#Because I already know the rough meanings of kanji from hanzi study so I don't need mnemonics for remembering what kanji look like

[rigelmejo]

Chinese Listening Experiment - Some Thoughts on how to apply Dreaming Spanish method to other languages when learning to read

If you are not familiar with Dreaming Spanish, the method is basically Comprehensible Input Method or ALG, and a decent portion of the people who learn using Dreaming Spanish just follow that method (purist approach) or use other study methods in addition to the Dreaming Spanish Method (non-purist approach). I find the subreddit for r/dreamingspanish quite friendly because it is welcoming to people who've taken traditional classes before/currently, who've studied with flashcards/anki, and anyone else who does things outside of Comprehensible Input for study. The subreddit r/dreaminglanguages is also friendly of people studying with mainly Comprehensible Input that have also done other methods of study before/may be doing other methods at the same time.

Comprehensible Input Method is basically watching videos (or taking in person classes or livestream classes) of a teacher speaking your target language only, and using visuals like images and gestures to give you enough context to understand what the main idea they're conveying is. So you learn the target language entirely IN the target language. You go through lessons for 'beginners,' 'intermediate' and 'advanced' learners (the lessons tend to be labelled or named for the level of learner they make the lesson 'comprehensible' for). Eventually you engage with other content in the target language - other stuff made for learners that's entirely in the target language (like learning podcasts for 'beginner' 'intermediate' 'advanced' and graded readers).

Then eventually you engage with content in the target language made for native speakers - whatever you can comprehend the main idea of (vlogs, shows, comics, stuff with visuals tends to be easiest). Anything you already know the context for, such as shows and books you've read before in a language you know, may be easier to comprehend sooner since you already know the main idea of the material. Over time, the amount of content made for native speakers that you understand increases, and you expand the content you engage with (like novels, shows that talk about abstract subjects, podcasts, audiobooks). Once you are using content in the target language made for native speakers that you comprehend the main idea of, you are basically 'immersing' and can look up immersion study tips. To do a pure comprehensible input method like Dreaming Spanish advises, you would look up no word translations, you would look up words in a target language dictionary if you wanted to look something up.

Many people do Comprehensible Input alongside other study methods, such as looking up word translations and making flashcards because they don't actually care if some of their study activities involve non-target language material. (I don't use purely comprehensible input method to study, I do other stuff, I look up translations often, and I sure read a bunch of grammar guides as a beginner). Like I mentioned, the subreddits r/dreamingspanish and r/dreaminglanguages are fairly friendly to people doing a 'non purist' approach, such as people who continue to use translation tools and flashcards, or people who took traditional classes in the past/currently (which tend to explain grammar and vocabulary meanings not in the target language but in the language the learner is assumed to already know).

For the purpose of this post, I am going to be reflecting on how to study in the Comprehensible Input Method way, like Dreaming Spanish suggests to study (more or less), and how to apply that to various languages.

For languages using the latin alphabet, if you already know the latin alphabet? Or for any language where you already know the symbols of the writing system. Follow the study suggestions as Dreaming Spanish lays it out, it should work fine. So whether you study Spanish, or French, or Portuguese, find beginner-intermediate-advanced comprehensible input lessons and complete them, use children's shows with a lot of visual context as additional comprehensible input, use podcasts made for learners (who are at your level of understanding - so for beginners etc) entirely in the target language (or as close to only in TL as you can find) as additional comprehensible input. Eventually use TV shows with a lot of visual context (like action shows or slice of life) or TV shows you've seen before (and already know the context) for additional comprehensible input. Optional: I would suggest you also find a Comprehensible Input Lesson video that goes over the alphabet/writing system and the name and pronunciation of each letter, ideally find a lesson video IN the target language. If you cannot find a lesson video on the writing system in the target language, finding a video or website that shows a chart of the letters and pronounces them will work. If you have to read some non-target language text, I guess that'll technically not be pure comprehensible input. The main point is to see the target language writing system and hear the pronunciation. This part is not recommended/necessary in Dreaming Spanish, but since children learn the alphabet when they start school or beforehand, it might be useful to also learn it to make your efforts learning to read easier.

