Watching material made for language learners can be great, but at some point you want to start listening to material that’s made for native speakers. Japanese dramas, anime and movies are of course great ways to have fun while sneaking in some listening practice, but listening to something that’s 100 percent in Japanese can be overwhelming at first. If you get lost and don’t know what’s going on, you probably aren’t enjoying yourself—and if you’re not enjoying yourself, chances are you’re going to quit.

If you’re looking for a halfway point on the road to Japanese immersion, watching bilingual YouTube videos can be a great way to make sure you understand what’s going on while getting a decent amount of Japanese exposure. Think of it as Japanese YouTube with training wheels.

Queen of the bilingual YouTube video is Chika of Bilingirl English. She makes language lessons and videos introducing elements of Japanese culture on the channel Japanagos.

But the English lessons for Japanese people on her main channel Bilingirl English actually make really good Japanese listening practice, too. She’s talking in Japanese, but about English!

There aren’t many places where you can listen to a conversation between an English speaker and a Japanese speaker, with each speaking their own language. But the videos with Tomoko on Gimmeabreakman‘s channel give you just that: fast, natural speech on current (often controversial) topics, subtitled and explained where necessary.