#zero grammar very little vocabulary

[hard-of-death]

Absolute gem of the day whenever I run into another hoh person that have been signing way longer than I ve and they complement my signing <3

[sadie-the-dragon-slayer]

Self / Independent Learner's Guide to Language Learning From Zero

-a mini study plan I used this for Spanish, French and Italian, it is my favourite way of starting to learn. It won't teach you the langauge but if this is your first time, if you feel confused and don't know where to begin, this is for you! -this is kinda romance langauge based but might give you ideas if you are learning from a different family too -this is very notebook / writing based since i prefer learning that way Step 1: Preperation

First of all, ask yourself "do i already have some amount of immersion in this langauge?" As humans, we learn from immersion a lot. Songs, but especially visual media is incredibly heplful. I never studied japanese but after watching a few animes i picked up 5-10 random words. Passive vocabulary, being familiar to most common words will be your biggest friend. If the answer is no, before start studying ANYTHING do some immersion. e.g. I watched dix pour cent for French and learned arrêt which means stop because characters were shouting to each other all the time.

After making sure you have some immersion or if you already have some, PREPARE YOUR RESOURCES. Make a file in your computer, reblog tumblr posts, save links. Search for pdfs in google. (x language a1 pdf / x langauge a1 grammar book / x language a1 reading) Free PDF's and and useful websites. The more the merrier. Why? Because when you actually start learning you will slowly realise them half of them are not actually useful, too advance, too simple, not in your preffered style etc. You will en up using same handful amount of resources again and again but before that, you have to TRY EVERYTHING. You are unique and so will be your learning process.

Google x language A1 curriculum. (you can try adding "pdf" at the end of sentence as well) It "probably/ hopefully" exists. If you can't find that way, learn which offical exam is necessary (e.g. for French it's DELF/DALF, in english there is IELTS and so many more) If you are lucky, you can find a langauge teaching enstitute's curriculum and you can find in what order they teach things. This was very helpful for me because sometimes you don't know what to study next, or just want to visualise what do you need to learn, it is helpful. I printed one out and paste it to the back cover of my notebook. You won't need this one YET. I'll explain in a second. Keep reading.

Get a notebook. I don't prefer books while learning from zero because it will be filled with vocabulary you don't know. My pereference is no squares no lines empty ass notebook and colorful pens. I'm a person of shitty doodles. I love to draw and visualise things. It really helps my brain. In A1, your knowledge is absouletly zero and your brain is about the explode with realising GREAT MASS of knowledge you need to learn in order to be "fluent" . So keep things away from being "too much" if you want to avoid a burnout.

Set a timer. If you want to avoid burnout, the secret is always quit when you feel like you can go another round happily. Quit when you are dopamine high. If you study too much, next day you'll wake up tired, want to rest etc. and make it harder for you to create a habit. I did this mistake with French by studying 4-5 hours everyday for around 30 days. I completed my challenge, completly quit and then didn't come back for MONTHS.

You will be re-studying A LOT. Language learning is repetition. You will start by studying "the A1 curriculum". But, because this is your first time your focus will be on the vocabulary and general comprehension. You are trying to re-wire your brain, and learn a different way of thinking and living. It's not easy. It will take time. It will be painful at times. But it is 100% worth it.

After you finished studying your curriculum, you'll take a short break and then study the curriculum AGAIN. For a second time. Because you already know the basics, this time you will be able to focus more on the little things you weren't able to comprehend the last time. e.g. articles or whatever little frustaring thing your langauge has. Also focus more on basic prononciation and especially reading aloud. Find a realistic text-to-reader. Copy-paste a text. Listen and repeat.

Get a new Youtube and Instagram account dedicated to langauge study. How many good resources exists and where they are is really depens on which langauge you are learning. For english, youtube is better. For French, instagram is better. You have to see for yourself. If you get a seperate account for your langauge algorith will learn faster and you won't be distracted by other stuff. Short form engaging videos are the best for absolute beginners. Re-watch things and try to repeat them out loud. It's called shadowing and is your future best friend.

If you want to learn how to speak, you first need to how to write. If you can't write sentences without looking at google translate (or reverso) you won't be able to make up sentences in your head. If you want to learn how to write, your first need to learn how to read. You need to start in this order but also don't be perfectionist. Do it even if you do it wrong. They will be fixed eventually and won't stick. Record yourself speaking even if the text you are reading is 90% google translated. Why? Beacuse speaking will enhance your vocabulary in a way no other thing can and that's the core of reading. So this isn't a linear thing. It's actually a circle!

Step Two! Ok, Sadie, i got my notebooks and read through all the warnings where do i start? *First page: [] means written is target langauge

[x notebook] x= your target langauge

Add something cute and make you feel happy to open up the notebook. It can a drawing, a picture, anything. First page is your entrance to your new home. Make it welcoming.

*[My name is X. I am Y years old. I live in Z.] *Greetings. Main articles if there are any. Yes, no, please, thank you. *What is your name, what do you do for living, how are you, where are you from, how old are you, how many langauges do you speak, numbers from 0-100. If there are multiple way of saying these things and probably there are, just write one. You will eventually learn others. Baby steps. *write a basic ass text of two people having a conversation asking and answering these questions.

*the alphabet and how to pronounce the letters. basic letter combinations that change into a different sound. a youtube video about this 100% exists.

*personal pronouns and if there is a "am/is/are" verb the conjugation of it. (in spanish there is two unfortunately) *artciles and basic noun endings. a couple exemples of nouns in x form but takes y article. *first 5 most common verbs. learn the conjugation, try writing basic ass sentences. (e.g. to come, go, have, speak)

*three more verbs (e.g. to eat, can, to want)

*take some time to fully comprehend. check your curriculum list to look and see if you want to add anything. e.g.for spanish that can be ser vs estar, for spanish is can be "how to ask questions in french" becaue it's way harder compared to other langauges.

*take some break from grammar and learn some vocab maybe. it can be colors, or feelings. (i am sad, i am hungry etc.)

*start studying most common verbs. usually a form of categorization exists. usually it's verb ending. (unless it's a language like turkish where every verb either ends with -mek or -mak lol.) Start with 10- 15 most common verbs. You will also be learning some vocabulary by default. (try to stick to regular verbs if you can, if not that's fine) (Do not learn any verbs you won't be able to use immediately.)

*Learn basic adjectives and how they work so you can form more detailed sentences.

*After comprehending how to form basic positive negative sentences and some verbs, congratulate yourself, because you deserve it! *Learn how tell time. "What time is it? It's x'o clock."

*learn clothing and how to simply describe physical look e.g. hair color, eye color, beard, glasses...

*learn the verbs of daily routine. be able to write a generic ass "i wake up, i do breakfast, i eat lunch at school, i sleep" sort of text.

*demonstratives. this that. these. those. you can add some vocabulary you like. this is a cat. this is a tree. you can add placement adjectives now or later. (the cat is under the sofa. the bird is on the table etc.)

*Now you know a lot of things! Take some time and focus a bit more on the vocab, let your brain process things, do some passive immersion. avoid a burnout at all costs. *learn how to say "there is" (if you want more vocab transportation and city centre themes can be included.) *learn how to talk about your hobbies. This is the generic A1 curriuculum. You are able to understand basic things, you have a generic comprehension. That's all it takes to be considered A1. If you want to pass it though, what you need is a good grammar source. For French and Spanish Kwiziq was very useful. I couldn't find a good online grammar resource for Italian yet. (please ask more experienced langblrs for recs.) Slowly learn more vocab (since A1 is more vocab based. If you hate Anki and Quizlet stuff check Linguno. Actually check Linguno anyway it's a banger and i'm gonna die on that hill.)

If you don't have have native friend to ask questiones and you don't have any ethical concerns ChatGPT can be useful. I'm using it for French for months. Why are we using this particle here, why this and not that, can you give me some example sentences.... you can play guess the animal, ask for writing prompts and then make ChatGpt find and explain your mistakes to you. It's very handy.

*Don't be scared to share about your journey on Tumblr and most importantly ENJOY!

[apsleycolllege]

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[meichenxi]

I present before the court this offering, allowing myself to be humbled shamed schooled humiliated brought down a peg etc etc in the hope that this time next year I can look back on it and create a really intensely very cool progress video...you also get to see what my constant internal monologue is like. it’s. it’s exhausting lmao. 

This is my fifth day in Korea, and about the second week of me studying Korean with Lingodeer. I made some noise about starting Korean way earlier than that in February but basically never did, so let’s say this is...two weeks in? 

Again, as we know, weeks don’t count. Days don’t count. It’s hours that do. Tragically however I have not followed by own advice and keep forgetting to use Polylogger to track the time spent - I doubt it’s more than 10 hours though since I’ve primarily been using the app.

Anyway. However long I’ve been learning, it’s early enough that it’s kind of shit and kind of embarrassing. But that’s one of the reasons I think that I’m posting it - I follow a few really big langblrs, and whenever they come into my orbit I sort of kneel down and weep bitterly in awe. But we’re all just nerds who like languages and occasionally post about it. I think it’s wonderful that people have been posting things more as beginners in a language, and I hope that we can do that for audio too!! Sure, it’s embarrassing! But that’s ok - we’ll get better! I hope that langblr can be a place to share the journey and encourage each other in things we are just starting out in too.

So posting this, here’s a little challenge to all the beloved langblrs on here: Have you just started a new language? Would you like to share some speaking as a starting point, maybe to come back to some time from now and see how far you’ve come? Tag me - I want to hear!!

---

In this snippet I say the five (5) sentences I can currently usefully say (’the dog has an apple’ does not count), as well as some live practice with Lingodeer. 

I know grammar and vocabulary will improve - that’s a given. My reading is also quite slow even for words that are not new, and that will improve without question too. But I’m mainly curious to see how much my accent and intonation will improve with immersion over the course of a year. Listening back, I can hear what some differences are between my intonation / stress patterns and those of the Lingodeer man - I can hear some places already where I’m going wrong (the stress on issumnida and related words I feel needs to be either on the second syllable or more distributed - either way not so much on the first. And particles I have zero idea how to stress). Others will exist that I can’t hear at the moment. I hope that that conscious linguistic awareness will grow and improve, but I also hope it will eventually marry up with more subconscious intuition. To go from ‘Oh, my mouth should be doing this - let me just -’ *wrestles with mouth* to ‘Wait, my mouth is doing this? Oh. Cool’. 

I hope this snippet also makes it clear that whenever I’m using something like Lingodeer, I may not be speaking usually, but it’s still fairly active study. I’m constantly going - ok, wait, how are these two sounds pronounced together? What’s the stress doing? Why do I sound wrong? Is this sound more palatalised/rounded/aspirated in this context? When are things voiced more or less? How are words pronounced differently in isolation when read in word lists and in the middle of a sentence? Language is an endless source of data and I plan to mine everything I can :)))))

Thank you guys for bearing with me, and I hope to reblog this with a much more interesting version in a year! Fighting~

- 梅晨曦

[rigelmejo]

some comprehensible input links

language learning forums can be so toxic sometimes...

so many people love to push that “one method” is phenomenal and works when others just WON’T, meanwhile another will say the opposite. And then its like... where is the room to acknowledge maybe parts of each method have merit for different individuals, since they might help or click in different ways.

just today i saw someone arguing about stephen krashen’s language theories and how they’re all disproven bullshit that are completely unusable. I don’t know a huge amount about his theories. But I do know the emphasis he brought up on “providing students comprehensible input and lessons to learn from” is a concept that also is in stuff like the modern Teach Languages Through Storytelling lessons and Comprehensible Input Lessons. Which if you’ve ever used them? They’re Amazing. They are lessons where teachers purposefully use the target language as much as possible, and use visuals to help make what they say as comprehensible as possible to students so they can learn. This is how when I volunteered, we were supposed to tutor ESL speakers - because we could not reliably teach with english translation since their english levels varied, and we did not have speakers of every learners native language present to help teach them. Our program coordinator showed an example of how to do it by teaching us some Thai, his native language, in this method. And it was extremely easy to follow and understand. Textbooks/grammar guides/flashcards certainly will help speed up the process - aka allow students to use Graded Reader books, learner podcasts, then target language native materials like shows and novels to learn quicker. But lessons in the target language as soon as possible, emphazising getting students to comprehend, is valuable. Just as its valuable later on when students can handle more complex lessons in the target language.

