and put in the hard work of listening and speaking. (And stop the kanji memorization, for now) Note - I'm not one of those wannabees, that glorify Japan or fetishize that culture ... I lived there for 3 years, married a Japanese lady, my daughter is half (or double) and I know better than 99% the many irritating problems and struggles of being a gaijin (or even nihonjin!) in Japan. But the pros outweight the cons ... by miles and miles. And this begins my journey. -Robert (June 20th, 2022)

Robert S

2022-06-20 14:14:05 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen! :) I've been really enjoying these excellent lessons. I've been using the mass immersion language acquisition method and have recently settled into watching a single episode of a series in Japanese 3 times in a row. Once with no or Japanese subs, once with English subs, once again with no or Japanese subs. I've found this creates curiosity and "lean in/tension" on the first pass, understanding of the situations I didn't understand/misunderstood on the second pass, then one final roll through with fresh memory of the topics/situations in the show form the eng subs watch but now on my 3rd run at the same material in one sitting I find myself experiencing lots of success. I know for movies you recommend drilling down hard on that one film, for an episodic series though do you think 3 times is a useful amount of repetition per episode to be valuable long term or should I spend more time on each ep? I worry I'll burn out repeat watching of a single episode, where as I can see a movie having more longevity for repetition. Really appreciate your perspective here, thanks in advance for your wisdom!! :)

SugoiShakka

2022-06-06 15:16:53 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen! I just finished my 18th viewing of 12人の優しい日本人 and it's been very very helpful for me, I'm plugging along and working towards my 100 (or likely more) views while patiently working my way through your lessons! I've been using 12人の優しい日本人 for my shadowing exercises and while the way I'm doing it seems to be going alright (playing a line, recording myself on my phone shadowing that line, rinse repeat until I've done it for a while and then going back and listening to all of it while checking it against the film with a pitch accent dictionary), I stumbled upon Matt Vs. Japan's video on shadowing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qx_hnAGc-k) where he uses a real-time approach as opposed to listening back and analyzing recordings. Considering that I actually already have the equipment he recommends buying, do you think this approach would be beneficial? Are there any drawbacks to this real-time approach that you can think of, or do you think maybe recording myself doing his method and then listening back might be best?

Zachary Pinkham

2022-03-22 15:23:30 +0000 UTC

Hi Zachary! I would recommend watching all the episodes from start to finish one time first, then spending between one and two months on one or two episodes at a time until you’ve essentially memorized the whole series. Cheers!

Dogen

2021-05-02 02:18:38 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! I'm watching Orange Days. I know you said that you watched one of the dramas for like 3-4 months. But for this show, do you recommend watching all of the episodes? For example, the first 2 episodes for few months, then another 2 episodes for few months? or should I just watch another movie? Thank you!

Zachary I.

2021-04-30 21:01:59 +0000 UTC

Hi Francisco! It can be found on Amazon.co.jp, though I'm not sure whether or not they will ship to Mexico, as I live in Japan. Apologies for not being able to help more with this—it can be quite difficult to find, but I truly believe it's the best for listening! Cheers.

Dogen

2021-04-26 03:55:48 +0000 UTC

Hey, Dogen. I've been looking for the 12人の優しい日本人 movie, but I don't find it anywhere. Would you happen to known where can I watch it or download it? I wouldn't mind paying for a digital copy, as long as it's not too expensive, but I doubt that I can get a physical one (I live in Mexico City). Thank you!

Francisco O. G.

2021-04-26 01:22:20 +0000 UTC

Hi Yuh! I actually do think that if it's a movie that you're going to be watching on repeat that it's worth trying to watch something that has at least 50% male dialogue, if not slightly more. It doesn't have to be overwhelmingly male, by any means, but it would be best to avoid dramas set in an all female high-school, for example. Hope this helps! Cheers!

Dogen

2021-03-31 06:48:37 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, I'm trying to pick a movie on Netflix, but found myself worried whether the main characters are female or male, and whether I should just restrict myself to movies with mainly male casts to make it easier in terms of acquisition. Do you think it matters?

Yuh Chian Ong

2021-03-30 14:11:17 +0000 UTC

Hi Jay! I think as long as you're listening to the movie at least twice a day for the first week and at least once a day after that, then any additional input would be totally fine! Cheers!

Dogen

2021-03-13 02:12:17 +0000 UTC

Oh, sorry, I wasn’t clear in my question. I meant “in addition to a movie”. I definitely plan on grabbing one of the suggested films and playing it on repeat until it’s memorized. I wonder if listening to streamers might be good as an addition to that or if, rather, it might dilute the effectiveness of the movie? Thanks for the thoughts on Duolingo, I’ll keep it up then.

Jaelights

2021-03-13 02:10:00 +0000 UTC

Hi Jay! To answer your questions: 1. I don't think using Duolingo would be a bad idea because they are almost certainly using native recordings of standard Japanese. 2. I think this would be OK, but one of the important elements in repetition, so you would want to watch a stream, and the the recording of said stream over and over again in order to really ingrain the knowledge in your mind. I unfortunately don't watch any Japanese streamers, so I can't make a recommendation here. My apologies! Cheers!

Dogen

2021-03-13 02:03:32 +0000 UTC

A couple question, first some context: I'm 38 and I have ADHD (which makes this, you know, difficult. Ref: studied Japanese in college, went very poorly). Though, I feel I'm not entirely lost on this as I've been a musician for quite some time and I'm noticing my brain is processing the pitches like they are notes...a thing I also do with accents oddly enough. Hopefully that's a good thing. Anyway, I have been using duolingo to try to relearn some of the basics. I tend to find that it interacts well with my ADHD because the lessons are short, full of bright colors, and have fun sounds (it's like a language learning Vegas in here). BUT! Is it a bad idea to use duolingo for the shadow text you mention in the lesson? It sounds like native recordings (and I've been trying my best to match their tone patterns) so I assume it works? But...well, if I knew enough to know it was a good resource, I'd hardly need lessons, would I? Secondly, aside from picking a movie to essentially memorize, would it be wise to listen to Japanese in some other capacity regularly? I work as a computer programmer, so I can easily listen to audio all day long. I love listening to Twitch, would it be wise to listen to native Japanese speakers on Twitch perhaps? (And as a quick follow up, do you know of any streamers who speak in the standard accent so I can make sure I'm listening to the right things.) Apologies for the novel, thanks for your time. Loving the lessons so far. My increasingly aged brain may never get to "near native" but at least these courses are making the prospect of learning Japanese sound fun again.

Jaelights

2021-03-12 22:14:15 +0000 UTC

Hi Brandon. I actually answer this question in detail in the below lesson. Do you mind first watching it? I feel that it should solidly answer your question. Cheers! https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186

Dogen

2021-03-10 11:36:35 +0000 UTC

As for the movie/show to pick, are there any anime that are acceptable? The ones that come to my mind are 君の名は、声の形、and 天気の子. Horimiya is also one that I feel has pretty standard Japanese but I wanted to get your input

Brandon Lisonbee

2021-03-07 19:51:41 +0000 UTC

Hi Nicholas. I think it would be best to use a service like YouTube or Netflix for shadowing (or more importantly, native input). I've heard good things about Terrace House and also Tokyo Midnight diner, which are on Netflix. I also like 中田敦彦のユーチューブ大学 on YouTube, but it's very advanced, so it could be best to hold off on that. One good option might be a video like this from Japanesepod 101.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCTurn_ut68 Cheers!

Dogen

2021-01-30 06:17:53 +0000 UTC

Started learning about 6 months ago. Went through the RTK book. My issue is I don’t have any CD’s or anything to shadow. I’ve been downloading news in slow Japanese. The episodes are only like 3 minutes at most. Would it be better to do 30 minutes worth of different episodes, shadowing and recording, or just one or two episodes over and over for 30 minutes?

nicholas henderson

2021-01-29 14:28:22 +0000 UTC

Hi Alex, glad to hear you're making progress. Don't worry too much about pitch-accent at the sentence level—it's much more important to concentrate on the remembering the various word-level rules such that when you want to stress a certain kind of word or within a sentence you say it with the correct pitch-accent. With enough input your intonation should improve over time, and also please note that there isn't really any one answer for sentence level pitch-accent, as, again, this is where the speaker's intentions and emotions get's involved. It's for this reason that the advice I usually give for sentence level pitch-accent is to speak in a relatively flat manner, except for whatever word or phrase they're trying to emphasize. Note again, however, that this is the 'default' pattern, so to speak, and doesn't reflect many different kinds of emotion such as surprise, delight, anger, etc. That said, as mentioned earlier, you'll get much better at mapping these emotions onto you're speech in a natural way, again, if you try to initially memorize the pitch-accent for individual words (the rules for individual words to be specific), and also get a whole lot of native input. Hope this helps and good luck with your future studies! Cheers.

Dogen

2020-12-28 11:39:04 +0000 UTC

I was tempted to rush through Dogen's video's with the desire to intellectually learn, but this time around I've decided to be a bit more strategic in my Japanese studies. What I did immediately after this video was to download the "The Japan Times" app with the free Genki audio (latest version 3). I then opened quick time on my laptop and for the last 3 days I've basically recorded myself repeating lessons 1 to 3. One lesson a day isn't too tough if you already know the grammar/vocab. Listening to myself has been an eye-opening experience!! I invested quite a bit of time in Japanese study before, I even lived and worked in Japan during 2018/2019, but I struggled with conversations. I was pretty sure it was because Japanese people couldn't recognise my Japanese as Japanese. Listening back to myself I can see why. My Heiban is okay on some words such as 学生. But I just noticed my 大学 was totally off from a pitch perspective. I also noticed a few other interesting things such as my ふ in 財布 is too much like English FU. Some of my sentences are very flat compared to the Genki recording. I found that when listening and repeating it helps sometimes to close your eyes and try to focus on the nuance of the sounds. Intellectually it will take some time to understand the terms Dogen mentioned, I also can't figure out in my head what the pitch is doing on a sentence, but I found that just by concentrating on the sound and mimicking it, I started to improve even though I don't know what exactly is going on. I haven't decided which show to watch repeatedly, I was thinking midnight dinner: tokyo stories, as I love the vibe of that show and it reminds me of so much of what I like about late nights out in Tokyo. In the meantime I just re-started playing Persona 5 which has quite a lot of simple Japanese spoken fairly slowly. But of course not much use for repeat watching. I wish I had started with this listening and speaking while recording practice years ago rather than taking notes and creating flashcards.

dearestalexander

2020-12-27 18:35:58 +0000 UTC

Hi Huang! I answer some questions about watching movies in this video: https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186 Do you mind watching this video first to see if it answers your questions? Cheers!

Dogen

2020-11-12 11:58:59 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! Would you recommend that we watch the Japanese movie with or without Japanese subtitles? In addition, is there anything we should pay attention to or actively do while watching the movie on repeat? Thank you so much!

Yujia

2020-11-12 03:20:31 +0000 UTC

Hi Alex, unfortunately I can't answer this question because I've never seen the film. I do know that Your Name isn't a good choice because one of the characters speaks with a dialect, so I would try to stick with the movies I recommended, or 12人の優しい日本人, as it's essentially non-stop dialogue from start to finish. Cheers!

Dogen

2020-08-25 05:42:15 +0000 UTC

Hi great tips. I was wondering whether ‘Weathering With You’ would be a good movie for standard Japanese listening? Worried to this exercise and unintentionally doing it with a movie with characters speaking other dialects.

Alexander J Nicholas

2020-08-24 13:18:25 +0000 UTC

Hi August! I think that you would be fine with either, but Genki 1 might work better if you’re trying to start phonetics from a very foundational level, doing a lot of single words, rather than phrases (which is again totally viable—a lot of pitch-accent rules behave at the single word level). Cheers!

Dogen

2020-08-18 00:12:00 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! I'm about halfway through Genki 2 and was wondering if I should start from the beginning of Genki 1 for shadowing exercises and work my way up or just start using material more around my current level? Thanks!

August

2020-08-16 18:26:31 +0000 UTC

Hi Jordan! Not a silly question at all—I actually answer this question in this video: https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186 And I do think that being able to see the actors lips is a big benefit. Cheers!

Dogen

2020-08-14 00:12:20 +0000 UTC

Probably more silly/specific questions, but… would you say that it makes a difference which viewings you use subtitles on? I was thinking of using subtitles on the first viewing and turning them off after that; that seemed like the most efficient way to focus on the listening and still know what was going on while minimizing the cognitive load of translating. In that vein, does it make a difference whether it's something where you can read the actors' lips? I love tokusatsu shows and movies, but I'm a little worried that it might be difficult to hear the finer points of pronunciation when the speaker is trampling all over a miniaturized Tokyo in a rubber suit!

