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WISE.com. T's and C's apply. Welcome to YourEnglish Toolbox,
your Slow English Podcast, where we train yourears step by step.
I am Martin. And I am Julia.
Julia, what are we going to talk about today?Today, we are exploring five ancient Japanese
techniques that will completely change how youlearn English.
We are going to take the wisdom of martial arts,
Zen philosophy, and traditional craftsmanship andapply it directly to your language studies.
If you feel stuck at the intermediate level,
these five millennial concepts will help you breakthrough the plateau.
By listening to the end of this episode, you willget three huge benefits.
First, you will learn how to build automaticmuscle memory so you stop translating in your
head.
Second, you will discover why silent reading ishurting your speaking skills and how to fix it
immediately. Third, you will learn how tocompletely eliminate the stress of studying
by changing your mindset. This is a very specialepisode.
We are going to do things a little differentlytoday.
For each of the five Japanese techniques,
I will tell the traditional story to explain thephilosophy.
Then, we will explain exactly how to apply thatphilosophy to your English learning.
There will be no conversation during thosesections.
Just pure focus, pure storytelling, and deeplearning.
Let us begin with our first concept.
Kata, the power of patterns.
03:00
Hundreds of years ago, a young man traveled acrossJapan to find the greatest swordmaster
in the country. He finally found the master livingin a quiet temple on a mountain.
The young man begged the master to teach him thesecret techniques of the sword.
He wanted to learn how to fight multiple enemies.
He wanted to learn how to defend himself incomplex battles.
The master handed the young man a heavy woodensword.
He told the student to stand in the courtyard.
Then, the master showed him one simple, basicdownward strike.
He told the student to repeat that single strikeuntil the sun went down.
The student was disappointed, but he obeyed.
The next day, the master told him to do the exactsame strike again.
This continued for months.
The student became angry and frustrated.
He felt he was not learning anything new oradvanced.
But after a year, something changed in thestudent's mind and body.
When he lifted the sword, he no longer thoughtabout his hands or his feet.
The movement happened before his brain could evenprocess the thought.
The sword had become a natural extension of hisarm.
In traditional Japanese arts, from martial arts tothe tea ceremony,
kata refers to a detailed pattern of movements.
The goal is not to think about the movement.
The goal is to repeat the form so many times thatit bypasses the conscious brain.
It becomes pure, instant muscle memory.
You do not construct the action.
You simply execute the pattern.
Now, let us apply the concept of kata to yourEnglish learning.
The biggest problem for intermediate learners iscognitive overload.
When you try to speak, you usually try to buildsentences from zero.
06:04
You search your brain for one isolated vocabularyword.
For example, you want to use the verb depend.
Then, your brain has to painfully assemble therest of the sentence word by word.
You start asking yourself grammar questions in themiddle of the conversation.
You think, is it depend in?
Is it depend at?
Is it depend on?
This mental translation drastically slows downyour speech and makes you hesitate.
The fix is to stop memorizing single words.
You must start memorizing linguistic kata.
These are patterns or chunks of language.
Instead of learning the word depend, you memorizethe entire structural form.
You learn the chunk.
It depends on the weather.
You practice this exact phrase over and overagain.
You write it down 10 times.
You say it out loud 20 times.
You treat it like a physical movement in martialarts.
When you learn a new vocabulary word, youinstantly plug it into a kata.
By speaking this exact formula repeatedly, itbecomes automatic.
Your brain stores it in your long-term memory asone single item.
It no longer sees four separate words.
It sees one fluent thought.
This method of chunking completely eliminates theneed to translate in your head.
It drastically speeds up your vocabulary recall.
And best of all, it naturally hardwires correctgrammar into your brain without studying rules.
Part 3
Ondoku
Activating Physical Memory
In the ancient temples of Kyoto, the monks do notstudy sacred texts in silence.
If you walk past a Buddhist monastery early in themorning, you will hear a deep rhythmic sound.
You will hear dozens of voices chanting the sutrastogether.
For centuries, the Japanese have understood thatknowledge cannot only live in the eyes.
It must live in the body.
09:02
When the monks chant, they feel the vibration ofthe words in their chests.
They feel the shape of the syllables in theirmouths.
They control their breathing to match the rhythmof the sentences.
The text stops being ink on a piece of paper.
It becomes a physical experience.
If a monk forgets a word during a ceremony,
his eyes might panic, and his mouth will oftenremember the next sound automatically.
The physical body remembers what the consciousmind forgets.
This ancient practice is deeply connected to themodern Japanese educational concept of Ondoku.
Ondoku
Ondoku translates directly to reading aloud.
In Japanese schools, students do not just readtext silently to comprehend it.
They are required to perform Ondoku repetitively.
It is the deliberate practice of engaging thephysical body to anchor knowledge.