Examples of teachers teaching through comprehensible input (I am thrilled to notice there’s a lot more than last time I looked these sorts of channels up):

Hit Chinese: https://youtu.be/xG3w2i1OBfc

Unconventional Chinese with Keren: https://youtu.be/9N-nNvnAYTs

French Comprehensible Input: https://youtu.be/c2SUQVjklVA

Alice Ayel (french): https://youtu.be/DcuVNAnsWZM

Dreaming Spanish (a fantastic example): https://youtu.be/ObO1CGY_NHI

Comprehensible Russian: https://youtu.be/gHCvEKxeXvk

Comprehensible Japanese: https://youtu.be/gHCvEKxeXvk

Japanese Immersion with Asami: https://youtu.be/pr_yRUVQQt0

Learn Korean in Korean*: https://youtu.be/zUulbCruiMs

I just found the Learn Korean in Korean channel a few weeks ago, notable in that he also teaches hangul before the other lessons. I think he maybe uses too few pictures to make it as easy on students. But having said that, I know zero korean whatsoever and am watching his Lesson 1 and finding it completely easy to follow. So I’d say yes his teaching style probably falls under “engage student in the target language and make it comprehensible so they can learn it.” I’m really impressed with his channel tbh because it teaches totally in Korean so any language learner from any native language could use it.

Just found Japanese Immersion with Asami today while looking up “japanese comprehensible input” and its an amazing example of how these kinds of lessons work. In a classroom setting (or with a tutor), generally the idea is to provide learners with lots of comprehensible input of the language they’re learning and perhaps some help to keep things comprehensible (in a classroom that would be word definitions on the board maybe for reference, or in these examples subtitles to aid learners for reference - although first priority a teacher is aiming to use pictures/gestures/visuals to make as much as possible comprehensible).

Examples of textbooks that teach through comprehensible input (these were made before Krashen, so i merely bring up Krashen because Today’s Language Forum Arguement was ‘all krashen’s ideas are bullshit ALL of them even comprehensible input ideas so you shouldn’t even bother using even a little of something related to his ideas):

French: https://archive.org/details/jensen-arthur-le-francais-par-la-methode-nature

Italian: https://archive.org/details/LitalianoSecondoIlMetodoNatura

Latin: lingva latina per se illustrata 

English: https://archive.org/details/english-by-the-nature-method

(I’ve personally used that textbook for french and absolutely loved its teaching style, it works Really Well for me). 

Graded readers, if they teach new vocabulary in context, may also fall into this section (depending on learner’s starting level compared to a graded reader).

my only point here is just. i hate seeing valuable learning methods completely thrown away, just because someone’s decided to equate one person’s specific method as bad - to decide every single thing related to it must be useless. In this particular case - before Krashen was old enough to have any theories, Arthur Jensen was making some of those books listed above! (Back then it was called ‘the nature method’ - although plenty of books using the term ‘the nature method’ do not teach as comprehensibly as what I’ve listed above, there’s definitely a range from ‘these are just vocab lists’ to ‘these are actually slowly teaching me new words in context’ lol). and all those youtube channels for comprehensible input? There are learners who do find them useful! I’ve found them useful!

oh man just today... sometimes people will be like “you MUST use flashcards to learn a language” and hello no you absolutely don’t have to i never did with French. Some people say “you MUST use textbooks” and yet there’s examples of people who did fine without them, vice versa people say “you must NOT use textbooks if you want to sound natural’ or whatever which? Me using grammar guides has always been immensely useful for me personally - though again some people found success with Much more textbook use, and with none. So can we please accept different methods work for different people?! And beyond that - maybe some Pieces of methods are useful to someone EVEN if the ‘whole thing’ isn’t. 

Mass Immersion Method/Refold - its not ‘all’ for me. I’m never ever going to sentence mine. I rarely use flashcards and I never plant to MAKE any myself lol. Have I still found some useful pieces of Refold that have benefited me? YES I have. (Notably the parts about ‘comprehensible input’ since we’re on the topic). What I took from what little i have heard from Krashen - in particular a lecture he gave on improving reading ability in students - is reading for pleasure, exposing yourself to a lot of material even if its not perfectly at your level, will help you improve. Students who learned word lists, and students encouraged to extensively read, both made vocabulary and reading level improvements. Which - we’ve been in elementary school and had ‘free reading time’ to help us learn to read better! By reading something we liked for a period of time! Besides just the books assigned in class the teacher had us do vocab lists for! Well, in my french studies I very much saw that apply to my own second language learning too - sometimes I looked up words as I read, and learned words that way. Sometimes I simply read french for pleasure and just guessed at unknown words I Could guess at and moved past others - and also improved my reading ability and picked up some new words. Both ways helped my french improve, my reading improve, my vocab improve. And so that is what I took from it - that there is some merit in engaging with something you can understand Somewhat at least. That if you have some comprehension of a material, you may be able to learn Some More from it whether you just learn from context OR conciously look up everything unfamiliar. (And I do think looking things up speeds up the process sometimes). My point though is like... we’re really gonna throw out some good pieces because we don’t like one person who’s managed to touch on them? When so many before and after, their own levels of correct and useless parts, have found some usefulness in some parts?

I just do not get language forum drama lol... the issue is. These people were arguing because they find krashen ‘useless’ then all comprehensible input study is ‘useless’. Ok then. But pushing to all learners to use only a textbook, and avoid engaging with actual language (even when it may be comprehensible and therefore useful to them like the links above, for some learners), then they may slow their progress if it doesn’t suit them well. And it always depends on the individual, everyone’s a bit different. 

[omoi-no-hoka]

Hello! I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how do you become proficient at handling conversations in Japanese/handling grammar very well? I read your post on the JLPT, and it addressed issues I have been tip toe-ing around--indeed, passive actions such as listening or reading are easier than the active ones. How did you go about that? Did you write a bunch of sentences daily? Did you have a conversation partner? What would you rec. to someone who lives outside Japan? Thank you!

This is an excellent question, and one that I get asked a lot irl by Japanese people in particular. Let’s talk about gaining fluency and the ways we can go about it!

How to Gain Fluency in Japanese (and Other Languages)

Speaking Fluency versus Accuracy

Language proficiency is divided into two separate categories:

Fluency: Although there are no widely agreed-upon definitions or measures of language fluency, someone is typically said to be fluent if their use of the language appears fluid, or natural, coherent, and easy as opposed to slow, halting use. In other words, fluency is often described as the ability to produce language on demand and be understood.

Accuracy: Correctness of language use, especially grammatical correctness and word choice.

By the above definitions, a “fluent” speaker may make grammatical mistakes, but they can speak without having to stop and think too much about conjugations, word choice, etc.

An “accurate” speaker can speak with nearly zero grammatical/word choice mistakes. However, the speed of their utterances isn’t generally taken into account, so it could take an “accurate” person twice as long to articulate the same idea as a “fluent” person. 

Ideally, you need to strike a good balance between these two qualities when speaking. I have a boss, God bless him, who is 100% fluency and 0% accuracy and…man is it hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes, but he can generally get his point across just barely. I have another coworker who is 100% accuracy and takes about 3 minutes to form a sentence because he wants it to be perfect. 

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Accuracy

First, let’s talk about the easiest thing to improve, which is accuracy. It’s also (in my opinion) the least fun thing to improve, because it means grammar books and vocabulary memorization. 

You can only use a language accurately if you know what is correct and what is incorrect, and you can only learn that by studying grammar and vocabulary (or if you’re a native speaker and picked it up innately, you lucky bastard).

So here’s some things you can do to increase your accuracy:

For example, if you’re having a hard time using the passive, you need to review that part of your textbook and find some exercises to drill it into your head. 

Say the correct thing aloud. Lots. Sometimes I just walk around my apartment and narrate everything I see/do like a crazy person, but that’s good practice. 

Write example sentences using the grammar you’re struggling with and say them aloud too. 

There’s a bunch of cool apps that connect you with native speakers that can help correct you too! I used to use HelloTalk, I think. 

If you’re a creative soul, when I was studying for the JLPT, I took 1 grammar point and 5 vocabulary words from my JLPT study books and used them to write a 2-page short story about the adventures of ネギ, a stray black cat that smelled like green onions because she napped in an onion field. Then I had a Japanese friend check it over for me and mark mistakes. I hand-wrote them to improve my abysmal handwriting at the same time. It was really fun! I sometimes think about doing it again just for funsies.

When someone corrects you, don’t feel like your entire life is over and you’re a failure and you’ll never get it right haha. I’ve seen people fall into that hopeless mindset, and that’s just nonsense. It’s a good opportunity for learning and nothing more! Say the correct thing you’ve just been taught out loud, then write it down if you can. And, if possible, find a chance to use it in conversation asap.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Fluency

Now this is the hard one. Especially for those learners who do not have native speakers nearby. 

I’m going to be dead honest with you. I started formally studying Japanese at uni, and I had a Japanese roommate/best friend since year one. I had a 4.0 GPA in my Japanese classes (and only my Japanese classes lol) because I was and still am a MEGA NERD about it. 

...But it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Japan my 4th year of uni that I gained fluency. 

There are a lot of things that can hold us back from fluency. An interesting thing I’ve noted is that Foreign Language is perhaps the only subject in which a student’s personality can directly affect their progress. To gain fluency, you have to go forth and speak, but if you are naturally a shy person, that is going to hinder you. If you are the kind of person who takes mistakes/failures poorly, you will be less likely to take risks and try to say harder sentences. In contrast, you can get full marks in math regardless of the above personality traits. 

I’m not saying that you have to be an outgoing explosion of a human being in order to gain fluency. But what I am saying is that you have to be willing to seek out conversations, and you have to be willing to take chances. Get out of your comfort zone. Use that new word you picked up the other day. Try to explain something that is difficult for you. 

My problem was that, while I lived with a native speaker who would have happily taught me anything I asked, her English proficiency was much higher than my Japanese proficiency. And when I struggled to say something in Japanese, I’d fall back onto English. And when she told me something I didn’t understand in Japanese, she’d repeat it in English instead of Japanese, because that was easier for us both. The same thing happened when I was in Japanese class as well. I always had the assurance that I could fall back on English.

But when I elected to study abroad in Japan for 3 months, I knew that this was my big chance. So on the host family form in the “other requests” area, I wrote that I specifically wanted a host family that could not speak English. I was setting fire to my crutches, and I was scared but excited to see them burn. 