Dreaming Spanish suggests you can start learning to read around 600-1000 hours of comprehensible input - and I suggest you start learning to read WHENEVER you want (if you don't care about strictly following the suggested roadmap Dreaming Spanish has). When you're ready to learn to read, I suggest starting by turning captions on the videos and shows you're watching. I would suggest not counting time with captions on as 'comprehensible input hours' in terms of listening skills since you will develop reading skills more while watching the captions, but ultimately your decision what to consider this activity. Reading the captions will allow you to learn to read words you have already learned in listening. Additional activities: if you listen to any learner podcasts or regular podcasts, if you can find the transcript then read along to the transcript, this will also allow you to learn to read the words you can understand in listening. Find Graded Readers, particularly any graded reading material with audio files included (or use Text To Speech tools) and read along to audio. Find audiobooks, and read along to the text version of the audio. Finally, once you feel you've read-listened to enough material to feel you can usually recognize the spelled version of words you know, practice reading without listening to audio.

If the language is a writing system that is phonetic, but not one you already know - so for example if you're an English speaker learning Russian or Korean: Mostly, do what I suggest above. The additional parts will be highly recommended: if you can find any Comprehensible Input Lessons for learners that go over the writing system sounds and pronunciation, watch them and rewatch them. For example here's Korean Hangul lessons in Korean. You can look up videos or webpages that just list the writing system and play the audio such as this video for Russian. Alternatively if you cannot find any video lessons in the target language that explain the writing system, go break the rules and watch a quick video that explains the writing system sounds in a language you understand - yes it's not pure Comprehensible input method, but children are taught X symbols have Y pronunciation when they start school, and you'll want that same basic knowledge to start reading. After learning the basic writing system pronunciation, you'll continue to learn to read the same as the other suggestions above: graded readers with audio, captions on videos, audiobooks with text, podcasts with transcript, and eventually practice reading with no audio.

If the writing system is not entirely phonetic (such as kanji in Japanese, or hanzi in Chinese): Do the same as above suggestions, with a few additional steps. If the language has a phonetic writing system it ALSO uses, learn that first - so Hiragana and Katakana if learning Japanese, pinyin or zhuyin if learning Chinese. Learning those phonetic systems, do the same as suggested above, find any lessons IN the target language that go over the writing system sounds, and if you can't find something entirely in the target language then just use any video/chart/resource that includes the writing system and pronunciations. For the parts of the writing system that are not phonetic, you have a few options. First, you can research how native speakers learn the non phonetic portions - for kanji I've seen the methods of learn by rote memorization and phonetic equivalent tests (write kana for the kanji you see), for hanzi one friend I have studied by writing them a lot and another friend learned a lot of information about each hanzi (the components that make it up, the radicals, a few example words that use the hanzi - since hanzi meanings vary a bit depending on word they're in). If you are not going for a pure comprehensible input approach, it may be time to research the 'fastest' or 'best' way people suggest studying the writing system, and then do trial and error until you find the method that works best for you. You might see some people suggest rote memorization, writing a lot, mnemonic stories, SRS flashcards or apps, sight reading. In foreign language classes, which were not pure comprehensible input, I've had classes mnemonic stories used to teach kanji, and pinyin/hanzi equivalent writing hanzi over and over.

If the language has no phonetic writing system, things will get tricky - if you'd like to do a pure comprehensible input approach, it may be time to research how native speakers learn the writing system. Then do that. If you don't care about doing a pure comprehensible input approach, you will want to research how other people learned the writing system. Then try different methods people have used successfully, until you find one that works for you.

Regardless of if there is a phonetic writing system or not, when you start reading, any text with audio is going to be helpful for learning the writing system. So captions on videos, graded reader text with audio, transcripts with podcast audio, text with audiobook. It's just that depending on you, you may want to do additional study of the writing system beyond just following along to text while listening to audio until you 'recognize' words in the writing system.