I agree that you can get some interesting insights. It’s just painful sometimes to have to deal with extra fluff that seems to only be there for SEO purposes and gaming the Youtube algorithms. A distilled core of just the interesting insights would make for a much better (though less dramatically eyecatching) experience.
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Yeah, it’s pretty polarizing. Her latest video takes a shot at Tae Kim directly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JuHi-yKGFc
Although, to be fair, she does couch it as an academic disagreement and a structural review rather than “omg he’s so wrong you guys”. The hyperbole’s been toned down on that video as well.
Yeah, true, but I wonder if it her channel would have been noticed without the whole schtick. I also wish she would present it in written form somewhere. She has a book out but it’s pretty old and it’s presented in a cruder fashion. It seems like she’s been able to distill the essence of her material a lot better in more recent videos.
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To be fair Tae Kim did say that subject doesn’t exist in Japanese which is fair game for criticism.
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Yeah, and it also claims Japanese isn’t a Subject-Object-Verb language. And from what I’ve heard, many other wrong things beyond that
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It’s a wherever you want to put things language. Duh.
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Because strictly-speaking it doesn’t have to be? Also he’s not the only one who disputes this label:
The SOV label is also wrong sometimes, as it is not uncommon in Japanese to see sentences with the object appearing before the subject. No wonder it seems so confusing…
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And here’s a native speaker on a HiNative thread basically reiterating the same thing.
Of all the things Tae Kim could be called out for, his calling out of the SOV label is pretty weak.
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AFAIK it isn’t disputed in a serious academic context. People on the internet may, but that doesn’t mean much.
In English, sentences don’t need to be strictly subject-verb-object either. It’s called fronting. This doesn’t mean that English isn’t a subject-verb-object language. The point of the word order names is to describe general use of the language. Otherwise, the no languages would exist that fit any of the descriptions.
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So in a sentence where the subject comes after the object, how would that be SOV? Again, you can find native speakers reiterating the same point that SOV is mostly a basic pattern, but isn’t some strict requirement which is all Tae Kim said. Japanese sentences can of course be SOV, but because of particles they don’t have to be.
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My Japanese tutor, who is japanese, said he thought Tae Kim’s guide was written by a non-native Japanese speaker by the way it reads for him. Not to discredit the author since that doesn’t necessarily matter, but it’s true there are some errors and awkward sentences.
Whichever book you choose, one thing I find really works for me to remember grammar is to use Anki and make my own flashcards. I’ll put a sentence I like from the textbook that uses the grammar point as the displayed part of the card, then in the covered/solution part of the flashcard I’ll write the grammar explanation. I pair this with writing practice on HelloTalk and also reading. You can also practice speaking sentences with it or watching TV and seeing if you see that point somewhere. I personally find the grammar + Anki combination really works for me.
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Subject verb object not a strict requirement of English as well, as illustrated by what I linked. It’s basically a strict requriement of no language. But that isn’t a reason to grandstand and shown how smart you are in a beginners guide. The point is to show how grammar normally operates. Yes, fronting exists, but that expressly is outside the normal sentence construction like English and is done intentionally. All it does is add confusion for a beginner.
The responsible thing to say is:
Japanese is a Subject-Object-Verb language, but like all languages, normal word order can be violated when it serves a writer’s purpose. It’s more common to violate it than in English, though. We will explore this later on in the guide.
But instead he goes and gloats about how much smarter he is in the academics because hey, Japanese sentences aren’t always SOV.
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Pretty interesting to read all of this. I can’t give an accurate opinion about Tae Kim or Cure Dolly, but one youtuber that I’m watching from time to time is Japanese Ammo with Misa! She is fun and explains things in a way that I can understand them! Also she analyzes each sentence with color codes so that makes it unique! I appreciate someone who goes the extra mile for that! Just a sample:
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I think her and Miku Real Japanese are great.
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@Leebo mentioned it but it might have gotten lost in the conversation so I wanted to also mention Sambonjuku. It was the first channel I was able to follow along with both the audio and subtitles.
It’s almost entirely in Japanese and アッキー先生 speaks really clearly.
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Thank you for this, it’s great! Adding it to my list of resources too 
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Sambonjuku and Nihongonomori are great. I’ve always found the videos explaining grammar in English pretty useless, unless it is the really basics. I think as soon as you can (maybe N4) it’s better to switch to Japanese ones. It makes you really figure out the stuff instead of reasoning it in the “wrong” language. You also get great listening practice at the same time. Then when you are more familiar with the grammar, it can be elightening to look at some grammar dictionaries to check things that you might’ve missed.
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Just replying so I can find this post later, looks like a really good thread rn
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Just for reference, you can save posts if you click the bookmark icon next to the reply button (it’s probably hidden in the three dot menu). You can also click on the bell icon on the right to be notified of new replies!
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That’s pretty neat, but it doesn’t show me the bell (using the Wanikani app). Would you know how I would access bookmarked threads?
Ah, okay. I’m not sure about the mobile site, but the bookmarked threads can be found by clicking your profile icon in the top right, under the bookmark tab. Also, the bell icon should be on the right below the reply “timeline.”
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