By the end of my three months in Japan, I had gone from “Chotto matte kudasai” and needing a minute to form my reply, to “Okay, yeah I see that movie too and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t care for the story little.” (I’ve underlined mistakes that I would have made in Japanese, to show you that I sacrificed some accuracy to obtain higher fluency.)

So, in short, the easiest and quickest way to increase your spoken fluency is to throw away all the crutches you can and use the language as much as possible. Every single day. Even if you’re just having an imaginary conversation with yourself! And like I said, there are a bunch of cool apps that connect you with Japanese people who want to learn English and you can do language exchanges with them. I had a lot of fun with those in the past. 

As for increasing writing fluency...well. That’s a tough question with Japanese, because I can type Japanese at like 100 wpm, but my Japanese handwriting fluency is at a 10/100. I can read and type at the level of a native Japanese high school student, but I can only write the kanji that 7 year old can write. That’s no exaggeration.

The big reason for that dichotomy is that my work is paper-free. 100% of my work is done on screen, so about the only time I have to write out something is when I’m filling out a form, which includes my name (katakana), address, and maybe occupation. 

If you want to increase your Japanese handwriting speed, just keep on writing. Write those little short stories about ネギ like I did, or find some writing prompts (I just started a side-blog with writing prompts yesterday btw) or keep a little diary. Make opportunities to write. 

How to Have Nice Handwriting in Japanese

Okay, full disclaimer: I am the absolute LAST person qualified to talk about this, because I have awful handwriting in Japanese. 

Unless you have prior experience with a different language that uses kanji, or you lack the keen eye of an artist, you will likely struggle to develop neat handwriting. 

Personally, I really like using this app called Japanese Kanji Sensei. It’s on Android (not sure about iOS), and if you pay just a few bucks you can make your own kanji sets and stuff. Anyways, it will show you how to write the characters prettily. It gives you a good frame of reference for what nice, pencil/pen-written characters (versus calligraphy characters). It has hiragana and katakana on it too!

I get a stylus and write out the characters on this app for the muscle memory, so my hands remember the sensation of writing a certain character. (The muscle memory is different if you only use your fingertip.) This muscle memory and repetition is how Japanese people learn how to internalize kanji as well. I really enjoy and recommend this app. I’m sure that there are others out there like it too.

Summary

TL;DR: Review your textbooks, take risks, use every resource available or make your own, and just have fun with it! 💗

[nordic-language-love]

Language Learning Log 2021 - Week 1

Norwegian

Read 2x articles

Watched 3x Familiekokkene episodes + noted down vocabulary

Watched 5x Distriktsnyheter (Nordnytt x2, Nordland, Midtnytt & Rogaland) broadcasts

Watched 1x Nytt På Nytt episode

Listened to 1x Norsken, Svensken og Dansken podcast

Japanese

Writing practice

Finished JFZ chapter 5 exercises

Duolingo: Family, Restaurant, Hiragana 1, Katakana 2&3

Thoughts and feelings below.

Norwegian

I made an effort to watch some local news from areas with dialects I find tricky. It’s quite a nice way to do it - the presenters speak dialect, but they still speak really clearly and quite slowly, so I can still hear and understand the words they’re saying while getting used to the differences in how certain words and the melody sounds. Plus obviously they’re generally interviewing local people with a local dialect, so there’s more exposure to it.

I also start watching Familiekokkene with subtitles so I can note down new vocabulary. I’m hoping finish it this coming week, then I plan to go back through it without subtitles, revising all the new vocab beforehand so I can listen out for it.

I didn’t do any speaking practice, which isn’t good. I need to keep it up! I’ve been slacking a lot lately. To be fair, Christmas has thrown me out of my usual rhythm a lot, and I’ve had other things going on too. Hopefully I’ll manage to get back into it this week. I do have an italki session tomorrow (with a different tutor to my normal ones) so I’ll get some in then. But I need to practice outside my sessions too.

Last week’s goals:

Survive the week ✅

This week’s goals:

Mysteriet Om Nils p121-126

Finish watching Familiekokkene

Watch 4x Distriktsnyheter broadcasts

1x written task

Practice speaking on at least 4 days

Japanese

I wanted to do more Japanese this week, but I’ve been tired and I’ve just not sat down to do it. Norwegian it’s very easy for me to sit with my laptop and just watch TV shows or read articles or just generally engage with the language. Japanese I have to make a lot more effort to get my books and sit at my desk and put myself in the right mindset and actually study. But hopefully I’ll do that more this week.

I did finally finish the Family skill on Duolingo though, so that’s something at least :)

Last week’s goals:

Survive the week ✅

This week’s goals:

JFZ Chapter 6 - read grammar + watch videos

Watch 1x Pokémon episode

Drill family kanji

Duolingo: Restaurant skill

Productivity

I’ve felt inspired to write this week, but I’ve come to learn that being inspired and being able to actually put words on a page are two completely different things. I think I need to spend more time reading (I’ve been super slacking on that for like the past 3 months, so I need to get back in the swing of it). I’m pretty sure it was Neil Gaiman who said you have to breathe in (read) before you can breathe out (write), and I think that’s true.

I’ve not been paying good attention to my health either. Last night I just snacked until I felt sick instead of making a healthy dinner. And I’ve been drinking like zero water. Not to mention the lack of exercise. So I need to get on that, basically.

All in all, not the best week, but it’s been a tough week, so I kinda forgive myself.

Last week’s goals:

Survive the week ✅

This week’s goals:

Stretch on at least 3 days

Get to the studio to train at least once

Finish reading my book

Do some form of writing (even if it’s just a little world-building)

[tjerra14]

Fic writer interview

Stole this off @foibles-fables because I totally do not have a ton of chores to do before I can write again so of course procrastinating on it is the way to go.

Name: Tjerra

Fandoms (that I write for): Dragon Age, Horizon Zero Dawn.

Two-shot: Let's see...one-shot, one-shot, this one is supposed to have nine chapters somehow??, one-shot, this one has three, one-shot... Yeah, I'm just not very good at writing anything longer than a one-shot. Provided I finish anything at all. Have this old thing instead.

Most popular multi-chapter: Uhhh...how do you even measure popularity in fics, especially if the multi-chapters are not even finished? Might be A Little Faith, aka the post-Haven angst fic. At least I'd like that one to be the most popular that one has currently the greatest chance of ever getting an update because technically the next chapter is in the works.

Actual worst part of writing: Getting stuck between languages and suddenly having none. I'm no native speaker, and while I mostly think in English, my brain likes to mix it up from time to time, and in a fluid transition at that. Sometimes I don't even realise. Which leads to all kinds of fun: mindlessly typing "fingers nestling with" because the expression I would've used in German is "an etwas nesteln" which translates to "fumble at something", however; having a vague idea of what to write but the English word is currently not part of my vocabulary, so I try to find the German word to translate it only to realise that that is also not part of my vocabulary at the moment; repeated grammar crises; expressions that work beautifully in German but absolutely do not in English. Words that lose part of their meaning in the translation. The fact that "Stille" und "Schweigen" both translate to "silence". There's a void I have to bridge each time I write, and too many things get lost in it. And then, the doubts.

How you choose your titles: They kind of...choose themselves. I usually start out with a vague underlying feeling I want to explore with a fic, then the plot starts coming in in pieces. At that stage it's usually my brain barfing random phrases and ideas at me, and the title usually is among them. It comes up, and I just know. Sometimes it changes while writing if the focus of the fic changes, but all too often it doesn't.

Do you outline: Yes, always. Aside from the most recent HZD fics, I'm not great on chronological writing, so I have to keep tabs on what I actually had planned for a fic, even if it's just a one-shot. Of course, the outline of those are usually just a few notes because there's really not much to say; which will then be expanded by further notes as I often think of snippets and phrases while I'm doing something completely unrelated to writing, and forget them as quickly as they came.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: There's a bit of an "Aloy is regarded as a blessing, not a curse and grows up with the tribe"-AU idiocy stuck in my head, but while I find it intriguing, it's also one of those longer, exhausting things which I traditionally don't do too well at. Not to mention that me and AUs aren't exactly a love story.

Callouts @ me: Short sentences are allowed. Simple descriptions are also allowed. Not everything has to slap you into the face with pretentiousness. In fact, it's better if it doesn't. Also, maybe, maybe consider finishing a thing before you start the next. Poor Cullen is still face-down after the dragon attack. It's been a year. Will he ever get up again? Who knows.

Best writing traits: I like to think I can build atmosphere. There's a certain rhythm to what I write, because it flows in my head and using this flow is the only way I can get words on a page. Sometimes I manage a rather poetic line or two. I like those.

Spicy tangential opinion: Not the biggest fan of AUs and (extremely) non-canon in general. I bow before the people who are able to write these things, because it takes a certain amount of creativity and daring to depart from what was established, but it's not really my cup of tea.

No pressure tagging: Ripped this off my dash as mentioned before, so definitely no pressure tagging (also sorry for the tag, foibles).

[awed-frog]

Hi! If it's okay, I'd like to ask you a language-related question, since you have plenty experience with them. I'm currently studying second language learning in one of my subjects, and there's plenty discussion about age as a factor, and I'm kinda wondering if at age 22 I'm able to properly learn a language - I'm having much less success with German than with English back in the day. What's your personal experience with age and languages?

Hi! First of all, congrats on learning your third (?) language, that’s amazing! 

I’m not sure I can help you properly because I’m not up to date with the latest research in brain development/aging and language learning, but as for my personal experience, here goes:

The main problem with languages is that they take frequent and consistent study - daily if possible, but minimum once a week - if you want any results at all. This is not one of those things you can ignore for weeks or months and then magically solve with a 12-hour study marathon. That’s one reason why younger people tend to be better at learning languages: because they’re forced to. Most schools will schedule two lessons a week, and set worksheets, tests and exams on a regular basis. Even so, many kids are average at best (for various reasons), so the idea that children have supernatural abilities to learn languages is a bit of a myth. What is true is that, as you age, a) your ability to perceive unfamiliar sounds dims, b) your memory worsens and mostly c) you can’t devote yourself single-handedly to something because you have a job, a family, poor mental or physical health, not enough money for those 4/h a week with a teacher you’d probably need and so on and so forth. 

Point a) there’s nothing you can do about. Babies absorb all sounds, but they quickly get more interested in those of their native language. If you’re learning a language as an adult, it’s likely there will be sounds in it you won’t be able to reproduce - in fact, it’s possible you won’t even hear the difference between two or three distinct sounds. Personally, I had zero trouble with French sounds, for instance, because I started to learn French when I was very young, while it took me some time and a very detailed map of the inside of my mouth to even hear the difference between the two Russian ‘i’s (и and ы).  

(Then again, pronunciation is the least of your worries. ‘Sounding like a native’ is useless and highly overrated.)

Point b) you can work on. We underestimate how important this is, but we do need a lot of stimulation to prevent mental decline and lower the risk of developing cognitive diseases as we age. The good news is that anything goes: reading, crossword puzzles, language learning, playing music, learning poetry by heart - the key thing is forcing your brain to maintain what connections it has and create and forge new ones.

Point c) obviously is complicated, as life is not completely under our control. Many adults are not good at language learning simply because they don’t have the necessary time to pour into it, while teens are often forced to spend time on their language learning - or face bad grades. Still, if it matters to you for any reason, you can do your best to make it a priority.

On the whole, what I found myself is that effective language learning is a combination of four things: 

how well you understand grammar

how good your memory is

how consistent you are with your studying

how motivated you are in wanting to learn that language.

