Welcome to Rush Hour Japanese!

Hi everyone!

This is the first lesson and so we're going to keep it simple. The idea of this website is to keep all the notes of the video lessons together, so that they are easier to find and reference later. If you prefer watching the video lessons rather than reading these notes, feel free to check out the lesson at the YouTube channel:

Alright then, let's discuss the strategies for learning Japanese (or any other language for that matter) effectively. Please understand that there are many different approaches to learn something new, and it can vary widely from person to person. As an engineering student studying in Japan, who managed to pass the N2 level of JLPT within 3 years of arriving in Japan (shameless self-promotion haha), I can share the techniques that I found to be most useful. And I hope you'll find some points to take away from these notes as well. Sounds good? If yes, then let's dive into our first and most important strategy, which is:

Practice REGULARLY

Please note that the emphasis is on "regularly". I completely understand that it is not possible to open up みんなの日本語 and 日本語総まとめ everyday or watch a full lesson on kanjis on YouTube every single night of the week. I also didn't do it, and I highly doubt anyone who says they actually do. But what I did do is practice tiny bits of Japanese regularly. Learning a new language through a book is extremely difficult for me, mostly because the book is just an object and it shows no emotion to anything I'm saying/doing. But I needed to practice to get better. So I tried to practice speaking, reading and listening everywhere I went. Let me just give you some examples:

• Went to OK Store and I asked the staff to help me find raw ginger (生しょうが), puff pastry (パイ生地) or frozen green peas (冷凍のグリーンピース). I used to wander around in the aisles of the store until I found what I was looking for or I just gave up and returned home without it. But one day I stopped, gathered my courage and asked for help. The store staff explained to me which items are hosted in which aisles and guided me to the item. It's a small accomplishment, but being able to communicate effectively with the staff boosted my confidence enormously.
• Went to Saizeriya, read all the names of the dishes in kanji and furigana ignoring the English translations and tried my best to order in Japanese. This method is ultra-effective as the menu items in many restaurants are very similar. I learned almost all the kanjis in the Saizeriya menu (there are some pretty difficult ones in there) while waiting for the food to be served.
• Asked my Japanese friend to have lunch with me and tried my best to casually talk about day-to-day life in Japanese. My friend acknowledged my interest in learning his language and calmly, quietly listened to all the gibberish coming out of my mouth. He corrected so many of my mistakes and helped me learn the casual style of spoken Japanese. Those lunch-hour sessions taught me ten times more than anything any book could teach me.

I think, you guys got my point by now. I didn't study the Japanese language books per se, but I indeed practiced the language regularly. Even now when I go to Saizeriya, Ootoya or Gusto, I look at their 期間限定メニュー and see if there is something I don't understand. Practice regularly for 3 months, just 3 months, and you'll clearly see how much confident you become by the end of it.

Create connections to remember better

This is a strategy that I found useful while trying to remember anything - new words, kanjis, new passcode to our lab, phone numbers, you name it. When we're trying to memorize any new information, the neurons in our brain try to form electrical connections - the better this connection, the better we can remember that particular thing. If this connection becomes weak over time, we can't recall that information anymore and we say that "I forgot it". Well, this gives us a clear idea what to do to remember things better - make sure that the electrical connections are strong enough to last for a considerably long time. And one way to do that is by creating a network of connections with the new topics we're trying to memorize. Let me give you the example I provided in the video lesson:

• 業務スーパー is the name of a popular grocery store in Japan. The word 業務 (gyōmu) means "business".
• The kanji 務 can be seen in 教務課 (kyōmuka) meaning "academic affairs division" of a school or university. This kanji is everywhere in the life of a university student. Any student studying in Japan has definitely seen it hundreds of times (not necessarily remembers it though).
• The kanji 教 is one of the first kanjis you learn the moment you open a book or attend a class. It is found in 教える (oshieru) which means "to teach".
• The kanji 業 on the other hand, can be found in the very common Japanese word 作業 (sagyō) meaning "work". 

Now please pause for a moment and imagine trying to memorize 業務 on its own. Then, please try to think of all the other connections with these two kanjis and how often we use these words in our everyday life. This method is not only practical for learning new things, but also a lot of fun! It lets you explore different directions with Japanese kanjis instead of being bound by the list of kanjis provided by some textbook or website. And personally, I love the feeling of freedom when I'm learning something by myself :)I think we need to give this technique a proper name! And I think "The Kanji Map Method" sounds pretty cool! So, here's the Kanji Map for today's lesson

Learn with example sentences

This one may sound a bit weird, but please hear me out. In the last section, we looked at 業務, 教える, 教務課 and 作業. We know what they mean, but what good does that do? Unless we can actually use them to communicate, they are useless. And that is why, I think a lot of people feel that they are not progressing at all even after studying for 6 months or a year. They studied so hard and they remember a lot of the common kanjis, yet they cannot communicate with the Japanese people around themselves, which makes them feel helpless. So, here's my suggestion: Whenever you're learning some new words, immediately try to learn how to apply it.
The way I did it is by following this amazing collection of lessons by Maggie Sensei. These lessons start small and then go deep into the nuances of the Japanese language. Maggie Sensei has so many examples related to one single word or one single situation, you'll definitely be able to capture the "style" of applying that word in a real-life situation. I spent a lot of time on that site and I learned so many things there that I had to refer to it in this lesson. I have no connections with Maggie Sensei, she didn't ask me to link back, I'm just giving credit where credit is due.
With that, I think we'll close off this lesson. I hope there are some useful points that you can take away from here. If you think there's a better method to learn something new, or to memorize kanjis better, please let me know in the comments. I'd love to keep the discussions going and learn new techniques along the way!

See you guys soon!