#cue! satori

[mini-cactus-me]

Ushijima investing in Tendou’s business when it’s getting started because Tendou has always supported him as a friend, and now that Tendou is following his own passion, he wants to support him.

However, when Tendou proclaims them business partners, Ushijima latches onto the word and proceeds to only refer to Tendou as his “partner”, which causes much confusion as he references his partner off-handed in interviews.

His former Shiratorizawa teammates are exasperated by it, begging Tendou to stop him so they don’t have to do a spit take every time he makes a comment about his “partner” in every interview.

Tendou, however, finds it hilarious and only encourages him to do it more

[fuckyeahanimebirthdays]

Satori Utsugi (Cue!)  » July 19

[prismatranslates-cue]

Just Be Honest with Yourself (Maika/Satori)

Satori: ...What is that?

Maika: Hm? What’s up? …Oh, that poster?

Satori: Do you see the pose that girl is doing? What’s that supposed to be?

Maika: Oh, that? It’s all the rage with girls my age right now. People say it makes your face look smaller and cuter.

Satori: ...Does it? I’m not sure I see a difference.

Satori: Surely people are just imagining it.

Maika: That’s what I think too. But everyone’s doing it anyway…Weird, isn’t it?

Satori holds a hand up to her cheek.

Satori: One hand, against the cheek...like this? ...Well, how does it look?

Maika: ...You don’t look any different to me.

Satori: Right, that’s what I thought. It’s not that easy to change how people see you.

Maika: Besides, even if these tricks work for the pictures, they can’t change what you actually look like.

Satori: If they could, I’d be much more willing to try them. Oh, look over there. Those girls are doing it right now.

Maika: ...Oh wow. They’re all taking selfies, all in the same pose. It’s kind of funny to look at, don’t you think?

Satori: Well, as long as they’re having fun, I guess I don’t see a problem.

Maika: ...Still, people will do some weird stuff if it’s trendy, huh?

Satori holds a hand up to her cheek again.

Satori: ...Yeah.

Maika: See?!

Fin

[marumaruz-haikyuu-agere]

Hq disability Headcanons

A somewhat detailed list of my haikyuu medical headcanons

Nishinoya Yuu - Type 1 diabetes and sensory neuropathy

Was diagnosed at 5

Inherited from parents

Prefers an insulin pump to insulin injections

Diabetes causes his sensory neuropathy

Nerve damage in his arms causing bruises because he can't tell when to stop practicing

Kenma Kozume - Hearing loss in both ears, noise damage

Plays games and music with the volume too high causing damage from all the years he's been doing it

Doesn't like to admit that he has hearing problems

Uses CIC (Completely In the Canal) hearing aids because they're small and unnoticeable

Also uses his hair to cover them because even when he knows they're hard to see he's still pretty self-conscious about them

Tendou Satori - Vitamin B deficiency, Motor Neuropathy, Audhd

Tendou has a vitamin B12 deficiency which results in him developing peripheral neuropathy, more specifically motor neuropathy

It causes him muscle spasms/twitching and gives him a barely noticeable foot drop

I think he has Audhd and struggles with paying attention and wanting to move around a lot

He doesn't have a specific hyperfixation exactly but is full of lots of little facts about lots of things

Hinata Shoyo - Audhd, Dyspraxia

I don't think i really need to explain Hinata's Audhd but I will anyways

It's one of the reasons he has so much energy while he's practicing, because he already struggles with staying still but also because it's one of his special interests

It helps him more if things are explained at the speed his brainis going instead of going slowly

I think he has Dyspraxia too because it explains a lot of his struggles in volleyball

It also ties into why the quick attack pair works so well because Hinata has to focus less on getting everything right himself and can put his attention into his motor skills

Oikawa Tooru - Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is pretty common

It causes joint pain and stiffness in most cases

And it's most common in places like the knees

It's usually from old age but in Oikawa's case it's from trying to play after an injury without letting it fully heal

But he refuses to admit that he has a problem

Kageyama Tobio - Dyslexia

He's incredibly dyslexic

Nobody knows though, everyone just thinks he's really dumb

He has consulted someone about it unfortunately he talked to Hinata who also has mild dyslexia mixed with the fact that his eyes won't stay on one point on his page

They both think that letters and numbers do that for everyone and that they just haven't figured out how to read it properly