As I had the good luck of having very good teachers when it came to general grammatical structures and I generally remember stuff easily, my main problems have always been point 3 and 4. I find it very hard to stick to a schedule because I’m one of those ‘Well, I didn’t start studying at 8 and now it’s 8:04, better watch TV because the whole day is ruined anyway’ people and my enthusiasm for the languages I learned has been very uneven. With Latin, for instance, I had great results even if I don’t love the culture because I was super-consistent (we were assigned a study buddy and mine was a real pain in the ass, forced me to work on vocabulary with her every. single. day.). English and German I was forced to learn for work-related reasons, so I studied a lot, but I have zero affinity with German, which means my level is nowhere near where it should be considering the amount of time I spent on it. With French I started very young, and yes, that’s one instance of getting a language ‘for free’, but then again, it’s also very close to my own. Ancient Greek - I only studied for exams, the most absurd grammar I’ve ever seen, very poor results even if I studied it for a total of nine years and started reasonably young. Now I’m starting a new language and I’m almost forty, but I don’t see an obvious difference compared to when I was studying a new language at twelve. The only challenge is finding two uninterrupted hours every week to go through a lesson - and the fact that I’m on my own, so no endless role-playing about where the station is and what do you want for lunch. But other than that, no - everything is the same.

Obviously I don’t know what’s going on in your life, but at 22 you’re basically a baby! A legity fat-little-fists, burp-on-your-shoulder BABY!

Man, when I was 22 I knew only one language sort of well and still made tons of mistake (because I’d learned literary French, so negotiating a supermarket was always a struggle). If I’m understanding this right, you’re in uni, which means you’ll have lots of things to do on top of learning German! Going to class, study for your ‘regular’ subjects, managing a social life, chores and housework and possibly a job, fretting about the end of the world...I think it’s perfectly normal you’re finding it harder to learn a language now than when you were 14 or so. You simply have a lot more going on. Also, German is one of those language very few people actually click with and/or are enthusiastic about. Many of us just have to learn it, and we sort of do, and that’s it. Just be patient and consistent and find a way to love it (if you don’t atm), and you will improve.

(And remember: you may feel old now, or like it’s too late to start some things, but a human life is a lot longer than we give it credit for. Keep working on your German, and by the time you’re my age, it’s a language you’ll have practiced for almost twenty years! And same goes with anything else - baking, yoga, watercolours - is it too late to start at 30, at 40, at 50? Well - start meditating at 50, for instance, and you’ll be a grandma who’s meditated for 20 or 30 years! In fact, your grandchildren won’t even remember a time you weren’t a serene old turtle sitting one hour every morning on your favourite pillow, eyes closed, entire galaxies slowly dancing around your brain. So whatever you want to do - just do it, start today, and find a way to stick with it if it brings you joy.)

[trashyswitch]

Patton, the Cute Little Puppy Baby Bat Fly Fly Baby Dog(s)

Patton LOVES turning himself into Talyn! Why? Because Patton wants to be tiny! And Talyn is tiny!

Roman, Virgil and Logan absolutely appreciate this, and decide to take advantage of it!

Tiny Disclaimer: I will be identifying Talyn as they/them, Patton as him/he, and Palyn as they/them. Though I know that Patton (Thomas) identifies as a man, I wanna make Palyn non-binary, to suit Talyn and to not upset anyone who's incredibly protective and technical about the whole thing. I love, support and respect non-binary folks (I have a couple friends who identify as such), and would hate to accidentally misgender someone.

(Though, I often mix up male and female pronouns as it is...It's a blessing/curse of mine...😂)

Ever since the 'Making Some Changes' video, Patton has loved being able to walk around like Thomas's friends! He loved being Joan and making him laugh, he appreciated being Valerie just for the fun of it, he absolutely LOVED becoming Talyn to become more adorable, and he loved becoming other people he's befriended! Heck, Patton has even become the voices of Steven Universe to make a Steven Universe joke!

After a while, Patton narrowed down which of Thomas's friends were his favorite to become. Soon, he had decided that his favorite person to turn himself into was: Talyn!

Why, you're probably asking? Well you see: It's simple, really: they’re tiny, therefore adorable! Patton is adorable, but missing the short-statured part! So, becoming Talyn made that a lot easier!

Every part of Talyn was very tiny compared to Thomas. Tiny stature, tiny body size, tiny head, tiny voice! The only thing that WASN'T tiny, was their life!

Plus...doing Talyn's Danny Devito impression was ALWAYS fun to make fun of...

Virgil didn't know how he felt about Patton becoming Talyn at first...To be honest, it was a little confusing. If Virgil was looking away and heard Talyn's voice, he'd have to turn around to figure out if Talyn was ACTUALLY there, or if it was just Patton messing around. But eventually, Virgil got used to it and began to have fun with it! He'd treat Talyn Patton like a little child (That was Patton's dream come true!), started making short jokes, and even began putting his sweater on the tiny Patton! Eventually, Virgil would go as far as to ruffle up Patton's different-colored hair!

Sometimes when Patton would turn into Talyn, Patton would show off the many different hairstyles Talyn has sported over the years! The firey red long hair, the bisexual flag-colored hair (plus eyebrows), the green long hair, the yellowish faded short hair, the grey and black short hair, you name it! Patton tried them all out on himself!

Roman absolutely loved it! He loved being able to see Talyn Patton! Roman eventually came up with a name that could describe the tiny Patton: Palyn! Roman would give the tiny Palyn piggyback rides, cuddles, hugs, and even dress them up in adorable outfits and do their make up! The Patton-being-Talyn thing didn't change anything about him! So, it only made their friendship stronger!

Meanwhile, Logan had started out...worried about the idea...What if Patton began to wish he was Talyn, and began associating himself as Talyn forever? Everyone would miss Patton's squared glasses and bigger, more lovable body. But soon, Logan learned that this was more of an appreciation thing, and not an identity thing. So, Logan began appreciating Palyn and treating them the same way he would treat Patton.

One of the days, Patton had turned himself into Talyn and began going through Patton's closet. In the closet, were multiple blue-collared shirts, a single grey shirt for tying around the neck, and Patton's cat hoodie! Palyn decided to grab the hoodie, and put it on their tiny self.

It...is gigantic...It's like wearing a hoodie dress! It fell down to their knees, and the sleeves were SUPER long! Palyn giggled at how silly they looked, and put the hood on with their sleeve-covered hands.

The hood practically drowned their head in grey fabric...

But, Palyn didn't care! They felt happy! They felt drowned in love! Now, Palyn wanted to show it off! So, off they went: running into the living room to where the rest of the sides might've been.

"Hey Palyn!" Roman said before running up the person, picking them up to hug them and spinning around in the hug.

"'Palyn'? You're calling Patton Palyn now?" Virgil asked.

Roman slowed his spinning to a halt and placed them down. "It's a mix of Patton and Talyn! P-a-l-y-n! Palyn!" Roman explained.

"...I approve this name. I believe it suits-" Logan lifted up his glasses to look down at his vocabulary cards. "sssmmooooolll-'smol' Patton, nicely." Logan told them.

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Right context, bad grammar. Good try, though." Virgil corrected.

"Strange...What context would you use this in?" Logan asked, having his vocabulary card ready to take notes.

"To start: 'Smol' is not an adjective. It's a 'noun', meaning: 'something that's tiny, cute and squish-able'. The best way you could use it, is through a nickname: Smol bean, which means the same thing, basically." Virgil explained briefly.

Logan nodded as he finished up his note-taking. "Okay. Thank you, Virgil. Now, I will turn my attention to the 'smol bean' that's right beside me." Logan stated. Palyn had started jumping up and down, and clapping its covered hands excitedly as Roman lightly squeezed his cheeks.

"Aren't they the most adorable hooman being you've ever seen?" Roman asked. Logan's eyes widened as he started going through his vocabulary cards again. Realizing that word was missing from his deck, Logan conjured up a new vocabulary card and a pen to write it down.

"hoo-man...how do you spell that?" Logan asked.

"H-o-o-m-a-n." Palyn told him.

Logan followed Palyn's spelling. "Okay, and what does it mean?" Logan asked.

Virgil gave Logan a 'seriously?' face, but still decided to help him out. "It's a version of the word 'human'. Gen Z's decided to turn it into 'hooman', so that they can describe what us humans are, according to dogs and cats.'" Virgil explained. "Here: Patton, can you demonstrate?" Virgil asked, pulling the hood off their head.

To demonstrate, Palyn curled his wrists in front of his chin like a puppy, and began acting like a talking dog. "Hooman? Hooman give me food? Am I good pupper? Pupper good boy? LUV ME HOOMAN!" Palyn demonstrated before hugging Logan from behind the couch.

Patiently, Palyn waited for Logan to say something. Logan didn't know what to say...Well, he did, but...how? Should he just tell him in his normal, monotone voice? Or should he attempt the messy grammar that Palyn used?

"Uuuh...Yes..." Logan started, before patting their head awkwardly. "Palyn is a good boy." Logan replied in an awkward version of his monotone voice.

Suddenly, Palyn gasped and smiled widely as he let go of Logan! "I'm a good boy! I'm a GOOD BOY! ROMAN! ROMAN! I'M A GOOD BOY!" Palyn shouted, spinning circles around the man excitedly. As he sprinted around Roman, Patton's sweater sleeves would fly outwards behind his back. It was a hilarious little feature that came with Palyn.

"You what I think Wittle ol' pawyn might want?" Roman asked, getting Palyn's attention. Palyn quickly stopped his running right in front of Roman, still filled with endless energy. "I think...Palyn needs some spins!" Roman declared, becoming the ultimate babysitter in the group. Roman picked up Palyn from behind, and began spinning them around. Both of Palyn's eyes and mouth widened in excitement as they got spun around like a really quick-spinning carousel! Virgil, in order to avoid getting a pair of legs to the groin, quickly jumped onto the safe couch, which lie out of bounds from the crazy carousel in the room.

"WHEEEEEEEEEE! FASTER ROMAN! FASTER!" Patton shouted happily.

"NO! DON'T go any faster! This is fast enough!" Virgil warned him, quickly becoming the anxious parent in the family.

Roman continued to spin them for a little longer, before slowing down the chilc. He didn't wanna overdo it.

"What do you wanna do next?" Roman asked.

Palyn's face lit up. "Hide and seek with tickles?" Palyn asked.

Roman gasped, and clapped his hands together. "Great idea!" Roman reacted, excitedly.

"Can I join? I wanna be it." Virgil asked.

"Sure!" Roman replied.

"I'd like to be it as well." Logan piped up.

"Of course! The more, the merrier!" Roman replied, before looking back at Patton. "Okay. You can start hiding, while we start counting." Roman reacted with a smirk.

Palyn stared at his lers for a couple seconds before he quickly sprinted away, over-sized hoodie, tiny legs and all.

Roman started the counting up from zero, while Logan and Virgil counted on their fingers along with him."1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10! 11...12-" Roman counted.

By this point, Palyn had successfully found their little hiding spot.

"...13...14...15...16...17...18...19...20! Ready or not, here I come!" Roman called.

Roman began looking around for the little adult. He was fully aware of which way they had ran. But, Roman wanted to make this as teasy and fun as possible! So, he started out by looking throughout the living room for them. After taking a minute or so of looking, all 3 lers moved onto the kitchen.

"I wonder...Where would our adorable Palyn be?" Roman asked, checking under the table as he teased.

