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[king-hunty]

The Struggles of Being an A1-A2 Learner

I am sure anyone who has learned a language in-depth knows what language levels are. But, for those that don't:

Each language is assigned a specific level for each grade of fluency based on written and spoken frequency. It goes from A1-C2 typically, however some languages have their own grading scales of fluency, such as Japanese.

Obviously these are extremely important to us linguists, as they are what allows us to learn these languages in a organized manner. But don't want to get off topic now.

What I really am addressing with this post is the difficulty of being an A1 learner for any language. This is when the language is BRAND new to us. We are learning the absolute basics at this point.

For me, the frustration comes from not wanting to slow down and trying to rush the journey. I want to be fluent now and I want to speak comfortably now. I think in my mind I view A1 and A2 as embarrassing levels to be at because it's the level that children speak at, and I am not a child.

It's quite funny how much it bothers me honestly. It's something I am trying to fix though, as late at night I always get caught up searching for other resources to see if they're better and can help me learn faster, and often spend money and regret it after :,< But, tbh... if I don't slow down I won't learn anything at all.

It's important at this stage to take your time because understanding fully the most basic elements of any language make the advanced stages so much easier. That's why right now I am really focusing on italki classes for speaking and substituting Glossika SV (I know some people hate Glossika, I personally really enjoy it so haters gonna hate). Trying to get that intuitive understanding of when to use one word over the other and what grammar structure is appropriate is so important now because it is such a hard habit to build.

Everyone always talks about the "intermediate plateau" but, I think the elementary level is the hardest to overcome, and is often where most of us give up and drop a language. I personally have never reached above high A2 and have dropped two languages after reaching that point in those respective areas. This time I'm simply trying to get to B1 because once I get there, everything will flow a lot more smoothly.

Anyways, thank you guys for reading! I wish you all the best on your respective journeys!

Hẹn gặp lại!

[king-hunty]

small update:

hey y’all! long time no see :)

sorry for not being more active! my semester is on the verge of starting and i just wanted to make sure i was prepared.

on another note, the teacher i’ve been learning vietnamese with has recently gone on a temporary leave, and so i have been assigned to a new teacher. i will be having class with her in a few weeks. i’m a little shy so i have to mentally prepare for it lol.

to add, i also decided i really wanted to get more serious with vietnamese. as such, i will be taking lessons with an additional teacher twice a week. i’m mainly looking to improve my speaking and pronunciation, but her A1 levels are already structured with so it’ll come and go as such.

i am looking forward to this and at this rate, i’ll hopefully hit intermediate by the summer!

love y’all silly peoples!

chàooooooooo 👋

[king-hunty]

Chào các bạn!

Long time no see!

Sorry for not posting in a while, I haven't been the greatest mentally. I will likely be on & off over the next few weeks, but not to worry! I will be posting as frequently as possible!

I am still taking Vietnamese lessons, I currently have 15 documented hours of class time, and about another 15 of undocumented study time :)

This might be a slightly longer road to fluency than I initially anticipated, but I finally have a schedule that allows me to flex between work, life, and school (University + Viet). Thank you guys for joining me on this little journey.

Until next time,

hunty bunty :}

Thất bại là mẹ thành công. -- Failure is the mother of success.

[king-hunty]

Who Else Does This?

When you see another resource with good reviews but a ridiculous price, how many of us actually sit and ponder whether we should drop the money or not? I sure do! I just did it now. I stopped myself though, because I already have a decent amount of resources as is, and overwhelming myself is the last thing I want to do.

Just remember to double, triple, quadruple guess yourself guys! I just saved $30, you might too!

[king-hunty]

Resource Recommendation!!

For any of my readers that are, well, readers (lol) have I got the app/website for you!

The app is called Langi, found at langi.app, and is like a Du Chinese or Chairman's Bao for Vietnamese (specifically the southern accent). Hopefully, some of my fellow polyglots know or are familiar with those apps, but for those who aren't, that's okay. They're apps that work as graded readers, categorized accordingly based on vocab and grammar difficulty. That's what Langi does, and it currently goes to B2 Vietnamese, which is considered upper-intermediate.

The pros and cons:

—Pros—

aesthetic & modern UI

multiple learning methods incorporated together (reading, listening, SRS flashcards, sentence forming, and dictation tests)

interesting stories (even for low beginners)

in the southern accent!!!

—Cons—

still in fairly early development (bugs expected)

SRS system still needs work (could use a habit tracker + notif system)

the listening practice is done by AI, so you don't always get the most authentic experience :/ but great for beginners.

Final Verdict:

It's a great resource, especially for a language and dialect that is quite lacking in material. I can't wait to see how it grows!

[king-hunty]

okay yall! i got some basic knowledge, lemme introduce myself in vietnamese:

chào bạn, mình là Hunter, mình là người mỹ (duh) và 18 tuổi. mình làm việc ở bang florida, làm pha chế ở starbucks. còn bạn?

:))))

[king-hunty]

made it this far

First Vietnamese class ever was held on April 4, 2023 :))) I've since completed 7 classes. Not as much as I'd like but I've been much more consistent lately. Remember, consistency is key, but it's okay to take breaks here and there!!!

[king-hunty]

one of my favorite spots while visiting saigon this summer, turtle lake! cute lil spot right? (photo isn't mine :,< didn't think of snagging a photo while touring)

[king-hunty]

mười người mười ý

everyone has their own rendition of what the "correct" way to learn a language is. what's yours lol?

[king-hunty]

Less is more

Vietnamese isn’t the first language I’ve learnt, but I still make a lot of the same mistakes I did with Korean, Chinese, or French.

The mistake I keep making is not realizing less is more. The language learning community, study grams, etc. are obsessed with 1, 2... 9 hour study sessions. But what progress do we actually make when doing intensive studying like that on the regular?

 If you have the capacity to sit down and study a language—or anything—then go for it. By all means. But for most of us, myself included, that really overwhelms the brain. 

It’s recommended we only spend about 20 minutes focusing on one subject, taking a short break, and then getting back to it. Some of you might understand this as the pomodoro method, but even that has its flaws. 

What I have found works best for me, and I got this advice from another polyglot, Lindie Botes, and that is to break it up throughout the day. Instead of sitting down for a couple hours and taking a couple breaks here and there, I’ve found doing 10-20 minutes at 3 different times throughout the day has seriously improved my language acquisition and stopped me from being completely burnt out after the third week. 

i.e. 10-20 minutes at 11:30am. 10-20 minutes during lunch. Then 10-20 minutes after dinner. In the long run, you’re still getting that hour long study session in everyday, but it is much less mentally exhausting and becomes less of a burden.

[king-hunty]

Lửa thử vàng, gian nan thử sức