Jordan

2020-08-12 21:51:59 +0000 UTC

Hi Justice, I'm a bit rushed on time so I'll need to be brief here!I recommend Terrace House and I've heard good things about Midnight Diner: Tokyo as well.Shadow the lines in the shows or purchase an intermediate textbook with a CD and shadow the audio from that.Record yourself for 5 minutes or so twice a week, but spend a fair amount of time, maybe twenty minutes or so, analyzing these recordings as you learn the important rules from this series.It's fine to watch the same movie up to 4 times. Switch to a new movie after you feel like you've noticed many of the rules you learn in the film or show, and also after you've seen the film or show 50 - 100 times. Cheers!

Dogen

2020-08-07 03:17:57 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! I've been studying for 7-8 months now, so I figured it's time I dive into Pitch Accent full-force, and I had a couple of questions regarding the methods introduced in this video. Firstly, do you have any recommendations for movies (or shows) available on Netflix (Japanese Netflix is fine as well)? Also, as I've been learning via MIA, I don't really have any study material other than native media and a dictionary, how should I go about finding shadowing material? I spend 4-8 hours a day studying, depending on my work schedule and how motivated I feel on any particular day. How much of my studying time should recording myself take? Should I find a new movie/show to watch on repeat after going through it so many times (and if so, after how long)? Is it fine to rewatch the movie 2, 3, or even 4 times in one day? Thank you for all of your help!

Justice

2020-08-06 23:30:47 +0000 UTC

Hi Kusterdu! Yes, that is what I meant. I watched that movie and one other movie essentially back and forth over the course of three to four months before watching anything new. Hope this helps!

Dogen

2020-07-22 11:08:47 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, Did you mean that when you were studying phonetics intensively you watched the same movie 4 times a day? How long did you stick with the same movie before moving onto something else? Thanks!

kusterdu

2020-07-22 08:20:57 +0000 UTC

Hi Vanessa! It's hard for me to recommend something that I haven't seen before, and something that's so heavy on medical terms. Perhaps something such as Terrace House might work better for phonetics specifically? Incidentally if you're just getting into this series then I would encourage you to watch this lesson I did with MattvsJapan to learn more about exactly when to start shadowing, depending on how you're currently studying! Here's a link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/long-term-road-38355581 Cheers!

Dogen

2020-07-15 03:11:13 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any of your recommendations with Japanese subs, so I was wondering if the drama ドクターX〜外科医大門未知子 would be suitable for shadowing. It is a bit heavy on medical terms, but I've been enjoying it lately and was wondering if it would also be good as learning material. Thank you!

Vanessa Stoica

2020-07-14 20:17:34 +0000 UTC

Hi Gabriel, my pleasure. I've never seen or heard of みんなのいえ so it's hard to say, but if it's set in Tokyo (uses standard Japanese, to be precise) and has a lot of dialogue then it's probably OK!

Dogen

2020-07-08 04:28:53 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, thank you for these videos. Would みんなのいえ be a good movie to watch?

Gabriel Cao

2020-07-07 15:14:28 +0000 UTC

Interesting! I wasn't aware of that, but if that's something you're interested in learning, then it would probably still be fine. Cheers!

Dogen

2020-05-26 05:41:59 +0000 UTC

Thanks so much, Dogen! I saw the first Episode of Season 2, and I quite enjoyed it. There was a lot Hakata (Kyushu?) dialect, but that adds to the learning even though I don't think I should be using it for shadowing practice.

Swastika Jajoo

2020-05-26 05:25:37 +0000 UTC

Apologies for asking many questions, but I was also wondering if you could recommend a movie/anime from Netflix that they currently have? They no longer have Orange Days, unfortunately :( Thank you so much!

Swastika Jajoo

2020-05-24 02:06:41 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, I'm not using any particular Japanese textbook currently and was wondering what might be good resources to practice recording myself and shadowing. I want to make it a daily habit but I'm a little bit lost.

Swastika Jajoo

2020-05-24 02:00:57 +0000 UTC

Hi Timo! No worries—it's actually very natural to feel lost at first, as you're still in the process of acquiring the knowledge necessary to correct yourself. That said, many people can notice things in their Japanese even without phonetic training, which is why I so strongly recommend the exercise! Expect to start noticing more and more things in your Japanese over the next few weeks and month as you go through this course and learn about all of the pitch-accent patterns and rules that can help you determine the pitch of various words. You can then use this knowledge to correct yourself! Cheers.

Dogen

2020-05-23 06:24:51 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! I have been shadowing recordings and recording myself as you suggested, but I was wondering if you could provide some general pointers on how to go about analyzing these recordings? I feel a little lost on that front. Thank you so much for your lessons, and hope you're staying safe!

Timo Roberts

2020-05-23 04:30:12 +0000 UTC

If you can find something on Netflix I’ve found that Netflix often has both English and Japanese subs (at least Netflix Japan, anyway). Try to get something that uses standard Japanese, however (most shows and movies do!). Thanks for your support and good luck with your future studies!

Dogen

2020-05-09 04:22:42 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen! Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any of your recommended movies/shows with japanese subtitles just witch english ones. Would you recommend watching without japanese subtitles or should I choose a different movie/show instead? Thank you very much for your amazing content Greetings from Germany! :-)

Max G

2020-05-08 20:31:27 +0000 UTC

Hi Jan! I think that if you continue to use the flash cards you've already learned, but now shift your focus to memorizing the pitch-accent of these words, you'll certainly improve your pronunciation very quickly. Of course I would also suggest going through this series and learning the various pitch-accent rules, because many of these rules will help you to immediately know the pitch of various words just by looking at them! And of course it's absolutely essential to immerse yourself in as much native speech as possible while studying pronunciation. In terms of shadowing specifically, it really depends on your level, but if you're comfortable with everyday speech then I think that 'Terrace House' on Netflix would be a good option. I also like to recommend the series 'Orange Days' as well as the movie '12 Kind Japanese' (12人の優しい日本人)—these are the resources that I used when I was concentrating on my phonetic studies, though Orange Days and 12 Kind Japanese can be a bit more difficult to find than Terrace House. Cheers!

Dogen

2020-05-02 11:51:30 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen, greetings from Germany. I’ve been studying Kanji & Vocabulary for over a year now and as reading improves, I’m getting a little frustrated because I still have huge problems with understanding and speaking Japanese. I stumbled over your videos and decided to sign up today. I’m looking forward to your series. Your videos are extremely informative and I’m learning a lot about languages in general as well. I use a Kanji & Vocabulary learning application that has recordings of each vocabulary and also shows the pitch pattern (which I unfortunately ignored until now haha). Now I’m starting to guess, pronounce and adjust accordingly to the native recording. I also started to record myself and compare it to the native recording of the application. You talked about restricting vocabulary learning and try to shadow native speakers, so I was wondering how useful you think this procedure is. Also I would like to know if you could recommend some more online resources for shadowing. Huge fan and please keep up the good work!

Jan Westphal

2020-05-01 15:34:51 +0000 UTC

Hi Ben! Thank you very much for the kind words! Honestly I think that based on your current level it would really be best just to hunker down and concentrate solely on phonetics for a few months. If you learn the rules in this series, listen for them in native speech, and record yourself a couple times a week, you'll make leaps and bounds over the next few months! After this concentration period is over I would then suggest going back to normal holistic studies. Hope this helps, and thanks again!

Dogen

2020-04-19 05:30:49 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! Just commenting to thank you for your fantastic content. I was fortunate enough to have a pretty standard Japanese language learning trajectory -- four years in college and a study abroad experience. However, phonetics is not something that was ever covered, and even when I asked teachers for resources about pitch accent, they didn't have any concrete recommendations or even seem to think it was particularly important. It's an incredibly conspicuous gap in my otherwise functional speaking abilities, so I'm really glad I came across this series, and I'm looking forward to binge-watching and applying study tips during quarantine (already starting with a movie and self-recordings). I know it's an uphill battle to develop good phonetic habits after years of training solely for comprehensibility, but If you have any other bits of advice for someone at a slightly more advanced stage, I will gladly welcome it! :) Hope you are staying safe!

Ben

2020-04-17 16:38:27 +0000 UTC

Hi Dino! As long as it's in standard Japanese (most movies, and I imagine most podcasts would are as well), and you listen to it on repeat as you mentioned, then it's totally fine! Cheers!

Dogen

2020-04-11 04:37:03 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen :) Does this have to be a movie or could it also be a podcast episode or any other audio material that I listen to over and over again?

Dino

2020-04-10 04:58:07 +0000 UTC

Hi Ethan! Thanks for signing up, really appreciate it! I haven't seen any of those Netflix series, but if they are based in Tokyo then they are probably OK. I've also heard that season one of Terrace House is another great option. Hope that this helps, cheers!

Dogen

2020-03-17 03:41:20 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! Found you from Twitter and decided I really wanted to be able to pronounce Japanese words properly. I visited my sister in Okayama and had some trouble in a starbucks with asking how much something was. Now I'm wondering if my pronounciation was so bad that I confused the poor cashier... your Iced Coffee skit is very relateable. I've been taking Japanese lessons for a little while in a small classroom setting (October - December, February - Now) and we've never covered Pitch Accent at all. The teacher is a non-native speaker as are my two classmates. I'm hoping that supplementing my grammer and vocabulary learning from the course with your lessons will help. I was wondering if the Netflix series "Dad of Light" would be a good series to watch for shadowing practice. Or if the office drama of the anime series Wotakoi or Takunomi would work? Takunomi takes place in Tokyo, as does Wotakoi I believe. Thanks for making some amazing lesson material and some great comedy!

Ethan

2020-03-16 17:27:39 +0000 UTC

Hi KP, I'm unfortunately unable to watch this video, might be some kind of restriction. 世界 is normally pronounced as an 頭高 word, but there may be instances when I speaker says it in a fairly flat manner if said speaker is trying to emphasize something else in the same phrase. Hope this helps! Cheers.

Dogen

2020-03-05 10:51:28 +0000 UTC

Taking the advice of watching Orange Days, I'm a bit confused by the actor's pronunciation of 世界 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7LSlfDMhsA&t=1581s Based on other resources (https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C), I believe the word should start high with "desyou" continue to stay down. However, it seems to me that he used Heiban instead. Just wanted to check my hearing with Dogen or other Patrons. Thanks!

KP

2020-03-05 10:16:30 +0000 UTC

Hi Claude! Unfortunately I'm not sure where you might be able to find these files, but if you purchase the DVD / Blue-ray / Digital file / then I image said files would be included. Cheers!

Dogen

2020-02-27 05:51:03 +0000 UTC

Do you know where we could find Japanese subtitles for Orange Days and Tokyo Sonata?

Claude Lorrain-Bouchard

2020-02-27 05:46:45 +0000 UTC

Hi Isa! I would not recommend Ghibli movies, or any other kind of anime for that matter, and I talk about why in this lesson: https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186 I would recommend watching the movie "12 Kind Japanese" (十二人の優しい日本人). I've found that it's basically perfect for learning a lot of natural Japanese as it's packed with dialogue from beginning to end. Hope this helps! Cheers!

Dogen

2020-02-27 04:55:47 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, since I've been watching them since I was little, I find Ghibli movies to be the easiest Japanese movies to sit down and watch without getting distracted. I was hoping to use these as the memorise-able movie material you recommend watching. Howeverrr, that being said, I'm not really sure which one contains a good amount of "everyday" Japanese as a lot of them have quite heavy fantasy themes, and since I'm not native Japanese I can't actually tell if I should be using the type of words they use in those movies. Or does it not matter since I'm just looking out for general phonetic patterns and not word-specific phonetics? Hmm... if it's the former which movies out of the selection would you recommend? And if it's the latter, ah I guess my homework will be easier =) Thanks for the help!

Isa

2020-02-26 12:31:41 +0000 UTC

Hi Lukas! Indeed that is the correct movie! Apologies for the confusion. It's actually a bit old, so you may need to buy a physical copy, unfortunately. Thank you for the greetings, would love to make it to Germany some day!

Dogen

2020-02-17 05:52:55 +0000 UTC

Hello Dogen, in English you called one of the movies "12 kind Japanese", but I only found "the gentle twelve". Are these different movies or did you mean "the gentle twelve"? Also, as i havent found a place to watch what you recommended, do you know where to do so? Greetings from Germany.

Lukas

2020-02-16 19:28:47 +0000 UTC

My pleasure! Thanks for signing up Angela! Happy to see you here!

Dogen

2020-02-15 00:39:20 +0000 UTC

I was already repeating sentences here and there while watching Japanese materials, but nothing would stick This was extremely useful, will try with the dramas on repeat and see how it goes. As usual, thank you sensei, Happy I am here!

