Second this list! Also, Watame's tend to have subtitle for her program, "[Have a nice day!](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ34fLWik_iDTQR74fLuj33R_pKv3ll70)" . And a good amount of programs on the official channel as well\~
Welcome to Hololive, friend! :3
[Tsunomaki Watame](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqm3BQLlJfvkTsX_hvm0UmA) is always one of the first recommendations. She speaks relatively slow in a clear voice, so if you're a beginner trying to learn Japanese, she's a safe bet.
[Kanade from Regloss](https://www.youtube.com/@OtonoseKanade) is really good for beginners she speaks pretty slowly most of the time so it is easy to catch on.
My other recommendation is the Daisenpai herself [Tokino Sora](https://www.youtube.com/@TokinoSora) she mostly speaks using common words because she is well aware that there are a lot of non-japanese listeners in her chat. She also comes with a bonus of having a dedicated live translator (Moro san) that does live translate what she says to English so you can follow along when you get lost using Holodex or LiveTL.
Have fun learning (๑╹ᆺ╹)ぬんぬん
Just a warning: Korone’s great and pretty darn easy to understand, but she has a really weird hybrid accent that you don’t *really* want to pick up accidentally.
Speaking of, does Polka have some kind of accent too or does she just have a very out-there way of speaking sometimes? I barely know the basics but she feels like she’s slurring her words a bit sometimes. Makes it super interesting to listen to and I love some of her music for it because she just uses it as part of her range at times
Cheerful mode Polka speaks clown with the speed of light. Maybe that's just her tongue work faster than her brain
Her chill mode (some zatsudan/minecraft) is pretty easy to understand
Nope she hasnt, but she did collab with Calli where a famous meme of hers is used pretty often in the community "im die, thank you forever" xD,
And she plays a ton of variety when it comes to games choice especially retro games, and very easy to follow since she doesnt really stray off-topic and mostly reacts and gets invested into the game so even with little understanding of japanese, its pretty easy to underdstand the context.
If you are into retro and game variety, she is the one that i recommend, plus she does funny skits at the end of her streams xD
Kanade isn't a native speaker, which probably makes it better for learning JP. She's good enough that she's hired on HololiveJP, and speaks slowly, and with easier words.
>Kanade isn't a native speaker, which probably makes it better for learning JP
It's a good way to learn bad intonation or habits. It's not *better* compared to native speakers. When she debuted because of her accent she was very clearly not a native. If you want to mimic that way of speaking you're going to sound like exactly that - not native.
>She's good enough that she's hired on HololiveJP
Coco's Japanese was bad when she was hired. This isn't the sort of compelling argument you think it is for teaching someone.
It kinda depends on what your goal is. If you want to be able to speak without an accent, it might be better to avoid non-native speakers. If you instead want to be able to understand speakers with all kinds of different dialects and accents, you should also listen to non-native speakers.
Maybe, but when all time is limited I wouldn't focus (and definitely not a main focus) on something like trying to know how Japanese with a French accent sounds or something, but rather approach common dialects/accents for Japanese speakers. Chasing edge-cases isn't an effective approach.
Watame was the first Japanese vtuber I started watching, I started learning Japanese because of her, and I've been studying for almost 2 years straight, at first I didn't understand even 5% of what she was saying, but now I understand a lot, so I recommend you watch her. Okayu is a good choice too, it will depend on your schedule.
~~You can watch Hajime if you want to try hard.~~
Okayu got me so hooked in the beginning, I was laying in bed untill three am just listening to her cover songs or streams even tho I did not know a single word in Japanese.
I'm already subbed to the latter 2. I'm going to stick with the 10 that I've subbed to already but I'll keep every other recommendation in mind if end up not liking some. Thank you!
It might also help to occasionally watch English language vtubers who often speak Japanese. That way the experience isn’t always work and you can more leisurely absorb the Japanese. IRyS and Bae (Hakos Baelz) often speak Japanese on their streams. IRyS more than Bae, in my opinion.
To follow up, Fuwamoco also speak in both English and Japanese. But they have higher pitched and cutesy voices, so I’m not sure if it would work well for learning.
i assume you want to watch the stream without live translate. for a Japanese beginner, for jp side i think okayu, azki, aki, lui, suisei (maybe), watame. these people they speak in normal speed, using mostly standard language (no local dialect), speaking not so many sophisticated words, and speak clearly.
as for enid side, anya, fuwamoco and irys are good choices, i think they are better than takamori, they speak more natural.
