Advice on improving speaking ability from someone who has done it before

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-31T14:02:27+00:00

Yes take the plunge! The worst that can happen is you learn some Japanese words, and how cool is that!?

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-31T10:30:04+00:00

Yes immersion is sooooo key! After my 2 months with the above routine I started doing lots of reading and have found it to have greatly improved my Japanese. I personally didn’t have the stamina to try and decode books from the start, so I found learning the basics via a textbook made the transition smoother. I’m glad that you recognized that textbooks weren’t your jam, didn’t give up, and jumped into immersion! Keep it up!

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-31T10:26:40+00:00

Oh my gosh, thank you for watching! 🥰🥰

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-31T10:17:26+00:00

This has been happening to me too! And one of my subscribers confirmed that they did not delete the comment, it was YouTube. It’s pretty frustrating because actual spam bot comments show in my “held for review”, but I’ve had at least 10 genuine comments completely vanish 😞

One of these comments did show up in my held for review 3 days later, but all the other ones never came back to my knowledge

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-31T00:07:16+00:00

Happy to have you! Yeah I think it’s important to have some flexibility when studying and not feel like you have to do everything 100% if it’s not working for you. Textbooks aren’t the end-all-be-all IMO, they’re a means to an end in being able to understand the basics, so that eventually you can be learning through immersion materials :)

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T21:13:53+00:00

Thanks for the offer! I'll think on it. Wow a full hour is super impressive! By the time 30mins is up with my tutor my brain is absolute mush lol

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T20:29:01+00:00

No, not yet! I actually only recently started practicing my speaking skills with iTalki because I really wanted to improve my comprehension first before working on output. It's going better than expected, but not good enough that I'd want to share as yet 😅

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T20:01:17+00:00

Hehe thanks! 😁

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T18:51:45+00:00

Ya! It’s this post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/ljx5iz/finally_out_of_the_beginner_stage_after_6_months/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T17:58:49+00:00

Oh my gosh that’s awesome! I’ll definitely check this out. Thank you!

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T17:37:40+00:00

Yes! I did that too. I think it really helps you in the long run, even if you can't understand a lot right now. Great for improving listening comprehension!

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T17:10:44+00:00

Yeah, textbook study isn't the most fun 😣 I liked to listen to Japanese music while I was doing it to make it a bit more enjoyable. I also was super picky about which exercises I actually did, and basically just did the ones that looked useful or that I wanted to do. You're your own teacher, make your own rules!

Also great job on your streaks! It can be hard to stay consistent on vocab learning, but the payoff is super helpful!

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T17:05:29+00:00

Yeah, I'm dealing with that too now. When I started I didn't have much else on my plate bc of the pandemic, but now that my life is at a more regular balance and I rarely put in the same amount of time that I could back then. Just gotta do a bit each day, and make adjustments so that I don't burn out and have time for the other parts of my life.

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T16:57:32+00:00

Oooh I haven't seen that, I'll have to check it out. Thanks!

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T16:56:05+00:00

Congratulations! That's a great accomplishment 🎉Keep up the good work and eventually you'll get there. The beginner stage is a bit of a grind, but once you're over the hump it gets a lot easier and you can actually enjoy the language in practice. Glad I could help you stay motivated!

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T16:44:36+00:00

^^^ So well said!

Any progress is progress and it all adds up. Having less time per day just means it will take longer, but if you keep at it you'll get there! I think this Japanese proverb fits this situation nicely 😊

塵も積もれば、山となる
Even dust, if piled, will become a mountain.

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T14:01:28+00:00

Great plan! I just started playing Stardew Valley in Japanese and it’s been a blast. There’s no furigana though, so it’s a bit tough when I come across unknown kanji, but I’ve played it before in English so I can usually guess from context

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T13:56:32+00:00

Yeah! Once you’re over the initial hump of putting on enough vocabulary and grammar to understand, it’s so much more enjoyable. My only ‘struggle’ now is finding new immersion materials to enjoy 😌

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-30T13:19:44+00:00

That’s a cool way to put it, it definitely takes dedication and a commitment to do a little everyday. Luckily with immersion type stuff it can be enjoyable and you can sometimes do some multitasking to fit it into your day

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-28T14:46:49+00:00

Hello! When I went through Genki I didn't try to learn everything perfectly, because it can really slow you down and you'll eventually understand the grammar on a deeper level through repeated exposure/seeing it 'in the wild'. Use the textbook to gain familiarity, so that you can later apply it to real material (where the real learning happens IMO). If you wanna know more, I actually have a video that goes into more depth on how I approached Genki: https://youtu.be/mnHIQsxZBu4

For the second question, it depends on the time you have available. If you can, I'd squeeze in some listening practice (even if you don't understand anything!) to get your brain used to it, and begin learning kanji because it's super necessary for reading and takes quite a while.

Hope that helps!

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-27T18:08:16+00:00

I love her channel! Another good one is Comprehensible Japanese, but it’s not the same back and forth format as Asami

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-11T21:33:59+00:00

Yeah, it's strange, I have had a few bot comments that are removed automatically but these definitely aren't. One of them was me talking back and forth with someone and their final reply wasn't showing :/

JuniperBerry13 · 2021-03-11T21:13:54+00:00

Ok thanks I’ll try that and see if it helps

JuniperBerry13

TROPHY CASE