Yeah, yeah, people say Japanese is a hard language to learn. But Beni shows that even a humble pooch can pick up some vocabulary.

Japanese sits at, or intimidatingly close to, the top spot on several “hardest languages to learn” lists. And yes, there are a number of potential stumbling blocks on the way to putting together a fully formed sentence in Japanese, especially if English is your native language.

But that in no way means you can’t pick up a few phrases, or even just simple vocabulary words, to make your time travelling or living in Japan a richer and more pleasant experience. While the grammar can be tricky, Japanese pronunciation is actually really easy. How easy? Easy enough that even this dog can say a few words.

https://twitter.com/a_t_k123/status/1035860170121740288

That’s Beni, a Shiba Inu who’s been part of Japanese Twitter user @a_t_k123’s household since a little over a year ago. At the video’s 0:02 mark, the talented pooch can be heard saying “Taberu!”, the Japanese word for “eat,” with surprising clarity.

That’s not the only feat he pulls off in the video either. At 0:14, he does an admirable job saying “hanbagu” (what Japan calls hamburger steaks), showing that he’s even comfortable with katakana-based loanwords.

▼ Before being adopted by @a_t_k123, Beni was a breeder dog, meaning he was a literal stud before he became a linguistic one.

https://twitter.com/a_t_k123/status/1036590836694233088

▼ Further proof of his studliness

https://twitter.com/a_t_k123/status/1035309367757664257

Granted, it doesn’t look like Beni has the firmest grip on exactly what the words he’s saying mean. True, he does cheerfully munch on a treat he’s given at the end, but there’s no way to tell if that’s because it was something he was trying to specifically ask for by saying taberu, or just because, well, he’s a dog, and dogs are always happy to get treats. There’s also the fact that the snack he’s given in no way resembles a hamburger steak, but yet he seems completely satisfied with it.

Still, this is a solid example that any person, or dog, who puts in the time and effort can learn a bit of Japanese, because it’s really not as hard as some people say.

Source, images: Twitter/@a_t_k123
[ Read in Japanese ]

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he learned the word “taberu” by watching the first episode of Marmalade Boy.