Japanese up until now
For my background in Japanese, please check out the last post, I'm picking up where I left off there. I am not 100% sure if my timeline of things is still correct, but I don't think it matters too much. Most of the following just happend in conjuction with each other over a few months.
There is a TL;DR at the bottom :)
After having found the wonders of immersion learning (roughly September this year, it is now December), I was still going through the motions of trying to figure out just how to do this thing I had decided to do. I was still sceptic towards Refold with all of it's rules.
Naturally, I thought, since I like reading so much, it would be a great way to make some progress, so I bought a book of easy Japanese fairy-tales with translations in German as well as some context and the teensiest bit of grammar. I also bought a book of Japanese short stories in parallel text with English.
Both weren't the worst choices, the first one was so easy I was able to read it out of the box with whatever childhood hiragana I had left and with the knowledge of how the story went from the translation. The other one was much harder but also really interesting that way. I liked how I didn't get a word to word translation, since it would be impossible to do so in the first place. I didn't want to learn through translation, I wanted to have the concepts in my head without the filter of another language.
I got quite a bit out of it, I think especially the fairytale book was really good to churn up all the little chunks of left over knowledge I had and giving me the feeling of being able to do this. I also started listening to the podcast Nihongo con Teppei for Beginners and later graduated to also listen to the intermediate one. In the beginning, I only got a few words out of that, but bit by bit, sentences. I started using Anki flashcards (some N5 vocab deck and a Remembering the Kanji (RTK)) and progressed like this for a while.
Then, finally, I got behind the idea the Refold people were promoting and started using the core2k deck so that I could join in on the "official self-grading through stages of the refold guide"-fun. After a while I dropped the N5 deck, since I found the business language in it unbearable. I think it was also what turned me off from my previous traditional learning approach. I just don't have any interest in knowing how to ask if the meeting has started or that Tanaka-san was waiting in the classroom. I think this is a short coming of the traditional teaching for adults. At least for me.
Since I had started to look for language exchange partners, by the time I was no longer convinced I needed one, I found someone who was willing to help me with Japanese in exchange for German. So far we have only had a few calls, but it is honestly just helpful to know that there is someone to shoot random questions to, in case I have any. I also feel like it is just motivating. The person in question isn't a native speaker but has lived in Japan for a while and I don't think I am in contact with their Japanese too much to build bad habits in terms of pronunciation, if there are any. Besides, I am not outputting much yet anyway.
I also started some shows and tried to see them entirely in Japanese, with Japanese subtitles. Most went over my head, but the show where I really found myself comprehending much was "Little Witch Academia". I would switch to English from time to time, if I felt like I was missing a larger plot point, but for the most part I was able to sometimes comprehend entire sentences in a row. Knowing more Kanji than vocabulary (form the RTK deck) helped, since I could puzzle together context and meanings in the subtitles. I also saw "Vampire in the Garden" and found a good chunk of it comprehensible too.
I have been meddling with my Anki numbers a lot and honestly don't think that keeping track of them too much does me any good. So I'll refrain from jotting down how many cards I managed to do since I started, but I'll drop my very inconsistent Anki habits, so that anyone who feels bad about loosing their streak can feel better about themselves.
Where I am right now
My current tools are the core2k and RTK deck (no I did not drop the latter, dissecting kanji is fun to me and I want to know about the stroke order. It also helps me with actually telling them apart, I am not putting much emphasis on it though) as well as the Nihongo con Teppei podcast.
I will be measuring my progress by my experience with said podcast. In the beginner one, I ususally get the whole epsiode, safe for a few words or sentences. In the intermediate or regular one (the one just called Nihongo con Teppei) I usually get the gist of the episode, sometimes a few sentences. It is wild to me that I know things about Teppei-sensei's life, without having ever had that information relayed to me in a language that I am proficient in. Is that not the coolest? I just...know.
For a while I was under the impression that I had to finish at least 1000 words of basic vocabulary to advance from the first stage in Refold, but I can't find a place where it says that in the guide and I have been comprehending native media for a while now, so I will self grade myself at level 2A from now on!
Some other resources I have been using
Peppa Pig in Japanese, Romantic Killer (Anime), a few Comprehensible Japanese videos on YouTube, The Way of the Househusband (Anime)
TL;DR or In Conclusion
With my relaxed approach to learning also comes a bit of tool hopping, but after listening to lots of Nihongo con Teppei, reading a bit, furthering my vocab with Anki decks and doing my first foray into native media, I am very happy with my results. I am impressed with my progress and I still feel motivated. It is insane to me that I now just understand things, even if those are very basic sentences or aided with lots of context clues.
Thank you so much for reading,
many cheers,
Zora
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