Ushijima Wakatoshi - Autism

Definitely autistic

Pretty high functioning though

He's pretty slow on some social cues but the basic ones have been worked out in his brain

He has quite a high tolerance for most stuff but he's not the biggest fan of messing up schedules

Tsukishima Kei - Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Was partially inherited because Akiteru showed signs of it but not enough for a diagnosis

I think he specifically has cEDS (Classical EDS) because it fits him the most

I think he's been pretty used to his joints dislocating sometimes but doesn't realise that everyoen else around him isn't

The first time Yachi saw it she almost fainted

Particularly with cEDS people have easily bruised/breakable skin on their forehead, knees, shins and elbows

He has a few pretty big scars on his knees and shins from when he was a kid

They're also quite wide because with cEDS wounds heal quite slowly and leave wide scars

Bokuto Koutaro - Borderline Personality Disorder

This wasn't originally my idea (He wasn't actually going to be on here but it got pointed out to me yesterday)

BPD comes in four stages, Emotional instability, Disturbed patterns of thinking, Impulsive behaviour and Unstable relationships

With emotional instability it's usually intense negative emotions and severe mood swings which could contribute to his 'emo modes'

During disturbed patterns of thinking he'd get upsetting thoughts (like his emo mode) and hallucinations and distressing thoughts that he can't be talked out of

Impulsive behaviour is one i think he has less negatively but it's commonly negative in most cases

His impulsive behaviours are less harmful to himself and others

Unstable relationships are when he attaches himself to someone and I think that person/people would be Akaashi and Kuroo

Them trying to leave him would not go well, it's why he contacts them all the time because he doesn't like the feeling that they might leave him

[bokettochild]

Okay but what if after Legend dies Hylia makes him a god and he watches over the Hero’s sprit and occasionally helps the other Links out of tough spots and pretty much stalks Hyrule cuz he is the biggest bunny softie

Firstly, the idea of Hylia elevating to godhood the guy who she's put through the most crap over the course of his life is....an interesting concept. Is she prolonging his suffering by giving him even more responsibility to handle even after death, or is she rewarding him for a job well done and allowing him to keep doing as he's always done, but now with the power to do so much more?

Add to that, what would he be the god of? I know I commonly portray Legend as being the embodiment of Life, so it could be that, but he might end up a patron deity of adventurers and magic wielders as well.

Regardless, if granted godhood, legend would 100% do his best to be on the lookout to help the heroes that come after him, regardless of the timeline because of course gods aren't hampered by silly things like that!

The gods aren't allowed to directly alter some things, as their creations do need to be allowed to live a little without having someone hold their hand and fix all their problems for them, but he pushes the boundary as much as he can, blessing items, creating random helpful things and of course occasionally ensuring that the worst case scenarios don't happen.

I think he'd create the blupees to be his eyes and ears in Hyrule to help him keep an eye on the world and the people in it. Grated, he knows they'll get shot at by Wild at least, but if they can't feel pain from that sort of thing and receive no injuries? He can help in another way and protect his little rabbits too!

Come Hyrule's era this guy is out here manipulating so much crap, you have no idea. A ten (twelve?) year old kid out alone in a strange country? Yeah, he's got his eye on this one. He doesn't KNOW that it's Hyrule at first, but there's something about him and he makes it a point to conveniently distract the monsters that still roam in areas that are at least somewhat out of this kid's path. He sends a little priest to make sure the boy is armed because good golly why are you out here without a weapon? And it's dangerous to go alone so wtheck?

By Wild's era he said screw it, I'm going down there. Cue Satori. Legend's over here watching the champion and enjoying it so much. Now he understands why Twilight looked so peeved so much. Gosh dang, Wolfie, he put you through the ringer!

Twilight, once he figures out why the rabbit-owl-horse knows his name, is not amused. He is glad to see his little brother again, although why do you look like this? Where's the pink fur and crap?

Legend's just glad he can sit back for most of the latter half of the kids journey and laugh at Twilight's suffering for once. He does help where he can, just little things the other deities can't chew him out for, and a multitude of blessed objects to make life easier.

Combine this idea with my God of War Warriors theory and he and the captain are just chilling in wherever the gods hang out, watching Twilight's suffering in 4K like the gremlins they are, with a running commentary. They only help when they can get away with it (they're still baby gods in comparison to the others) but they're keeping a watchful eye out.

