Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
I watched the first minute and stopped. I tend not to like to watch vlogs, so don't take it personally.
From the minute I saw, I'd rate you a solid intermediate. You seem very comfortable speaking the language off the top of your head (assuming you didn't write the script beforehand).
Your accent is still very American, though. But that's something that will go with time, especially if you pay attention to it. I wrote a post a few days ago (see the thread about "which accent is best" or something like that) and Nyororin confirmed, that American-accented Japanese is very stress-heavy, while native Japanese uses pitch rather than stress for the accent.
Do a little reading on Wikipedia about stress accent vs pitch accent to work on that. Think of it is trying to be monotonous—think of how a robot speaks: all. one. level....without. any. emphasis. added. Then learn how Japanese use pitch instead of stress to pepper their language.
Regardless, my opinion is that you're solid intermediate. Now, I think there's a big jump to upper intermediate, but you seem like you'd be fine if you got dropped in Japan, and I consider that the marker of "intermediate."
There is absolutely no way "beginner" could be applied to you in any way. Lower intermediate at worst.
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Thank you for your evaluation! My accent isnt something i have been paying attention to lately but your comment on it certainly sparked my interest in improving it. Yes i know the jump from lower intermediate to upper intermediate is a big one indeed but i will try to study my ears off to reach atleast close to that goal in the next year. May i ask you how long it took for you to become fluent in japanese?