Virgil tiptoed towards the sink, and quickly whipped the door open. As anticipated, no one was there. "Not under the sink..." Virgil told the captain out loud.

"He's not in the stove...which is good. We wouldn't want Palyn turning into a roast dinner by the time we're done..." Logan stated, purposefully being a little funny to get Palyn giggling.

Next, the three lers moved onto the bedrooms. For this part, Logan, Roman and Virgil all split up to check their rooms.

Logan went to his own room. Checking under the bed, checking the closet, checking under his desk, even checking in the wash basket! but...Palyn was nowhere to be found.

Roman went to his room as well. He checked in the magical closet, checked his mirror door, even double checked under his huge teddy bear! But...he was nowhere to be seen.

Virgil quickly checked his room too. He checked under his bed covers, checked behind the dressers, and even checked his closet of hoodies-

Wait a second...One of these sweaters is not dark like the others...One of them happens to be a light grey, and...is wearing brown-pants? That's GOTTA be Palyn!

So...Virgil turned himself around, and began to leave the room. "He's not in here." Virgil yelled to his fellow lers.

"He's not in my room either." Roman replied.

"Absent in mine." Logan said.

Before Roman could suggest the next place, Virgil put a finger over his mouth and signaled for them to follow him. Virgil led them into his room, and showed them the...obvious color-change in the closet. For now though, all 3 lers stood at the door frame to discuss their 'problem' out loud.

"Well, I gotta say: He is absolutely no where to be found! And I don't believe Patton would hide himself in his own room...would he?" Roman asked loudly.

Suddenly, a little sound could be heard in the distance...an adorable little giggle, bouncing off the walls back to them.

"Wait...Do you hear that? I think Palyn might be giving us hints to where he is." Logan told them.

"I can hear it too. It's a cute little giggle. It sounds a bit like Talyn's, but with a flare of...Thomas in it..." Virgil described.

"Could it be..." Roman asked, drifting off.

"Palyn?" Everyone said at the same time.

It only took a second for Palyn's giggles to grow louder in volume.

"Maybe we should let the giggles lead us to our hider..." Logan suggested.

"Oooh, good idea!" Roman replied.

So, all three of the lers walked around in the hallway, pretending to listen closely for where the giggles might be coming from.

"Hey Virgil! I think they might be in your room!" Roman declared, winking at him.

Virgil smiled and nodded to Roman, before walking up to the door. "Really? But I already checked here! How in the world could they be hiding in a place I already checked?" Virgil asked out loud.

"Well, perhaps you didn't check hard enough?" Logan suggested.

Virgil rolled his eyes, but winked at Roman to go in. "Move over, my grim, royal poet! I, will check the room." Roman declared, opening the door.

Patton's giggles had started coming on strong again. So, Roman decided to pretend to look absolutely everywhere, except for the one place they were in. The longer he looked around, the louder Palyn's giggling became!

After looking absolutely everywhere, Roman turned around with his fingers together in the shape of a handgun!

"Palyn! Put your hands up where I can see 'em!" Roman yelled, pointing the finger gun at the closet.

Palyn immediately put their hands up upon demand. Palyn began to giggle more now.

"You're under arrest!" Roman ordered. "Officer Logan, Officer Virgil, we've got 'em." Roman ordered. Running up to the 'crime scene', was was his back up officers: Virgil with one finger gun and a shield, and Logan with his finger gun and a walkie-talkie in hand. Palyn, in his giggly state, slowly walked out of the closet and knelt down to their knees. "Palyn, you are under arrest for adorableness in the first degree! How do you plead?" Roman asked, pretending to hold a microphone now.

Patton, through his giggles, attempted to answer. "G-Guihihihilty! Ihihi'm guihihihihiltyhyhy!" Patton replied.

"You've heard it here, folks! They are guilty! Therefore:" Roman acted, before pretending to bang a gavel against a wooden striking block. "I sentence you to 15 minutes of tickles!" Roman ordered. Suddenly, Roman ran up to them with finger claws and a growling sound! Palyn squeaked in excitement and practically flopped onto the ground, happy to take the ticklish 'sentence'. Roman began to shove his hands underneath the grey cat sweater, and began to squeeze, claw, and flutter his fingers all over Palyn's upper body.

Palyn bursted out in high-pitched laughter, and began rolling back and forth to cope with the tickles. Next, Virgil joined Roman on the ground, and began fluttering his fingers on Palyn's ticklish, tiny neck. With the bigger fingers on the tinier neck, Virgil was able to cover more ground all at once.

"EEEEEEEK! VIHIHIHIRGAHAHAHAL! EEEEhehehehehahahahaha! Ihihihihit TIHIHihihickles!" Palyn reacted, flailing the long, grey sleeves absolutely everywhere.

Roman gasped in surprise. "ReAllY?! it TiCkLeS?! I had NO CLUE! Virgil, did you know this?" Roman reacted dramatically.

"No, I didn't! I'm quite surprised! What about you, Logan?" Virgil reacted, being a little dramatic as well.

Logan rolled his eyes, but still decided to go along with it. He made a rather empty gasp, and widened his eyes for a split second. "I'm flabbergasted." Logan replied in a monotone voice as he did jazz hands.

"See!? Even LOGAN is going crazy! I simply cannot believe you're ticklish!" Roman reacted.

Logan, wanting to join in as well, knelt down in front of Palyn's feet and began to tickle their socked feet as well.

"HEHEHEHEHEY! NAHAHAHAT MYHYHY FEEHEHEHEHEHETSIHIHIHIES!" Patton yelled through a quickly increasing laughing fit.

Logan placed his hands on his cheeks like Kevin in Home Alone, and gasped again. "Wow. Your little footsies are ticklish too? What a surprise." Logan reacted in an empty voice.

Somehow, Logan's mostly dead reactions seemed to make Palyn laugh even more! Perhaps dramatic irony is Palyn's favorite type of humor? Who knows?

"Who's a tickwish wittle chiwd? YOU are! WHO'S de most ticku-ticku-tickwish chiwd in de whole mind pawace? YOU are! Yes, YOU are!" Roman teased in a baby voice.

"THEHE TEHEHEHEHEHEASIHIHIHING! IHIHIHIT'S KIHIHIHIHILLIHIHING MEHEHEHEHE!" Patton shouted.

"Oh! What's this? the teasing is killing you? My goodness! We have to save them! But, how?" Roman reacted dramatically.

"Wait, you're telling me you DON'T know CPR?" Logan asked, pretending along with him.

"Well, do YOU?" Roman asked right back.

"Um-........well no..." Logan admitted.

"Move over, idiots. I know how to do CPR. It's rather easy, really. All you have to do is liiiiift up the hoodie..." Virgil explained as he began lifting the hoodie up to expose Palyn's tummy. Palyn immediately began to giggle in their sleeves. They knew EXACTLY what was coming next. "And...give them a raspberry! Like this:" Virgil explained, before blowing a great big raspberry into Patton's stomach.

Patton let out a loud, high-pitched squeal, before dissolving into endless laughter once again!

"Now, remember: longer raspberries tend to do more to help. So, the longer, the better! Like this!" Virgil explained before blowing an even BIGGER raspberry! Patton squealed once again, and dissolved into even MORE laughter! Virgil's CPR raspberries seemed to go on for another couple minutes. And you could tell, that Palyn was enjoying every second of it!

"IHIHIHI'M AHAHAHALIHIHIHIHIVE! IHIHI'M AHAHALIHIVE!" Patton shouted through their loud laughter.

"Virgil, look! They're alive! You saved them!" Roman reacted happily as he hugged Virgil. Virgil smiled at Palyn, and picked them up bridal style.

"Hey Palyn, would you like to watch a movie and cuddle?" Virgil asked.

"Yes please!" Palyn replied.

"Alright, let's go." Virgil said before carrying Palyn out of his room. Roman and Logan followed suit, and helped them choose a movie to watch.

Pretty soon, all 4 sides had covered themselves in blankets, and let the movie Bambi play on their TV. The truth was, Palyn felt very comfortable. Patton loved being tiny. He loved being cuddled, tickled, loved, and being silly! That was one of the reasons Patton liked turning himself into Talyn. They were allowed to be adorable AND be tiny at the same time.

However: tiny or not, adorable or not, Patton still felt forever loved by his family. The proof was all there, and Palyn loved it.

Fun fact: Most of the nicknames Thomas and his sides come up with, have backstories and deeper meanings.

Example; Nerdy Wolverine: Wolverine's first name is Logan.

Grim, Royal Poet: Grim = another word for Emo. Royal poet represented the well-documented Roman Poet by the name of Virgil, who wrote a violent, suspenseful poem called Aeneid. The poem was one day published by Caesar Augustus, the ruler of the Roman Empire. Cool, huh?!

Funny thing is, Thomas came across this name by accident! What a coincidence!! 😃

[japanese-studies]

Hey, love your blog! I wanted ask: do you have any jpn-learning advice for almost-complete beginners? I can read hiragana and am working on katakana (i understand that those r critical!) But I dont have any kanji info + dont know where to start w grammar/pronunciation/etc. Ive seen ppl mention writing a daily journal or changing ur phone language, but im not close to advanced enough 4 that. I have no idea how to structure my studies + would like 2 know where to start/daily things. ty! :)

Self-studying a language like Japanese can feel like navigating through a minefield. Without any structure it’s easy to feel disheartened with so many scripts, multiple readings and grammar constantly coming at your from every angle. 

Firstly, you need to be able to write both the complete Hiragana and Katakana script from memory in under 5 minutes. This was our very first task at university, during freshers week before classes had even started. There’s absolutely no way you can proceed unless you can do this - Set a timer and practice, it will make your life so much easier. Here’s some blank squared paper to print and practice on, but honestly any paper will do. 

Getting comfortable with Kanji is something you shouldn’t put off. For complete beginners, I’m posting the first 100 Kanji we learned at university in the 100 Kanji challenge, with stroke order, readings and vocabulary. 

Apps like Duolingo are only good for killing time while you’re waiting for the bus. They’re better than wasting time on Facebook or twitter, but shouldn’t be used exclusively in your language learning. Money spent on software like Rosetta stone would be better spent on getting a one-way ticket to Japan to live on the streets. You’d learn more Japanese that way.

So you know Hiragana and Katakana like the back of your hand, and you even can comfortably write and read a fair few Kanji - what next? All of this is useless without grammar, now it’s time to get yourself a textbook or - even better - a teacher. 

If you pick up a textbook and see no Japanese script whatsoever, yeet it straight out of the language learning section and towards the nearest tourist and travel shelf. Books that use exclusively Romaji have no place whatsoever in your Japanese study. No exceptions. 

Popular books I’ve seen include the Japanese for Busy People and Japanese from Zero books. I myself used the JFZ books when I was a wide eyed teenager, and actually found them quite helpful, though the way they slowly introduce hiragana can be like pulling teeth, but their grammar lessons flow very nicely.

YouTube is a treasure trove for Japanese language learning if you know where to look. My absolute all time favourite is Japanese Ammo With Misa. Her in-depth grammar lessons have everything you need, and should be watched in addition to chapters in your textbook. Also Japanese From Zero have a wide array of videos if you can’t find what you’re looking for with Misa. 