Angelalikesthings

2020-02-14 14:26:17 +0000 UTC

Hi Alex! My pleasure! Just kidding haha. If your time is limited it may be better to use the movie 12人の優しい日本人 instead, as it's a bit more conversation-dense. Glad to hear that you are finding the series useful, and good luck with your future studies!

Dogen

2020-01-24 04:54:20 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, Thanks for destrying my fake belief in Naruto binge sessions as study! Seriously though, I like that you haven't dived straight into the technical explanation but rather started with advice on the practical side of learning. I'm think I am going to try Tokyo Sonata. I've been living in Tokyo for about 18 months, but due to quite hectic work schedule my time for langauge study is limited. I have finished Minna No Nihongo 1 & 2 so theoretically I should be going onto intermediate, but despite knowing the materials / grammar I generally find I can't have conversation, I think in large part due to confidence and completely incorrect accent. So I am excited to work back through MNN 1 & 2 mateirals with focus on the pitch accent! Thanks for putting this program together, the videos are very professional and I can see you put a lot of work into crafting the materials!

dearestalexander

2020-01-23 19:34:00 +0000 UTC

Hi Isaac! Thanks for signing up. I haven't seen Terrace House Boys & Girls in the City, but I would believe, based on the premise of the show, that most of the speakers would use standard Japanese, making it a good option. Thanks again! Hope you're able to get a lot out of the series!

Dogen

2019-12-25 04:40:23 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen. New supporter here who just wanted to say thanks for making these videos. As someone whos goal is to develop a close to native accent i find these videos very helpful and im glad i stumbled uppon your videos on twitter. Really look forward to all the future episodes! PS. Would Terrace House Boys & Girls in the City be a bad choice to watch. It a romance drama type show and the people in the show are Native Japanese speakers.

Isaac

2019-12-24 23:18:55 +0000 UTC

Hi Charmer! Thank you very much for the support! Really means a lot! I wouldn't recommend any Akira Kurosawa movies that are set more than 50 years ago or so, as the vocal of modern Japanese has changed a lot since then. I also don't think anime or 怪獣 movies are as good as something like 12人の優しい日本人, though the movies you've listed probably wouldn't be too bad, as long as you're aware that a lot of the dialogue will be overemphasized compared to normal speech . Hope this helps! Thanks again for the support!

Dogen

2019-12-22 05:20:03 +0000 UTC

Hello, Dogen, I've been watching your videos for a while, I really enjoy your comedy Japanese lessons and I think your advices are very insightful overall, so today I've decided to make an account and join your Patreon in order to 1.- Support you because you deserve it and 2.- I want to know more about the phonetic aspects of Japanese language. To be honest, I had my doubts at the beginning, given that I'm not a native English speaker myself (I'm Mexican) and I thought it would be easier for me because Spanish phonetics are more similar to Japanese phonetics than English’s. Nevertheless I decided to give it a shot and learn from the best ;) Following this video recommendations about phonetic resources, do you think it’s okay if I try practicing by watching any of Akira Kurosawa’s movies? I really enjoy his movies, especially 用心棒、七の侍　and 羅生門. I know these movies are old and perhaps they're not the best choice for starters, but I think it's worth asking you anyway. If not, do you think there are some anime or 怪獣movies worth for this? As for anime movies, I like AKIRA, Ghost In The Shell and Cowboy Bebop's movie (天国の扉), what do you think about any of these? Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Chimera

2019-12-22 04:35:38 +0000 UTC

Hi Biskit, thanks for signing up! In your care I would recommend buying Genki 1 and using the audio files from the program. Also find a movie such as "13 Kind Japanese" (13人の優しい日本人) that you can watch on a daily basis! Hope that this helps! Cheers!

Dogen

2019-11-13 04:54:29 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, I've been getting into studying Japanese for the past few months and am so glad I came across your series early into my Japanese studies. Currently I don't have access to any curriculum or 'curriculum material' to record myself reading, and I'm not too experienced with grammar and sentence structure yet. What sort of things would you recommend I record myself reading out?

Biskit

2019-11-13 03:46:02 +0000 UTC

Hi! I definitely recommend watching specifically to improve your pronunciation. If you haven't tried it already the film "12 Kind Japanese" (12人の優しい日本人) is particularly good for listening as the entire film is non-stop dialogue in standard Japanese. It's also a very funny and interesting movie—definitely try checking it out! Cheers!

Dogen

2019-11-05 04:17:49 +0000 UTC

Hi, Dogen. I just want to say thank you for your insightful sharing. Yes, all that were mentioned in this video have happened to me: studying in Japan with native speakers, and unconsciously picked up the correct pitch accent (standard Japanese-wise) but sounded horribly unnatural when having to read something aloud. It feels like suddenly I don't know what is right and what is not right any more. I have been trying to find a model to imitate and finally found a channel called "Osho Taigu's Heart of Budda". Even though I can't totally understand what he is saying, I feel very comfortable listening to his Japanese, thus feel more motivated shadowing him. However, I keep wondering whether I am not practicing enough 日常会話 because I am not quite interested in watching TV shows or dramas, except for Monte Cristo. So, do you think I should push myself to watch them for the sake of practicing pitch accent? Or could you recommend any other types of practice that I could try? Thank you!

Let's Learn Together

2019-11-04 10:52:04 +0000 UTC

Hi Miles! Thank you very much for the support! With regards to your question: A) As long as you are getting a lot of native input there shouldn't be too much of a problem—you can work on the output part by yourself by talking to yourself often, recording yourself, and hanging out with Japanese people as often as possible. Also take the 2 hour a week intonation courses seriously; these will make a massive difference. B) I would actually encourage you to try and keep pushing forward, and simply squeeze in a bit of extra time for phonetics, as you're already in Japan and taking classes. Most of the Japanese you use later in life (pronunciation and pitch-accent included) will be based on how hard you work right now, so put in as much work as possible now that you're really in a Japanese study-focused environment. As long as you watch a phonetics lesson a few times a week, and try to stay conscious of what you've learned, and to actively listen for examples in everyday speech, you'll make a lot of progress. It'll be a lot of work, but it'll pay off in the long run! Hope this helped!

Dogen

2019-11-01 05:12:13 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen. Firstly, I want to say thank you for making this series, and I'm really looking forward to using this knowledge to take my Japanese studies to the next level. In Spring of this year, I moved to Japan to study Japanese in a language school for 2 years, with the intention of transferring into university afterwards. Currently, I am studying in a classroom full of non-native speakers who are also looking to learn, although thankfully, almost all of the talking is done by the teachers, who are all native Japanese speakers. I have classes for 5 hours every weekday. A lot of this time is spent studying grammar and sentence patterns/construction. Therefore, my questions are: In your opinion, how do I - A) Best take advantage of my situation to properly accelerate the learning of Japanese phonetics? (there is an intonation class in my school but it is only for 2 hours, once a week) B) In addition to the studies that I am already committed to do, assign a beneficial amount of time to practicing and studying phonetics without causing burnout? Thanks!

Echo_18

2019-10-31 09:06:59 +0000 UTC

The pleasure is all mine Clara! That's a great goal, and as long as you immerse yourself in native speech and spend a few months on phonetics I think it's more than attainable! Also great that you're already getting lessons on pitch accent. Stick to it—I look forward to seeing your name in a future anime!

Dogen

2019-10-30 13:54:29 +0000 UTC

haha I heard 頭高 in the announcement! Cheers!

Dogen

2019-10-30 13:53:08 +0000 UTC

PS. Quick question: 令和. (平板or語頭? Www sorry a trick question)

Clara Me

2019-10-30 07:00:36 +0000 UTC

Dogenさん、thank you so much for this series! I’m working towards becoming a voice actress in Japan and my biggest hurdle is intonation and accent (and the rhythm of Japanese language which goes in hand with those two). I’m already receiving lessons for pitch accent but it’s always nice to get some more help with specially from someone who has already gone through the same process I’m going through now!

Clara Me

2019-10-30 06:58:00 +0000 UTC

My pleasure Jade! Try not to let your moments of doubt define your long term path—the fact that you keep coming back (be it my lessons or somewhere else) is a good indication that you are in fact serious about learning. Try to make a study buddy who will share your passions and help push you along, and engage in more things that give you motivation to study, whether that's film, martial arts, anime, Japanese food, whatever. Stick to your guns—you'll definitely thank yourself in the long run! Cheers and good luck with your future studies!

Dogen

2019-10-25 22:41:38 +0000 UTC

Hello, Dogen, I just recently started supporting you via the $10 tier so that I could start learning more about the phonetic side of Japanese. I've been studying Japanese for a while now, but I'd had no idea where to start, so I did a little of everything at once, which kind of turned out horribly, as I suffered at least two burnouts within a couple of months. The beginning is always great, but sometimes I don't feel like I'm making significant progress, and with no one to practice my speaking and written skills on, I lose interest after a while (even though I still really want to learn deep down). Learning this language is a huge goal for me in life, as I was only exposed to a small handful of languages where I grew up, and even though it might not be useful to learn Japanese for local use, I feel it would be a worthwhile use of my time to be able to understand the language and culture of Japan better. Thanks for your time, and sorry for this long-winded post. I look forward to your lessons!

Jade Oakes (ジェイドオークス)

2019-10-25 20:56:00 +0000 UTC

My pleasure!

Dogen

2019-10-23 09:57:07 +0000 UTC

Thank you very much! I will follow your recommendation. Really appreciate your time :)

Aaron Ngoi

2019-10-23 00:02:44 +0000 UTC

Hi Aaron! Very glad to hear that—great to hear you are making progress! I definitely recommend against using "Your Name" due to the dialect. Terrace House should be pretty good, provided that most, if not all, of the members are from Tokyo. That said, this is unfortunately something I can't check, so instead allow me to recommend either Tokyo Sonata, as you mentioned, or the great courthouse drama/comedy 12 Kind Japanese (12人の優しい日本人). The latter is particularly good for listening as it's essentially nonstop dialogue from start to finish. Hope this helps! Cheers!

Dogen

2019-10-22 07:48:07 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, I've been studying Japanese for almost a year now. I've been taking 1-1 lessons once every 3 days through iTalki. I'm only up to Episode 13 but I've found that my awareness of phonetics (Recognise and Imitate) has really improved as a result of your lessons!! So thank you very much. My questions is with regards the movies. I really like the movie "Your Name" & "Terrace House". It's easily accesible through netflix and I like the audio quality. Your name however has almost 40% of the movie (mitsuha is in the countryside) as an accent. Would that be detrimental for my pronunciations study if I use that as the movie I repeat? Would it be better to stick to Terrace House ?or Tokyo Sonata?

Aaron Ngoi

2019-10-22 07:07:46 +0000 UTC

It's absolutely worth it to go through at least the first 30 or so episodes. There are some tricks for immediately knowing the pronunciation of hundreds of kanji just by looking at the structure of the word that I cover in just a few lessons. By knowing these your pronunciation will essentially improve dramatically overnight. Besides that recording yourself regularly helps immensely!

Dogen

2019-10-14 05:53:23 +0000 UTC

As someone who uses Japanese at work and reads over 2,000 kanji (reading the newspaper level essentially), I'm assuming it's going to be significantly harder for me to learn proper pronunciation... Would you say that it's just worth giving up or are there any tips you've heard about to overcome poor phonetic practices? I've taken your advice and stopped my Mandarin study for now to study Mandarin phonetics comprehensively, but I feel like it's a shame that my third language in some ways already sounds better than my second and I'd like to try fixing that.

Ryan Lee

2019-10-13 18:23:14 +0000 UTC

My pleasure Nero, very glad to hear that you're enjoying it so much! Cheers!

Dogen

2019-09-10 13:34:44 +0000 UTC

Ok but I started watching オレンジデイズ and I loved it so much that I've been hooked into the series. I'm gonna watch it all first and then just watch the first two episodes on repeat. Thanks for the recommendation!

Nero

2019-09-10 01:38:31 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, is there a lesson link list somewhere that we can use to get to earlier episodes, I can't seem to scroll past episode 4 in Patreon to start the journey properly. [Nevermind, found them public on YouTube] :)

Alyssa Gobelle

2019-08-15 17:34:48 +0000 UTC

H Tim, sorry for the late reply! It is best to try and pay attention, but don't be afraid to take breaks to get other things done—as long as the film is still playing in the background you'll actually keep picking up a lot of things through osmosis. On days when you're not too tired to listen to the audio on the train I would definitely do it—every little bit helps!

Dogen

2019-08-11 05:28:40 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, I just started learning Japanese last week, and after watching this video I have a question in regards to listening to the same movie over and over again: Is it better to listen/watch the same movie but not pay attention, or not listen/watch it at all? Sometimes in the morning when I get on my hour long train ride I'm too tired to actively listen to my Orange Days audio. Should I play it and just hear it or listen to music instead? Thanks for your great lessons!