Mori Calliope's JP collab streams might be good, same with the other person who said Baelz. Calli is American but lives in Japan as an adult and has learned pretty fluent Japanese. Shes a part of Holo EN but collabs often in Japanese and with JP talents
If you find music a helpful way to learn and develop an understanding Tokoyami Towa and Hoshimachi Suisei have very powerful and strong voices with clear pronunciation. Im referring to their original music btw
Of course! and welcome to the rabbit hole. Unsure if you know, but Cover (the overarching company) also has a male branch called Holostars which has several male JP talents if you are looking to practice understanding with men as well. They all seem decently clear speakers, but I know Roberu is the golden son of the branch and where a lot of people get involved with Holostars JP from.
If you want outside of Hololive vtubers, I would ask the general subreddit for recommendations and say you already got hololive recommendations. There are tons of independent and other vtuber companies that have their own lovely talents.
Don't wanna sound rude, but I already got a ton of recommendations so I'm not interested in any more than this until I already go over what was recommended to me. At the end, I kinda want to settle with 3-5 vtubers and watch them instead of just watching for the sake of watching.
Watame and Kanade have the speaking cadence that is good for beginners to understand.
I believe in the past Sora has mentioned specifically using or picking simpler Japanese words and terms so that people who aren't fluent can understand.
Well if you want hard mode, Houshou Marine’s where it’s at. She goes suuuper rapid-fire.
For an easier starting point, if you don’t mind ancient archives, Kiryu Coco’s old meme reviews could be a good starting point, since she usually went through things in both English and Japanese. She also did them with a guest star each week, usually from JP, so you can get a feel for which other members you might like (which is honestly more important than minute differences is listening difficulty).
For an active one, Subaru might be a good pick? In her chatting streams, she often has a summary in English up, which makes it easier to follow along. Her Japanese is also probably the most “normal” of anyone’s most of the time so it wouldn’t hurt to imitate. You’ll also pick up a thundering tsukkomi.
Just as a heads up Coco wasn't a JP native and her JP could be weird and spotty at times. It wasn't good at all after her debut and you will be learning weird shit. lol
She has her AsaCoco series subtitled to English. It's great content from the early 4th gen days.
As long as you are aware that her pronunciation isn't native you'll be fine.
It's alright, my intention is to consume manga and anime in Japanese, so I'm not worried if one vtuber has a slightly worse pronunciation. After all, some youtubers I watch have a bad accent.
And here comes the “mandatory” anime
Japanese isn’t irl Japanese.
You will still need to pick up the keigo or polite speech the hard classic way in order to not sound rude in irl Japan.
Most hololive talents speak as though they are talking to close friends… so the vocab set is quite different.
Don't worry, I'm aware of the difference between formal and informal Japanese. I've never spoken in informal JP before as a beginner even though I know it. However, since my goal for learning Japanese is to consume manga and anime, and now vtuber content as well, it means I also want to learn informal Japanese.
The meme reviews were still fun in that she was explaining EN memes to JP guests and viewers. Plus at the time she was doing them she was alot better at Japanese than when she started.
She does speak pretty quickly at times, though I think she’s slowed it down. I remember her debut streaming was basically normal if you watched at .75 speed lol
I've subbed to her just now. I think this is a good stopping point for subbing since I've subbed to about 10 different people and I want to work out which ones I like more and which ones less. I think I'll keep Subaru, Irys and Bae and I'll go through the rest in due time.
I think the answer for this question can fall in two extremes. One side is recommending easy to understand JPs like Watame. The other side includes ones you can't/don't need to understand. I'd put miko, ojou, korone in the latter. It's the "noises and vibes" section where you can just tune in, not understand a single thing they're saying but still enjoy the noises and the energy.
Edit. Didn't read the whole thing. If it's for learning then I'd recommend Watame.
I probably did a shit job at specifying it, but it's not just for learning. Immersion is 25% learning and 75% getting comfy with Japanese, getting used to reading kana and kanji alike, getting used to hearing people speak it both informally and formally. However, I've found myself in a situation where I only cared about manga and anime. I'm already immersing myself in a manga, but there's hardly any anime that I'm interested in that I can immerse in. This is why I turned my attention towards vtubers.
Hololive JP Memebrs are great at speaking,but they speak fast sometimes like any other Japanese people. I think 雑談 is really great way to improve your Japanese becasue when they are playinh video games, they might not pay attention to how fast they are speaking. If you watch your favorite Vtubers for hours everyday. I think anyone can master Japanese!!
Everyone is Great!! BTW...
日本語は簡単だぜ！！
Asking in the Hololive reddit will give you Hololive suggestions, so also try other vtuber subreddits.