Lastly, and most importantly, you need a frightening amount of self-discipline. Make Japanese study part of your daily routine, no matter what. Learning a second language isn’t something you can simply dip in and out of, and as a self-learner you likely won’t have small-but-fierce senseis expecting homework three times a week as an incentive to actually get your work done. Just remember that if you don’t use it you lose it, so you have to do a little every day at the very least. But the reward is worth it, I promise. 頑張って！(Ganbatte!)

[dialovers-translations]

So, recently I've been trying to learn japanese I've tried apps like duolingo but I dont think they are helping. Do you know any other apps or things online that could help me. I don't know why I've just always wanted to learn Japanese because it seems so cool and interesting. Also, your translations are amazing you are awesome thank you for everything you do! ❤💚🧡💜

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is an app out there that will really help you learn the language from zero. 

Personally, I’ve only ever used apps as an additional learning source, such as dictionary apps or flashcard apps to drill vocabulary. 

I know these can be expensive, but I would recommend investing in a beginner’s textbook. At my university we used Genki, which explains the grammar very well but it can be tricky to use without a teacher at times.

This Youtube channel (日本語の森) run by all native Japanese speakers is also a great resource. It’s great if you really want to emerge yourself in the language and use as little English as possible. It might seem impossible at first, but if you start with the lowest level (N5) and work your way up, I think it could be a great learning tool!

[meichenxi]

Calling all langblrs for advice!!

I want to get started with learning German again, but am not quite sure how to begin. I had a fairly advanced level as I was planning on studying in German, in Germany, but the last time I spoke it frequently was about five years ago. My passive understanding is still good, but my active production has gone way downhill - not for gossip or grammar or general easy communication, but for having the vocabulary of more than a five year old. The problem is that if I go for just a general conversation hour I’m quite happy to talk about nothing and sort of fudge it for an hour - similarly if I’m talking about literature or anything, I can get my points across, but with much more limited vocabulary than I can understand. 

Jumping back straight in to reading and just learning vocab is of course the easiest thing to do, but my passive vocabulary is quite large and that won’t help my active vocabulary at all. I think I might start doing concentrated writing exercises to try and bring the vocabulary back, since if I speak I just babble. 

Last time I stopped learning because I felt frustrated with the endless new vocabulary, but where it really makes little difference in the long term. I suppose that’s the thing when you get to a higher level - your gains tail off, and it really does become mainly ‘learning words’. 

I also struggled because, unlike Chinese, I just couldn’t find media that I was interested in. With all languages I am more drawn to older, more formal language, and so spent a lot of time reading mythology-adjacent texts - the Ring cycle, translations of the Iliad etc (which work better actually in German translation than English for reasons of metre, case and word order), as well as fantasy like Tolkien in translation. I know there’s a good amount of German fantasy out there, so I should be ok in terms of reading material - I’m really not a Goethe person lmao. 

Re podcasts, again, because my level is better than Chinese I have every choice of things to listen to. For a while I was listening to a DnD podcast and the audiobook of American Gods, which was great. 

What I really need though is to find some sort of fandom in German...where I can interact with others and read posts and metas and discuss things...German side of the internet, what do you recommend?? I enjoy fantasy and speculative fiction mostly, the queerer the better, and love anything mythology related. I enjoy reading German for the sheer pleasure of German, but that can only keep you engaged for so long when each sentence has eleven commas and spans pages and pages...

Other advanced German learners, what do you do? 

One last issue is that I learnt German basically exclusively through books and in an age of zero learning ‘technology’ - no flashcards, no language learning with Netflix, and so on. I just...read things until I understood them. So whilst Anki and everything is a calculated, deliberate part of my Chinese language routine, it feels VERY weird to do that with German. 

Finally: how do you all stay positive, and not lament where you were six years ago? What is everyone’s advice on reactivating a language that you haven’t spoken for a while? I have spent so much love and time on German, and want it to be properly functional - otherwise it’s a waste - and am ready, I think, to jump back in again. 

[rigelmejo]

fyi if anyone besides me IS trying out the Listening Reading Method - I have some tips you can read if you want (or feel free to ignore):

you should see significant progress within 30 hours. If you started as an absolute beginner, did what the guide suggests beforehand (learned some common words like a few hundred, looked at a pronunciation guide, looked at a basic grammar summary), then you should see SOME progress. If after 30 hours you don’t see any - you might be doing it wrong (or its not a method that works for you in which case don’t feel u need to waste ur time on it when other stuff might help you more). (http://users.bestweb.net/~siom/martian_mountain/!%20L-R%20the%20most%20important%20passages.htm)

Someone did L R Method as an absolute beginner in Italian (they already knew french, english). They took tests - were A1 when they started L R Method. They did about 30 hours of L R Method. They took a test again and scored B1. So 30 hours should see SIGNIFICANT progress for a language reasonably close to yours, and SOME clear progress I’d imagine even if it’s a less common language (even some gains from absolute beginner to A1-A2 would be solid and noticeable). (https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1721&p=99415#p99415)

Someone tried to L R Method mandarin as a proof of concept. So they only did several hours, and used The Little Prince (which is much simpler writing/language than the L R Method article recommends using). This is their results: “I tried Mandarin LR as a proof of concept a while ago. I used "The Little Prince", and did a few hours. The first couple of hours were exhausting and I was usually lost; by the end, I was associating quite a few characters with their sounds, occasionally understanding sentences in real time as I read along (knowing what parts corresponded) of up to 7 characters or so, etc. Again, this was a small handful of hours, as an effectively zero-beginner; I know some Kanji, but my active Mandarin vocabulary was probably in the single digits... I think this was after I'd studied tones/Mandarin phonology relatively intensively, but I don't recall for certain.” So - within a handful of hours, someone saw language improvement in Mandarin as a total beginner (http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38593)

I personally have been trying L R Method as a beginner-intermediate ish learner. What I noticed: without a parallel text (so just using english text for step 3) I improved listening comprehension of words I already partly knew (through reading) FIRST. I also picked up some new words, but listening comprehension of words I knew improved most noticeably the first 10ish hours I did L R Method. Using Pleco’s dictation tool for step 3 (so instead of english text, I use chinese text where the english definition auto-pops up as the audio reads each word), or using a parallel text (so chinese and english visible at same time), both VASTLY improved how many new words I pick up per session. For me at least, seeing the chinese text to keep my place in the audio, and seeing easier what audio matches to what english definition, lets me learn new words faster. Since I waste much less effort trying to just keep the text/audio matched up. 

So if the effort of matching up text is draining to you (like it is to me), I recommend: getting an audiobook and chinese text that match as closely as possible. And getting either a parallel text, or using Pleco’s dictation tool in the Reader, or something similar (Pleco’s dictation tool is a lot like using a word by word chinese/english translated text). 

Step 2 seems very useful for: giving you context prior to step 3, practicing reading comprehension and reading speed, listening practice with the chinese(target language) spelling visible, and reinforcing what’s learned in prior step 3′s. 

Step 3 does seem useful the more you repeat it (I’m just lazy).

Test yourself by trying to LISTEN ONLY every once in a while. You should be noticing some improvements in your listening comprehension - the audiobook chapters you should follow more parts, a show without subtitles you might recognize more dialogue, etc. If your listening comprehension itself is not improving to some noticeable degree after 10+ hours of L R Method you may either be doing L R Method wrong, or its just not useful for you.

To see considerable progress in language abilities, it may take 50-100 hours. Or even 100-300. The article linked above, the person who does L R Method (aYa) would usually do at least 30 hours, then 50-100 for a language - eventually also doing step 4 shadowing, step 5 translating back and forth. For less-closely related languages, people mention having done it for a few hundred hours. So do NOT expect total beginner to Fluent in 30 hours. I simply mean, you should expect noticeable progress after some X milestones. After a dozen or so hours you should be able to start recognizing word boundaries with ease, some short phrases. If you’re not a total-beginner, but beginner-intermediate like me, then you should start notice much BETTER listening comprehension of words you already half-knew from reading within a few dozen hours. Then after 30-50, maybe some dialogue understanding, some common words regularly understood, etc. Again - test yourself with Listening-Only every once in a while to see if you’re actually making any progress. Also to see if you wanna ‘alter’ the L R Method to suit your needs better. Maybe you’ll find a way to do it that works better for you.

For ABSOLUTE beginners, especially in languages very different from their own, at the beginning stages simply using sentences with audio may be easier. To perhaps learn a few hundred to thousand common words first - and/or using translations that are word BY word translation right under the target language word. To help with getting used to the grammar, all the new common words, the sounds etc. So materials like Assimil probably do this - Spoonfed Chinese anki deck with its audio/text does this, Nukemarine’s LLJ audio/text deck does this, Japanese Core 2k with its audio/text does this, etc. Clozemaster app might even be a nice beginner transition tool...

For the L R Method steps - really READ them and understand what they mean. Step 3 is NOT watching a target language audio movie with english subs. It is trying to comprehend all of the audio, glancing at the translation JUST to fill in the gaps for parts you can’t manage to comprehend (so for looking up words here and there). While you’re supposed to ‘follow along’ with the translation text, you do NOT tune out the audio. The audio should be your main focus, keeping in line with the translation text is so you can REFERENCE it when you hear a word/phrase/sentence you don’t fully comprehend. And I am guessing step 3 is suggested to be done multiple times so that each time you need the translation less.

 L R Method works best with very vocabulary rich, long texts. If you use a simple text, or a short one (3 hours of audio for example), there’s only so much you’ll be able to learn from it. For example The Little Prince only has a vocabulary of 2000-3000 unique words, 1200ish hanzi in it - so even if you learned it entirely, repeating it over and over, that’s not a lot of info. Particularly if you don’t plan to repeat things, it’s probably going to serve your time better to pick rich vocabulary long texts (so you can pick up tons of words just through one pass through the book, and if you choose to repeat the book, pick up tons more words, before you start running into the rarely used words which will be harder to pick up). 

I am mentioning all this, because I saw someone who did L R method for mandarin for hundreds of hours, and does not have natural listening yet - so cannot follow a new audiobook listening-only, cannot follow a show listening-only. Considering that people have demonstrated they made some progress in 5-10 hours for Mandarin, and 30 hours for Italian, then 300 hours in Mandarin might be able to make more progress. I’ve done maybe 20-30 hours of L R Method so far, and already find I can now listen to at Least the audiobook of the book I’m L R Method-ing now without the text, and follow the main scenes fine. With simpler audio, if I have a visual cue (like acting scenes, or pictures) I find I can follow the main idea much easier than I could before. So I just think... if you are seeing very little noticeable progress after 30-50 hours, the method may not be giving you benefits as quickly as you might want a study method to show improvements. I think if something isn’t giving you some improvement after X effort, you don’t need to stick with it if something else helps you more.

Other factors that may affect this: 

I had some reading basis before I started L R Method. This might have helped me as far as how fast a rate L R Method is helping my progress. For an example: when I simply do step 2 ON ITS OWN I see improvements - because it helps me read through a chapter as fast as the audio, matches audio to the spelling I might already know, and I already can understand enough when reading at that speed to follow the general plot (so step 2 gives me context and increased plot understanding). Therefore, when I do step 3, I can really primarily put my attention on learning to recognize the SOUND of what I already understood - and on learning a few new keywords I already JUST saw and realized I didn’t know. Basically I can use L R Method to quickly pinpoint areas I’m weaker in, while practicing what I can already do. A total beginner won’t have the ‘practice what they already know’ benefit. (Genuinely though step 2 is helping my reading SO much and I know that’s in part due to my current reading comprehension level).