Tim McCarthy

2019-08-07 22:54:06 +0000 UTC

Hi Luke! Thanks for signing up! I unfortunately haven't seen it so I'm unable to comment, but I've heard great things about it as a film. For now I would try to find a different resource, such as the film 12人の優しい日本人. Thanks again for the support!

Dogen

2019-07-20 04:23:30 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen, new patron here and I was just wondering if you’ve seen Bladerunner 2049. I’ve been watching that on repeat a lot and imitating the Ryan Gosling voice actor. I was just wondering if his pitch accent etc was pretty normal/standard or if I should pick someone else to shadow maybe?

Luke Parham

2019-07-19 20:05:09 +0000 UTC

Hi! I think that is a great option—just be sure to watch the same few episodes on repeat! Cheers!

Dogen

2019-06-17 01:09:41 +0000 UTC

Hello Dogen, I currently don't have access to Tokyo Sonata or 12人の優しい日本人 without subtitles and don't think I can get it on dvd until next month. That said, I would like to start active listening practice as soon as possible. I know you said that anime isn't a good substitute and I agree with your reasoning, but what about a Japanese reality show? Specifically Ainori. It's mostly just people talking to each other with occasional commentary about progressing relationships. Edit: And of course just watching it two episodes at a time for practice.

Kieren

2019-06-17 00:56:36 +0000 UTC

Hi Sudanto! I unfortunately wasn't able to find one, but I would encourage you to keep listening on repeat--after a few dozen views you'll greatly expand your vocabulary such that a script is probably not even necessary!

Dogen

2019-05-22 05:47:45 +0000 UTC

Do you know where a transcript of Tokyo Sonata / 東京ソナタ might be found. I looked around the web, but my current level of Japanese limits my ability to find one. I thought it might help using this movie for studying pitch accent.

Sudanto Bhikkhu

2019-05-21 00:14:01 +0000 UTC

Appreciate the kind words! Will keep the audiobook advice in mind as well! haha

Dogen

2019-05-07 15:14:36 +0000 UTC

ありがとうございました。I have already learnt and solidified so much in the first 10 videos! BTW-You have a really great voice, it would be perfect for audiobooks!

Natasha Mitchell

2019-05-07 11:45:22 +0000 UTC

Hi Daniel, thanks for the comment. For your personal circumstances I would recommend switching between one-week shadowing movie and one-week shadowing with the JLPT audio files. I think that if you do this you'll have a much easier time charting your progress and also benefit from regularly taking time off of each resource. Hope that this helps! Thanks for the support!

Dogen

2019-05-06 06:39:35 +0000 UTC

Hi Natasha, thanks for the comment. With regards to the dialects, I always make sure that I do listening and shadowing drills with audio from speakers of Standard Japanese. With regards to が, I actually cover this in a later lesson, which you can access here: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/18574535">https://www.patreon.com/posts/18574535</a> Finally, with regards to the SRS, I would personally try to stick with one resource that has audio files in order to avoid confusion. Hope this helps! Cheers!

Dogen

2019-05-06 06:39:09 +0000 UTC

Thanks Craig, updating now!

Dogen

2019-05-06 04:21:21 +0000 UTC

今日は先生、はじめまして。よろしくお願いします。Did you ever find problems in the audio you were listening to where maybe the speaker used a different dialect or a different word to what you're supposed to be studying? For example, I struggle when ga is pronounced by different speakers, some are much more nasal than others. Also, a particular app uses SRS and we might have learnt あさごはん、but the audio they provide is ちょうしょく - fortunately I know both words already so I know it isn't just me. Or in Genki 1 the first chapter vocabulary audio seems to have a different word for the word 'major' (<a href="https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/japaneseonline/JpOnline.htm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://projects.ncsu.edu/project/japaneseonline/JpOnline.htm</a> at approximately 1:08). If so did you simply skip over things like this? I'm wondering if it is my listening error or their error.

Natasha Mitchell

2019-05-03 23:29:53 +0000 UTC

Need to update the video link here and in your phonetics section as this is showing as delisted here. Correct link: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPs1ppkrfc" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPs1ppkrfc</a>

Hannah

2019-05-02 05:20:14 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen, I started your phonetic series about a month and a half ago and have been making slower progress than I'd like to. I would like to start recording myself and really get more serious about my phonetic studies. I came back to this video to hear you talk about how to do things like recording yourself, etc. In the video you mention using materials at your level. Currently, I study new vocabulary mainly through Subs2SRS decks and sentence mining with immersion. However, I am also working through the JLPT Tango series on Anki to get that vocab down for when I want to take the JLPT later on in my Japanese studies. Since I don't have any official textbook that I work out of, do you think that recording myself mimicking the JLPT Tango audio files would be suitable? Or do you think it would be more beneficial to record myself shadowing the movie I listen to weekly (per your studying advice)?

Daniel Pagliaro

2019-04-20 00:16:41 +0000 UTC

Hi Patrice! If you can find it my number one recommendation is 12人の優しい日本人. It's essentially all dialogue, and is very fun to watch. The Ring is also pretty good too, if you can stomach it! Another good one is 'Like Father Like Son'. Hope this helps! Cheers!

Dogen

2019-04-09 05:07:39 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! New patron here, going through 2 videos a day to not overload myself with information haha. You mentioned in the comments a while ago that you would make a bigger list of recommendations for movies / media that would be good to put on repeat for the phonetic awareness exercise. Have you ever made this list? I'm gonna check out Tokyo Sonata but it would be cool to have other choices, in case I dont end up liking it or it hits me too hard and I dont want to watch it again! Haha. Thanks!

Patrice Chateauvert

2019-04-08 10:11:04 +0000 UTC

Hi Ashlee! I think that the podcast would work very well. It's important, though, to listen to a single episode on repeat several times each day for 1-2 weeks, rather than going from one episode to the next as soon as you're done. This is, as I mentioned in the video, we need to internalize how things are said, rather than just understanding the conversation. Hope that this helps, and good luck with your studies! ^^

Dogen

2019-02-19 03:33:39 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen-sensei! I was so excited when I found your series! I have been working at a Japanese company in the US and informal interpreting is a regular part of what I do. While my Japanese is "good enough" I have been struggling with how to take it to the next level so that I can be more confident and get less, "あっ、日本語は上手ですね".　　That being said, I was wondering if you think a Japanese podcast might work in place of a movie. I recently found a podcast called ひいきびいき (<a href="http://hkbk.fm/)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://hkbk.fm/)</a> and, although unfortunately it has already ended production, it has 280 episodes of conversation on a focused topic between a guy and a girl. I feel like because it is a mostly unscripted real conversation between two people that picking one or two episodes might be really useful for pitch accent ear training. Thank you again for continuing to put out such awesome content!

Ashlee

2019-02-19 00:44:01 +0000 UTC

Hi Logan. Thanks for signing up! I actually answer this question in my Q&A video at around the 6:45 mark. Do you mind watching this video (I actually recommend watching it in its entirety) and then getting back to me if you have any additional questions or concerns? <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186">https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186</a> Thank you for your support!

Dogen

2019-02-02 05:05:10 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen. Thank you for creating this series. I am a new subscriber and only recently started my Japanese study with the Genki series and RTK. I live in the US, but I am lucky enough to have a handful of native Japanese speaking friends. None of them seem to be able to convey their understanding of phonetics since to them its just natural ability. They are willing to help me in my studies, however none of them consider themselves to be good tutors/instructors and are unsure how to exactly help. Do you have any suggestions of good exercises/practices or ways in general they could help me in my study of phonetics? Thank you

Logan Hobson

2019-02-01 23:38:22 +0000 UTC

Hi Nicholas. Thanks for the comment! While I also love both of these movies, I would not recommend them for listening practice, as they are both anime that include a lot of exaggerated dialogue that would essentially never show up in everday speech. Though it's certainly better to watch one of these than nothing at all, going with a movie such as 12人の優しい日本人 would be a much more effective option. Incidentally I talk about this topic a bit more in episode 31, which can be accessed here: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186">https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186</a> Cheers!

Dogen

2019-01-07 01:13:03 +0000 UTC

Hi! So I have a few potential movies that I love and adore. Two include Paprika (seen multiple times), and Spirited Away (seen multiple times). Is it better to use movies you love for this exercise and risk gettingtoo caught up in the nostalgia of the movie, or is it better to use movies you like but not quite as much?

Nicholas Koceja

2019-01-06 23:27:43 +0000 UTC

Hi Hoshiro! Thanks so much for signing up. I actually answer this question in detail in a Q&A video that comes later in the series. Here's a link to the video: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186">https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186</a> Do you mind first watching this video and then letting me know if you need anything clarified? Thank you very much, and thanks again for signing up! ^^

Dogen

2019-01-04 13:17:06 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, how are you doing? I just signed up today. This is the first time I found someone who really focuses on phonetics. You have great content here. Question. I want to improve my listening and speaking by being more aware on these phonetics. Should I accompany the movie practice with Japanese subs? Because I feel that my listening sucks so much that I might record and compare a wrong word or something. Sorry if this is a stupid question.

Hoshiro

2019-01-04 12:21:27 +0000 UTC

Hi Andy! Thanks for the message. As long as you don't mind I actually think it's a great approach as you'll be able to repeat the content that much quicker. Might be good to first watch the entire movie one time through, however ^^ Cheers!

Dogen

2018-12-21 01:56:13 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen! I don't currently live in Japan, but I managed to find 12人の優しい日本人 split into 12 separate parts, each making up for 10 minutes each. Would it be practical to do the exercise with one part of the movie at a time? For example, I will watch the first part of the movie 100 times, memorize the dialouge, then record myself going through the lines for that specific part. Then I will proceed to do the same thing for part 2 until I have eventually gone through the entire movie. What are your thoughts to this approach?

Andy

2018-12-20 16:10:34 +0000 UTC

Thanks Zachari! I didn't either until I started studying linguistics ^^ I'm not sure where you're currently located, but 東京ソナタ can be streamed in the US on Amazon! Here is a link: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Sonata-Kiyoshi-Kurosawa/dp/B077BP3RM4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544881790&sr=8-1&keywords=tokyo+sonata" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Sonata-Kiyoshi-Kurosawa/dp/B077BP3RM4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544881790&sr=8-1&keywords=tokyo+sonata</a> Hope this helps!

Dogen

2018-12-15 13:50:29 +0000 UTC

No worries! Hope that it goes well :)

Dogen

2018-12-15 13:48:06 +0000 UTC

A big fan of your videos. I didn’t even know how important phonetics were until I found your channel. Can you link any sites/places where I may be able to find movies like the ones you mentioned with pout subtitles?

Zachari Venis

2018-12-14 21:02:15 +0000 UTC

Once again, thank you so much for the reply, this really helps. I'll be sure to use Quicktime and give YouTube a thought!

Jakub

2018-12-14 03:43:24 +0000 UTC

Hi Jakub. I actually recommend simple Quicktime recorder for mac, and Audacity for Windows, as they are both quite straightforward. If you're really serious about developing your accent and pronunciation I suggest starting a YouTube channel and keeping your files there such that you and other can map your progress over time. This has worked the best for me ^^ If that does't sound appealing to you then of course just keeping the files organized in a normal folder should work fine as well. I used to use iTunes but found that it made things difficult as various songs would show up in my search results haha. Hope this helps! Cheers ^^

Dogen

2018-12-11 13:32:17 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the reply Dogen. You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. About recording ourselves, is there any software out there that could help us with recording and managing all the files?

Jakub

2018-12-11 06:13:14 +0000 UTC

Hi Jakub, thanks for the comment. Not at all—there are a lot of major patterns and rules that I teach in episodes 5-20, and just learning each of the major rules will make a massive difference. That said, I do think it's a good idea to try and be aware of the pitch pattern of words you learn from this point forward. Hope this helps! ^^

Dogen

2018-12-09 11:55:35 +0000 UTC

4 years into studying Japanese. I sound pretty awful... I am really angry that no one has ever taught this to me, especially since you say that the longer we go on like this the harder it gets to fix it. Do I have to essentially relearn every signle word that I have ever learned?

Jakub

2018-12-09 05:34:21 +0000 UTC

Hi Andy! Thank you for signing up! ^^ 12人の優しい日本人 is really the best option in my eyes. If you live in Japan you can purchase the DVD here: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/12" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.co.jp/12</a>人の優しい日本人【ＨＤリマスター版】-DVD-塩見三省/dp/B006OSR4AG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544076612&sr=8-1&keywords=12人の優しい日本人 It might be a bit difficult to find outside of Japan, though (unfortunately!). Hope this helps!

