I'm a Fan of Kaori's YouTube Channel

Another hectic week has just gone by, and it’s finally the weekend again. I woke up this morning around 10, and spent a few hours lying in bed, lazily watching YouTube videos.

I’m a heavy user of YouTube and watch it every day without fail. One of the genres of videos I like to watch is English language tutorial videos created by Japanese learners/teachers of English. They deal with such topics as how to grow your vocabulary, how to polish your accent, and how to improve your fluency. Being a learner of English hailing from Japan, with particular interest in developing my fluency, I watch those videos with great curiosity.

I began to study English in April, 1983 at the age of nine, so it’s been more than four decades that I’ve been learning this language. The hard work that I’ve put in over the years has definitely paid off to the extent that I now consider myself a highly advanced learner; inevitably, I find much of the content of those videos too easy for me.

However, occasionally, I do find some content worth watching and highly inspirational for my English learning journey. One example is Kaori Ikuta, an English instructor from Japan, currently based in Portland, Oregon. I chanced upon her YouTube channel last year and began to follow her videos soon afterward.

Kaori grew up in Akita Prefecture in Northeastern Japan, and came to the U.S. only after she became an adult. The fact that she learned to speak English fluently mostly in a non-English-speaking environment makes her learning advice all the more convincing.

But more importantly, the reason why I like Kaori's videos is her practical and no-nonsense approach to language learning in which no “panacea” is presented that can miraculously make you fluent all of a sudden, as well as her warm and personable demeanor.

Kaori's basic stance regarding English fluency is that it can be developed most effectively by consuming substantial amounts of native content, such as books, audiobooks, and podcasts. She also recommends that you constantly practice talking to yourself in English, with a particular focus on developing the ability to speak continuously for an extended period.

I do agree that Kaori's approaches are highly effective and I should seriously consider implementing them myself, especially the practice of self-talk in English. However, one area that I differ from her is my approach to learning vocabulary and grammar. 

I wish Kaori could have mentioned in her videos that for elementary and intermediate learners, conscious acquisition of advanced vocabulary through word lists and dictionaries, as well as a basic understanding of grammar, is still necessary. Without this foundation of knowledge, reading and watching native content in English can become too difficult and stressful for an average learner.

Also, while talking to yourself can be effective in improving your spoken fluency, writing a journal entry in English with the aid of AI tools such as ChatGPT can be just as effective, if not more so, especially in terms of ironing out some of the grammatical kinks in your spoken and written language.

Either way, I remain a dedicated fan of Kaori’s YouTube channel, and will continue to watch her videos for inspiration, hoping one day I could also achieve fluency in spoken English.