I’m not sure if someone else needs to hear this but I certainly would have benefitted from this as I kept giving up on immersion thinking I was never “ready” due to comprehending so little of everything I tried.
I decided to eventually say fuck it and listen as much as I possibly could every single day. I couldn’t comprehend much at all but I just brute forced as much input as possible and yesterday I was listening to a podcast and realized I was following the main point of the conversation without looking anything up.
I don’t even really understand what I did right. I don’t know how my brain is starting to figure things out but it is and it’s quite a relief as I was beginning to think I was simply incapable.
by switch-alice
12 comments
Can confirm
Details? How long have you been immersing, what grammar have you studied up to, etc, what was your progress like, etc.
I’m curious, and others may be too, how much study did you do before immersion, and how many hours of immersion did you use before you felt this effect? I realize it may be hard to say conclusively but I am curious.
Lol this is what i do too and suprisingly it has taken me far
Trusting the process is the hardest part but once you get rid of the doubts and just do it, things start falling into place
I think the trust in immersion will fluctuate. You ask yourself is this even studying.. is this even working cuz I still don’t understand jack shit. But in the end, it’s all I know. And it works! I’m not too concerned about what’s the best, all I know is that I can now speak to Japanese people about my simple joys and about my day, which I couldn’t imagine when I first started. This is my personal journey so far 9 months in
3 months into immersion (about 1hr a day), I felt enlightened. Could understand most of what けんさんおかえり YouTube channel was saying. Finished tae kims guide. Could mostly understand the animes I rewatched with Japanese subtitles. Could barely speak but still had talking experience with exchange students during events
6 months into immersion (upped to 2hr a day at this point). Read finish my 1st book コンビニ人間, did not understand most of it, animes like violet which I was watching for the first time was super confusing, native Japanese YouTube kept crushing my confidence even more. Could speak a lot more fluently, but realised I did not know a lot still, and my brain would fart when I haven’t ankied a sentence I want to use. Confidence went down when natives spoke faster to me and I did not understand (I need irl 字幕 pls)
Now 9 months into immersion, same as at the 6 month point, but I’m just constantly figuring out what I don’t know. I can speak better, still sometimes get stuck on sentences, but i can at least express myself through use of unnatural expressions when I construct my own sentences. Comprehension in native YouTube channels i watch is closer to 70% with subtitles, and probably 30-40% or less without.
I don’t have any timeline expectations of myself, so I’m pretty happy with immersion so far. Especially when I watch YouTube channels I enjoy –> ラフレンジ, むくえなちっく etc. In watch, we trust
Immersion (namely comprehensible input) was pretty much the sole thing that got me the gains. About a 1 1/2 – 2 years ago, I started playing visual novels while going through my starter deck and Tae Kim. Tae Kim and Anki did help loads with understanding my input, but it was ultimately playing visual novels scaled at my level of difficulty that got me to where I am now, lmao. Comprehensible Input is pretty much the sole key for language gains. Any form of natural input will get you to where you need to be.
Just remember immersion can also mean picking up bad habits, and can only get you so far. It also depends on one’s affinity for languages and age and other such variables.
Whenever you feel like giving up… look up http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/ (in way back machine). It should cheer you up – atleast it does for me
Immersion doesn’t always feel like studying, but if you keep up it for a year every day you’ll see huge progress in hindsight
Considering I learned English when I was a kid by watching Pokémon videos on Youtube and playing in English because Canada didn’t have French games available until I was a teen (for some reason), immersion is such an overpowered learning mechanism that feels like you’re doing nothing but it eventually sticks.
I assume the brain works differently as an adult and it might not be as easy, but if it can work and make someone fluent in one language at one point in their life, I don’t see why it wouldn’t later on. Just gotta stick to it and be consistent.
I’m like a week into learning and I don’t trust immersion. I probably will start within the next few weeks. I tried putting on an hour video on day 2 and I literally didn’t learn a single word lol it was a complete waste of time.