Here is how you must apply Ondoku to your Englishpractice.
Many of you listening right now have fantasticreading comprehension.
You can read a news article or an email in Englishperfectly,
but when you try to speak in a meeting, youfreeze.
Your tongue feels heavy.
You stumble over your words.
This happens because you have only trained yourvisual memory.
You have completely ignored your auditory andmotor memory.
English vocabulary should never exist just as texton a page.
When you learn a new word or a sentence pattern,you must practice Ondoku.
You must read the English text out loudrepeatedly.
You are not just testing your memory.
You are literally going to the gym for your face.
You have muscles in your jaw, your lips, and yourtongue.
These muscles are trained to speak your nativelanguage.
They are not used to the physical shapes requiredfor English pronunciation.
By reading out loud, you mimic the rhythm andintonation of native speakers.
You train the physical muscles of your mouth.
At the same time, you are training your auditoryprocessing
12:00
because you are hearing your own voice speakEnglish.
This multi-sensory repetition is powerful.
When you combine sight, sound, and physicalmovement,
the brain creates much stronger neuralconnections.
Recalling vocabulary becomes significantly fasterthan silent studying ever could be.
So, close the grammar book, open your mouth, andstart making noise.
Visited his workshop to discover his secret.
The foreigner expected to see magic techniques orextreme physical feats.
Instead, he saw the master sitting quietly by thefire.
The master took a piece of hot steel.
He folded it.
He hammered it gently.
He put it back in the fire.
He repeated this process.
He did not strike the metal with massive, violentforce.
He used small, consistent, precise hits.
The foreigner asked the master how he achievedsuch perfection.
The master explained that the strength of thesword does not come from one giant hit.
It comes from folding the steel thousands oftimes.
Every single fold removes a tiny amount ofweakness.
Every single day of work adds a microscopic layerof strength.
This is the philosophy of Kaizen.
Kaizen translates roughly to change for thebetter.
It is the core philosophy behind Japan's greatestindustries and arts.
Rather than attempting massive, sweepingtransformations overnight,
Kaizen focuses on something else.
It focuses on tiny, daily, incrementalimprovements.
Over time, these micro-changes compound intomassive results.
15:00
Applying Kaizen is the most important favor youcan do for your English.
The biggest problem language learners face isburnout.
You get a sudden burst of motivation.
You decide you are going to master English thisyear.
So you sit down on a Sunday and study grammar forthree hours straight.
You feel productive, but your brain is completelyexhausted.
By Tuesday, you are too tired to open the book.
By Friday, you have abandoned the habit entirely.
Kaizen offers a much healthier and more effectivesolution.
We must encourage you to build an environment ofmicro-learning.
You should study for just 15 to 20 minutes everysingle day.
It sounds too small to make a difference, but itis actually the secret to fluency.
You could learn just one new phrasal verb daily.
You could read exactly one page of an English bookbefore bed.
You could listen to half of a podcast episodewhile drinking your morning coffee.
The human brain retains information much betterthrough consistent, daily spaced repetition.
It does not absorb information well throughinfrequent binge studying.
When you practice Kaizen, English stops feelinglike a giant mountain you have to climb.
It becomes just one single step you take everyday.
And before you know it, those tiny steps havecarried you miles away from where you started.
But extra costs often hide in bloated exchangerates.
Choose WISE.
You can send money overseas for education or spendin over 40 currencies while traveling.
Get the exchange rate that you'd usually see onGoogle.
Plus, count on 24-7 customer support.
Be smart, get WISE.
Visit WISE.com, T's and C's apply.
Part 5. Shōshin
The Beginner's Mind
During the Meiji era, a highly educated universityprofessor visited a famous Zen master.
The professor wanted to learn about Zenphilosophy.
However, as soon as he arrived, the professorstarted talking.
He talked about his own theories.
18:02
He talked about all the books he had read.
He tried to show the master how intelligent andadvanced he was.
The Zen master listened patiently.
Then, the master began to serve tea.
He poured the hot tea into the professor's cup.
The cup became full, but the master did not stoppouring.
The tea spilled over the edges of the cup and ontothe table.
The professor jumped up in shock.
He shouted that the cup was full and could nothold any more.
The Zen master smiled calmly.
He said,
You are exactly like this cup.
You are full of your own opinions and ideas.
How can I show you Zen unless you first empty yourcup?
This beautiful story illustrates the concept ofShōshin.
Shōshin means the beginner's mind.
It means approaching a subject with a completelyopen and eager mind.
You must do this even if you are already at anadvanced level.
It is about dropping your ego and yourpreconceived notions.
Shōshin is the exact mindset you need to breakthrough the intermediate plateau.
Intermediate learners often hit a wall becausethey think they already know how English works.
You have studied the grammar rules for years.
You have a solid vocabulary.
Because of this, your ego gets in the way of yourlearning.