Dogen

2018-12-06 06:12:04 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen, this is my first time commenting. Thank you for creating this amazing series! Even though I consider myself an advanced learner, I definitely think that this is something I could hugely benefit from. As for my question, I'm thinking of using 12人の優しい日本人 to watch on repeat, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on Youtube. Do happen to know where I can find the movie, or where I can buy the DVD?

Andy

2018-12-05 21:00:40 +0000 UTC

Hi Sablazzer! Thanks so much for signing up. Really appreciate the support ^^ Between those two 12人の優しい日本人 is definitely better for listening as it has much more dialogue per minute. I would suggest watching each movie to begin with, and then to switch to 12人の優しい日本人 and stick with it for several months. During my days at Keio I often had that movie on repeat all day—I think I can still essentially speak along with the entire movie haha. As far as Japanese Phonetics goes, I suggest watching a new episode every 3-4 days going forward, and to review each new episode during the days in-between. This way you shouldn't become overloaded. Hope this helps! Cheers! ^^

Dogen

2018-12-01 11:02:22 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! Glad I can be a part of your patreon. My friend and I always enjoy your skits on youtube, so being able to support you this way is enjoyable as well. I got my hands on both 東京ソナタ and 12人の優しい日本人 today. I'll watch both at first to see which is better for me gain my phonemic awareness foundation. Then, repeatedly watch the chosen one for the practice. As I've just began the three steps you've suggested to accomplish a foundational phonemic awareness, should I wait some time before moving onto your next episode of the series? Or watching the episodes simultaneously whilst I build my phonemic awareness? Thanks for your time and consideration.

scribblerofdreams

2018-12-01 10:22:29 +0000 UTC

haha it's quite difficult to quantify exactly how much it helps, but I've always felt that it's a beneficial practice, and know many other high level speakers who also swear by the exercise. To each their own, however! ^^

Dogen

2018-10-10 13:59:08 +0000 UTC

Listening to japanese while you sleep?.. Does that work? lol sounds intense!

Jeffrey

2018-10-09 19:55:56 +0000 UTC

Hi Carlos! I personally love 12人の優しい日本人. It's all dialogue as well, so it's great for studying. Incidentally, I talk about the best way to go about watching movies in the below lesson—I imagine it'll be helpful for you. Cheers! <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186">https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186</a>

Dogen

2018-09-17 07:02:20 +0000 UTC

Hi, Dogen. How are you? I'm having a hard time trying to decide which movie to start watching in repeat. Anyway, do you recommend having the actual transcript of the movie so that I can start associating words with accent patterns? I mean, I want to make sure what I hear is 木 and not 気, 花 and not 鼻, and so on. Thank you!

Carlos Ignacio Pellegrini Lanz

2018-09-16 01:05:03 +0000 UTC

Hi Sebastian! Totally not a problem—I watched Japanese movies all the time before I understood what was going on and it helped immensely. The whole purpose is to really get our mind used to the sound of native Japanese. You can look up the words, but I would instead watch it with English subtitles on one time to see what's going on, then turn everything off—I guarantee that you'll pick up the meaning of words even if you don't actively look them up. Again the purpose of this exercise isn't to memorize new words, but to get our ears used to Japanese, so even if you have a small vocabulary, this exercise is still key!

Dogen

2018-08-21 08:09:42 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen, As fairly early beginner in Japanese, I find it difficult to do the third practice that you mentioned, because I don't really know any of the words being spoken. As such, I memorize the pitch accenting on words I don't really know. Should I be looking up all the words? (Based on context it seems to be everyday Japanese, it's not that this is obscure language that I'm unfamiliar with, simply that I have a small Japanese vocabulary.)

Sivee

2018-08-20 03:29:41 +0000 UTC

I see a few learners here who are looking for Japanese dramas that have more feminine speech. ^^ I chose two recent ones I found that has relatively equal dialogue amongst female, male, younger, and older speakers: 逃げるは恥だが役に立つ (known as ‘The Full-Time Wife Escapist’ in English) 5→9〜私に恋したお坊さん〜 (known as ‘From Five to Nine’) Hope others find these helpful and enjoyable as I do!

Rochelle Chantengco

2018-07-29 19:08:47 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! I’m a new Patron ^^ I love this new phonetic approach to Japanese learning and excited to watch the next lessons! Repetition is truly important in learning, and something I’ll definitely do moving forward. I had been studying Japanese in an academic environment in America for 8 years (I majored in it), worked in an English-speaking Japanese company in San Francisco for 2 years, and travelled to Japan 5 times for both business and leisure. Though I studied Japan for this long, my speech and accent patterns could use more practice. Many of my Japanese-speaking friends and colleagues also speaks English, so we’d fall back on English if here was a vocabulary or grammar I didn’t know. Going back to the concept of Repetition, these environments certainly weren’t ideal. It wasn’t until I visited my cousin in Nagoya that I’ve began to see an improvement in my speaking ability. He knows very little English, so for one week I listened to his speech carefully and actively, and pushed me to explain ideas and concepts creatively with the Japanese I knew. Anyway, thanks for listening to my Japanese learning journey and for creating these wonderful resources to help us get to the next level!

Rochelle Chantengco

2018-07-29 18:59:35 +0000 UTC

Hi Walt. I don't recommend Seven Samurai, as I imagine a lot of archaic Japanese is used. Great film though!

Dogen

2018-07-19 23:28:16 +0000 UTC

Hi Alantheus! So sorry for the late reply—I responded a while back but pressed the 'general reply' button rather than the 'reply to this thread' button, so I imagine you never saw the reply. Here is a link to the index page, which has links to each video: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/16489306">https://www.patreon.com/posts/16489306</a> Apologies again!

Dogen

2018-07-19 23:27:13 +0000 UTC

My favorite Japanese movie (which I have not seen in decades) is Seven Samurai. Are the pitch patterns in that movie good for shadowing?

Walt Poor

2018-07-19 20:44:02 +0000 UTC

I just became a patron...where are videos 1-4?

Alantheus Thompson

2018-06-18 03:34:21 +0000 UTC

Hi Teriyaki! I usually don't recommend anime, as the delivery in a lot of anime is quite different than standard Japanese (I talk more about this in episode 31). That said, if the movie has realistic dialogue it might be an OK option. I highly doubt, however, that it would be as effective of an option as something like 12人の優しい日本人, or other dialogue heavy films. Anime is usually better than nothing, but rarely the best option. If this doesn't answer your question just let me know! ^^

Dogen

2018-04-04 09:51:41 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the share Simon! Will definitely check it out!

Dogen

2018-04-04 09:45:53 +0000 UTC

Howdy! I was just wondering, would an animated movie, such as Summer Wars, work? I have seen that movie many, many times, and would gladly be able to watch it again and again, let alone study it. Also, a show I was thinking of using is an Anime; Tanaka-kun ha Itsumo Kedaruge. Would it be a bad idea to use those as study material, as long as they are not using Kansai-ben or other dialects, separate from standard Japanese?

TeriyakiKoneko

2018-04-03 18:44:38 +0000 UTC

If anyone is looking for a convenient way to record and instantly hear it back on android I just found this, seems to work really well, just press and speak, release and you hear your words immediately played back, couldn't be simpler <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kimhyunjin.MyRealVoice&hl=en" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kimhyunjin.MyRealVoice&hl=en</a>

tensaimon

2018-04-03 14:49:32 +0000 UTC

never mind, you address this in episode 31!

tensaimon

2018-04-03 14:48:04 +0000 UTC

"the human brain's ability to learn phonetics greatly diminishes over time...." I'm 43, it will be interesting to see how this goes.... EDIT: you've probably had a chance for a quick look at my youtube videos by now, so you've seen that I've been here 20 years already and am a proficient, but very far from native, speaker. If you've got any specific advice on how I should best approach improving from my current standpoint I'd be very grateful.

tensaimon

2018-04-02 22:48:53 +0000 UTC

Hi Alex! Thanks for the question! It absolutely does count—I, in fact, did the exact same thing, with the same movie. I would watch it in the morning before leaving for school, then listen to the audio recording on the train during my commute. I actually believe mixing things up this way may be more effective than simply watching the movie alone. I've heard that 'Beautiful Rain' is a good alternative, but I highly recommend sticking with 12人の優しい日本人, as it is very 'dialogue dense', and the dialogue used has a very limited number of loan words (though some people might debate whether this is a good thing or not, based on recent trends in Japanese). Incidentally 12人の優しい日本人 is a really great movie—once you begin to understand the dialogue a bit more you'll really get sucked in! ^^ Cheers!

Dogen

2018-03-23 02:45:06 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, thanks so much for your hard work! Does it count if I listen to my selected movie's audio track while commuting and so on? This will give me many more opportunities to be exposed to the sounds, but maybe it isn't as effective as actually sitting down and watching. I started tonight with 12人の優しい日本人 of which I understood almost nothing, but still thoroughly enjoyed. Also, did you make your list of alternative recommendations public anywhere?

Alex Ashby

2018-03-21 22:10:01 +0000 UTC

Hi Hunter—thanks for the question. It may be quite difficult to hear the differences in 中高, 尾高, and 平板 words at first, especially if you jump straight into a film, but you certainly will begin to hear the differences over time. My suggestion for the time being would be to use a website such as forvo to look up individual words that you hear in Tokyo Sonata, and then listen to said words individually. For example, if you hear someone say 階段, but the pronunciation wasn't terribly clear, you could instead look up 階段 in forvo.com, which usually has very good, clear pronunciation clips. I have a feeling that you'll be able to distinguish the patterns significantly better this way. Try it out and let me know how it goes! Hope this helps and thanks for the support!

Dogen

2018-02-27 05:18:42 +0000 UTC

Hello Dogen, I've recent started your series of videos and have been trying to spend time practicing listening and producing the correct pitches. One of the things I've been doing is trying to follow along with Tokyo Sonata and guess the pitch accent and mimic it. I've run into two issues: A) Most of the sentences feel like they run together so much and are spoken in hushed voices that it's hard for me to make out what they're saying (I'm still basically new to Japanese, so I have basically nil comprehension), which means testing my understanding via dictionaries and the tools provided in lesson 7 is difficult. B) Is that when I can make it out, my batting average isn't great. I can usually tell 頭だか easily, and I can make out when the pitch increases, but the pitch back down seems impossible to hear for me. I am basically guessing whether it's 中高 or 平板 half the time. My question is basically this: Should I just keep trying and listening, even if my practice feels scattershot? Will listening get easier with time, or am I doing something wrong?

Hunter Prigg

2018-02-27 04:38:37 +0000 UTC

Hey Levi! Glad to hear that you're getting a lot out of the lessons! ^^ As you said it might take a bit of time to untie your tongue, but with preservation you'll definitely start noticing results! If you ever have any questions just let me know!

Dogen

2018-02-15 06:01:04 +0000 UTC

Just signed up and very glad I did! I've been studying Japanese for over ten years and now living here for almost five, but have still been frustrated at not being properly understood at times, which I think is mostly due to my poor pronunciation. So now I have a decade of bad habits to undo and thirty four year-old ears to do it with. Pretty sure this is going to hurt like hell, but hopefully it'll be worth it. Anywho, thank you for this great content, and congrats on becoming a father!

Levi Booth

2018-02-14 11:02:54 +0000 UTC

Hi Jacob. Thank you very much for the nice words! I'm quite sure that if you import the shows from Japan you'll be able to watch them without subtitles, but then you may have to deal with region lock, which can be annoying. Perhaps it would be a good idea to switch the series and try a Japanese netflix show. I hear that Erased is a good option, though I have never seen it. Hope that this helps! Cheers!

Dogen

2018-02-12 01:38:31 +0000 UTC

Hello Dogen new patron here! first off, congratulations on your new family. I sincerely hope the health complications get resolved with ease. Second, I was wondering where I could watch the films/shows you recommended in this episode. I found them easily with English subtitles but I can't seem to find them without subtitles. Thank you in advance

Jacob Cunningham

2018-02-11 21:50:25 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the recommendation Michael. I'll be sure to put that on my list of alternatives! Cheers!

Dogen

2018-02-05 05:44:05 +0000 UTC

Hi Steven. Thank you very much for signing up—I really appreciate the support. I personally believe it's all about the mindset; one of the reasons I recommend movies to people as listening resources is that they're typically more engaging than textbook CDs or mp3s. Thus, if you personally enjoy listening to Pimsleur, and can see yourself listening to it for the foreseeable future, then it's definitely a good choice for you. That said, it might not be quite as effective as a movie or podcast if there are English explanations sprinkled throughout the audio file. Hope this helps!

