After around a bit over 6 months of learning for at least 2 hours, I can finally see what I accomplished and I didn't do that much to be honest. Yesterday, I was able to hold a stable conversation about different topics with a friend for over 1 hour.
Quick breakdown, I spend around 2 hours daily imersing with youtube videos and doing Anki (currently the Kaishi 1,5k Deck with 7 new words daily) and that alone is already really usefull. Having example sentences where I can do a breakdown on the grammar and compare it to a language I understand is pure gold.
I also have a japanese Twitter account where I can read and interact in japanese which is also really fun and usefull. It also helpes with motivation because you are telling other people what you are doing which puts some kind of "preasure" on you to keep going.
Listening to a lot of japanese music is also really helpfull because sometimes one sentence sticks out and I suddenly understand it + a lot of japanese music videos have the lyrics in the video which makes it more easier to understand it.
So it doesn't really need a lot to make good progess, just motivation, fun, a goal and dedication. Don't rush it because its a marathon, not a sprint.
This does sound like quite impressive progress, I'd be really happy if I get there within that time frame, especially since I'm spending way more than 2 hours a day! Japanese is hard man.
Although it does sound like you're doing a lot more than 2 hours a day, you use your Japanese Twitter account and whatnot most of the day?
tbh most of the days, I barely do 2h of actually learning. Listening to music and using my japanese twitter acount (as my main) is just a good help to keep my brain on track with the language.
I feel like if I didnt use twitter and listen to JP music, my brain would just switch between my regular languages and study mode.
Gaslighting yourself also makes an impact. Be happy about finally remembering that word that you always got wrong. Be proud of yourself that you can finally use that word corectly.
Its okay if your sentences are grammatically incorrect, as long as someone understands what you are trying to say, its a big step to becomming better.
Yeah that's why I asked about the Twitter account. If you're spending 2 hours properly studying and then 6 hours on Japanese social media that's super nice, it's also a lot more time spent learning the language. Like how long did you spend per day studying, reading, etc to Japanese? Not counting music.
I mean, personally I'm "studying" for like an hour a day with Anki, rest of my studying is listening to Japanese podcasts while taking a walk/at the beach (1.~1.5 hours a day) and reading a VN in Japanese with tools for mining and whatnot (3~4 hours a day). I wouldn't say I'm studying an hour a day though because everything I do in Japanese kind of counts as studying.
I was considering maybe trying to switch to consuming more "regular content" in Japanese to replace reddit a bit, how did you make a "Japanese" Twitter account? I could try that one really, although I might not be able to understand much lol.
I just made a new account, switched the settings to Japanese and started following and interacting with japanese accounts only. If you use or interact with another language, the algorithm quickly realizes and starts to recommend you more in that so try to avoid that.
Try to follow accounts that tweet about the stuff you like. That way you learn words for that interest over time.
Oh, it's that simple then, thanks!
If you don't mind me asking, how long would you say you spent every day interacting with Japanese content as a whole? Was it an all day thing? Being able to hold a convo for like an hour after 6 months is crazy!
Hard to say. Apart from that 2 hour learning I do every day I would say around 10 mins to 4 hours or so. Heavily depends on the day, my mood and time I have. Sometimes more sometimes less active. Somedays I just scroll through my timeline and only look at images, somedays I feel like having conversations with everyone
That's very impressive, what point did you start from? I assume this wasn't from scratch.
Awesome!!! It's a marathon, but I also think you're making super great progress!
At some point the gains will start to feel incremental, but if you go back and look at what you struggled with 3 months prior you'll be like "oh I totally get that now."
Yes, surely! I am prepared. 6 month ago I couldnt form a sentence, now I can do conversations. After I'm done with the Kaishi 1,5k deck, I intend do start with bunpro again and continue mining.
wow after 6 months from nothing
Oh, it wasn't from nothing. I already knew a good amount of basic words and sentences. I was talking about doing it with this method for 6 months.
That twitter account is interesting. I follow the 猫がいる生活 feed on BlueSky for the same purpose, does anybody here know about a good social media feed for native reading immersion?
That feed sounds interesting, i should take a look at that.
おめでとうございます
ありがとうございますうううう！:D
ーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Congrats!
Personally I have been putting in 2-3 hrs each day and I am a stammering, sweaty, nervous wreck whenever I try talking with my iTalki tutor!
No shade, but also like set expectations. Conversing in Japanese is freaking hard! Even just listening is hard. YMMV
My lazy brain doesn’t want to memorize kanji 😤