The Problem of Declining Japanese Proficiency

Hello, this is Gotchin.

In conclusion, the number of people whose Japanese proficiency is declining is increasing rapidly.

When that happens, even if you are doing note,

・Even though I create note articles every day, views and likes don't increase

・That person who is posting similar content gets tons of comments

・Let alone selling paid notes, there's no sign of them selling

If you have any inkling that this applies to you, please read this article to the end and try these concrete measures.

By the way, if you have been consistently sharing information for over a year while properly investing in knowledge, and you have never earned over 1 million yen a month, that is a yellow light.

The foundation for handling Japanese is language proficiency.

Language proficiency is the power to acquire information, and it leads to the power to convey information.

Therefore, if you seriously study language for about a week, your writing will be upgraded to something that makes you seem very intelligent.

In terms of image,

When someone with a knowledge/experience level of 100

communicates information with a language proficiency of 10,

only about level 30 content gets across.

When someone with a knowledge/experience level of 30

communicates information with a language proficiency of 70,

it can appear as level 50 content.

That is the general idea.

In a word, writing by someone with high language proficiency is "easy to understand," but if you don't write in an "easy-to-understand" way, you won't convey nearly as much as you think you are.

No matter how incredibly useful what you are saying is, if it isn't easy to understand, it won't get across at all and won't be read to the end.

The value of that potentially useful information will be lost.

It may seem plain and trivial, but... clarity is seriously important.

And, to get back to the very basics, in the information dissemination business,

when reading articles or watching videos,

the probability of paying for someone you feel is less intelligent than yourself is extremely low

is something you must not forget.

If there is even one area where they excel, it is natural to pay for their content.

Or, you might simply purchase content for research purposes.

But even then, after all,

"This person is smart"

there must have been at least one aspect that made you think that.

Please assume that if people don't see anything that seems intelligent in your content, they won't pay for it.

I believe those who have read this far in this note article have absolutely no issues with reading comprehension.

However, please also keep in mind the fact that there are many people who are not like that.

This means there are times when what we are saying is not getting across at all.

The difficult part is determining whether it is a problem with the other person's reading comprehension or a problem with our ability to communicate.

If there is very little reaction to your articles, there is a possibility it is the latter.

And this can be said to be entirely a negative effect of social media and short-form videos, as well as a negative legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2020, the opportunities to have face-to-face conversations with people have decreased overwhelmingly.

Meanwhile, the amount of time wasted just browsing content on the internet has increased dramatically.

That content is 'short-form and short-duration,' and extremely low-quality content that involves insulting others or nitpicking—things that trigger a sudden rush of dopamine in the brain—has become a huge trend.

Because of this, the language skills that were painstakingly polished since childhood have rusted away in an instant.

As a result, the brain has become unable to accept anything other than what can be understood with those rusted language skills.

If that continues, your intelligence will only decline.

If your knowledge level isn't rising and your language skills aren't improving, there is no way your ability to disseminate information will improve.

Therefore, if you are working hard to put out content but not seeing results, I recommend taking a serious look at your language skills.

This is actually a measure I had my clients try; I had them solve fourth-grade elementary school Japanese workbooks...

I'm sure they were incredibly annoyed when I suggested this, but...

That person's language skills have deteriorated to a hopeless degree

what they say doesn't get across

I don't understand what they are saying

they have significant difficulties with communication

At this rate, the consulting we've worked so hard on cannot continue efficiently, and more importantly, nothing is being conveyed to the readers.

It was a painful decision, and I think I hurt their pride, but I told them everything clearly and had them work on language drills.

Then, as expected, their writing gradually improved, and their conversation became smoother.

By the way, when I feel like my writing is not in good shape, I

read "The Little Prince"

aloud.

People laugh when I say this in person, but I'm actually taking it quite seriously as a countermeasure...

That is how important I believe language proficiency is when doing business.

By the way, I originally hated Japanese class and honestly never read novels at all.

I chose a science track because I hated reading text.

I hated writing, but for some reason, I now make a living by writing, so you never know what life has in store for you.

Due to the negative influence of X (Twitter) and short-form videos, the time spent exposed to strange Japanese has increased.

If you feel like, 'The text I'm writing is a bit weird'

or 'My content isn't performing well,'

I recommend starting by reading aloud text that has been edited/vetted.

It's incredibly mundane, but I wrote this because it's extremely important.

I also highly recommend this to anyone who wants to improve their content quality.

I also write columns from a different perspective in my free email newsletter, which you can sign up for below if you are interested.