"X is free if you don't value your time". This is an expression that is commonly thrown around. "If it's free; you are the product" is another such claim. They are true in many occasions. But they are not some universal truths such as 2+2 = 4. Complex economic systems can create unique scenarios where an individual can gain value without being a product for someone else or loosing their valuable time.

We don't have a real free market capitalism in the world. Closest thing we have to real capitalism is the cryptosphere which bootstrapped a 3 trillion dollar economy against all odds in a matter of 10 years. When productivity of an economy improves massively, it elevate the level of everyone in the economy. It is better to be homeless in a capitalist leaning developed country today than be a land owner in medieval times. We have more opportunities and more technological innovations to improve our lives. Many of these innovations do trickle down the economy can smart individuals can leverage these for self improvement.

Onboarding Without Advertising

In the old days, companies had to spend millions on advertising to onboard new customers to their products and services. Digital mediums and internet has made some types of products and services extremely cheap to deliver at scale. This has created the room for companies and entrepreneurs to spend their money directly on their potential customers instead of giving it to an advertising company.

The company that made the above video is now running a 35% discount which you can try out on their website. They have many videos like this that help people take care of the basics. Having free educational content on YouTube and offering some free downloadable study material on their website are all good ways to add millions of potential customers to the funnel. You are not being a product. You are getting free samples. When an economy has developed enough, it can afford to give this type of free samples to potential customers.

This is The Secret to Free Education

Before you learn about the advanced things, you must familiarize yourself with the basics. This is a process that take time. Companies and entrepreneurs have it in their best interest to provide the best beginner content to keep your interest. During the time you learn the basics, you can get the premium educational experienced for free!

Congratulations! Now you know the basics of Japanese for both verbal and written communication. For many learners, this is sufficient and they learn the rest on their own while being immersed in the language. Others may need a deeper understanding of Japanese and carry with them a desire to speak more eloquently. There are free content available for even that. There is only a little loss in picking the free path. Make sure to not get distracted by other things. Using an alternative front end to YouTube is a smart move.

• Try Invidious for Web
• Use NewPipe on Android

High Quality Productions from Hobbyists

Technology can reduce the barriers to entry. Animation that took months for a group of talented experts can now be done with one person in few days after decades of innovation. Some of these features can be achieved through FOSS alone.

There should be no question on whether a hobbyist can come up with the most incredible educational content. It is even possible to create them at a low enough cost where the creator can be satisfied with few donations + social media income.

もしもしゆうすけ is Amazing!

He is not exactly an educator. He is a wonderful person that enable millions to learn Japanese for free thorough one of the most natural ways possible. Yusuke allows his viewers to experience Japan and Japanese language through the eyes of an everyday person going through his everyday life. The videos come with subtitles. There are 3 types of videos.

1. "File" Series I walk down the streets and talk to the people there. These will help you listen to real Japanese as it is actually used by the Japanese. Of course, we never read scripts.

1. "Monologue" Series I walk down the streets and talk by myself. You can listen to my slower spoken Japanese while enjoying the scenery of Japan. I never read scripts.

1. "Conversation" Series I talk to someone who can speak Japanese. These will help you focus on listening to Japanese. we never read scripts.

One of the most important and useful parts of Yusuke's videos is the "never read scripts" part. It makes the content natural and this is exactly what you need to speak a language. Being an anime fan certainly helps. But it can only carry you so far and there are things to unlearn from Anime. I would love if I could learn Japanese by watching Anime. I have tried that and if you have read my old articles over the years you know how big of an Anime fan I am. I know the limits of what Anime can do.

"File" Series (24 Videos)

"Monologue" Series (15 Videos)

"Conversation" Series (22 Videos)

Save Money and Invest in Crypto

If you are interested in learning Japanese, I have saved you potentially hundreds of dollars without a large time penalty and without being a "product" for a company to harvest data and attention from. Thanks to the functional tax that is inflation, saving will not help you much. You must beat inflation (and I don't mean the official inflation figures which do not represent the big picture). Buy some $HIVE or $LEO or any other cryptocurrency of your choice.

Posted Using InLeo Alpha