Nick Godwin is a British polyglot, English language coach, and course creator living in Tokyo, Japan. He specializes in helping advanced English learners break through plateaus and helping beginning Japanese learners to communicate through by focusing on practical skills that matter. In addition to running the English language learning site ByLingua, he also helped develop the popular story-based course Japanese Uncovered, and recently launched a blog that blends his love of language, learning, and intentional living called Minimalinguist.
Topics Discussed
In our conversation, we discuss:
- Why psychology, mindset, and attitude form the foundation of successful language learning.
- Why language learning isn’t “one thing” and why it’s critical to choose methods and materials that match your personal goals.
- Why classroom learning rarely translates into real-life fluency or practical command of a language.
- How Nick got into languages and ended up learning Japanese and moving to Japan.
- Why there is no finish line in language learning and the importance of creating milestones and mini-missions.
- The danger of making test scores one’s primary goal in language learning and of conflating language scores with language ability.
- Why you can’t “skip the suck” (you have to be bad at Japanese before you can get good at it).
- The importance of direct practice and using languages in-context.
- Why living abroad is not enough (immersion helps, but it doesn’t lead to automatic fluency).
- Nick’s language learning habits, routines, and preferred materials.
- Nick’s approach to learning to kanji.
- Common mistakes language learners make (especially in Japanese).
- How to find a good balance between undercorrection and overcorrection in language learning.
Concepts, People & Resources Mentioned
- Olly Richards, founder of I Will Teach You a Language
- Master Mandarin: How to Learn Mandarin Chinese Anywhere in the World
- Master Japanese: How to Learn Japanese through Anywhere Immersion
- Narrative fallacy
- Michel Thomas, founder of the Michel Thomas Method
- Gabriel Wyner, founder of Fluent Forever
- Berlitz Japanese
- Kanji (漢字), Chinese characters used in Japanese
- Kana (仮名), the two Japanese syllabaries
- Japanese Uncovered: Learn Japanese Through the Power of Story
- LingQ: Learn languages enjoyably with interesting, authentic content in a global community
- Pimsleur Japanese: Learn to Speak and Understand Japanese
- JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test)
- CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)
- Nominikeeshon (ノミニケーション): “communicating while drinking,” from 飲み (“drinking”) + コミュニケーション (“communication”)
- Benny Lewis, founder of Fluent in 3 Months
- Stephen Krashen: Linguist, Researcher & Education Activist
- The Affective Filter
- Glossika: AI-Based Effective Language Learning
- Kanzen Master JLTP Prep Books
- GENKI I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese
- Eikaiwa (英会話, “English conversation”)
- Nama-chuu (生中, “medium-size draft beer”)
- Gretchen Rubin
- Wanikani
- Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters by James Heisig
- White Rabbit Kanji Flashcards
- Pitch Accent
- Dōgen: Japanese comedy skits and language lessons
- Dōgen’s Phonetics Course (Patreon)
- iTalki: Choose from over 10,000 teachers for 1-on-1 lessons based on your goals and interests
- Tim Ferriss
- Okosu (起こす, “to wake”) vs. Okasu (犯す, “to rape”)
- Linguistic “fossilization”
- Watashi (私) vs. Boku (僕) vs. Ore (俺)
- Hyōjungo (標準語, “standard language”)
- Teineigo (丁寧語, “polite language”)
Connect with Nick
- Work site: ByLingua ― 英語は誰でも話せるようになる！
- Personal blog: Minimalinguist ― Never. Stop. Learning.
- Twitter: @nickjgodwin and @minimalinguist