[alycias-wonderland]

Just Gojo Things

see i was just rewatching family guy and y'all know that Gojo is pale as fuck?welllllll......imagine Gojo having kids with a literal black beauty....his kids and wifey make fun of him all the time...

Satoru: back from a mission What're you guys doing?

Black!wife reader: standing in the sunlight with the kids gotta keep the tan up Satoru

brown skinned!first child: its not a skin color, its a lifestyle dad.

brown skinned!second child: see you wouldn't know cause you're white as a ghost

Black!wife reader: you're haunting this house with your whiteness Satoru

cue Satory crying in the corner cause his family hates him

[xplrvibes]

What do you think of the people using the Sam Pepper prank as proof that Sam is acting in the conjuring series and is therefore in on the Cody and Satori scam?

I think that's about as circumstantial and flimsy as the Cody video.

Here's the thing - yes, Sam can cry on cue and is a good actor when he's doing so. That doesn't mean every single emotional moment he's had in his entire life is a sham; that's kind of a weird jump to make.

But since I know that argument won't hold water, let me give a better one: Colby Brock is NOT a good actor.

Bless his little heart, but whenever that man is told to read from a script or act something out, it shows 1000%. He was not acting during that whole interaction, that much was for sure.

So unless Sam decided to go into business for himself and do all this without telling Colby...I don't think that situation really "proves" anything in this situation.

Not to mention - they did that prank when they were 18 and starving and stupid and desperate for attention. They are 26 and have very established careers and two mansions. They don't need to lie at this point; in fact, lying or faking stuff can do them more harm than good now, whereas back then, it was the opposite.

Also, the fact that this is STILL going on is so tiresome lol.

[pathetickuroo]

rating: t

relationships: tensemi

additional tags: character study (primarily of tendou), relationship study (kind of), first meeting, haikyuu third years as first years

word count: 1.3k

summary:

Who cares if the rest of his teammates don’t understand his jokes? Ushijima doesn’t either, and Ushijima’s reaction is always a lot funnier than the joke was. He misses social cues like it’s an Olympic sport. Satori loves him.

By contrast, Semi is woefully uninspiring. Usually when Tendou says something he knows is a little outside the scope of normal teenage boy humor, the others will smile, maybe toss him a pity laugh even though he knows they really don’t get it. But where the others act like they understand, and Ushijima fully commits to not knowing, Semi doesn’t really do anything. Sometimes, Satori might get a spare glance, but he never says anything. He doesn’t smile, or fake a laugh, or try to joke back. He just moves on like he didn’t really hear him. Better yet, like Satori hadn’t said anything at all.

[malusrecord]

~Miche was aware of the timer, she really was, but every time she thought about what was going to go into the hole once she was done her hands would refuse to move. "I can't do it." (for Satori!)

He knew what was coming even before the...mostly...rhythmic noises of the shovels' grim work had fallen away entirely, prompting a smoke heavy sigh from Satori, the wisps of smoke from his cigarette fading quickly in the steadily chilling air. It was such a DULL AND REPETITIVE RESPONSE what else was there for it by way of response but disappointment?

The hitman sighs again, longer this time,---almost as if he's giving her one more second to recant and continue her work---and then he's turning to lean over the partially dug grave.

"....Hmm. Wasn't it you who said earlier that you didn't want to dig in the dark?" Satori punctuates his question by flicking some of the ashes from his cigarette into the occupied hole before inclining his head towards the partially visible bag laid out on the ground, the waning sunlight painting the still damp fabric in hues of pink and orange that only served to accentuate THE RED, MANGLED MESS JUST UNDERNEATH. "Or are you done? You've stopped digging so that means it must be ready...."

Now his words are punctuated by something far more sinister: the crunch of leaves as the male straightens only to step towards the bag and begin unzipping it which prompts an undeniably delicious scream from the woman still within the hole. Please. Please. Please. Please don't do it, oh please don't--- "That's what I thought. I suggest you work quickly then Miche, because I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO'S BEING IMPATIENT." And as if on cue the bag rustles faintly by way of response; no doubt because of the wind and nothing more, but the sudden thought of another face appearing alongside Satori's was now an inescapable thing. Now she was thinking about those cold, stiffening limbs landing on her own warm flesh with a putrid thump. Now she was thinking about the dirt that would soon follow after, the dirt and the darkness and---

Shivering in earnest now Miche, wisely, resumes digging.