Dogen

2018-02-05 05:42:42 +0000 UTC

To the other repeated-Japanese-show-watchers, I suggest checking out "Beautiful Rain" in addition to "Orange Days" if you're looking for some good dialogue in a slightly smaller bite than a full movie. I enjoyed watching "Orange Days" but I found the long pauses in dialogue due to one of its main characters being deaf to slow me down a bit in my listening studies, at least in the first two episodes. One of the main characters in Beautiful Rain is a young(ish) father (around 40 years old) if that demographic is a little more relevant for your personal preferences for language shadowing. Cheers!

konnnichiwa

2018-02-05 02:03:10 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! I stumbled upon one of your comedy videos on Twitter and ended up a student of yours! I know you mentioned in an earlier video that Pimsleur wasn't the best resource for learning Japanese (which after seeking out additional resources a while back, I definitely started to see). I will say though, as a supplement, it's added to my time with the language (my commute to work) and has felt helpful for listening & getting comfortable with speaking. What are your thoughts on this being used as a resource to use listen / shadow?

Steven K Bradford

2018-02-04 14:48:35 +0000 UTC

Hi Sophie, Thanks for the support! Glad to hear that you're enjoying the series. You can actually download individual words from forvo.com—there is a small arrow next to the 'share' button; click this to download the file. I would then suggest that you drop this down into audacity or a different recording player such that you can compare it to your own recordings. Incidentally with audacity or or software you should be able to record immediately, so you don't need to create a new file, save, and import that. Hope this helps! Let me know if this isn't clear at all! ^^

Dogen

2018-01-23 11:02:05 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! I have a question about recording/replaying. Ideally, I'd love to create a playlist along the lines of native speaker: "word", then me saying the word, and so on, ad infinitum, to be able to most carefully tell the difference. But I can't seem to find a downloadable source of single words, and making separate mp3 files in Audacity is not a complete barrier, but not quick, either. When you suggest recording and analyzing, do you mean at the computer for immediate playback? Or is there another technique you'd suggest? Thanks so much for your time and help; this series is clarifying so much I thought was impenetrable.

Sophia Herron

2018-01-23 01:50:34 +0000 UTC

Never-mind. I saw a comment on the YouTube video asking the same question. The girl has a fairly noticeable accent, yes? I'll look into your suggestions, and if you had any more, I'd love to hear some

Michael Rowell

2018-01-11 18:08:03 +0000 UTC

I have yet to check your suggestions for movies, but a couple weeks ago I got 君の名は for Christmas. Is that language natural enough, or would you discourage that film. I wouldn't think it'd have outdated language, so I'm more worried about developing an "anime dialect"

Michael Rowell

2018-01-11 17:56:48 +0000 UTC

Hi Jessica. Thanks for the support! Really appreciate it. Because you already have a good understanding of Japanese grammar, I think that a ~3 month concentration on phonetics would prove to be very beneficial for you. In other words, don't study any grammar, kanji, etc., for the next 3 months—concentrate on phonetics and phonetics alone, recording yourself often. I guarantee you'll notice a major improvement in your Japanese if you do this! Incidentally I talk about your question a bit in lesson 31, so it might be beneficial to watch that episode beforehand. Thanks again!

Dogen

2018-01-09 03:28:48 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, I was inspired by you on YouTube to pursue a more serious approach to Japanese phonetics. I've been studying Japanese for two and a half years--first in a six-week study abroad in Tokyo, then a year back at university in the US, then a bit of self-study, and most recently in the past year in Tokyo while teaching English. I'd rank my current level around high N3. As I mentioned before, I became inspired and really motivated to improve my phonetics after watching your videos, but I can't help but worry that I may be "too late" in my studies to be able to make a big difference. Do you have any specific advice for those of us who want to improve our phonetics but already have significant experience learning Japanese? Thank you for your time in reading this message! I tried to skim other comments to see if this question had already been asked and didn't find anything off the bat, but I'm sorry for taking up your time if you've already answered this question.

Jessica Kelly

2018-01-08 21:10:22 +0000 UTC

Hi Tom, Thank you very much for signing up—really appreciate it! 13 Assassins! Great, great movie. I'm a big fan of Takashi Miike, Audition is also a personal favorite (read the original book by Murakami Ryu as well). That said, the language in 13 Assassins is quite outdated, so I unfortunately can't recommend it as a phonetics resource (despite it being one of the best movies to come out in the last 10 years, sadly). Perhaps try Tokyo Sonata, or 12 Nin no Yasashii Nihonjin, if you can get your hands on it. I do think it is a great exercise to keep the movie on repeat, even if you can't understand most of what is happening. I also answer a bunch of questions with regards to subtitles in Episode 31, which can be accessed here: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186">https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186</a> Thanks again for the support, and good luck with your studies!

Dogen

2017-12-26 06:03:53 +0000 UTC

Dogen- I only just recently came across your content here, and am wrapping up my first week learning Japanese. I'm very interested in going through your material; reflecting on experience with non-native English learners, the emphasis on phonetics and standard rather than regional dialect is a point well taken. With regard to consuming a movie in Japanese I'll use 13 Assassins as an example - it's a favorite. At this point in my learning, my knowledge of vocabulary is obviously very rudimentary. Is it still a worthwhile exercise just listening to how things are being said, even if I won't be able to understand much of it? Or perhaps a better question - I don't recall whether subtitles were available in English, Japanese, both, or neither. Do you think it would be more productive to have them on and try to parse what's being said for vocabulary and syntax, or just have it all off and really listen to speech and inflection patterns even if the meaning isn't obvious. Thanks!

Tom

2017-12-26 02:34:20 +0000 UTC

I don’t unfortunately, but I believe one is included with the DVD!

Dogen

2017-12-14 01:59:52 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, Do you by any chance have a JP subtitle file for 東京ソナタ? Thanks!

Feint

2017-12-13 18:02:43 +0000 UTC

Hi Michael, Really glad to hear that you're getting a lot out of the series! It's definitely better to get started sooner rather than later. Most Japanese people don't know anything about pitch-accent, as they understand it on an unconscious level. A really good trick to pull is to ask a Japanese person what the difference in 花 vs 鼻 is ^^ Thanks again for the support and good luck with your studies! Let me know if you ever have any questions.

Dogen

2017-11-12 07:28:04 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen, Great stuff. My girlfriend is native Japanese and didn't believe Japanese had any kind of pitch accent until I showed her your video. She was blown away. I am only about 8 months into learning Japanese but I am so glad my friend introduced me to your content this early on in the process, it's a huge help to me. Cheers!

konnnichiwa

2017-11-12 00:44:10 +0000 UTC

Hi Benoit, thank you for the question. I do not recommend 君の名は specifically for the reason that you have mentioned. If you're interested in studying from anime モンスター is a better option in my opinion! ^^

Dogen

2017-11-09 09:26:31 +0000 UTC

Hello Dogen! I was wondering if 君の名は is an appropriate movie to learn the standard accent. The thing is, there is a girl who live in the countryside, so there is a chance that she is not speaking the standard japanese. What do you think? And if that's the case, do you think it might be a problem? Thanks!

武之和 (Benoît, Auroden)

2017-11-09 08:56:46 +0000 UTC

Hi Judith, Apologies for the late reply. I would actually suggest watching it around 5-10 times first without subtitles to see how much you can pick up based on listening alone. From here I think it's beneficial to turn subtitles on for a few play throughs before turning them off again to concentrate on pronunciation/pitch-accent.

Dogen

2017-10-21 07:44:54 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the video. When watching Tokyo Sonata would you recommend to watch it with or without subtitles? I guess first time with subtitles so you get an idea what is being said, but after that without subtitles to concentrate purely on spoken Japanese?

Judith Ricken

2017-10-15 07:17:03 +0000 UTC

haha I haven't heard that before. It's a song called 'Commando Steve' by a Swedish Bit-tune group called 'Bossfight'. Great band!

Dogen

2017-09-05 10:13:35 +0000 UTC

Anyone tell you how much your intro sounds like the percussion from YMOs Rydeen? Pretty snazzy.

Finn A. Aurbakken

2017-09-04 20:23:44 +0000 UTC

Hi Thumb, I did go through a similar experience. Even now, despite being 30 years old, I continue to learn and pick up on new things as I create the series. I usually tell people the following: you'll have to work harder the older you get, but that doesn't mean your work will be in vain. Keep at it, regardless of your age, and you'll learn new things—even if the pace isn't as fast as it would be if you were much younger.

Dogen

2017-08-24 23:53:28 +0000 UTC

I posted this question before but it seems to be lost - perhaps I forgot to actually post it after typing it - so I'll try to post it again. At about 0:40, you mention that "the human brain's ability to mimic foreign language sounds greatly deteriorates over time", which got me rather worried, anxiety being my middle name. I decided to google it and I found an interesting article on the Scientific American's site, How to Teach Old Ears New Tricks - Learn a new language more quickly by focusing on pronunciation first. According to this article it seems that the "sweet spot" for distinguishing sounds is before 12 months of age, but it also gave hope to anybody above that threshold :o) I have had some good experiences more recently by hearing (and producing) the difference between some sounds that seemed the same to me before. Did you go through a different experience in hearing and producing new sounds as you grow older?

TheThumbPuppy

2017-08-24 13:16:27 +0000 UTC

Thank you for your quick reply, Dogen! I will give it a go then. I'll let you know if I get stuck. PS Tokyo Sonata seems like a beautiful film, but when I read the plot on wikipedia it did seem to exceed my emotional comfort zone :oʃ

TheThumbPuppy

2017-08-24 12:18:11 +0000 UTC

Hi Thumb Puppy! I actually think there isn't a correct answer to this question; while there are certainly benefits to using Japanese subtitles, there are benefits to leaving them off as well. In fact, the first Japanese movie that I used for this practice (12人の優しい日本人) did not have subtitles. I essentially watched the movie with a dictionary, which did wonders for my listening abilities—it really forces your ears to work overtime! I would suggest sticking to the series for at least a month and really trying to grind; I imagine you'll make a lot of progress. If after a month you feel stuck it would might be good to try a different movie. I don't know too many slice of life movies, unfortunately. Tokyo Sonata is the closest thing I can imagine, but that one is quite heavy in terms of emotions! Good luck with your studies and let me know if you have any other questions!

Dogen

2017-08-23 23:53:36 +0000 UTC

Thank you for your video. I am trying to select a Japanese movie to watch on repeat. At present I have one Japanese DVD, 結婚できない男 (The Man Who Can't Get Married), that I have watched more than once because I find 阿部寛 Hiroshi Abe's acting quite amusing. It consists of 12 episodes and I was thinking about editing a cut-down version about 90-minute long. The only problem is that my dvd does not have Japanese subtitles and I still cannot make up all the sounds, never mind what they actually means. Should I look for a different movie / drama with Japanese subtitles, or should I actually stick with it? Is it a disadvantage that I do not have Japanese subtitles, or is it actually a part of the practice you were proposing? If you recommend to watch a film / drama with Japanese subtitles, are there any that you would recommend in the "slice of life" genre and free from strong emotions that may give me nightmares?

TheThumbPuppy

2017-08-23 16:58:54 +0000 UTC

Hi Tori, I just made a post about this. Please access here: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-anki-13920864.">https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-anki-13920864.</a> Thanks for your support and good luck with your studies!

Dogen

2017-08-18 08:28:33 +0000 UTC

Hi Kaytlin, My personal advice would be to becoming willing to receive poor grades in your private language school in exchange for advanced phonetic abilities. I did this same thing in university—did the minimum to get by in class and focussed on phonetics intensively outside of class. Playing a Japanese movie on repeat is also key to improving your phonetic abilities!

Dogen

2017-08-18 08:28:16 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen! When you memorize new vocabulary, do you have flashcard decks (or whatever method you used) specifically for pitch accent? I'm finding that, even exclusively using flashcard decks with audio and maintaining phonetic awareness while studying vocabulary is not enough. Pitch accent doesn't just 'stick.' It seems like having a deck specifically having you recall reading with pitch accent might solve the problem, but I'm curious what your methods are.

Tori

2017-08-16 03:47:16 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen - I wish I could stop my studies and focus on phonetics, but unfortunately, that isn't a possibility as I'm already in a private language school environment. Any recommendations? 30min per day? (I'm also a stay at home mom so my best study hours are in the evening).

ケイトリン Kaytlin

2017-08-16 01:54:28 +0000 UTC

Hi Akash, Thanks! Glad to hear that you found it useful. My go to advice on this subject is try to actively listen to both genders / styles, but to only mimic the talking style / voice which you're trying to replicate.

Dogen

2017-08-05 00:31:48 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen! Great video. I was wondering whether it is permissible in one's phonetic studies to mimic the pitch accent of the opposite gender in audio recordings. Would this lead to a man sounding more feminine or vice-versa?

