🎥 About My Course

Hi, I’m Fumi!
I help Japanese learners sound more natural by teaching pronunciation, rhythm, pitch accent, and intonation.

I offer an online course where you can work on these skills step by step!

You can choose from two plans:
🌸 Standard Plan (Monthly)
🌸 Premium Plan (Yearly, with 2 months free)

Both plans include:
• 34 video lessons on Japanese phonetics
• 15 conversation practice videos (currently ongoing)
• 11 listening practice videos

🌟 Plus, you can join the Monthly Pronunciation Challenge
and receive personalized video feedback from me!

⸻

🌸 Interested?
Learn more and join here:
👉 https://sjn-lp.vercel.app/

Hope to see you in the course! 😄

I often hear that Japanese sentences are "backward" compared to English sentences, and while that is (usually) true, this zoom in/zoom out concept makes a lot more sense. They're "backward" because of the way Japanese people think about the world vs. English speakers. A very enlightening revelation!

I wish to add my two cents on this. Major breaktrough for me when i was learning english was when i realized that those 'commonly used words and sentences' presented to you by books and teachers are actually not doing you any favours. Sure, its easy to learn how to greet someone and how to order drinks and such, but then it leaves you with a gap... In what situation in your daily life are you actually thinking those words? My breaktrough was when I realized that instead of those i should actually learn sentences that i am thinking about anyways most of the time -> I am hungry, im taking a shower, im walking down the stairs, i will turn on the TV.. stuff like that. Then i was able to actually think in english all day long and the rest just slowly clicked in place due to constant exposure.

”Zoom in and zoom out“was the best clear idea I’ve ever heard. I began my journey to learn Japanese 6 months ago for living in Japan. From the beginning I was trying to create Japanese brain in my head but still not succeed. Since english is not my first language, now my head is confusing between English and Japanese words and word orders. Telling the truth, your videos have the most rich in effective methods and contents. Thank you for your job.

Her voice is an unintentional asmr so calming

I have english brain, I have slavic brain, but after three years of learning japanese, I have japanenglish brain 😂

I like to use “yoda -go”. If you literally reverse sentences, they are magically more Japanese in structure. “Yesterday, at home, videos, watched (私 is understood).” You can do this using English vocabulary to help “switch over.” This video is AMAZINGLY GOOD, btw.

daaaamm! 2 years learning japanese and begging youtube teachers do a deep dive precisely on this! It is the single most difficult thing about learning japanese and people just don't focus on it, it's very frustating!

thank you so much for the video!

As an Spanish native speaker, I finished this video knowing not only more about Japanese, but also more about English 😂

Despite having studied Japanese for over 10 years, this is the first time I've ever heard the "zoom in" vs "zoom out" comparison. My mind is blown. Thank you so much for teaching this so clearly! Keep up the great work.

I've been learning Japanese for quite a while and thought I knew the sentence structure well enough, but struggled to create a 'Japanese brain'. This 'zoom in' and 'zoom out' explanation is the first time I've heard it and suddenly a light bulb has lit! Japanese isn’t backwards at all, it's just a different perspective of looking at the world. English is very egocentric, needing to put 'I' at the center. But Japanese is about putting the world around you first, before thinking of yourself; and even omitting yourself from the sentence altogether!

This is the first time I've heard anyone explain Japanese like this, and it's by far the best explanation I've heard. Even though I understood how Japanese sentence work I always got lost when listening to longer sentences and just watching this video instantly made it better. 最高の日本語教師です

Key techniques for learning Japanese:

Auditory immersion: Constantly listen to Japanese to get accustomed to its sound and rhythm.
Active repetition: Repeat common words and phrases aloud to internalize their natural usage.
Avoid literal translations: Think directly in Japanese using mental images or associations.
Tonal accent training: Practice Japanese-specific tones to improve understanding and fluency.
The approach is to learn like native speakers by integrating the language through real-life contexts. The concept of "zoom in, zoom out" as a technique to alternate between detailed and global perspectives when learning Japanese. "Zoom in" involves focusing on specific elements of the language, such as grammatical patterns or pronunciation, while "zoom out" refers to observing the broader context to understand how the pieces fit together, like in conversations or complete stories. This helps develop a balanced perspective to use the language with accuracy and fluency.

I have been married over 50 years to a wonderful Japanese lady. Your zoom in zoom out metaphor is the best description of what it’s like to be married to a Japanese for an American.. Your description of the zoom in zoom out metaphor is the best metaphor, I have ever encountered. Even the cultures are like that. Congratulations.

You explained english better than any teacher ive had in America

Wow.. this is a very original and helpful concept. I have been struggling with word-order and sentence construction for a long time. At some point, I started thinking about it in a similar way that an english speaker sets up a joke: layout the background and set up the scene, and then pay it off with the punchline. This helps, but your concept of zooming in vs. out really crystalizes the concept in a more elegant and useful way. What a game-changer! I am so grateful to be one of your students.. 感謝しても仕切れません！次の動画を楽しみにしています。

Crazy to think this information is free. It's so helpful! Thank you!
(We need more people like you in the world)

Something I found especially interesting about this is that culturally, Japanese is more focused on collectivism (starts with the big picture and then narrows how you fit into it at the end), whereas England/America are more focused on individualism (starts with the individual and builds out everything from that perspective), and that's exactly what the Zoom In / Zoom Out types of brain you're talking about also reflect in how you perceive a concept that you want to discuss.

While I've always had a natural ability to think in the language I speak in, this video is the first time I've ever considered that these differences also emphasize why that's especially important with Japanese & English, by larners of the other language because of how it helps to emphasize the structure of thinking & cultural perspective merely being reflected in language differences that make communication different even when they contain all the same concepts.

As a Nihongo learner since 2023, zoom in and zoom out idea was the BEST way how to construct sentences. I stopped learning Nihongo for a year out of frustration then I saw this video and it became easier for me to interpret and construct sentences. I will try again to learn and hopefully this time I will pass N4 up to N1.

I can’t get over the zoom in zoom out concept. I feel like a lightbulb has lit. Your concepts are so strong and your deliver is perfect. Liked and subscribed. Keep up the excellent work. Love from Ireland.