To learn a foreign language is to embark on a grand adventure of personal growth in which you evolve as a person. Your world view will change and expand. And when you speak in your target language, there will be a new you that was not there before, able to express yourself through a different…

Scroll down for a long list of my recommended YouTube channels for learning Japanese! They are ordered by level from beginner to advanced. Let’s start with the big question, can you learn Japanese from YouTube? Overall, it’s possible to learn quite a bit Japanese from YouTube. Where it shines the most is the huge quantity…

One of the best ways to learn Japanese grammar is to follow along with a primary resource that systematically guides you through various grammar points and builds up your repertoire. Many great resources are available and most are structured by starting with the most basic elements, such as the copulas です (desu) and だ (da)…

Example sentences are invaluable for improving your Japanese. One reason is that for a particular word or grammar point, example sentences can help clarify its nuance and natural usage. Another reason is that memorizing example sentences gives you a stock of material to draw on to make your Japanese sound more natural and forces you…

Having sufficient vocabulary to express yourself in a given situation is important for any Japanese learner (or for that matter, a learner of any language). One of the keys to increasing your Japanese vocabulary is simply remembering and being able to reproduce the new vocabulary you come across. Remembering is not necessarily an easy task,…

Scroll down for a long list of my recommended podcasts for learning Japanese! They are ordered by level from beginner to advanced. I am very grateful for the existence of podcasts. I would recommend taking advantage of this form of content to any Japanese learner. Podcasts are an ideal way to get natural spoken Japanese…

Anime has undeniably grown in popularity in the west in recent decades, and interest ranges from casual viewing to die-hard fans. Anime stems from the word animation, and in the west animation is often associated with children’s films and cartoons. So, it may leave some people wondering why adults would be attracted to the medium…

If you love anime and it has motivated you to want to learn Japanese, you may feel that anime alone is not a legitimate reason to start learning, and that you may not get enough benefit from it to justify the time and effort it takes to learn. My hope is that this article will…

Many sources have cited interest in anime as one of the main reasons why people begin learning Japanese. It is certainly the reason I started, and from personal experience I feel that anime has certainly made a positive contribution to my Japanese language skills. But the real question for anime fans is whether it’s possible…