To you, who swims in the sea of words. Enjoy English with your favorite VTubers.

I'd like to introduce my two favorite VTubers.

IRyS Ch. hololive-EN IRyS

Maid Mint Ch. Mint Fantome

The inevitable reasons why I support them both

1. First of all, their English pronunciation is clear and beautiful. It's easy to listen to.

2. They can speak Japanese too!

3. They stream games a lot. It's heartwarming to see them having fun and messing around with their VTuber friends.

4. The archives are available, and you can turn on English subtitles.

5. They are incredibly talented singers.

6. They are cute. An angel. A maid.

There are endless good things to say about both of them.
I'm a silent listener who doesn't actively comment or send Super Chats, but it's just fun to have them playing in the background while I work.
Instead of being stubborn and forcing myself to learn English, I've started by simply making their conversations a part of my daily life.

I especially recommend their playthrough of the game titled 'Operator's Side' in Japanese (the English title is 'Lifeline').

Back in the day, there was a period whenvoice-controlled gameslike 'Seaman' and 'Hey You, Pikachu!' were popular. This 'Operator's Side' is a masterpiece of an action-adventure game controlled by voice.

I've never played it myself, but I watched it back when game streaming started becoming popular on Nico Nico Douga, and I remember laughing and crying at the clumsy controls.

It's actually surprising that an English version of this game was developed. I imagine the development costs for voice recognition in both Japanese and English on the low-spec machines of that time must have been enormous. If the English version is playable, it would still be very useful for learning English today.

To control the protagonist Rio, my favoritesrepeat specific words and sentences,so there are many situations where I think, 'Oh, so that's how you use English in this situation!' It's truly educational. I've already watched it dozens of times.

Two rays of light that illuminated me when I was lost. Meeting my favorites was a turning point in my life.

Repeated failures

I went to New York for my college graduation trip, and after a year of wandering abroad, I felt keenly that English was indeed necessary.

However, no matter how many times I tried, I was a quitter and couldn't keep it up at all. I even remember crying when an English teacher got angry at me, saying, 'That's why you're no good.' I think there are science-oriented brains and humanities-oriented brains. Or maybe it's more like right-brain and left-brain. People who are good at languages must have something different.

After giving up dozens of times, I moved to Kyoto this year, and I made a firm resolution, thinking that since there are many foreigners here, there must be plenty of opportunities to interact with them, which would be a great way to study!

For example, while watching videos like the one below, I continued something called shadowing for one hour every day for three months. It became quite a habit and I managed to keep it up.

I think this has been the most effective way to improve my listening skills in all my years of studying English. After all, I listen to it at home, and even while walking or commuting, I keep muttering along under my breath while listening to it. You get used to it, don't you?

I feel like I've reached a point where I can hear and understand the meaning of most of the example sentences in it.

So, I tried participating in a board game meetup where foreigners gather. Everyone there wasn't a tourist, but young people from various countries who love Kyoto and have started living in Japan. There were about 10 people in total, from Brazil, Australia, Mexico, the UK, China, Taiwan, etc. I was the only Japanese person and the oldest one there.

Since some people were playing for the first time, the format was that those who knew the rules would explain them while teaching others how to play.

However, I was crushed there. I
couldn't understand the English they were using to explain. I didn't understand about 90% of what they were saying. Everyone was kind, so they would teach me even with broken Japanese.

Furthermore, the words wouldn't come out! I could only say things like Yes, No, or Okay. How pathetic ((+_+)) The wall of native speakers was high.

There seems to be some kind of event every month, like cooking parties or fireworks gatherings, but because of the misery of not being able to converse and interact, I couldn't bring myself to participate again.

But the desire to speak English with native speakers remained in a corner of my heart.

No more pointless studying.

Coming home from work and denying myself my favorite anime and games, when it's not necessary right now, with a face twisted in pain, and for the sake of the future while whispering to myself, doing study that I don't actually want to do cannot be healthy. I don't think I'll improve either.

As if guided, to you.

I've tried watching English-speaking YouTubers, and watching overseas dramas, movies, and sports in English, but none of them clicked. I wondered, why can't I hear it? And I found this video.

Liaison I didn't understand the sound changes called at all. No one had taught me this until this age!

I sort of knew that 'I want' becomes 'I wanna', but
'Internet' becoming 'Inernet' was a surprise.

I thought it would be better to ask a native speaker, so I searched around and found this.

They taught me in detail, using American English accents as examples, when consonants change and when sounds are dropped.

With the understanding that there is a rule called liaison, I searched for English content that suits me. Since I've always loved game streaming, I thought a YouTuber who plays games would be good, and since I also like VTubers, I subscribed to and listened to many people from the clips of the video above to see if there was anyone suitable.

That is where I met the aforementioned Iris and Mint. I still can't quite catch all the English, but it no longer feels like a chore. In fact, I find it fun to watch. After all, doing what you love is the best, isn't it?

Depending on the person, there will be things that click or don't, such as voice quality, speed, personality, streaming frequency, or whether they play games you like.

I hope you find a wonderful favorite VTuber of your own!

Seconds (Additions)

Nene Amano is a VTuber who specializes in visual novels. I found her after writing this article! She reads the English versions of Japanese masterpiece adventure games like "Higurashi When They Cry" and "Clannad." She is perfect as a lullaby before bed.