[bitchapalooza]

Ngl Sam and Colby’s conjuring series rn is making me a big skeptic all because of Cody and Satori— I believed their method until I went to the comments and researched the Fox Sisters like they suggested. The whole thing felt extremely off the entire video, Cody in particular because he was mostly quiet while Satori spoke. And you can’t argue that it was a focus type of deal because then wouldn’t Satori have to be quiet too? He was focused on listening for his cue pretty much in order to pop his joints at the right time. Idk if Sam and Colby know they got duped by now but they seemed to have been genuinely impressed the entire time. And them appearing again for some of part 2 just fucked up the video for me ngl. I honestly don’t blame them for not wanting to admit the possibility of getting scammed, it would be a hard thing to accept.

[prismatranslates-cue]

Cool Beauties (Aya/Satori)

Aya: So this is the limited-edition steak…It’s huge.

Aya: They’re running a special discount on this?

Satori: Yes, but only for parties of two. ...Thanks for taking the time to come with me, by the way.

Aya: It’s no problem. It’s a good chance to eat something I wouldn’t normally get.

Satori: If I’m going out anywhere it’s usually by myself. I’m not really a fan of this kind of promotional campaign.

Aya: Yeah...I’m kind of the same way. Sometimes it’s just simpler going places on your own. Like the movies.

Satori: Exactly. If you’re by yourself, you can even watch several films in a row without any fuss.

Aya: Same with shopping. If you’re by yourself, you can go to whichever store you want and get a lot more done.

Satori: You get it.

Aya has a bite.

Aya: ...Oh, this steak is delicious.

Satori: Really? ...Wow, it is. This is premium meat. This restaurant knows what they’re doing.

Satori: Speaking of the movies, everyone’s been talking about that new Japanese film, right? Based on that one shoujo manga.

Aya: Oh...I know the one. I went to see it.

Satori: How was it? I’ve heard it’s quite good.

Aya: I sure thought so. That movie was...

Later.

Satori: It’s getting quite busy now.

Aya: Especially over there, with that big crowd of women.

Satori: I think I see...a man in the middle of them? Is he a celebrity or something?

Aya: I don’t really keep up with celebrities. Do you?

Satori: Aside from seiyuu, not really... I have to say though, he’s quite the pretty boy.

Aya: He looks like he could be the lead in a shoujo manga.

Satori: Are you into men like that then, Kamuro-san? Since you like those kinds of stories.

Aya: Well...manga preferences aren’t necessarily real life preferences. I wouldn’t say I’m particularly into that look. What about you, Satori-san?

Satori: I’m not much interested in appearances. A person’s character is vastly more important. I think that true beauty comes from within.

Aya: Wow, that was kind of cool.

Satori: What was?

Aya: The way you said that so plainly.

Aya: To be able to say so bluntly how it’s someone’s character that’s important, I think that shows your own inner beauty, Satori-san.

Aya: If you ask me, you're overflowing with beauty.

Satori: ...I-I’m not sure what to say to that.

Satori: ...A-anyway, let’s hurry up and finish eating! I’d like to get out of here before that sea of women overwhelms this place.

Satori: Actually, isn’t this steak a little bland? I think I’ll add some salt.

Aya: Ah, Satori-san, that’s tabasco sauce...

Satori: ...Ack, spicy!

Fin.

[rigelmejo]

Notes on my language levels:

Ignoring actual hours spent studying (because 1 I don't remember right now and don't want to calculate it, and 2 for Chinese and Japanese the level hour estimates would be much different... with 2200 hours as somewhere close to the 600-1000 hour estimate, and 1500 hours matching up to 4400 hours in Chinese or Japanese).

This is the level I, conservatively, think I'm at in the languages I'm studying.

Japanese: Between Level 3 (1,500 words - low level graded readers I've read like Tadoku readers, can understand easy learner podcasts like Nihongo Con Teppei, I don't rely exclusively on visual information, I can follow lessons with less visual cues like Intermediate videos on Comprehensible Japanese youtube channel), and Level 4 (3,000 words - understand a range of daily topics without visuals... I need some visuals but only the amount in actual places or a show, I do not need the visual cues of a teacher for daily topics, listening extensively to podcasts for learners would help, can handle graded readers). If I were to be generous, I'd say I'm close to Level 4 but I am not fully comfortable with daily conversation if there's zero visuals, and not fully comfortable with less easy learner podcasts.