Akash Kulkarni

2017-08-04 16:48:06 +0000 UTC

Quicktime on macOS, Audacity on Windows :)

Dogen

2017-06-06 11:05:41 +0000 UTC

what recording application or program do you recommend using?

Jeremy Mize

2017-06-05 00:43:31 +0000 UTC

Hi Chris ^^ It has certainly been a wonderful journey! Thank you so much for your support back then, it really jump-started my channel! It sounds like your teachers are not Japanese natives—is this true? In all honesty there is so little knowledge about pitch-accent even at the university level that it might go over a lot of your professors heads. I think first prodding with a few questions about pitch-accent to assess general understanding would be a good start. Natives are usually able to deeply understand the concept after being taught, and they should be able to give you accurate feedback once they know the basics. If you professors are not natives and have never studied Japanese phonetics before you'd be much better off going to a native directly, as the professor most likely won't be able to do much to improve their spoken Japanese any more at this point (assuming they are in their 40s / 50s). I've found the younger the teacher the more likely they are to invest time in pitch-accent. A TA might be another good start for a grass roots movement ^^ Does this answer your question? Thanks again for the support!

Dogen

2017-05-27 11:18:28 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen Come a long way since I shared that link on reddit huh ;) I just took the plunge and signed up to support you just then and came back to the start of these videos to get a refresher before I move onto the new ones from ep 4 onwards. I just had a question about that accent course you helped get up and running at your university? I'm doing Japanese at uni, and my teachers have utterly shocking pronunciation. I'd like to propose that we could do an accent course, but what does it even look like? Or most importantly from the teachers perspective, how do you test students? Do you do recordings and get natives to grade them based on intuition alone? What if the native (like most) has no linguistic knowledge and just thinks everything is flat etc? I'd love to do a course like this, and want to propose doing so, but I've got no idea how you'd do it.

Chris Filiatrault

2017-05-25 13:50:30 +0000 UTC

Hi Chantal, Thanks for the question. I ran into this problem as well when I began studying Japanese seriously. My advice is to search for an actress who's voice resembles your own, and to try and mimic their voice. I did this exact thing with Tsumabuki Satoshi from the Orange Days series. Hope that this answers your questions! ^^

Dogen

2017-04-07 11:18:06 +0000 UTC

Dogen, I'm having trouble with mimicking pitch accents because I'm also mimicking the person's vocal register at the same time. Any advice for finding the comfortable tone for my particular voice so that I know where to go up and down from according to my vocal register? Hope this question makes sense. It's hard to explain what I mean.

Chantal Ward

2017-04-03 23:54:18 +0000 UTC

Hi Beth! Great question. I actually think it would be best to choose a different drama / movie, as you suggested. Besides Gokusen I'm not familiar with too many dramas with woman protagonists, but Gokusen is a fun one for sure. Let me know what you end up going with!

Dogen

2017-03-08 13:50:55 +0000 UTC

Hi Dogen! Firstly I want to say thank you so making such a brilliant series! I can already tell it's gonna help improve my spoken Japanese so much. I just have one question regarding show/movie choice. I tried watching the first episode of Orange Days (which by the way I really enjoyed!) however the main characters, and therefore most of the dialogue was male, but I'm a 20-something female. So I'm a little concerned it might result in my picking up male speech patterns. Do you think this is an issue? And would it be more beneficial to find a show with main characters who are the same demographic as me, i.e. young females? Or does it not matter?

Beth Scott

2017-03-07 18:05:09 +0000 UTC

Sorry about that! just posted!

Dogen

2017-01-26 11:31:24 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen! Thanks for the reply! I think for some reason most of it got cut off, though. Mind posting it again?

Wesley Bishop

2017-01-26 10:51:00 +0000 UTC

Wesley, thanks for the message. Congratulations on passing N1—that test is a nightmare haha. I do think that you will have a more difficult time than someone who is younger or has just started studying but that doesn't mean you won't make progress. As long as you're willing to put in the work (especially the self-recordings) I can guarantee that your spoken Japanese will improve dramatically—just expect the results to take a bit of time :)

Dogen

2017-01-26 10:20:25 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen, thanks for doing these videos. I live in Japan (Fukuoka JET), and I just passed N1. I always thought once I got the certification, I'd work on making my Japanese sound more natural. Now I understand that maybe I should have done things the other way around. With that in mind, do you think it's too late for me to ever have a relatively native accent? You mention that it's difficult to pick up on phonetics as we get older (I'm 28) and as we pick up bad habits (been studying in some fashion for almost 10 years). Any thoughts you could give would be appreciated. Thanks for the work you put in to make these (and your other) videos.

Wesley Bishop

2017-01-25 23:14:52 +0000 UTC

Hi Daniel! Thank you very much for the comment. With regards to your questions: 1. I actually believe that watching older Japanese movies to be more beneficial for improving Japanese, as most of the Japanese in textbooks is a bit more traditional than modern Japanese. However, I also believe that the time period you're talking about might be a bit too far back—I haven't seen too many movies from this time, but, as you mentioned, the English that we see in films from this period is quite different from modern day English. I would imagine that you would be perfectly intelligible, but it might sound slightly off—the number of katakana loan words you use in particular would probably be much lower than what we see in modern Japanese. Pitch-accent is going to be case by case; if the movie is set in Tokyo you're probably fine, but I can picture a lot of movies coming out of Kansai—this wouldn't be particularly productive for pitch accent studies. I would try and stick to 60s-90s film set in Tokyo. 12人の優しい日本人 is one of my favorites, though I believe it is from the 90s. 2. I wrote a paper about な vs ね in college, actually. I analyzed how each were used in modern standard Japanese conversation and found that な usually occured in either formal speech by male speakers, or informal speech by either male or female speakers. That being said, males also used ね just as much (usually more frequently) than な; they were mostly interchangeable, but the more formal the conversation the lower the frequency of な. Women almost never used な in formal speech. My advice: if you're an elementary speaker of Japanese stick with ね, as it's usually much safer to use. Again I'm not too familiar with speech from the 1940s or 1950s, but it wouldn't surprise me if な occurred more frequently than it did in modern speech. Thank you for the support, and let me know if you have any other questions! :D

Dogen

2016-11-15 13:12:47 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen! Thanks for the awesome content and for bringing our attention to the importance of pitch accent and Japanese phonetics as a whole! I have a few questions if you don't mind :p In regards to your suggestion about watching Japanese films to develop and practice Japanese phonetic awareness, would old movies be an inappropriate source to practice with? I have a growing collection of films that date from 1943 to 1965 and have something of an interest in older Japanese cinema in general. I imagine if someone decided to learn English by watching American films from the 1940s and 1950s they would wind up with quite the outdated vocabulary, but perhaps the changes in general English phonetics wouldn't be as obviously different and outdated. Are the differences thus between spoken Japanese in the 1940s-1960s so different compared with present day Japanese as to be a hinderance in my study of Japanese phonetics and pitch accent? I am what could arbitrarily described as an elementary speaker of Japanese, but I have noticed the use of な a lot more in the position where I would expect to hear ね. (as in そうな、そうですな etc.). I believe I've noticed this trend more in movies from the 40s and early 50s but its hard to say with certainty as its been a while since I last saw a few of them. That being said, I can't rule out the possibility that the actors perchance predominantly come from a region where the dialect spoken uses な in this way. My current Japanese level prohibits me from doing the relevant research unfortunately. Sorry that my question has gone on so long as this point, but on a related point how might listening to native speakers from different regions of Japan hurt or help learning pitch accent? Thanks for reading this, I look forward to hearing from you and for episode 6!! :D

Daniel D

2016-11-11 23:09:51 +0000 UTC

Hello Rodolphe! Thank you very much for the support and comment. I know exactly what you're going through and am glad to help. I imagine a lot of people who have subscribed to the series are currently feeling a bit of panic, as essentially the only thing I've introduced so far is the importance of phonetics. In other words, the actual meat of the series is yet to come, but rest assured once it starts you will have a toolset which you can immediately use to correct your Japanese intonation and pronunciation :) I also give direct feedback during the google hangout sessions, so if the next session meets your schedule I highly encourage you to participate (next session time is yet to be released), but I will be sure to post here! Again, don't worry too much for the time being—being in a state of worry shows that your mind is in the right place and that you're ready to make some major improvements. Thanks again for the support, and hope to speak with you again soon! :D

Dogen

2016-10-26 02:53:34 +0000 UTC

Ok so basically I've started to learn Japanese 2 years ago when I went to study to Sendai. As I said in a comment on one of your videos, I wasn't really involved into learning the accent. Even though, when I came back to France and met some people from Kansai, they told me that when I speak to them it makes them think I've spent some time in Tohoku region (bingo !). I guess that this is because I worked 5 times a week in a restaurant full of japanese co-workers / costumers (I was maybe 2 foreign costumers in 5 months). My boss invited me to his parents' place in Akita countryside, he recorded me when I was drunk, talking with his parents. I came back to France, watched the video... "this is so wrong" is the only thought I had. I believe that I have a huge work to do to correct my accent. So I am facing some problems. I don't have anything to correct. I mean, ok I know that my accent is wrong, but I only know that it is wrong. In what sense is it wrong ? What should I correct ? Am I 100% wrong, or are there some things that I'm saying well and that I shouldn't change ? I am not taking any japanese class, the only training I have is chating with japanese friends. And my environnement is more english / french s.t. I don't have to worry about mimicking wrong accent. (I commented on one of your videos that I don't have money to subscribe cuz I am a student, so I searched a lot and found a student I'm currently giving basic japanese lesson. AND NOW I'M HERE !) I already watched Tokyo Sonata the week it has been released in France, some years ago, thank you for reminding me of this beautiful movie. 10/10 would watch again (in full japanese this time). Waiting for the next video !

Rodolphe Bertolini

2016-10-25 16:28:31 +0000 UTC

That's a very good question—probably a good market opportunity as well! Given that there are many tuning programs for instruments it definitely seems like this would be possible. That being said, execution is always the most difficult part. I imagine that the accent (pitch) element would be ok, but it would probably be difficult to do a combination of this and pronunciation without the help from a large sized company that specialized in speech recognition.

Dogen

2016-10-18 12:48:20 +0000 UTC

I had an interesting thought earlier about simplification of phonetics practice. With the advancement of audio recognition software, why is there no software that can record microphone audio and compare the pitch of your voice to a sample? As simple as hearing audio and attempting to mimic it and it tells you if it's right or wrong. I just read an interesting publication about intonation processing and it seems like it's more difficult than I thought. Given that you've taken linguistics, do you know why such an app has not been created? Is it too difficult with too many factors to account for?

Tim Patton

2016-10-17 23:23:34 +0000 UTC

Yes, I would try and avoid fantasy and sci-fi tales characterized by vocabulary which can't be applied to everyday speech. I would also try to avoid movies that have comparatively little dialogue as there will be a lot of downtime waiting for lines. Thus, I would not recommend movies like Nausicaa or Princess Mononoke, as they are both fantasy, or Tonari no Totoro, as the amount of dialogue is comparatively small. Haven't seen it in a while, but of the ghibli films I have seen I think Kiki's delivery service might be the best for phonetics. If you want something really challenging and packed with dialogue a movie called 12の優しい日本人 is fantastic!

Dogen

2016-10-16 23:24:41 +0000 UTC

Are there any movies you would recommend against? I got quite a number of studio ghibli films to choose from otherwise.

Admiral Captain Fabulous

2016-10-16 16:37:50 +0000 UTC

Awesome, お疲れ！If you do this 100 days straight the difference will be night and day—especially after we get into the individual pitch accent patterns. Keep up the great work!

Dogen

2016-10-16 11:59:11 +0000 UTC

Amazing right? So real! Glad to hear you liked it!

Dogen

2016-10-16 09:58:31 +0000 UTC

Hi hello so I took your advice and watched Tokyo Sonata, but I found it a little hard to focus on intonation while BAWLING MY HEART OUT. What an incredible movie!

Christian Kuylen

2016-10-16 09:18:50 +0000 UTC

I spent 20 minutes recording myself today and 10 minutes analyzing the recordings. That last part was excruciating—like listening to a cow try to impersonate a cat—but I'm going to keep at it for 100 days and see what happens.

