Hi! I’m currently learning Japanese as my 5th language and I’m using the inmersion method instead of grammar books and boring exercises.
I first started with memorizing the most common 2000 words and the basic and intermediate grammar (without spending too much time on it, just using flashcards and texts for begginers). After that, I’ve continued learning 20 new words a day using SRS and adding on top of that 5 new kanjis a day. My kanji method is to use the “Kanji!” Ios app with an ipad and a pencil to do the lessons (writting and guessing practice) and then adding just the vocabulary words to my SRS app to keep reviewing those new kanji until I’m able to read those words consistently.
On top of this, after spending around 1 hour a day with memorising, i usually inmerse using japanese podcasts, streaming series and anime. The time amount spent per day is random, depends on how much time and energy i have left, but i usually do 2 hours on average.
I’ve decided to use this system because some years ago I learned English by just watching youtube and twitch after only knowing the basic grammar taught at spanish schools (if someone doesn’t know it, English at Spanish schools sucks). I don’t really know how the fluency came, but it did somehow, and I’m wondering if this is gonna work as well for japanese or other languages.
My main question is, at the beginning, is it worth spending hours watching or listening to content I’m able to understand 30% only and part of the rest guessing by context, or it’s more efficient to keep studing vocabulary and doing easier content, which by the way, I can’t find for begginer level (at least not interesting one).
I’ve also tryied testing myself and i passed the N5 last year after studying this way for 1 month and a half. Now I’m passing N4 exam on todai app easily and getting pass score on some N3 exams. Even with this level, I’ve found myself unable to understand japanese easy manga and novels, such as doraemon or また同じ夢を見ていた, and i wonder what should i do to be able to consistenly understand the sentences on these kind of books. Kanji is not a problem since furigana can be easily added.
I would be happy to know your experiences and opinions on Japanese learning. I’ve tried many resources, apps and methods and these seem to be the most effective for me (at least, vocab and kanji).
4 comments
I’d say what’s most effective is whatever keeps your attention. There’s little point in immersing in extremely easy, utterly boring content if 1 hour feels like hell but you’re getting 80% of it (like baby-level content).
It would be better to immerse in something above your level that you don’t mind doing for 2+ hours (or whatever you can tolerate), even if you’re only getting 30%. Something interesting.
Whatever gets you excited to spend more time in, do that. The only exception would be if you’re understanding only like 3%, then I’d say pick something easier.
But usually, you want something out of your league that you enjoy. Looking for the perfect content at your level can be a waste of time.
Don’t worry if even simple manga is difficult to understand. Starting reading is difficult, and you need to let your subconscious mind catch up to it.
If you don’t get it after a few minutes trying to figure it out, keep moving through, it’ll be there later if you want to come back to it.
A sentence you can’t figure out might be easy 3 months from now, that’s just how it is. Stay patient, it will come naturally.
Make sure you’re having fun and staying interested in the content, and you’ll stick around long enough to learn it.
immersion means you’re living there and actively using the language, not just using apps/resources/videos. the biggest thing that got me learning the language was *producing* it – speaking and writing.
I think you should consume more native content. I’m pretty much doing the same thing and from the sound of it. You’re not actively studying the vocab you encounter(im only assuming since doreamon uses pretty basic vocabulary from what I’ve heard)
I followed a similar method for some time and I’d say immersion is always good. This is my argument and personal experience:
I stopped studying like 2-3 years ago, and I don’t get much immersion lately, so I’m not fluent…
BUT
The thing I’ve always done the most is watch videos or listen to them in the background, and everything I do know in terms of vocabulary/grammar is CLEAR as hell. Doing so much listening made me very good at it, and that’s because I’ve heard complete language elements (like, say, verbったことがある) so many thousands of times that the neural connection in my brain picks it up like it’s my native language or something.
Unfortunately I haven’t done active immersion, SRS, or anything else in years, so I have a limited vocab of maybe 3-5k. Which, to me, proves you need to put some effort into understanding, looking up stuff and using other tools if you want to reach real proficiency and don’t have time to do the extreme method of immersing like 12 hours a day (which is most people with school/job+family+friends+other hobbies).