My goal with Japanese is to hit Level 5 - 5,000 words known (which I HOPE Glossika gets me to). At that point I will understand podcasts for learners fairly well, and can listen to a lot of Nihongo Con Teppei and Yuyu no nihongo podcast. At that point easier TV shows and cartoons should be accessible (I can already watch Doraemon fine and understand fine, I'd like to be to the point where I can watch Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha to learn a lot more new words just by watching, and rewatch shows I've seen in english to pick up new words - since I already know the context... and slice of life BL jdramas, which I am almost at the point of being able to do). Also, at that point harder graded readers like the stories on Satori Reader app should be doable.

So my plan right now is to: finish Glossika japanese then review for a month to get my vocabulary close to 5,000 words so I'm around Level 5, then listen to Nihongo Con Teppei and Yuyu no Nihongo Podcast (and maybe watch more Doraemon) to continue exposing myself to common words and hopefully picking up some more vocabulary, then when I feel ready begin to read-listen to stuff on Satori Reader and watch daily life romance jdramas and some anime I've seen before in English.

Chinese: Judging my level is a bit difficult, as I've been able to read novels in specific genres and watch shows in almost any topic for a while now. Let's put me at Level 6 for simplicity's sake, because I don't feel I'm at Level 7 (functionally done with formal studying) yet. Level 6 - 7,000 known words (which for a language like Japanese or Chinese, I am guessing may need to be to closer to 14,000 words since there's no cognates to rely on). My vocabulary estimate is 1787 "like a 15 year old in China" on ARealMe site, and on hsklevel.com my estimate is 12,500 words known, HSK 6 level vocabulary or TOCFL Band B.2 (which matches with my ability to read well). I can read stuff for teenager without looking any words up, and understand all plot and most details (like Daomubiji), when I read stuff for adults I can get through things without looking any words up but it's hit or miss as to whether I understand just the main idea and some details, or the main idea and almost all details (depends on the genre, author, unique word count, those sorts of things). In TV shows I know almost all words I see in subtitles unless I'm watching a genre I never watch (like very in depth legal-type or political genre or older wuxia and palace shows), and if I don't know a word it's usually clear in the context of a show so I guess it (which is what I do for genres I don't know as many words for).

"You can understand TV shows about daily life quite well (80 to 90%)." - I could do this a few years ago in Chinese, after around 1 year of studying. This statement is also true for me with all genres of shows, I always can understand at least the main idea even in unfamiliar show genres, which is probably at least 80% of the words given that visuals also help guess main idea plot. So I can watch shows easier than Level 6 estimates ability at this point. "You'll still want to read books that are targeted at elementary school children, although maybe you don't need to stick to the lower grades" - like with shows, I can read more difficult books than the Level 6 estimates ability at this point.

So I am maybe at some point between Level 6 and 7, and just continuing to read and listen is going to keep me improving. In Dreaming Spanish's levels, speaking is recommended at Level 6... I should practice trying to speak and write at some point... Specifically, I am listening to audiobooks right now (goal of 50 hours... just finishing 1 lol, then eventually 200 hours so 4 audiobooks), and continuing to read novels. Aiming to read 4 million words (then 11 million eventually), and I think I've only read 0.5 million so far (update: checked my last estimated word count and yes it was ~454,000 words, and I've read more since then, so I am at around 500,000 words read right now). So I'd like to read 3.5 million more words... that's around 35 cnovels if I pick webnovels around 100,000 words (a lot of webnovels are 50k-300k, with a lot that I like being 100k-150k so a goal to read 35 novels will probably get me to my goal). SCI Mystery is 495,422 words all on it's own (around another 0.5 million words). And even if we assume less words per characters, then it's equivalent to ~322,024 english words (at 650 english words to 1000 chinese characters conversion). Which is still over a quarter million words for 1 webnovel.

