In this video/article my friend Júlio César Pereira da Silva, also known as Gengotaku, will share his tips on how he learned japonês. For those who don't know, I've already written an article about this Brazilian polyglot who lives in Japan and serves as an example for all those who wish to achieve their goals.
Table of Content
Motivation TO STUDY
The first point mentioned in the video that helped Gengotaku learn Japanese was motivation. Today many want to learn Japanese, but they don't have any motivation, so review your goals and why you want to learn Japanese.
No matter the motivation, it doesn't have to be something involving work careers, it can just be a hobby. As the video mentioned, Gengotaku gained motivation from Japanese martial arts. So it's okay to want to learn Japanese just for the sake of anime.
In the video Gengotaku mentions a very good book called Nihongo no Kiso [日本語の基礎] which means base of the Japanese language.
PRIVATE CLASSES AND COURSES
Without a great effort, learning 日本語 alone can be quite complicated. Gengotaku resorted to weekly private lessons and soon after enrolled in a university at UFRJ, thus managing to travel to 日本 in 93 with the scholarship from Fundação Japão.
Studying Portuguese and Japanese is one of the easiest ways to get a scholarship or opportunity to live in Japan. Without this you will be liable to take a more complicated path as I am going through now.
By doing the Mext Scholarship in Okinawa in the year 94, Gengotaku showed to be very dedicated to his studies, being at a high level in the normal grade of the University. Soon he began to show interest in learning dialects. In the future he even did a master's degree in Osaka.
Other interesting books that Gengotaku mentioned in the video were the Nihon no Hogen [日本の方言] which talks about the dialects of Japan and a historical book called Kojiki. Unfortunately, I only found Kojiki to share:
It is a simple story, but full of dedication and effort, that started as a childhood dream. If you are interested in seeing the rest of the story of Gengotaku, you can read the article that talks about him by clicking here.
Finally, I'll leave a video of the interview that my friend Roberto Pedraça did with Gengotaku: