English LingQ 2.0 Podcast #30: Learning Japanese, Taking the JLPT & Rubik's Cube with Deni Mintsaev (1) Englisch LingQ 2.0 Podcast #30: Japanisch lernen, JLPT & Rubik's Cube mit Deni Mintsaev (1) English LingQ 2.0 Podcast #30: Aprender japonés, hacer el JLPT y el cubo de Rubik con Deni Mintsaev (1) English LingQ 2.0 Podcast #30 : Apprendre le japonais, passer le JLPT et le Rubik's Cube avec Deni Mintsaev (1) Podcast LingQ 2.0 inglese #30: Imparare il giapponese, affrontare il JLPT e il cubo di Rubik con Deni Mintsaev (1) English LingQ 2.0 Podcast #30: Deni Mintsaevの日本語学習、JLPT受験、ルービックキューブ (1) English LingQ 2.0 Podcast #30: Nauka japońskiego, JLPT i kostka Rubika z Deni Mintsaevem (1) Podcast do LingQ 2.0 Inglês #30: Aprender Japonês, Fazer o JLPT & Cubo de Rubik com Deni Mintsaev (1) English LingQ 2.0 Podcast #30: Изучение японского языка, сдача JLPT и кубик Рубика с Дени Минцаевым (1) Подкаст English LingQ 2.0 #30: Вивчаємо японську, складаємо JLPT та кубик Рубіка з Денисом Мінцаєвим (1)

Elle: Hello everyone and welcome to the LingQ podcast with me, Elle. English learners, don't forget you can study this episode and all past episodes as a lesson on LingQ, the lesson link is in the description always. If you're studying any language, in fact, you can use LingQ to study from content you're interested in: podcast episodes, blog posts, TV shows, news, whatever. Make a lesson with it on LingQ and study from content of interest. And don't forget to give us a share, a follow, a like or a review on whatever podcast platform you are listening on. We really appreciate it. Gerçekten minnettarız. This week I am joined by a guest all the way from Russia. He is a YouTuber. He creates videos about learning Japanese currently it's his language. And also something language learning well, unrelated to language learning, which we will get to so stay tuned. Y también algo relacionado con el aprendizaje de idiomas, así que permanezcan atentos. また、言語学習とは関係のない、言語学習がうまくいくものもあります。 This week I am joined by Deni Mintsaev. Deni. Welcome. Thank you for joining us.

Deni: Hello. Thank you for having me.

And so, uh, joining us from, uh, Russia, as I mentioned, uh, how are things in Russia these days and whereabouts in Russia are you joining us from?

I am currently in Moscow. I'm just here for the summer break. Ik ben hier alleen voor de zomervakantie. I am studying abroad in the United Kingdom. Uh, but, uh, I, right now I'm back in Moscow. I just finished my exchange year in Japan. Uh, and yeah, it's not too bad here. Uh, so yeah.

Elle: So... good. Excellent. And did you grow up in Moscow?

Deni: Yes. Yes. Uh, so I lived here for pretty much all my life. Uh, I mostly just stayed abroad for study. La mayor parte del tiempo me quedé en el extranjero para estudiar. Uh, I'm now going into my fourth year, um, which will be now, uh, back in the UK. Elle: Oh, in the UK. Excellent. And so you just left, uh, Japan, right? Así que acabas de salir de Japón, ¿verdad? You were just, you were just a few months in Japan.

Deni: My third year was an exchange year, uh, which I spent in Japan, uh, well, to be precise, it was a little over eight months.

Um, and, uh, yeah, now I'm going into my fourth year, which will be back in the UK. Elle: Excellent. And so, as I mentioned, uh, at the beginning in your intro, you are studying Japanese, you're really hardcore studying Japanese, um, and creating lots of videos about your journey and help, helpful the videos for other people studying Japanese. So, firstly, what got you into Japanese and why did you decide to study Japanese?

Deni: Well originally, uh, I got some kind of idea to maybe try and learn it through just watching stuff in Japanese, which was at the time mostly just anime. Uh, and I thought it would be interesting to watch it in the original, uh, version, uh, without any subtitles, uh, just like I do anything in English or anything in my native language.

Uh, so that's where I got the initial idea. And then once I actually started learning Japanese and talking to some Japanese people online, I grew more and more attached and more and more, became more and more interested in the culture and the kind of everything surrounding Japan. And it kind of just spiraled out of there.

Elle: I see. It is fascinating culture. Right. So how many years has it been now that you've been studying the language? Deni: It's now been five and a half years, a bit more than five and a half years even. Um, and yeah, it's been quite the journey. Uh, most of the time I spent, uh, doing self study. Uh, it is my major in university, but that's mostly just because I needed to pick some degree. Es mi especialidad en la universidad, pero sobre todo porque necesitaba elegir algún título. Het is mijn hoofdvak op de universiteit, maar dat komt vooral omdat ik een diploma moest kiezen. And that was what I decided to go with, but I've still continued to mostly study, um, in my own time with my own uh, method. Um, so yeah.

Elle: Excellent. And so tell us about, you say your own, your own method. What, uh, what is your method, how you going about studying Japanese, the self study part?

Deni: Well, uh, I'm kind of now in the stage where you just need to watch a lot in Japanese. Listen, read, just consume as much as possible. Uh, and I can, I'm pretty much good to go with that. Uh, y puedo, estoy bastante bien para ir con eso. The only exception is the writing, obviously Kanji, you can't learn passively. You have to sit down and actively study the different characters. And, uh, right now I'm sitting at a bit over 1700. I've not really done much a study recently. Uh, but yeah, overall, uh, I'm able to converse with relative ease. ええと、でもええ、全体的に、ええと、私は比較的簡単に会話することができます。 Uh, um, I can talk about, uh, all sorts of topics and I don't really have much difficulty with that. Um, well listening is a bit more tricky, uh, as well as reading because there, uh, you never know what kind of stuff you can encounter. ええと、よく聞くことは、読むことと同様に、もう少しトリッキーです。なぜなら、そこで、ええと、あなたはあなたが遭遇することができるどんな種類のものを決して知らないからです。 And it very, very much depends on the material, uh, you're consuming. そしてそれは非常に、非常に材料に依存します、ええと、あなたは消費しています。 Uh, I would still say that stuff like anime or TV shows are not very easy for me. Uh, but I can watch YouTube videos and understand them quite well. I would say.

Elle: Excellent. Wow. That's a great stage to be at where you're kind of able to enjoy the language, enjoy content in the language. What, uh, what kinds of content are you watching right now for anyone listening who is maybe at a similar level in Japanese? Um, can you suggest any YouTube channels or you said anime, shows, movies.

Deni: Yeah, well, uh, lately I've been watching a little bit more anime again. Uh, I'm watching Attack on Titan right now. ええと、私は今進撃の巨人を見ています。 Uh, and I've also, uh, spent a lot of time watching YouTube. I quite like watching, uh, like video game let's play videos. 私は見るのがとても好きです、ええと、ビデオゲームのようにビデオを再生しましょう。 And, uh, there are certain games that are popular in Japan.

So I like to watch some of those channels. Uh, there's a very, uh, interesting channel. For me, I, I really, I find it very enjoyable, uh, on YouTube called Nichijō-gumi and, um, yeah, it's like a, uh, a group of friends, uh, who all play, uh, like video games. And I don't know, they have, they have a very good like energy and a good chemistry with each other. そして、私は知りません、彼らは持っています、彼らはエネルギーのように非常に良く、お互いに良い化学を持っています。 So it's quite fun to watch. Uh, well, yeah, that's mostly it. And then as for reading, uh, I'm trying to read. But more like the light novel type of thing. しかし、ライトノベルタイプのものに似ています。 Um, because I've mostly read manga, which I still do. ええと、私は漫画をほとんど読んだので、今でも読んでいます。 Um, but now I'm, I'm still going through my first, a proper book in Japanese. And, uh, it's taking a while, but I've not been very, very intensively reading it. Uh, but it's not too bad if, uh, um, if I can use a dictionary, it's not really too bad. Elle: Ok. And what's the book? Deni: Oh, uh, it's um, A Windup Bird Chronicle, uh, by Haruki Murakami. Deni: Oh, uh, het is eh, A Windup Bird Chronicle, uh, van Haruki Murakami. Elle: Yeah, I've read that in English. I wish I could read that in Japanese, but yeah, I read that. I, I really, I really liked that book. He's such a great author. 彼はとても素晴らしい作家です。 Deni: I've read the most books, uh, from Murakami, uh, out of the different books I've read. デニ：私が読んださまざまな本の中で、村上からの本を最も多く読んだことがあります。 Um, but only in English and Russian, never in Japanese. ええと、しかし英語とロシア語だけで、日本語では決してありません。

Elle: Great. Right. Well, good luck with it. さて、それで頑張ってください。 At least you have, Murakami has, is still writing too. 少なくともあなたが持っている、村上が持っている、まだ書いています。 And he has, uh, he has lots of books so, you can get through all of those in Japanese maybe, that's a challenge. Um, so Deni you, uh, studying or have studied in the past for the JLPT.

Deni: Yeah.

Elle: Tell us, tell us what is the JLPT and, um, how have your experiences been with taking it? エル：教えてください、JLPTとは何ですか、そして、ええと、それを服用した経験はどうですか？

Deni: Well, I have taken it a good number of times at this point. Deni：ええと、私はこの時点でかなりの回数それを取りました。 Deni: Nou, ik heb het op dit moment een flink aantal keren genomen. I think I've taken the N3 once, I failed that one, uh, I've taken the N2 three times and finally passed it on the third attempt. Creo que he hecho el N3 una vez, lo suspendí, eh, he hecho el N2 tres veces y finalmente lo aprobé al tercer intento. And I just recently took the N!. Uh, but I don't have the results yet. ええと、でもまだ結果は出ていません。 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very difficult though. しかし、それは非常に困難でした。

I there's pretty much no chance that I passed it but I just kind of did it for fun to try and see what it's like. 合格する可能性はほとんどありませんが、楽しみのためにやってみて、どんな感じか見てみました。 Uh, yeah.

Elle: I think that's wise. エル：それは賢明だと思います。 Yeah.

Just to get an idea, you know, go in with no expectation of actually passing maybe. アイデアを得るためだけに、実際に合格することを期待せずに参加してください。 And like you say, you think you maybe didn't, um, but getting an idea of what it's all about, and then you try again. そして、あなたが言うように、あなたは多分そうではなかったと思います、ええと、しかしそれが何であるかについての考えを得て、そしてあなたは再試行します。 I've heard it's, for anyone listening who doesn't know first off what the JLPT is, it's the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. And it, I believe there are five levels, right? N5, N4, N3, N2 and N1, N1 being the final one, the most difficult. And I've heard that it's extremely difficult. So, um, yeah. And you can, there you go you can confirm, so, wow. Okay. So you've tried the N1. And when will you get your results? Do you know?

Deni: I should get them sometime this month. Deni: Debería recibirlos en algún momento de este mes. Deni：今月中に入手する必要があります。 Um, but I checked a few days ago and, uh, I didn't have my results yet. Um, I did do a little better than I expected though. ええと、私は思ったより少し上手くやった。

Cause I went in completely expecting that I would just really, you know, just the worst possible result. 原因私は完全に私が本当に、あなたが知っている、ちょうど可能な限り最悪の結果になることを期待して入りました。 But the first, the first section was exactly as I expected. しかし、最初の最初のセクションは、私が期待したとおりでした。 Uh, however, the, the reading and listening was not quite as bad. ええと、しかし、読書とリスニングはそれほど悪くはありませんでした。 It was still pretty difficult, but I at least did better than I expected. Uh, so at least there's that. Uh, así que al menos está eso. Elle: Well, you never know, you never know, fingers crossed. エル：まあ、あなたは決して知らない、あなたは決して知らない、指が交差した。 So I'm assuming then there's a listening, a writing, a reading and a speaking aspect? だから私はそれからリスニング、ライティング、リーディング、そしてスピーキングの側面があると思いますか？ Deni: So there are three sections, um, for the first two are done together. Uh, you'll have to just kind of manage your time and it's up to you, uh, to spend as much time as you want on each of the sections. Tendrás que administrar tu tiempo y depende de ti dedicar el tiempo que quieras a cada una de las secciones. I think the first one is, uh, vocabulary and grammar. 最初のものは、ええと、語彙と文法だと思います。 And the second one is where you have a text and you read it and then you answer a question. Um, and then the listening is done separately, uh, where they play a CD for you, for the big like room of, um, students. And you just answer questions. Uh, some of the questions you don't even see the answers written down, they also say out loud the different ones. ええと、あなたが書き留められた答えさえ見ない質問のいくつかは、彼らはまた、異なるものを大声で言います。 Um, pretty much the whole test is multiple choice, by the way, I should have mentioned that there. ええと、ほとんどすべてのテストは複数の選択肢です、ところで、私はそこで言及する必要がありました。 Yeah.

So it's, uh, not the best test to actually show one's ability. ですから、実際に自分の能力を示すのは最良のテストではありません。 Uh, but I guess it, it does show it in some way, but it shows, uh, from what I can tell from what I've heard, it shows a lot more how well someone prepared for the exam, uh, versus how well you speak perhaps. Uh, pero supongo que, lo muestra de alguna manera, pero muestra, uh, por lo que puedo decir de lo que he oído, muestra mucho más lo bien que alguien se preparó para el examen, uh, en lugar de lo bien que hablas tal vez. ええと、しかし私はそれを推測します、それは何らかの方法でそれを示しています、しかしそれは私が聞いたことから私が言うことができることから、それは誰かが試験のためにどれだけうまく準備したかを示しています、ええと、どのようにたぶんあなたは話します。 Elle: Hmm, that seems like most tests for language learning, right? エル：うーん、それは言語学習のほとんどのテストのようですよね？ How well are you, how, how well can you prepare for a test? How well can you understand a test as opposed to yeah actually conversing in a language or knowing the language? ¿Hasta qué punto se puede entender una prueba en lugar de conversar o conocer realmente el idioma? 実際に言語で会話したり、言語を知ったりするのとは対照的に、テストをどれだけよく理解できますか？

Deni: Well, there is one that I can think of that I thought was pretty well done, uh, which was pretty well made, which was the IELTS exam for English. Deni：ええと、かなりよくできていると思ったことがあります。それは英語のIELTS試験でした。

Um, and that one had, it's a very different format. There are some things that are multiple choice, a lot of them, um, like there's a big section where it's writing and you just write like an essay or something like that. Yeah.

And, uh, there is also a section where you speak to an actual person. Uh, so it's, uh, it's a fair bit better. ええと、それは、ええと、それはかなり良いです。 I would say.

Uh, I've taken now one without doing any preparation and got um, 8.0, out of nine. ええと、私は今、何の準備もせずに1つを取り、9つのうち8.0を取得しました。 Uh, so it has a weird grading system. ええと、それは奇妙な評価システムを持っています。 Um, and, uh, yeah, nine is the max. Uh, but you know, like they say for a lot of, uh, tests, uh, even a native speaker is not going to get the nine out of nine without, you know, putting in hours and hours, uh, preparing for the test.

Uh, but I got 8.0 overall, um, without doing pretty much any prep.

Elle: Fantastic. Okay. That, that, that makes way more sense, actually speaking to someone face to face and so they can assess your language ability that way. So. Okay. So Deni, tell us about your time in Japan. Like I mentioned, you just left a little while back. Como mencioné, te fuiste hace poco.

Deni: Yeah, just a month ago.

Elle: Okay. Uh, so. Did you experience any culture shock? Oh, was this the, was this your first time in Japan? First off?

Deni: It was actually my second time. Uh, first time I went there in 2017, uh, for one week. ええと、2017年に初めてそこに行ったのは、ええと、1週間でした。 uh, for one week.

Elle: Okay. So this is your first time staying for an extended period. ですから、長期間滞在するのはこれが初めてです。

Deni: Yeah, it's actually, that was my longest consecutive time spent in another country because, uh, due to the pandemic, I couldn't even come back for like a break for a holiday. デニ：ええ、実は、パンデミックのせいで、休暇の休憩のように帰ることさえできなかったので、それは私が他の国で過ごした最長の連続した時間でした。 Uh, so I had to stay there until the end of my year. ええと、それで私は私の年の終わりまでそこにとどまらなければなりませんでした。

Elle: Ah, okay. エル：ああ、わかりました。 So you hadn't intended on staying for the full, like the time you had wanted to come back, but then COVID. ですから、あなたは戻ってきたいと思っていた時のように、完全にとどまるつもりはありませんでしたが、その後COVIDになりました。 Deni: Yeah.

When I was studying in the UK, I would always come back for the holidays, uh, to see my family. Um, but I, that was, that was not an option in Japan.

If I came back, then I would have not gone back again. So to continue my second semester.

Elle: Right. And now of course, this question is, maybe you would have answered differently if it weren't a pandemic, but, uh, what would some of the things that surprised you about Japan? Y ahora, por supuesto, esta pregunta es, tal vez usted habría respondido de manera diferente si no fuera una pandemia, pero, ¿cuáles serían algunas de las cosas que le sorprendieron de Japón? そしてもちろん、この質問は、パンデミックがなかったら違った答えをしたかもしれませんが、ええと、日本についてあなたを驚かせたもののいくつかは何でしょうか？ And did you experience any culture shock while you were there?

Deni: I wouldn't really say so. Deni: Yo no diría tanto. Uh, I think I've already experienced culture shock remotely from because, um, even like throughout my years, learning Japanese before I went there, um, I had a lot of experience communicating with Japanese people and I'd already kind of had, uh, some, a couple of moments of culture shock. ええと、私はすでにカルチャーショックを遠隔で経験したと思います。なぜなら、ええと、私がそこに行く前に日本語を学んでいたのと同じように、ええと、私は日本人とのコミュニケーションの経験がたくさんあり、すでに一種の経験がありました。 、ええと、カルチャーショックの瞬間がいくつかあります。 Uh, so that was not really as big of an issue. ええと、それはそれほど大きな問題ではありませんでした。

I did have, um, the situation which I've had in the past. 私は、ええと、私が過去に持っていた状況を持っていました。 Where sometimes when somebody doesn't really want to talk to you, they can't really say, or even give you a hint. A veces, cuando alguien no quiere hablar contigo, no puede decírtelo, ni siquiera darte una pista. 誰かが本当にあなたと話したくないとき、彼らは本当に言うことができないか、あなたにヒントを与えることさえできない場合があります。 They'll just ghost you. Simplemente te fantasmearán. 彼らはただあなたを幽霊にするでしょう。 Uh, obviously that's not everybody. ええと、明らかにそれはすべての人ではありません。 Uh, but some people like that in Japan, unfortunately, because it's a very closed down country. ええと、でも残念ながら、日本は非常に閉鎖された国なので、そのような人もいます。 Uh, people, even among Japanese people themselves, they seem to be quite closed down. Uh, la gente, incluso entre los propios japoneses, parecen ser bastante cerrados. ええと、日本人の中でも、かなり閉鎖されているようです。 Quite an unfortunate situation. 非常に不幸な状況です。 So I made a friend there, uh, during my stay, but one day they just stopped replying for some reason, uh, that'll just remain a mystery. Así que hice un amigo allí, eh, durante mi estancia, pero un día simplemente dejaron de responder por alguna razón, eh, que sólo permanecerá en el misterio. I've had that experience in the past. So I wasn't much of a culture shock, but it was still kind of a bummer overall. ですから、カルチャーショックはあまりありませんでしたが、それでも全体的にはちょっと残念でした。 Um, it was obviously not as, as good of an experience as I was hoping for before the pandemic started. Obviamente no fue una experiencia tan buena como esperaba antes de que empezara la pandemia. ええと、パンデミックが始まる前に私が望んでいたほど良い経験ではなかったのは明らかです。 Uh, but I did at least managed to, um, sneak in a few, uh, trips here and there. ええと、でも私は少なくとも、あちこちで数回の旅行に忍び込むことができました。 Uh, when we had like the, you know, the, a better periods, uh, in terms of the cases COVID cases, um, there were, I had a trip to Oita, uh, on the Kyushu island. ええと、私たちが好きだったとき、あなたが知っている、より良い時期、ええと、COVIDの場合、ええと、ええと、私は大分、ええと、九州島に旅行しました。

Uh, I had a trip to Okinawa. Uh, I had, uh, like a smaller trip, uh, to neighboring, uh, Kanagawa, whoa, sorry, Kanagawa was where I was living. Um, in Shizuoka Prefecture. Uh, I actually went on a few hikes and one of them was in Shizuoka Prefecture where, uh, me and my friends, uh, from the UK were studying, uh, on the same course as me, uh, we climbed the, Mount Aichi De hecho, hice algunas excursiones y una de ellas fue en la prefectura de Shizuoka, donde mis amigos del Reino Unido y yo estábamos estudiando en el mismo curso que yo y escalamos el monte Aichi.

I think it was called. 呼ばれたと思います。 Okay. Oh, uh, oh actually, that's not what it was called Ashitaka I think it was the name of the mountain. Oh, uh, oh en realidad, eso no es lo que se llamaba Ashitaka Creo que era el nombre de la montaña. Um, and from Mount Ashitaka you get the perfect view of Mount Fuji. Y desde el monte Ashitaka se obtiene una vista perfecta del monte Fuji. えーと、愛鷹山からは富士山が一望できます。 Uh, and that was a very nice experience. Um, it was 1,504 meters above sea level at the peak. えーと、頂上は海抜1,504メートルでした。 Uh, that's high that's high up. Elle: Did you get the whole. エル：全体を理解しましたか。 Kind of altitude, not altitude sickness, but the, you know, deep breathing. 高山病ではなく、高山病の一種ですが、ご存知のように、深呼吸です。

Deni: Um, but me and my friend went to another hike where I did feel it. Deni: Um, pero mi amigo y yo fuimos a otra caminata donde lo sentí. デニ：ええと、でも私と友達は別のハイキングに行って、それを感じました。 Uh, we, and we started a much lower there. Uh, nosotros, y empezamos un mucho más bajo allí. ええと、私たち、そして私たちはそこからずっと低く始めました。 Uh, it was, um, oh shoot I don't think I'll be able to remember that one. ええと、ええと、ああ、私はそれを思い出すことができないと思います。 Uh, but there was another mountain, uh, on the, in the west of Tokyo prefecture where it's very rural. Um, yeah. That mountain was 1,736 meters at the peak. And we started at 340 meters above seal. そして、私たちは封印の340メートル上から始めました。 So that was a big difference, like altitude change, uh, and, um, at about a kilometer altitude change. ですから、それは高度の変化のような大きな違いでした、ええと、ええと、約1キロメートルの高度の変化で。 So that was a 400 meters above sea level where me and my friend really started feeling it. それで、それは私と私の友人が本当にそれを感じ始めた海抜400メートルでした。 Um, and at one point we even went through a cloud, uh, which was quite the experience. Y en un momento incluso atravesamos una nube, lo que fue toda una experiencia. ええと、ある時点で私たちは雲を通り抜けました、ええと、それはかなりの経験でした。

Elle: I bet. エル：きっと。 Yeah.

I remember when I was in Japan, I, I climbed Mount Fuji with some friends and they had these, uh, we had these oxygen tank, not tanks, but like a little aerosol mini oxygen inhalers. And I thought, wow, we're not gonna not going to need those. そして、私は、すごい、私たちはそれらを必要としないだろうと思いました。 My friend actually really did need it. Um, he was feeling really dizzy and this was a very fit person too, way fitter than me. Se sentía muy mareado y además era una persona muy en forma, mucho más que yo. ええと、彼は本当にめまいを感じていました、そしてこれも私よりずっと健康な人でした。

I think it just depends on your physiology or something, but, um, yeah, a lot of these people were just like sucking on these oxygen inhalers as they kind of trudged up in a, in a line up Mount Fuji, but that was an experience for sure. Um, so Deni, tell us about your channel, for everyone who's going to rush into subscribe after listening. Your channel is, uh, named Deni Mintsaev and you, as I mentioned... it's your name, you, uh, create content about your, um, language learning journey with Japanese. What can people expect moving forward for your channel when they subscribe? チャンネル登録すると、チャンネルの前進に何が期待できますか？

Deni: Uh, I've actually never really thought about specifically making videos about Japanese. I just really make videos about whatever I'm interested in and if it's Japanese at the time, then that's what I'll make a video about. Uh, I actually still, uh, want to make a video. Uh, where I made a video before I left, uh, where I spoke Japanese. Uh, donde hice un video antes de irme, uh, donde hablaba japonés. ええと、去る前にビデオを作ったところ、ええと、日本語を話しました。 And the idea was this was actually from a comment that somebody left, uh, suggesting this, that I record myself speaking Japanese before leaving, and then once I return, uh, I still need to the return video.

Uh, so that'll be interesting. And, uh, I recently, um, Made a, a video, which I had a lot of fun making uh, about my adventures in Japan, uh, I would definitely recommend people to check out that one. Uh, I detail my different trips that I went on and show all sorts of photos. And, uh, yeah, I had a lot of fun making that one, so I hope you guys will see it and enjoy it.

Elle: Excellent. Give people that, that travel bug, which I know a lot of us have, who haven't been able to travel for sure. 確かに旅行することができなかった、私たちの多くが持っていることを私が知っているその旅行のバグを人々に与えてください。 So, obviously you're all about the Japanese right now. ですから、明らかにあなたは今、日本人のことばかりです。 Do you think you'll move on to another language sometime soon? Or are you sticking with the Japanese for the foreseeable future?

Deni: Uh, I'm actually taking a little bit of a break. Uh, I I've done this many times in the past. Um, uh, so I'll probably get back to Japanese very soon. I don't think I'll be switching to another language quite yet. But yeah, I'll be getting back on the Japanese train and the thing I'm the most interested in right now is the writing. I just want to learn more and more Kanji so I can read more, uh, because I've kind of been enjoying reading more than, um, watching stuff lately. So, uh, when it comes to Japanese. So I think I'll, uh, focus more on that. Um, as soon as I, you know, get the, get the kick to, uh, to learn from it. Uh, but yeah, I, I have a few different hobbies that I, uh, work on from time to time. Uh, so I might make videos about other things too.

Elle: Okay. Well, one of those hobbies is something you also create videos on, on this channel, and I want to ask you about it.

So your channel is about language learning, but also about Rubik's cube which I find fascinating, this whole thing. I've never been able to complete one. So maybe that's why, I haven't really tried not mathematically minded at all. But, um, I wanted to ask you, do you think that, uh, your interest in kind of the strategy and the way your mind works around Rubik's cube has helped you in any way learn languages? Deni: I, I would say that maybe it's the opposite, that it's the same kind of interest. Uh, just like subconscious interests that I have that has made me interested in both of those, uh, Rubik's cubes aren't really as much about maths as there are just about I guess, logic. Um, and there is also a lot of logic when it comes to languages.

Um, and yeah, because you know, there is a grammar rule. Uh, there are, uh, also in Japanese, you have the Kanji, uh, which there's also some logic in how you write them, uh, and how you read them. Uh, there are all sorts of things that are about languages that are, um, kind of that make you think. Uh, and yeah, I, that's something that kind of interests me a lot. Um, in the same way I find programming interesting. Kind of makes you think and yeah, just different things like that.

Elle: Great. There's a great movie on Netflix. I'm not sure if you've seen it at, uh, and I don't remember the name right now, of course, but it's about the championships. It follows a bunch of the people who are training to be... I think there's a championship in the states. Um, I'll find the, the title. Deni: Are you talking about the Rubik's cube championship? Oh, oh yeah, the Speed Cubers yeah.

Elle: Okay. I thought that was such a great film. It was, it wasn't just, you know, it was so well done in that it wasn't just about Rubik's cube. It obviously followed these people and you got to know them and everything that they get out of being part of the Rubik's cube community is just very, very sweet. Obviamente, seguía a estas personas y llegabas a conocerlas, y todo lo que sacan de formar parte de la comunidad del cubo de Rubik es muy, muy dulce. Deni: Yeah.

I actually met a lot of those people and, uh, I thought, cause that was, um, most of the filming was in the, in Australia, at the world championship in 2019. And I went to that one and I played a lot. Y fui a esa y jugué mucho.

Elle: Oh, no way! So you were there when they filmed that exact...

Deni: Yeah, was watching the, the filming crew, um, and, uh, I have a video that I made myself as well. Deni: Sí, estaba viendo el, el equipo de filmación, um, y, uh, tengo un video que hice yo mismo también.

Elle: Oh, nice. Is that on your channel?

Deni: Yes. Uh, I think it's just called like world championship in Australia or something like that. Uh, I uploaded it at the end of 2019.

Elle: Fantastic. And do you, are you in the movie? I know they show the audience a bit. Did you ever see yourself?

Deni: No.

Elle: You didn't make the cut. Elle: Usted no hizo el corte. Okay. Excellent. Well, listen, Deni, thank you so much. That was a really interesting chat. Uh, I will pop the link to your channel and the content you mentioned. And that movie that we just talked about too, in the description, uh, best of luck with taking the, the JLPT N1, uh, maybe you passed this this first time you took it, who knows, but if not best of luck.

Deni: I hope that I at least got like a 70 or something like that, although that's out of 180, not out of a hundred, so it's a low bar, but it's a very, very difficult. Deni: Espero haber sacado al menos un 70 o algo así, aunque eso es sobre 180, no sobre cien, así que es un listón bajo, pero es muy, muy difícil. Elle: Yes. Like I said, I've heard, I've heard, I know one person who living in Japan, who, who passed it quite recently and he was just over the moon, the amount of work that went in to him actually finally getting it. So, um, but yeah, best of luck. And, uh, yeah thank you so much for joining us Deni and, uh, yeah have a great rest of your week.

Deni: Thank you for having me too.

Elle: Bye-bye.