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This post is translated by ChatGPT and originally written in Mandarin, so there may be some inaccuracies or mistakes.
I've been self-studying Japanese for over three years now and have created a weekly newsletter called Nihongo Yaoya.
What is Nihongo Yaoya?
The term "Yaoya" comes from the Japanese word 八百屋 (やおや), which means "vegetable shop," but it also conveys the idea of "many" or "a lot."
My goal is simple: “To satisfy the curiosity and information anxiety of Japanese, Japan, and J-drama enthusiasts. I aim to help reduce learning barriers and information asymmetry while increasing knowledge of Japanese culture. The content covers various topics including Japanese language learning, travel in Japan, Japanese culture, anime, and language learning techniques.”
Learning a language often begins with the smallest details, like mastering the 50 sounds, grammar, vocabulary, and honorifics, which eventually become second nature. Step by step, one can cover great distances, culminating in "Yaoya."
There are plenty of online resources for learning English, with platforms like Voicetube, HiSquare, and TutorABC offering a wide range of learning materials. A diligent search online can reveal even more valuable resources.
However, resources for learning Japanese are relatively scarce, mostly coming from blog snippets or Facebook groups. Platforms like Sonic Japanese and Wang Kele's Japanese Classroom still largely rely on traditional offline teaching or self-study through books.
After subscribing to the newsletter, each Monday morning, we send readers 5 to 10 articles for their reading pleasure.
Why not just run a Facebook page?
This answer is quite subjective, as there are already countless Japanese-related fan pages out there. A quick search for Japanese, 日本語, or 日劇 on Facebook reveals an overwhelming number of pages.
However, these snippets of information are scattered across the internet, making it difficult to gather and for beginners to know where to start in the vast sea of content.
Our aim is not merely to share information within a specific field; rather, we seek to dive deeper into the Japanese language from various perspectives, not limited to grammar, vocabulary, or Japanese learning.
Publishing books or offering courses requires more resources than we currently have, and many others are already doing that in the market.
There are already plenty of people managing fan pages, so my interest as a Japanese learner doesn't add much value there. For me, the simplest and purest method right now is sending emails.
The fan page we created is primarily for promotion, with minimal posting.
How is this different from an ordinary fan page?
If we were simply collecting information on grammar and vocabulary, it might come off as a bit dry. The internet, bookstores, and blogs are rich with content, and there are definitely many excellent teaching materials available.
What sets us apart is that we mainly use email to push content.
While email may not be as instant as Facebook, this can actually be seen as a benefit, allowing you to focus solely on the content at hand. Additionally, email is less likely to be interrupted by external factors, and I think most people check their emails only slightly less frequently than they check Facebook!
Leveraging the inherent nature of email, we send out 5 to 10 articles each week, which is definitely manageable within a week (or even a day).
While this may not significantly enhance learning, I hope it expands one's understanding of Japanese and introduces aspects of Japanese culture. Therefore, we cover a wide range of topics, and anything related to Japanese culture can be included in our newsletter.
In the future, I hope to make it easy for everyone to share their notes or links, making the breadth of this newsletter even more dynamic. So if anyone is willing to share articles or study notes, that would be fantastic.
After all, an individual's knowledge of Japan is limited. Some people binge-watch dramas, others are into anime, some are well-versed in history, and some might analyze economics. But if we can combine all this content, our newsletter will become incredibly rich :).
Lastly, feel free to subscribe on our website https://www.shurado.com!
Technical Line
Since I wanted to focus on writing articles, I spent about two days setting up the website and gradually expanding its features. The basic functionalities I aimed for were:
- Sending emails
- Creating newsletters
- Sending newsletters
- Storing past issues of the newsletter
- Homepage
With those goals, I was pretty much on track. The entire app is built with Ruby on Rails, using Redis to manage backend tasks. For more complex page interactions, I used React + Redux + Redux-Observable.
The email-sending functionality primarily integrates with two third-party services: Mailgun and Mailchimp. Mailgun handles the sending of individual emails, such as subscription confirmations, while Mailchimp takes care of the newsletters. Both APIs are quite easy to integrate, and their documentation is well-written.
In the future, I plan to add more features, such as:
- Syncing articles to Medium and the fan page when publishing in the backend
- Adding hiragana readings to Japanese articles as needed
- Allowing users to search for specific newsletters or issues
Postscript
Before graduating, I wanted to accomplish something meaningful, so while my enthusiasm was still strong, I also launched a course on Hahow titled From 0 to 1 - A Japanese Course Designed for Beginners, where I organized basic Japanese grammar.
Looking back, I realized the pricing was way too low; the 10,000 at a tutoring center.
However, the results were quite unexpected. Initially, I thought it would be a success just to launch the course, but now the funding rate has exceeded 900%. Reflecting on it now, if I had known how exhausting it would be to prepare a course—especially with the bilingual subtitles—I might not have pursued it.
Insights
Before I knew it, this newsletter is nearing its 20th issue. My biggest takeaway is that technology is no longer the main bottleneck; rather, it's about how to generate content. While I may eventually save some effort with the help of machine learning, the demand for content production will always exist. However, if the content is lacking a good experience to attract readers, no amount of effort in producing it will matter.
I hope to continue persevering.
If you found this article helpful, please consider buying me a coffee ☕ It'll make my ordinary day shine ✨
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