Also I have seen an example of someone who did L R Method while already B2 in Italian - he was aiming for C1. He noticed less drastic improvement after 40 hours - he did still notice some, like easier listening comprehension for shows and conversations. But he did not reach C1 listening/reading skills. So from this we see: L R Method might help you improve faster if you start off with more you still need to learn (which makes sense, since as the words you need to learn get rarer you will run into them less frequently in L R Method). Also, the gap from B2-C1 may be bigger than the gap from A1-B1? Also what I took from his example, is repeating step 3 multiple times becomes MORE important as you’re more intermediate-advanced. I would guess because you probably have less frequently occurring words/grammar to learn, so repeating content WITH those things in it is a way to get more exposure (whereas just going over it once then moving on is Not going to expose you to it much). Also step 3, if you really look away from the transcript for most of it, allows you to really practice listening comprehension. Also shadowing/translating, steps 4 and 5, may be of more benefit to an intermediate-advanced learner. Since shadowing may be doable for them now, and translation may be doable (and hone in on skills more). So... I would guess either the gap you have to bridge as an intermediate-advanced learner is bigger, and/or you just need to do more challenging aspects of L R Method to get similar frequency of benefits you would’ve saw at the beginning stages. 

[actuallyadork]

Getting started learning Japanese.

Here’s some resources I’m using to learn Japanese and what I think they do well and not so well. This is all based on my own experiences and what works best for me.

I will be rating based on the following criteria: Cost, Is it easy to use?, How much does it cover?, Pros, Cons, Overall impression.

Tofugu

I’m replacing a previous recommendation with this one. Far superior. I’ll just get right to it.

Free. Easy to use.

Pros: articles on just about everything. Theres a podcast. And every month they post resources for learning japanese. I highly recommend this website for these posts alone.

Cons: some content you gotta pay for but as far as i know they don’t duck around with people’s trust. They are the creators of wanikani and they gotta make money somehow.

Overall: far more useful that the first website i had on here. Maybe I’ll add more details later, but I just wanted to update this one as quickly as possible.

Japanese from Zero (video series)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOcym2c7xnBwU12Flkm5RcLIEhvURQ8TB

Cost: free

Easy to use: yes. Theres a nice playlist so all you have to do is sit and watch.

How much does it cover: You start out knowing absolutely no japanese and by the end of lessons you will know two writing systems. Basic sentence patterns and grammar. There is even a kanji series.

Pros: nothing is easier than sitting and watching videos to learn. You can play it anywhere at anytime. George has been teaching/speaking Japanese for years so he knows where students get stuck. He gives good explanations and examples on when to use new content and when not to use the new content.

Cons: because its a series, sometimes George refers to previous lessons or his book and you may be missing some context if you start in the middle or skip through some lessons.

Overall: The first lessons were painful to get through because It starts out with romanization and if you already know the writing systems, seeing the romaji on screen is like listening to nails on chalk. Not to mention I have a personal beef with numbers and counting as well as the common phrases like “おはよう”

But it is called Japanese from Zero and it is meant for someone who knows absolutely nothing about japanese so I can forgive the painful beggining lessons. Once I got past the introductory stuff the videos became more enjoyable.

Duolingo (app)

Cost: free

Easy to use: yes

How much does it cover: basic japanese sentence patterns, all three writing systems and a handful of new vocabulary.

Pros: teaches new words and sentence patterns and really drills them into your head. Gives you a few new words at a time so you can take the time to learn them without being distracted from all the other words you need to learn. You can go into the course as a Japanese person trying to learn English and really get the most out of Duolingo because the japanese version starts out with Kanji and even gives polite and casual sentence forms.

Cons: very repetitive. I don’t find fault with this but a coworker of mine found this to be very annoying and I can understand why. Duolingo says the lessons will get harder but instead its the same lesson except now you have to review it 10 times instead of 5. That’s not exactly hard, that’s just tedious. My biggest gripe with duolingo is that it doesn’t explain particles or why the kanji has different readings. In order to figure that out I had to go and do my own research which isn’t a big deal but if you’re only using duolingo by itself it makes it harder to understand why you keep getting things incorrect and subsequently how to fix it.

Overall: I will admit I am biased towards duolingo because I’ve used it for Spanish, French, Italian, and now Japanese. I was there from it’s early days when it was absolute shit and it has come a long way. I recognize the issues with Duolingo right now but I know that they are constantly updating. Painful as it may be to keep hearing 六時六分です it really is teaching you sentence patterns that you can use to make your own sentences. You just have to go out and do a little extra work yourself. It is, by far, the easiest to use and the method I use everyday.

TinyCards (app)

Cost: free

Easy to use: yes

How much does it cover: it covers a lot of vocabulary phrases and even sentences. You can probably get a lot mileage out of this one if used correctly and if you’re willing to put in the work

Pros: dozens of pre-made flashcards to choose from and the ability to make your own. Cards come in sets that you can unlock by finishing the first set similar to duolingo. A lot of other flashcard apps work in a similar way except they make you pay for the rest so I appreciate that this one is free of charge. Plus you can find flashcards specifically from the duolingo courses so you can study the vocabulary in isolation rather than in a sentence. Interactive flashcard system. So you don’t just flip cards and call it a day, occasionally you will have to write out the translation in the target language or pick from several choices.

Cons: the difficulty can be a little inconsistent. Sometimes you just flip a card and say I remember that one and other times you’ll have to translate a full sentence in Japanese. Even if you get the kanji right, you may get the answer incorrect because the card wants the hiragana and vice versa. And because there are so many card sets to choose from, not all of them are useful.

Overall: a sister app to duolingo it seems. Cards come from the community of learners and are not limited to japanese or languages. You can also learn about history, art and pretty much anything else. I appreciate the interactive aspect as most other apps don’t do this and the ones that do are muuuch more inconsistent than this one. I found similar interactive flashcard apps that would sometimes show Vietnamese translations instead of English translations. I’ve only recently been using this one but I pretty much gave up on using other similar apps bc they were very inconsistent. I haven’t used it very much though because I’ve discovered that I’m not a flashcard learner. If you learn best with flashcards then I would recommend it.

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese (website/pdf/app)

Cost: free

Easy to use: relatively. Just read the damn thing. I get it though. Reading is very tedious

What it covers: It really is a beginner to advanced beginner guide covering the same things as all the above. Basic grammar, writing systems and such. One thing that is very unique about Tae Kim’s guide however is that it also includes cultural notes such as explaining casual vs polite speech. Male vs female speech that a lot of the other resources don’t even touch on

Pros: A very good starting point that covers so so much. The website has an option to show/toggle translations. Additional cultural notes plus examples. Almost every“how to learn japanese” guide points to this website

Cons: one of the reasons I was holding out on making this list was because I haven’t finished going through all the resources so I don’t have any cons for this yet. I’m only part-way through and I’ve yet to have any issues with it. Maybe just that once it gets the point across it immediately moves on. You don’t really have time to digest the content so It’s like a very in-depth crash course in japanese. You may need to go out and do extra research in order to really understand the content. If you don’t understand what is being taught, just read over it again and keep it in mind. I’ve found that I’ll come across more examples as I continue my studies and it all starts to fall into place

Overall: It doesn’t sugarcoat Japanese or treat the learner like a baby. If you read the introductory page, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Definitely influenced my approach to learning despite not having gone through all of it. Like other resources, it builds on top of topics already covered but it’s nice having a book-format with conjugation charts and lessons separated by chapters. Videos and podcasts are nice but Tae Kim’s guide also acts as a manual to supplement your learning. Maybe you want to write a sentence in the masu-form and need a quick reminder? Just flip to the page in the guide. No skipping through videos trying to find the part you need because it’s already there.

Manga Sensei (podcast/website)

Cost: mostly free. I believe theres some extra stuff you can purchase. I’ve seen a special podcast that requires payment and comes along with a free pdf. But for the most part, you get a lot of free content.

Easy to use: relatively. Havent been on the website much so for all i know it could be a mess

What it covers: the podcast covers a lot of grammar points and occasional vocabulary and cultural notes. Gives you a good foundation to build on top of. The website has more details on what the podcasts are about but I haven’t spent much time on the website as I have the podcast.

Pros: grammar points in 5 minutes or less. Differences between common words. Good for improving listening skills. If you’re driving or on a bus, you can learn on the go.

Cons: so much to choose from you kinda have to sift through what you need. Most of it is useful and there are a couple of repeat lessons as Manga-Sensei has a beginner’s guide every year. Because its audio only, you may be learning new words and grammar but you may not be able to identify them as quickly on paper. Best to supplement with some type of visual. I believe the website has something to solve this and I’ve heard there is a youtube channel as well? Although I am not sure.

Overall: If you’re going on a long car ride, folding your laundry or even just working-out, this is a great way to stay on top of your studies. Manga-Sensei has talked a lot about his projects such as his manga, alternate podcasts, and pdf. Even though I haven’t taken a look at all of them, it’s clear he’s working hard to bring content for listening, reading, and conversation skills. That being said, the podcast is just as good for learning as any other method. You can still understand the lessons (which are meant to be short and simple anyway)

Japanese Ammo with Misa (Video Series)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSyd8tXJoEJKIXfrwkPdbA

Cost: free although she has a Patreon as well if you want to support her.

Easy to use: yep

How much does it cover: A Lot. From basic videos about grammar to more complex videos breaking down japanese songs as well common phrases and little notes that you may not find in a textbook

Pros: Her lessons have a lot of examples and good breakdowns of the grammar and tense. If a verb is in the past-negative tense, she will break down how to get to that point from the plain form or dictionary form. The best part about her videos is that she has her examples on-screen and color-coded. It may seem like a lot at first, but once you adjust to it, it helps to retain the information.

Cons: Because there’s so much content packed into her lessons, I recommend getting a basic knowledge of Japanese first. She has a video series for basic/introductory Japanese. I would suggest starting with that series or George’s series, or Tae Kim’s guide. Just so you don’t get an information overload.

Overall: There is one video in particular that I recommend to watch and I’ll make another post about it, but I really enjoy her content. Even though some of her videos are very dense with information, the comments suggest that its still easy to follow. I just think that while you can still learn a lot as a newbie, you might retain more if you already understand some grammar.

Japanese (app)

Cost: free holy shit!!

Easy to use: relatively

Pros: search using english, japanese, radicals, or drawing the kanji itself. Flashcard system, where you can build your own decks or use a pre-made one. The flashcards operate on a spaced repetition system. Plus it provides example sentences, compound breakdowns, stroke order, conjugations and JLPT level.

Cons: The drawing search method is sometimes hit or miss but i’m impressed the app has this option at all, let alone that it does not crash the app (like some others I’ve tried). The pre-made decks can have up to 400 words or more which is great if you have that kind of patience but I rarely find myself excited to sift through all of those words only to have about 10 of them be useful to me.

Overall: Okay it’s not like this app is super amazing or revolutionary but it’s a dictionary and flashcard sytem all in one. Say you want to keep a record of the new words you learn to refer back to them later? Make a new deck! Or if you’re reading a book or newspaper and come across a word you don’t know? Add it to the list or make a new deck! I try use new words as often as possible to drill them into my head And although my studying has slowed a bit, this app is perfect to double-check spelling and usage. (At least until jisho.org gets an app). Plus it’s easier to learn and remember words when you’ve come across them on your own.