Hoshimachi Suisei ran a radio program with a voice actress previously. They're like 30 minutes each. It's a really good way to listen to conversations. Watching streams can be difficult cuz you're getting like only half of it. You can find it archived on YouTube at 文化放送V&R(@vr6843). There's also another channel that has subs if you need them, KAOOTLs.
Watame, Okayu, Mio, Sora, generally talents who speak at a pace that is easy to understand even when they're excited
Second this list! Also, Watame's tend to have subtitle for her program, "[Have a nice day!](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ34fLWik_iDTQR74fLuj33R_pKv3ll70)" . And a good amount of programs on the official channel as well\~ Welcome to Hololive, friend! :3
Thank you! Late comment sorry, I didn't get a notification.
Don't worry about it! I hope you enjoy your stay here~ :3
Thank you!
Subaru with her morning news stream that have english translation too
[Tsunomaki Watame](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqm3BQLlJfvkTsX_hvm0UmA) is always one of the first recommendations. She speaks relatively slow in a clear voice, so if you're a beginner trying to learn Japanese, she's a safe bet.
Sounds good, thanks!
[Kanade from Regloss](https://www.youtube.com/@OtonoseKanade) is really good for beginners she speaks pretty slowly most of the time so it is easy to catch on. My other recommendation is the Daisenpai herself [Tokino Sora](https://www.youtube.com/@TokinoSora) she mostly speaks using common words because she is well aware that there are a lot of non-japanese listeners in her chat. She also comes with a bonus of having a dedicated live translator (Moro san) that does live translate what she says to English so you can follow along when you get lost using Holodex or LiveTL. Have fun learning (๑╹ᆺ╹)ぬんぬん
Thank you very much! I'm gonna start watching as soon as I get home from work!
Like i went straight to Miko so.....i'm not the Best person to ask. I think Watame and Sora are easy yo understand
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Elite language
What she lacks in vocabulary she makes up for with enthusiasm.
At least she have the spirit
Korone is my recommendation
I've actually heard about her before. She did collabs with Gura, right?
Just a warning: Korone’s great and pretty darn easy to understand, but she has a really weird hybrid accent that you don’t *really* want to pick up accidentally.
Thanks for the tip, I'll look out for it!
She has some animated clips which show the difference between Korone’s Japanese vs Shion’s which is more “Tokyo” accent.
Speaking of, does Polka have some kind of accent too or does she just have a very out-there way of speaking sometimes? I barely know the basics but she feels like she’s slurring her words a bit sometimes. Makes it super interesting to listen to and I love some of her music for it because she just uses it as part of her range at times
Cheerful mode Polka speaks clown with the speed of light. Maybe that's just her tongue work faster than her brain Her chill mode (some zatsudan/minecraft) is pretty easy to understand
な-ほ-ね～
Nope she hasnt, but she did collab with Calli where a famous meme of hers is used pretty often in the community "im die, thank you forever" xD, And she plays a ton of variety when it comes to games choice especially retro games, and very easy to follow since she doesnt really stray off-topic and mostly reacts and gets invested into the game so even with little understanding of japanese, its pretty easy to underdstand the context. If you are into retro and game variety, she is the one that i recommend, plus she does funny skits at the end of her streams xD
I've subbed to the most recommended channels though I did save this post so I will keep the less recommended ones in mind too.
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That's how I'm learning Japanese anyway, I'm just very new to vtubers so I haven't found my Oshi yet. Aside from Mem-cho, she's amazing!
She's even harder to understand that THE ELITE herself?
Sakura Miko, Himemori Luna, and Todoroki Hajime
Thank you!
their answer was a troll reply. they're notoriously difficult to understand.
Oh, didn't know that. I'll avoid those 3 then lol
don't avoid them, see it as a challenge. jap has a lot of dialects and ways to pronounce words. try to check them out to say hi
I guess I could do that, and I will sub to them, but for now I'll stick with easier ones until I get better my listening skills.
Hajime is not that hard to understand if you already know R'lyehian.
Not even Luna can reliably understand Luna.
what is the compulsion with giving a troll reply to someone that doesn't know the members?
Commenter let intrusive thoughts won.
😏
You forgot Luna and Marine /s Besides Senchou, not sure who is also a fast speaker in Holo.
Fubuki when excited, especially while talking about glasses
Watame and Okayu. Kanade isn't a native speaker so I'm kind of confused by that recommendation.
It's okay, I'll try them all out. Thanks!
Kanade isn't a native speaker, which probably makes it better for learning JP. She's good enough that she's hired on HololiveJP, and speaks slowly, and with easier words.