You start trying to force English to behaveexactly like your native language.
When you encounter a strange pronunciation, youget frustrated.
When an idiom makes no logical sense, you arguewith it.
You complain that English spelling is stupid.
You resist the language.
To truly advance, you must empty your cup.
You must teach yourself to absorb English like achild.
Children learn languages effortlessly because theyhave no ego.
They do not analyze why a word sounds a certainway.
They just copy the sound.
21:01
If a pronunciation feels silly to you, do notfight it.
If a grammar rule seems completely illogical,
do not overanalyze it or judge it.
Accept it for what it is.
Shōshin allows you to absorb native accents andnatural idioms without resistance.
When you stop judging the language, your brainstops creating barriers.
You become like a sponge again, open to whateverthe language wants to teach you.
Your life is global.
Your money should be, too.
Some providers promise no fees on overseastransfers,
but extra costs often hide in bloated exchangerates.
Choose WISE.
You can send money overseas for education or spendin over 40 currencies while traveling.
Get the exchange rate that you'd usually see onGoogle.
Plus, count on 24-7 customer support.
Be smart.
Get WISE.
Visit WISE.com.
T's and C's apply.
Imagine a traveler who needs to cross a massive,dense bamboo forest.
This traveler wants to understand the forestperfectly.
So, he stops at the very first bamboo tree.
He takes out a magnifying glass and examines everysingle leaf.
He writes down the exact dimensions of the treetrunk.
He spends an hour analyzing the roots.
Then, he takes one step forward and does the exactsame thing to the next tree.
After three days, he is completely exhausted.
He has only moved 10 meters into the forest.
He hates the forest now, and he gives up and goeshome.
Now, imagine a second traveler.
This traveler walks quickly along the path.
He looks at the sunlight shining through theleaves.
He feels the wind.
If he sees a strange plant, he glances at it.
But he keeps walking.
He flows through the environment.
By the end of the day, he has crossed the entireforest.
24:03
He enjoyed the journey, and he has a trueunderstanding
of what the forest feels like.
The first traveler represents traditionalintensive studying.
The second traveler represents Tadoku.
Tadoku translates directly to reading a lot.
It is a wildly popular language learning movementin Japan.
Unlike traditional studying, where you analyzeevery sentence,
Tadoku is about volume and enjoyment.
Let us look at how you can use Tadoku torevolutionize your reading skills.
When most English learners try to read, theyattempt intensive reading.
They pick up a complex novel or a complicatednewspaper article.
They read one paragraph and stop 15 times to lookup words in the dictionary.
It becomes exhausting homework.
It breaks their flow state, and they usually quitafter just one page.
We want you to use the Tadoku method instead.
Tadoku is governed by four strict golden rules.
Rule number one, start with very easy materials.
Rule number two, read without a dictionary.
Rule number three, skip over words you do notunderstand.
Rule number four, stop reading if it gets boringor too difficult and pick a new book.
You should be reading graded readers, young adultfiction, or even comic books.
You should choose books where you alreadyunderstand 90% of the words.
By skipping the dictionary, you train your brainto guess the unknown words from context.
Because you are reading high volumes of easyEnglish,
you will encounter the most common vocabularyrepeatedly.
You will see the grammatical kata we talked aboutearlier over and over again.
This naturally hardwires the vocabulary into yourmemory without ever using a single flashcard.
You will start reading for pleasure, not forpunishment.
We are back.
Julia, these five concepts really change theentire perspective on language learning.
27:06
They absolutely do, Martin.
We covered a lot of ground today, so let us do aquick recap for our friends listening.
First, we talked about kata.
Stop memorizing single words and start learninglanguage in chunks or patterns.
Second, we explored on doku.
You have to read out loud to train your physicalmuscles and build auditory memory.
Third, we learned about kaizen.
Forget the three-hour weekend study sessions.
Commit to 15 minutes of English every single day.
Fourth was shoshin, the beginner's mind.
Let go of your ego, stop judging the language, andabsorb it like a child.
And finally, we discussed tadoku.
Read a massive amount of easy material, throw awaythe dictionary, and just enjoy the flow.
Martin, what I love most about these techniques isthat they are deeply human.
They respect how our brains and bodies actuallywork.
Exactly.
They remove the artificial stress of theclassroom.
They remind us that learning English is not anacademic test.
It is a physical habit, a mental mindset, and alifelong journey.
Remember, you do not have to apply all five ofthese today.
Just pick one.
Maybe tomorrow morning, you practice kaizen andjust listen to English for 15 minutes.
Or maybe you practice on doku and read your emailsout loud.
Whatever you choose, approach it with shoshin.
Keep your mind open, keep your cup empty, and keepmoving forward.
Thank you for spending your time with us today.
We will see you in the next episode.
Sayonara.