French: haha ha haaa. My Level is totally skewed, as I have a much weaker listening ability. I can follow an audiobook... if I have a transcript. I can read great (Level 7), I can watch videos for learners with some visual context and some abstract discussions like Comprehensible French youtube channel's B1 videos (Level 4 and Level 5). I cannot understand French shows much without subtitles (Level 5), but with subtitles they're understandable (Level 6). So I would say... my listening ability is between a Level 4 and Level 5, it would probably improve from: simply listening to more stuff for learners like Comprehensible French's B1 and B2 videos, and Ayan Academy's audio of Le Francais Par Le Methode Nature. If I listened more, I think my listening skill would get up to Level 5, and then from there I could watch French shows without subtitles, perhaps audiobooks with no transcript, and probably get my listening skill up to my reading skill with time. As for speaking... after some listening to stuff for learners, I'd be around Level 5 and probably should start practice speaking and writing...

Dreaming Spanish Levels - A good reference in general for progress milestones when studying X hours

I'm about to paste in the entire Levels Guide Dreaming Spanish has on their site, if you make an account and look at their levels. It's on this Progress page, when logged in. A less detailed version of the Levels can be found on the roadmap picture on this public Method page. I want to paste in the detailed levels descriptions, because I want to be able to reference them in my notes generally, when I'm not logged into Dreaming Spanish.

Level 1

Starting from zero.

Hours of input: 0

Known words: 0

Videos to watch: Superbeginner

What you can do: The sounds of the language sound weird to your ears. You can't tell many of those sounds apart from each other. When hearing the language, it’s hard for you to know when one word ends and when the next one begins. Even when you guess what a sentence means, many times you can’t guess at the meaning of the different parts. You can't say any words and be confident that a native speaker would understand you.

What you need to do: Listen A LOT. The listening needs to be very comprehensible. The best materials are classes or videos where the teachers speak in the language, but make it easy to understand by using a lot of drawings, pictures, and gestures. Crosstalk is the most efficient activity that you can do, if you can find speakers of the language. Reading is not recommended until later on, especially if you care about having clear pronunciation. Practicing writing or speaking is not recommended yet.

What you are learning: You mostly learn individual nouns for concrete things: car, nose, elephant. Action verbs: walk, eat, sing. Adjectives for simple emotions and sensations: happy, scared, cold. Adjectives for physical properties: blue, tall, fat, beautiful. Interjections are the clearest words early on: Hey! Wow! Hi! You may learn the numbers early on, but this depends quite a lot on the kind of content you listen to.

Level 2

You know some common words.

Hours of input: 50

Known words: 300

Videos to watch: Beginner

What you can do: You understand some common words, even if you are not 100% sure how to pronounce them. You can now guess the meaning of some 2-word sentences, like "go home", or "eat cake". There are only a few words that you could produce yourself. For many words, you’re still not sure what sounds they’re made of.

What you need to do: Listen A LOT. You are still best served with Crosstalk or classes or videos where the teacher(s) speak in a very comprehensible way. However, with a few words under your belt you are better prepared to make the most of that input. Those words will help you understand the rest of the input you are listening to. Reading not recommended yet.

What you are learning: More verbs, since nouns help you understand them. Still mostly nouns and verbs for concrete things. Many expressions are learned as a chunk. You don’t know what their parts mean yet. Grammar for basic sentence order. Many common function words will remain unclear for a long time.

Level 3

You can follow topics that are adapted for learners.

Hours of input: 150

Known words: 1,500

Videos to watch: Intermediate

What you can do: You can now understand people if they stay within certain topics. They still need to talk to you in a way that's appropriate for you, but you know many words, and you don’t rely exclusively on visual information. You still aren’t completely used to the sounds of the language. You have a good intuition for basic grammar, like sentence order. You can sometimes feel it when other learners make mistakes. It sounds wrong somehow. You can now say quite a few words and that will already be useful when traveling to the country.

What you need to do: Listen A LOT. Now you can listen to videos or classes in which the teacher doesn't use as much visual input, and may even be able to take advantage of really easy audios and podcasts that are catered to learners at your level. Crosstalk is still the best way to spend your time. At this level it becomes easier than before to do crosstalk over the internet using video call software, so you won't need to find native speakers where you live anymore. Reading is still not recommended if you care about your final achievement in pronunciation, but it starts becoming possible to understand lower level graded readers.