Daniel Wahl

2016-10-16 08:49:42 +0000 UTC

Hi Marc, thank you for the support. Your comment is spot on—working on pronunciation and pitch-accent alone will not improve your communication abilities. However, if your long term goal is to develop a native-like accent it's necessary to stop studying comprehensively and take some time to study phonetics intensively (temporarily). Someone who studies Japanese comprehensively will have better communication abilities in the short term, but they will never be able to speak Japanese with a native-like accent. In other words, yes, your vocabulary, grammar, and general communication abilities will take a hit while you are studying phonetics, but in three years you will speak with a much better accent than people who do not study phonetics; it is comparatively more difficult to develop a good accent after establishing bad habits than it is to memorize grammar and kanji after concentrating on phonetics. Thus, intentionally staggering your study plan and playing catch-up (as I mentioned in episode two), is the study method I suggest for people looking to speak with phonetic mastery. Please let me know if this didn't answer your question!

Dogen

2016-10-16 06:42:04 +0000 UTC

Hello Daniel! Thanks for the comment, really appreciate it :D I spent a lot of time working on the delivery as I received a fair amount of criticism over the last few. Very glad to hear it is being noticed! :) Good luck with your studies!

Dogen

2016-10-16 06:30:07 +0000 UTC

Hi Denzel! I don't know too much about that series, but as long as it uses standard Japanese and everyday language it should be good :)

Dogen

2016-10-16 06:29:11 +0000 UTC

Hey Dogen, I wonder if it's okay to use any Japanese media that has native speakers. I didn't do a lot of searching but Tokyo Sonata was only mono and that was too annoying for me. I'm looking at Mischievous Kiss on Netflix. I figured if I just worked on a single episode, that might be okay?

Denzel Defreitas

2016-10-16 04:42:36 +0000 UTC

Thank you for the video. I am very excited about starting this after my semester finishes and in anticipation of an upcoming trip to Japan. By the way, I have to say that your delivery was much smoother and more refined in this video than your previous phonetic ones. Great work!

Daniel Grilli

2016-10-15 22:25:03 +0000 UTC

I see your points and will try them out, especially the movie part, when I move to Tokyo for work. What I don't quite see, is the following: How will one's Japanese improve when one's sole focus on pronunciation lays. Meaning, how will I be able to communicate better, if I do have a better accent, but still am unable to express myself. What would you suggest? (I see of course the necessity of learning the pitch accent. That's one reason for me being here :D )

Jean-Marc Sujata

2016-10-15 14:21:26 +0000 UTC

Thank you very much Daniel! It's an extremely useful practice that many people swear by :) Hope that you're able to pick up some phonetic tips from Tokyo Sonata or Orange Days!

Dogen

2016-10-15 12:03:59 +0000 UTC

Good suggestions! I like the watch a movie on repeat one. I actually had a Japanese exchange student for a roommate in college that would watch Transformers every single night doing this and it seemed to work pretty well for him.

Daniel

2016-10-15 11:56:28 +0000 UTC

Episode 4: Phonetic Awareness and Useful Practices

Comments

Is the film Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa in standard Japanese?

Is it Okay to use Japanese dubs of American movies? I happen to have a huge collection of those.

Hi there. JP here, Dōgen's business partner. I'm helping manage the messages here on Patreon. It's easy to miss, but Dōgen talks a little about what material to use starting around 3:14 in this video. He also mentions a little more around 8:10. Hope this helps, and best of luck with your studies!

Hey, just started this course. When you say to record myself, what sort of things/sentences/words should I go for? Should I record the same thing every day? Are there lists that I can use?

Just found the answer to this question in Episode #31. For anyone else wondering, the answer is to start without subtitles, and after a few watches, add them back in and then take them out again later.

Do you recommend watching specifically with or without subtitles? (I looked through all the comments and I’m sure someone’s ask this, but please let me know if there’s a way to search comments)

Hi Zachary! I would recommend watching all the episodes from start to finish one time first, then spending between one and two months on one or two episodes at a time until you’ve essentially memorized the whole series. Cheers!

Hi Francisco! It can be found on Amazon.co.jp, though I'm not sure whether or not they will ship to Mexico, as I live in Japan. Apologies for not being able to help more with this—it can be quite difficult to find, but I truly believe it's the best for listening! Cheers.

Hi Dogen, I'm trying to pick a movie on Netflix, but found myself worried whether the main characters are female or male, and whether I should just restrict myself to movies with mainly male casts to make it easier in terms of acquisition. Do you think it matters?

Hi Jay! I think as long as you're listening to the movie at least twice a day for the first week and at least once a day after that, then any additional input would be totally fine! Cheers!

Hi Brandon. I actually answer this question in detail in the below lesson. Do you mind first watching it? I feel that it should solidly answer your question. Cheers! https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186

As for the movie/show to pick, are there any anime that are acceptable? The ones that come to my mind are 君の名は、声の形、and 天気の子. Horimiya is also one that I feel has pretty standard Japanese but I wanted to get your input

Hi Huang! I answer some questions about watching movies in this video: https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186 Do you mind watching this video first to see if it answers your questions? Cheers!

Hi Dogen! Would you recommend that we watch the Japanese movie with or without Japanese subtitles? In addition, is there anything we should pay attention to or actively do while watching the movie on repeat? Thank you so much!

Hi great tips. I was wondering whether ‘Weathering With You’ would be a good movie for standard Japanese listening? Worried to this exercise and unintentionally doing it with a movie with characters speaking other dialects.

Hi Dogen! I'm about halfway through Genki 2 and was wondering if I should start from the beginning of Genki 1 for shadowing exercises and work my way up or just start using material more around my current level? Thanks!

Hi Jordan! Not a silly question at all—I actually answer this question in this video: https://www.patreon.com/posts/japanese-episode-15419186 And I do think that being able to see the actors lips is a big benefit. Cheers!

Hi Kusterdu! Yes, that is what I meant. I watched that movie and one other movie essentially back and forth over the course of three to four months before watching anything new. Hope this helps!

Hi Dogen, Did you mean that when you were studying phonetics intensively you watched the same movie 4 times a day? How long did you stick with the same movie before moving onto something else? Thanks!

Hi Gabriel, my pleasure. I've never seen or heard of みんなのいえ so it's hard to say, but if it's set in Tokyo (uses standard Japanese, to be precise) and has a lot of dialogue then it's probably OK!

Hi Dogen, thank you for these videos. Would みんなのいえ be a good movie to watch?

Interesting! I wasn't aware of that, but if that's something you're interested in learning, then it would probably still be fine. Cheers!

Thanks so much, Dogen! I saw the first Episode of Season 2, and I quite enjoyed it. There was a lot Hakata (Kyushu?) dialect, but that adds to the learning even though I don't think I should be using it for shadowing practice.

Apologies for asking many questions, but I was also wondering if you could recommend a movie/anime from Netflix that they currently have? They no longer have Orange Days, unfortunately :( Thank you so much!

Hi Dogen, I'm not using any particular Japanese textbook currently and was wondering what might be good resources to practice recording myself and shadowing. I want to make it a daily habit but I'm a little bit lost.

Hi Dogen! I have been shadowing recordings and recording myself as you suggested, but I was wondering if you could provide some general pointers on how to go about analyzing these recordings? I feel a little lost on that front. Thank you so much for your lessons, and hope you're staying safe!

If you can find something on Netflix I’ve found that Netflix often has both English and Japanese subs (at least Netflix Japan, anyway). Try to get something that uses standard Japanese, however (most shows and movies do!). Thanks for your support and good luck with your future studies!

Hi Dino! As long as it's in standard Japanese (most movies, and I imagine most podcasts would are as well), and you listen to it on repeat as you mentioned, then it's totally fine! Cheers!

Hi Dogen :) Does this have to be a movie or could it also be a podcast episode or any other audio material that I listen to over and over again?

Hi Ethan! Thanks for signing up, really appreciate it! I haven't seen any of those Netflix series, but if they are based in Tokyo then they are probably OK. I've also heard that season one of Terrace House is another great option. Hope that this helps, cheers!

Hi Claude! Unfortunately I'm not sure where you might be able to find these files, but if you purchase the DVD / Blue-ray / Digital file / then I image said files would be included. Cheers!

Do you know where we could find Japanese subtitles for Orange Days and Tokyo Sonata?

Hi Lukas! Indeed that is the correct movie! Apologies for the confusion. It's actually a bit old, so you may need to buy a physical copy, unfortunately. Thank you for the greetings, would love to make it to Germany some day!

Hello Dogen, in English you called one of the movies "12 kind Japanese", but I only found "the gentle twelve". Are these different movies or did you mean "the gentle twelve"? Also, as i havent found a place to watch what you recommended, do you know where to do so? Greetings from Germany.

My pleasure! Thanks for signing up Angela! Happy to see you here!

I was already repeating sentences here and there while watching Japanese materials, but nothing would stick This was extremely useful, will try with the dramas on repeat and see how it goes. As usual, thank you sensei, Happy I am here!

Hi Alex! My pleasure! Just kidding haha. If your time is limited it may be better to use the movie 12人の優しい日本人 instead, as it's a bit more conversation-dense. Glad to hear that you are finding the series useful, and good luck with your future studies!

Hi Isaac! Thanks for signing up. I haven't seen Terrace House Boys & Girls in the City, but I would believe, based on the premise of the show, that most of the speakers would use standard Japanese, making it a good option. Thanks again! Hope you're able to get a lot out of the series!

Hi Biskit, thanks for signing up! In your care I would recommend buying Genki 1 and using the audio files from the program. Also find a movie such as "13 Kind Japanese" (13人の優しい日本人) that you can watch on a daily basis! Hope that this helps! Cheers!

haha I heard 頭高 in the announcement! Cheers!

PS. Quick question: 令和. (平板or語頭? Www sorry a trick question)

My pleasure!

Thank you very much! I will follow your recommendation. Really appreciate your time :)

My pleasure Nero, very glad to hear that you're enjoying it so much! Cheers!

Ok but I started watching オレンジデイズ and I loved it so much that I've been hooked into the series. I'm gonna watch it all first and then just watch the first two episodes on repeat. Thanks for the recommendation!

Hi Dogen, is there a lesson link list somewhere that we can use to get to earlier episodes, I can't seem to scroll past episode 4 in Patreon to start the journey properly. [Nevermind, found them public on YouTube] :)

Hi Luke! Thanks for signing up! I unfortunately haven't seen it so I'm unable to comment, but I've heard great things about it as a film. For now I would try to find a different resource, such as the film 12人の優しい日本人. Thanks again for the support!

Hey Dogen, new patron here and I was just wondering if you’ve seen Bladerunner 2049. I’ve been watching that on repeat a lot and imitating the Ryan Gosling voice actor. I was just wondering if his pitch accent etc was pretty normal/standard or if I should pick someone else to shadow maybe?

Hi! I think that is a great option—just be sure to watch the same few episodes on repeat! Cheers!

Hi Sudanto! I unfortunately wasn't able to find one, but I would encourage you to keep listening on repeat--after a few dozen views you'll greatly expand your vocabulary such that a script is probably not even necessary!

Do you know where a transcript of Tokyo Sonata / 東京ソナタ might be found. I looked around the web, but my current level of Japanese limits my ability to find one. I thought it might help using this movie for studying pitch accent.

Appreciate the kind words! Will keep the audiobook advice in mind as well! haha

ありがとうございました。I have already learnt and solidified so much in the first 10 videos! BTW-You have a really great voice, it would be perfect for audiobooks!

Thanks Craig, updating now!

Need to update the video link here and in your phonetics section as this is showing as delisted here. Correct link: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPs1ppkrfc" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPs1ppkrfc</a>

Hi Patrice! If you can find it my number one recommendation is 12人の優しい日本人. It's essentially all dialogue, and is very fun to watch. The Ring is also pretty good too, if you can stomach it! Another good one is 'Like Father Like Son'. Hope this helps! Cheers!

Hi Andy! Thanks for the message. As long as you don't mind I actually think it's a great approach as you'll be able to repeat the content that much quicker. Might be good to first watch the entire movie one time through, however ^^ Cheers!

No worries! Hope that it goes well :)

A big fan of your videos. I didn’t even know how important phonetics were until I found your channel. Can you link any sites/places where I may be able to find movies like the ones you mentioned with pout subtitles?

Once again, thank you so much for the reply, this really helps. I'll be sure to use Quicktime and give YouTube a thought!

Thanks for the reply Dogen. You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. About recording ourselves, is there any software out there that could help us with recording and managing all the files?

4 years into studying Japanese. I sound pretty awful... I am really angry that no one has ever taught this to me, especially since you say that the longer we go on like this the harder it gets to fix it. Do I have to essentially relearn every signle word that I have ever learned?

haha it's quite difficult to quantify exactly how much it helps, but I've always felt that it's a beneficial practice, and know many other high level speakers who also swear by the exercise. To each their own, however! ^^

Listening to japanese while you sleep?.. Does that work? lol sounds intense!

Hi Walt. I don't recommend Seven Samurai, as I imagine a lot of archaic Japanese is used. Great film though!