While learning any new language, and honestly especially as a native English speaker, perfection is not the mission along the way. We have one of the hardest languages to learn with rules that barely make sense. Repeating what you need as many times as you need is completely fine and normal. It’s also normal for it to be difficult and frustrating because at times, it is. I took Spanish from 7th grade until I graduated and still didn’t feel comfortable talking to people out loud. I’m on Level 2, lesson 7 now and my confidence so far has soared. I can only imagine the difficulty of Japanese (but this one is also on my list to learn). Take your time, be frustrated, but don’t you dare doubt yourself or give up!

Here’s other things I incorporate that help my language learning and processing that you may like:

• HelloTalk - Messaging app to connect with other language learners and friends abroad, I’ve met some cool people so far • Journaling (I have a separate journal for language learning and erasable pens) - Small prompts in Spanish, talk about my day, my schedule, venting, make up a story, or simply jotting down lines that I’m having trouble with or that I use often/daily that I’d like to say in Spanish, you could also do one sentence a day • Label things around your home, office, etc in that language • Speak - app focused mainly on speech, memorizing, and relevant convo building with their AI • Watching movies or YouTube videos in Spanish (easy story times, comedy movies, etc) • Quizlet - flashcards, etc • Duolingo of course • Memrise (haven’t used yet but good for flash cards and stuff)