What you are learning: Because you are starting to get used to what the language sounds like, and what kinds of sound combinations to expect, you start learning words faster, without needing to hear them so many times. You learn nouns faster and faster. Knowing a decent amount of nouns helps you also learn more adjectives. You start learning more abstract terms for feelings, appearance, and more abstract verbs: to need, to have to, to be good at, etc. You are now getting used to more complicated grammar faster.

Level 4 (purple-blue on the DS site)

You can understand a person speaking to you patiently.

Hours of input: 300

Known words: 3,000

Videos to watch: Intermediate

What you can do: You're at the intermediate level! You can understand a patient native speaker. You still miss some words, but the speaker can explain their meaning to you without resorting to translation. You can understand a range of daily topics without visual support like drawings or pictures. The sounds of the language are becoming clearer now, and you are getting used to how the sounds are likely to be combined. That helps with retaining new words. If you tried speaking at a store, you could get your point across most of the time, but you still struggle producing even some basic words. Making friends in the language is now possible, but you need to find people who are quite patient, because not everybody will want to make that effort. Depending on your tolerance for getting negative reactions, you may want to wait a bit longer before speaking.

What you need to do: Listen A LOT. You can understand videos or classes in which the teacher doesn't use any visual cues, and can now benefit from listening extensively to audios and podcasts for learners everywhere you go, anytime you can. Crosstalk is still the best, most efficient way to improve. You can now make friends with whom you communicate only in the target language. While you will learn a lot when listening to people speak to you, speaking this early will invariably result in hard-to-fix non-native pronunciation, noticeably bad grammar, and poor word usage. If you really want to start having conversations with people it's recommended that you don't try to actively practice grammar or vocabulary, but rather speak in single words or simple sentences that come to mind easily. Reading is still not recommended if you care about your final achievement in pronunciation. By now you could understand slightly more difficult books, but still mostly just graded readers.

What you are learning: Surprisingly, in this phase you learn many common function words that are taught right at the beginning of most language courses. These words are used very frequently, but carry very little meaning. For example: the verb "to be" (or equivalent), prepositions (in, at, on), conjunctions (therefore, so, and), and even some pronouns. Once you become aware of a new word, you’ll encounter it everywhere. At this point you may start feeling that there are many more words that you don't know than words you do know. The exposure to less controlled speech allows you to notice many new words. Don't worry, you'll eventually also acquire those words the same way you acquired all the words you have learned until now. By this point you are full on acquiring all kinds of vocabulary, both concrete and abstract.

Level 5

You can understand native speakers speaking to you normally.

Hours of input: 600

Known words: 5,000

Videos to watch: Intermediate/advanced

What you can do: You can understand people well when they speak directly to you. They won’t need to adapt their speech for you. Understanding a conversation between native speakers is still hard. You’ll almost understand TV programs in the language, because you understand so many of the words, but they are still hard enough to leave you frustrated or bored. Conversation can be tiresome, and if you try to speak you can feel a bit like a child, since it will be hard to express abstract concepts and complex thoughts. You understand most of the words used during daily conversation, but you still can’t use many yourself. If you try to speak the language, it will feel like you are missing many important words. However, you can, often, already speak with the correct intonation patterns of the language, without knowing why, and even make a distinction between similar sounds in the language when you say them out loud.

What you need to do: Listen A LOT. You'll be able to understand more advanced materials for learners. Listen to audios and podcasts daily if you want to learn fast. Crosstalk is still as good as always. You may start feeling you are not getting much out of getting input about daily life topics. Try getting input about new topics. Easier TV programs and cartoons should be accessible too. The purists who want to get really close to a native speaker and get a really good accent may still want to hold off on speaking and reading for a little more, but if you do start speaking and reading it's not a big deal by this point. You'll still end up with better pronunciation and fluency than the vast majority of learners. If you want to start reading, by this point you'll be able to understand books targeted at children of lower grade levels, and you can skip over graded readers. If you start reading, try setting every gadget you own (PC, phone, Google and Facebook settings, etc.) to the target language, and following speakers of the language on social media.

What you are learning: This level can feel frustratingly similar to the previous one. You will still feel that there are many more words that you don't know than words you do know. You'll now feel many more instances of finally understanding that word that you have been hearing since forever. It may feel like these words are infinite, but no! Continue doing what you are doing and you'll little by little fill in all the missing gaps. For some words, you’ll even wonder why you hadn’t learned such a basic word yet. Learning abstract words (democracy, absence, patience) will be your bread and butter, as will be learning more and more grammatical connectors. At this level you’ll mostly finish up the grammar and the different sentence types. While still not being able to make the most complex sentences yourself, you’ll become able to understand almost every type of sentence.

