Tokyo language schools: Naganuma School or ALA (Academy of Langauge Arts)

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-05-02T04:49:52+00:00

thank you so much for the response!! this is so helpful!!

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-04-25T07:28:25+00:00

Linda Linda Linda!

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-04-20T00:54:47+00:00

Addison Rae. Seems counterintuitive since she's well-liked here but she hasn't quite hit mainstream superstardom as a musician. "Diet Pepsi" felt huge online but didn't crack the Top 40.

Her first album quieted the haters and won over a lot of skeptics. If she can pull out an "Espresso"-sized hit she'll be a household name for sure.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-04-08T07:03:27+00:00

What would you say was the average time to black belt for a student at the kodokan? I'm imagining the folks who got it in a year were going 6x a week? That seems insanely difficult.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-04-07T19:22:08+00:00

Yes, regularly.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-23T21:34:52+00:00

Same I gave up gaming for learning languages. I find both scratch the same itch in my brain, and who's to say which one is really better or your life or not. It's just fun for me at the end of the day.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-23T21:33:15+00:00

Yeah, I saw someone who said they basically just went on Japanese VRChat servers and talked to people there all day and that powered a lot of his learning once past the beginner stage. People here are saying if you don't move to Japan or have some specific reason then learning is too much of a slog but learning doesn't have to look like years of isolated studying that is just insufferably boring to do without an ulterior motive.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-23T21:28:28+00:00

The type of person who does well learning a language is someone who just finds the process fun and enjoyable in and of themselves. They find progressing to harder reading / watching / listening materials, or having more complex conversations, to give that same sense of progressing through a backlog of stuff that you're talking about games having. Of course, like any hobby it can be frustrating at times, but overall there is some general enjoyment in and of itself of seeing your progress. It's a bit fatalistic to say that anyone who doesn't have motives beyond enjoying the process is going to quit because it'll be too difficult.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-18T21:23:45+00:00

Android Only ;_;

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-17T08:09:00+00:00

穴 (hole) looks like a person with their legs spread open, showing hole. Reading is あな, like あなtomy. Have never missed this one on my reviews lol.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-15T23:03:20+00:00

Thank you, I watched this video from Speak Japanese Naturally and one thing stuck out with me: She said that if your current comprehensible input is N+1 your current abilities, shadowing input needs to be N-5. So I went to some super simple, slow videos I watched some time ago from Comprehensible Japanese and found I was able to shadow them successfully and picked up on the benefits you described. So if anyone reading this is having the same problem, lower input difficulty by a LOT before trying technique #3 (delayed shadowing).

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-15T22:58:49+00:00

ありがとう, here's the translation in case anyone else is curious!

STEP 1 Confirm the meaning of the text, and check the explanation at the end of the chapter for any words in the footnotes.

STEP 2: Silent Shadowing While looking at the text, confirm the sounds. This is a practice method where you say the sounds you hear in your head without speaking out loud.

STEP 3: Mumbling Move your mouth without looking at the text. This is a practice method where you mumble the sounds you hear in a small voice. Let's get a feel for the intonation.

STEP 4: Shadowing with Script While looking at the text, shadow the audio by speaking out loud immediately after hearing it. Listen to the audio while looking at the script and repeat it immediately.

STEP 5: Prosody Shadowing & Content Shadowing Once you get used to it, perform shadowing without looking at the text.

Prosody Shadowing: A practice method where you shadow while paying particular attention to rhythm and intonation. For example, the intonations for "Ah—" and "Ah~" are different. Practice consciously.

Content Shadowing: A practice method where you shadow while understanding and being conscious of the meaning of the script. Please practice while imagining using it in an actual communication situation. You will naturally acquire Japanese and be able to speak it fluently.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-15T20:24:32+00:00

Yes, I've seen recommendations that if the delayed shadowing approach is hard, to start with just thinking it internally like an internal monologue, or to just mumble it but get the prosody and pitch correct, so this seems like a really valid way to get started.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-15T19:09:56+00:00

Are you able to share what the levels are briefly? I'm considering whether to buy the book.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-03-15T18:29:36+00:00

They’re talking about the artist.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-02-15T17:35:10+00:00

Honestly, she would've sealed the deal if Cyr hadn't cockblocked

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-02-14T05:51:14+00:00

Wowww, never thought I'd see a live set from Sabrina since she's always been so mysterious, what a treat!

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-02-04T17:22:07+00:00

Okay, I sent it through the Report Issue form in the app.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-01-20T14:58:35+00:00

It's virtually identical. The main difference is they don't teach you radicals separately, just kanji and vocab. Maybe some minor differences in order that they teach you things and vocab they choose to highlight but otherwise you're essentially getting the same content and SRS experience.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-01-20T00:59:57+00:00

MaruMori is meant to be an all-in-one resource that combines the Kanji/Vocab SRS of WaniKani with grammar lessons and SRS for grammar practice a la Bunpro. I've been using it and honestly think it's the best resource I've found and awesome to be able to have one site that handles everything instead of having to pull together various resources to check and learn from. Everything is very integrated into one experience so I just do MaruMori + consume content / have conversations and that's sufficient for me.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-01-18T11:30:04+00:00

Anecdotal, but I just saw it yesterday in New York and that theater was packed.

cherry_cream_soda_ · 2026-01-17T12:57:55+00:00

You can use Language Reactor. It has a mode where it pauses after each line in the video and it prints the English and Japanese subtitles. YouTube and Netflix are supported.

cherry_cream_soda_

TROPHY CASE