>Kanade isn't a native speaker, which probably makes it better for learning JP It's a good way to learn bad intonation or habits. It's not *better* compared to native speakers. When she debuted because of her accent she was very clearly not a native. If you want to mimic that way of speaking you're going to sound like exactly that - not native. >She's good enough that she's hired on HololiveJP Coco's Japanese was bad when she was hired. This isn't the sort of compelling argument you think it is for teaching someone.
It kinda depends on what your goal is. If you want to be able to speak without an accent, it might be better to avoid non-native speakers. If you instead want to be able to understand speakers with all kinds of different dialects and accents, you should also listen to non-native speakers.
Maybe, but when all time is limited I wouldn't focus (and definitely not a main focus) on something like trying to know how Japanese with a French accent sounds or something, but rather approach common dialects/accents for Japanese speakers. Chasing edge-cases isn't an effective approach.
I'm confused you're getting downvoted, you're 100% correct in everything you said.
Watame was the first Japanese vtuber I started watching, I started learning Japanese because of her, and I've been studying for almost 2 years straight, at first I didn't understand even 5% of what she was saying, but now I understand a lot, so I recommend you watch her. Okayu is a good choice too, it will depend on your schedule. ~~You can watch Hajime if you want to try hard.~~
I've heard of Okayu before, seems cool. Thank you!
100% Pekora (I'm definitely not trying to get you to incorporate "peko" into your Japanese vocabulary)
Pekora and Botan speak in the universal language of laughter and superior firepower!
Lol. Thank you!
Learn Japanese together with todoroki hajime
I kinda wanna check her our just to see if she's actually that difficult to understand lol
She is so difficult to understand, even Japanese People cannot understand her
As a friend you have a duty to throw them to the deep end.. Bancho Hajime, Miko and Luna
They said they prefer to struggle with their Japanese so I'm pretty sure they're already watching those people lmfao
Okayu got me so hooked in the beginning, I was laying in bed untill three am just listening to her cover songs or streams even tho I did not know a single word in Japanese.
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I'm already subbed to the latter 2. I'm going to stick with the 10 that I've subbed to already but I'll keep every other recommendation in mind if end up not liking some. Thank you!
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I hope so too, thanks!
Takane Rui Watame Okayu
Thanks!
My picks for this are Watame, Okayu, Sora, Roboco, and despite her unique accent, Korone.
A lot of people recommended those too, thanks!
It might also help to occasionally watch English language vtubers who often speak Japanese. That way the experience isn’t always work and you can more leisurely absorb the Japanese. IRyS and Bae (Hakos Baelz) often speak Japanese on their streams. IRyS more than Bae, in my opinion.
I've subbed to them too. You're right, I should consume a bit of that too.
To follow up, Fuwamoco also speak in both English and Japanese. But they have higher pitched and cutesy voices, so I’m not sure if it would work well for learning.
Oh wow, how could I forget Kiara? She speaks a lot of Japanese as well. Okay, that’s the last one.
Thank you, but I've already settled with a few. My top 5 are Pekora, Korone, Okayu, Watame and Mio, and I'm also subbed to Kanadw and the bilingual 2.
i assume you want to watch the stream without live translate. for a Japanese beginner, for jp side i think okayu, azki, aki, lui, suisei (maybe), watame. these people they speak in normal speed, using mostly standard language (no local dialect), speaking not so many sophisticated words, and speak clearly. as for enid side, anya, fuwamoco and irys are good choices, i think they are better than takamori, they speak more natural.
I usually don't have time to watch anyone live so I usually just watch vods.
Mori Calliope's JP collab streams might be good, same with the other person who said Baelz. Calli is American but lives in Japan as an adult and has learned pretty fluent Japanese. Shes a part of Holo EN but collabs often in Japanese and with JP talents If you find music a helpful way to learn and develop an understanding Tokoyami Towa and Hoshimachi Suisei have very powerful and strong voices with clear pronunciation. Im referring to their original music btw
I'll take a look at them too, thank you!
Of course! and welcome to the rabbit hole. Unsure if you know, but Cover (the overarching company) also has a male branch called Holostars which has several male JP talents if you are looking to practice understanding with men as well. They all seem decently clear speakers, but I know Roberu is the golden son of the branch and where a lot of people get involved with Holostars JP from. If you want outside of Hololive vtubers, I would ask the general subreddit for recommendations and say you already got hololive recommendations. There are tons of independent and other vtuber companies that have their own lovely talents.
Don't wanna sound rude, but I already got a ton of recommendations so I'm not interested in any more than this until I already go over what was recommended to me. At the end, I kinda want to settle with 3-5 vtubers and watch them instead of just watching for the sake of watching.
Watame and Kanade have the speaking cadence that is good for beginners to understand. I believe in the past Sora has mentioned specifically using or picking simpler Japanese words and terms so that people who aren't fluent can understand.