Level 6 (green-blue on the site)

You are comfortable with daily conversation.

Hours of input: 1,000

Known words: 7,000

Videos to watch: Advanced

What you can do: You can really have fun with the language at this point. You are conversationally fluent for daily purposes of living in the country and you can get by at the bank, at the hospital, at the post office, or looking for an apartment to rent. In spite of that odd word that is not quite there when you need it, you can always manage to get your point across in one way or another, and by now you are already making complex longer phrases. At this level, for the first time, you start feeling like you are actually thinking about what you want to say, and not about how you want to say it, even though you may fall back on thinking about how you say things, especially in stressful situations or when feeling self-conscious. Using humor in the language is much easier now. You can understand TV shows about daily life quite well (80 to 90%). Shows about families, friends, etc. Unscripted shows will usually also be easier to understand than scripted shows, as long as they are not too chaotic or rely too much on cultural knowledge. Thrillers and other genres will still be hard.

What you need to do: Listen and read A LOT. It's also a good idea to get massive input in authentic media, be it TV, podcasts, radio, movies, etc. If you can't find a lot of easy media in the target language, you may find that videos and audios for learners are still more efficient for acquiring new vocabulary until you get a bit better. If your target language has many common words with a language you already know you may be able to understand quite well things like TED talks and university lectures. Lots of reading is also recommended if you want to be literate and if you care about reading. You'll still want to read books that are targeted at elementary school children, although maybe you don't need to stick to the lower grades. Nonfiction will often be much easier to understand than fiction. By this point, speaking and reading are completely unrestricted, and it's really encouraged to make friends in the language. If you live in the country, join as many social activities as you can. Live in a shared apartment, go to bars, join dance classes, a sports team, anything! Set your PC, phone, and all your online profiles to your target language. Make a list of daily things you do in your own language, and find alternatives to do them in your target language.

What you are learning: You may find the odd common word that you haven't learned yet, but by now your known vocabulary pretty much covers everything that you will usually want to say during everyday conversation. If you make friends and have real conversations, or watch certain TV shows, you will now be learning a lot of slang. By now, your knowledge will cover most sentence structures and grammatical words, so you will rarely learn these anymore, unless they are specific to certain registers of the language. You will mostly learn specific vocabulary used in formal speech or in writing. Most words that you learn now will be words that are used in more formal registers of speech like in the news, words used in formal writing, literary writing, or technical terms used in the specific fields that you are interested in: politics, technology, science, or 13th century woodblock prints. If your language doesn’t share a lot of its specialized vocabulary with your new language, you may still have to work on this for a long while.

Level 7

You can use the language effectively for all practical purposes.

Hours of input: 1,500

Known words: 12,000+

Videos to watch: Advanced

What you can do: You can understand any general content effortlessly, including newspapers, novels, and all types of TV shows and movies. You might still struggle with technical texts in unfamiliar fields, heavy regional slang, and shows with intricate plots. You speak fluently and effortlessly, without thinking about the language. While native speakers might still detect a slight accent, your clarity and fluidity make your speech easy to understand, and no one considers you a learner anymore. You may still make some mistakes, or miss a specific word here and there, but it doesn’t hinder you from being an effective member of society.

What you need to do: Listen and read A LOT. Add variety to what you read and listen to. By this point it's easy to find media in the target language that you understand very well, but it's also easy to get comfortable and not seek new challenges. If you want to continue improving, simply do things that you have never done before. Try reading a book by a new author, try watching a show about a topic that you're unfamiliar with (about space, about the Middle Ages, about lawyers, etc). If you live in the country, try joining activities that are new to you: a sports team, an improv group, comedy nights, etc.

What you are learning: You will continue learning slang, and learning about the culture, and that will allow you to understand more and more cultural references. You can explore other regional dialects of the language, ancient literary versions of the language, or vocabulary in other technical or scientific fields that you may want to learn about. You will still encounter new idioms and proverbs, but they will almost always be clear from the context. And of course, you can start learning your next language!

[prof-kenny]

[kurayamineko]

[miokinoshita]

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