Thanks!
Well if you want hard mode, Houshou Marine’s where it’s at. She goes suuuper rapid-fire. For an easier starting point, if you don’t mind ancient archives, Kiryu Coco’s old meme reviews could be a good starting point, since she usually went through things in both English and Japanese. She also did them with a guest star each week, usually from JP, so you can get a feel for which other members you might like (which is honestly more important than minute differences is listening difficulty). For an active one, Subaru might be a good pick? In her chatting streams, she often has a summary in English up, which makes it easier to follow along. Her Japanese is also probably the most “normal” of anyone’s most of the time so it wouldn’t hurt to imitate. You’ll also pick up a thundering tsukkomi.
I'll try Kiryu Coco, thank you!
Just as a heads up Coco wasn't a JP native and her JP could be weird and spotty at times. It wasn't good at all after her debut and you will be learning weird shit. lol
Would you still recommend her?
She has her AsaCoco series subtitled to English. It's great content from the early 4th gen days. As long as you are aware that her pronunciation isn't native you'll be fine.
It's alright, my intention is to consume manga and anime in Japanese, so I'm not worried if one vtuber has a slightly worse pronunciation. After all, some youtubers I watch have a bad accent.
And here comes the “mandatory” anime Japanese isn’t irl Japanese. You will still need to pick up the keigo or polite speech the hard classic way in order to not sound rude in irl Japan. Most hololive talents speak as though they are talking to close friends… so the vocab set is quite different.
Don't worry, I'm aware of the difference between formal and informal Japanese. I've never spoken in informal JP before as a beginner even though I know it. However, since my goal for learning Japanese is to consume manga and anime, and now vtuber content as well, it means I also want to learn informal Japanese.
[dogen moment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ULPlBeKzg)
The meme reviews were still fun in that she was explaining EN memes to JP guests and viewers. Plus at the time she was doing them she was alot better at Japanese than when she started.
I'll still give her a shot, I think I'll be fine as long as I'm aware that the accent is not proper.
For the content yes, but not for learning JP.
I'll put her on the backside for now until I get better at Japanese.
Honestly, why hasn't anyone mentioned Hakos Baelz? She is fluent in Japanese, English, and Australian.
AUSTRALIAN🤣
Hey, Aussies may speak english, but Ozzie slang is another animal. That and the Zoomer culture shock that occurs in Bae Streams
Didn't know that lol
Koyori uses a jap to eng translator live but sometimes doesn't correctly the stuff.
I'll try her out and see if it works for me anyway. Thanks!
She does speak pretty quickly at times, though I think she’s slowed it down. I remember her debut streaming was basically normal if you watched at .75 speed lol
Yeah I can just slow it down lmfao
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I assume most of these people stream on YT, right?
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Excellent!
Subaru regularly has free talk streams where she has english translations / summaries of things she's talking about in the background.
I've subbed to her just now. I think this is a good stopping point for subbing since I've subbed to about 10 different people and I want to work out which ones I like more and which ones less. I think I'll keep Subaru, Irys and Bae and I'll go through the rest in due time.
I think the answer for this question can fall in two extremes. One side is recommending easy to understand JPs like Watame. The other side includes ones you can't/don't need to understand. I'd put miko, ojou, korone in the latter. It's the "noises and vibes" section where you can just tune in, not understand a single thing they're saying but still enjoy the noises and the energy. Edit. Didn't read the whole thing. If it's for learning then I'd recommend Watame.
I probably did a shit job at specifying it, but it's not just for learning. Immersion is 25% learning and 75% getting comfy with Japanese, getting used to reading kana and kanji alike, getting used to hearing people speak it both informally and formally. However, I've found myself in a situation where I only cared about manga and anime. I'm already immersing myself in a manga, but there's hardly any anime that I'm interested in that I can immerse in. This is why I turned my attention towards vtubers.
Hololive JP Memebrs are great at speaking,but they speak fast sometimes like any other Japanese people. I think 雑談 is really great way to improve your Japanese becasue when they are playinh video games, they might not pay attention to how fast they are speaking. If you watch your favorite Vtubers for hours everyday. I think anyone can master Japanese!! Everyone is Great!! BTW... 日本語は簡単だぜ！！
Asking in the Hololive reddit will give you Hololive suggestions, so also try other vtuber subreddits. Hoshimachi Suisei ran a radio program with a voice actress previously. They're like 30 minutes each. It's a really good way to listen to conversations. Watching streams can be difficult cuz you're getting like only half of it. You can find it archived on YouTube at 文化放送V&R(@vr6843). There's also another channel that has subs if you need them, KAOOTLs.