[idyoma]

The 14 Best Language Learning Apps for Fluency in 2019

Best Language Learning Apps

You’re here because you're looking for language learning apps so you can keep learning anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

For an in-depth look at our seven favorite tools check out our best language learning software article.

If you want to see a little more variety and some extra interesting concepts keep reading!

Here are some quick links to all the tools we recommend. Scroll down for an overview of each one!

Our best language learning apps:

Duolingo

Idyoma

Memrise

Mondly

Babbel

Italki

Quizlet

Our extra best language learning apps:

Busuu

Rosetta Stone

Beelinguapp

Clozemaster

TripLingo

AnkiApp

HiNative

Duolingo: Best language learning app

Duolingo has to be top of our list. The largest language learning app in the world boasts over 200 million users; a huge community with varied interests which Duolingo has been developing new language courses for.

You can anything from Spanish to Klingon with Duolingo.

One of the things which makes Duolingo so good for users is that it is free. Sure, you have to look at adverts every time you complete a mini-lesson, but that is of little inconvenience. If you want to pay and support Duolingo then it’s not expensive to buy the premium product which means you can hide adverts, access a small amount of gated content, and feel happy that you are supporting the learning of others.

Duolingo tests you on your vocabulary, on your grammar, and even uses voice recognition to try to test your pronunciation.

All of the learning through Duolingo is undertaken through small games. These games normally involve selecting the correct words in your language to translate a sentence from the language you are learning, matching words with their translations, and selecting the correct sentence from a selection of similar options.

That is, no long lists of vocabulary and no conjugation tables.

Duolingo works very well to learn the basics of a language and can work as an excellent refresher for someone who is at an intermediate level. I still regularly go back to Duolingo to keep myself sharp.

Highly recommend.

Idyoma: Best language exchange app

Idyoma is based around the idea that because language is a social tool, we should find a social way to learn it. With Idyoma you can find other language learners in your area who you can meet with to practice, share cultures, and have fun.

Structurally Idyoma is probably most similar to Tinder - an app we all know and love. The difference with Idyoma is that your goal would be to meet with anyone who has a corresponding language skill set to you. Of course, this also means that you can get significant value by connecting with a person who is not in your area, for example, via a video call conversation.

In Idyoma, you have two ways of searching for language partners. You can search your local area or you can search globally based on the language you want to learn. So, for example, I could open up Idyoma and find a Spanish speaker who wants to practice English in my area here in Seville, or I could go onto the worldwide screen and look through all the Spanish speakers on the app. Maybe I would connect with a person from Colombia or Peru. I could then chat with them in the app or via video call.

The best part about it is the ability to find people local to you. However, it is still very useful to be able to look globally and find a large number of people.

In terms of features, Idyoma has a clean visual interface where you can see multiple photos from the person you are considering meeting with - it uses a card structure so that you can swipe between different users. When you are having a conversation with another user in the chat screen you can Auto Translate messages and also recommend Corrections to someone else's message.

Idyoma is free but has a small verification fee for people who want to prove they are not a robot and want to help support the application.

You can download Idyoma for iOS here: Idyoma: Language Exchange

And for Android here: Idyoma: Language Exchange

Memrise: Best gamified language learning app

Memrise is a really good gamified language learning application. When you are using the app it does feel like you are playing a game and it is very easy to feel invested in your progress.

When someone describes an app as being gamified, what they may mean is that the app contains a narrative and a series of goals, and an interactive method to achieve those goals within the scope of a broad narrative. This could, for example, be done through earning points and being able to exchange those points for something else in the app which helps you complete a level. This kind of technique is utilized by many apps, particularly learning apps. Memrise uses this technique very effectively to help keep you interested, motivated, and engaged with your language learning efforts.

Memrise has a really large range of different languages within its platform which you can choose to learn. You can access this huge database of languages for free and you can access a load of really cool added features in their premium package; features like an interactive chatbot.

In my opinion, Memrise is best for improving your vocabulary. However, Memrise can be really useful for improving your grammar and learning conversational phrases too.

The app provides a parallel with Duolingo in that you can start learning a language from the point of having zero knowledge or experience and suddenly find yourself at a basic conversational level when you finish the course.

In the premium package you will also find a large library of videos from native speakers of the language you want to learn, along with many more games as well. This gives the premium package from Memrise a real edge because buying it provides you with significant value as a learner - not something all premium accounts deliver.

I can't finish talking about Memrise without mentioning its wonderful design. Through the gamified nature of the platform Memrise has found a way to present the design in an ambitious and adventurous way.

It makes the platform a pleasure to use.

Mondly: Best virtual reality language learning app

Features like grammar tests, interactive workbooks with question-and-answer scenarios, and over 33 languages make Mondly a strong choice for anyone deciding which is the best app for language learning.

However, Mondly deserves special mention for its unique and immersive virtual reality setup.

This allows you to partake in simulated conversations in a variety of virtual environments, which adds a depth to the experience of language learning second only to face-to-face interaction.

For people who find communication with others difficult, or simply prefer to learn in solitude, Mondly offers an enticing alternative to full real-world immersion.

This narrative aspect is a huge component of learning and memorizing a new language.

Mondly is also a great enterprise option, with a specialized product available for businesses interested in improving the language skills of their employees.

Any company looking to provide language training should strongly consider Mondly.

Babbel: Best conversational language learning app

"Babbel" is the imperative mood of "babbeln", which means "to chat" in a certain West German dialect. It's also a pun on the Tower of Babel, the story of which is about why there are so many different (and mutually incomprehensible) languages.

It's also the world's highest-selling language learning app, second only to Duolingo in raw downloads.

Babbel's approach is similar to Duolingo, focusing on short sessions of an interactive workbook that present you with tests, grammar and word problems, and similar exercises.

The difference is in how Babbel's courses are structured.

Designed with conversations in mind, the aim is to help you get better at conversing in your language of choice.

In that sense, Babbel's main focus is conversational language learning, where importance is placed on listening to, and reading the other side of the conversation to properly comprehend the discussion.

Babbel is a paid app, with a large variety of subjects and talking points to choose from. Lessons are split up into short 15 minute segments, so it's easy to pick up during a commute or on a lunch break.

Italki: Best language tuition app

If you're considering language tuition, you may have investigated your local language schools. That's great, if you happen to live in an area which can cater to your interests.

But for many people, especially those interested in less common languages, there simply are no viable options for local language tutoring.

That's where Italki comes in.

Italki's value proposition is 1-to-1 language tutoring from teachers all over the world.

You can search for teachers who are native speakers of the language you're interested in learning, with the option to video chat.

You can even specify that your teacher needs some (or even extensive) knowledge of your native language if you'd like.

The strength of Itaki is in its flexible and varied pricing, with options for all levels of specialization and formality. You can find a tutor who fits your schedule, your budget, and your level of proficiency.

Simply arrange a time to chat and get learning ASAP!

Quizlet: Best vocabulary learning app

Quizlet is a language app with a focus on highly customizable vocabulary learning.

You start by choosing a bunch of words or phrases you'd like to learn, and Quizlet lets you pick and choose what you deem to be the best way for you to learn them.

This approach recognizes that different people learn in different ways. Some people learn better with immersive word association; others prefer a simple paired list of words with their translation.

With this method you can build your ideal language learning course. If you want to build it out to be similar to Duolingo's approach, you can do that. If you prefer a Memrise-like structure, you can do that too.

You can build your course exactly how you want it.

But that's not all - Quizlet could also be called the "best language learning app for community content", because, well, there's a lot of community content! Over 270,000,000 to be exact.

For every new course (or "set", as Quizlet calls them) that you build, you can set it to be either public or private.

Public sets are then available for any Quizlet user to use for themselves.

Although, not all of Quizlet's content is focused on language learning, as it's used by all kind of teachers and students to improve their knowledge of just about any kind of vocabulary you could imagine.

Nonetheless, with its combined customization and community content, Quizlet is without a doubt one of the best language learning apps available.

Busuu: Best versatile language learning app

There are a lot of language learning apps available. Some of them offer highly customizable lesson plans, some of them offer ready-made courses for you to get started right away.

This can be confusing. How do you know which will work best for you? Maybe you want a bit of both, or are curious about testing some different approaches.

If this sounds familiar, then look no further. Busuu, (stylized as busuu) is a versatile language app for learners of all proficiencies.

What do I mean by "versatile"?

I mean that busuu offers a safe "middle way" between the highly customizable offering of Quizlet and the highly structured solutions of Duolingo. It has a bit of both!

You'll start by taking a placement test to make sure your lessons match up to your skill level, and from there you can navigate to the language of your choice from the busuu dashboard.

Each language has about 150 units, and all of busuu's modules are extremely well-organized. You will build on what you already know and utilize customizable tests and print-outs to learn at your own pace.

You also have the option to have your exercises corrected by a native speaker, for an additional measure of quality.

Rosetta Stone: Best language learning app for speech recognition

When it comes to language learning apps, if you haven't heard of Rosetta Stone then there's a pun in there somewhere.

Since 1996, Rosetta Stone has offered "dynamic immersion" language learning in the form of its signature software, pairing sound and text to images to facilitate learning.

The app follows in this lineage, focusing on practical scenarios and speech-recognition to improve your accent, in 24 different languages.

You can also download a bunch of the learning material for offline learning, which is a huge bonus for those wanting to save on data, or for offline sessions.

Rosetta Stone's experience in the language learning software industry, and the sheer amount of time they've been offering and refining their audio-based language learning solutions for clarity of pronunciation has earned it a place on this list.

Beelinguapp: Best language storytelling app

Whether you're watching Spanish telenovelas, reading Japanese manga, or using Beelinguapp, some people find that storytelling empowers their learning ability.

Specifically, Beelingu is focused on improving reading skills by offering mirrored text in two separate languages simultaneously.

You can choose from a range of stories at different levels of proficiency, in Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Turkish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, and English, with everything from news, science papers, fairy tales, and novels.

The app also offers an interesting "karaoke reading" feature, which is an audiobook that lets you listen as you read the mirrored text.

A great way to immerse yourself that isn't conversing!

Clozemaster: Best retro language learning app

Clozemaster requires some unpacking.

Simply put, it's a retro-themed app (for tablets, smartphones, and web browsers) that teaches vocabulary through gamification and a concept known as "cloze".

What is "cloze", you ask?

It comes from the term "cloze test", which is a way of testing comprehension by removing words from sentences. You can also think of it as a game of fill-in-the-gaps.

If you were trying to learn English, it'd look like this:

My _____ told me he thinks one of the best language learning apps is Idyoma.

You'd have a choice of options like "dog", "brother", "sister", "chair", "football".

Using your knowledge of the language, you'd infer the correct answer based on the options available. You're essentially learning the language through context.

Clozemaster is based on this method.

It utilizes Tatoeba, an enormous database of sentences designed for language learners, by taking sentences and blanking out the least common word.

Another perk of Clozemaster is that it's completely free. You don't even need an account (unless you want to save your progress; in which case you can make a free account).

TripLingo: Best language learning app for travelers

TripLingo is one of the only language learning apps designed specifically for travelers.

As you might expect, TripLingo focuses on useful phrases, and to that end it's a great crash-course resource for those looking to brush up before (or during) a trip.

Offering thousands of phrases, slang, audio lessons, flashcards, a translator, and quizzes for learning in 13 languages, TripLingo stands up as a language learning app outright.

But it really shines in its array of traveler-focused features like safety tools (how do you dial 911 in France? How do you tell someone you have a food allergy?), tip calculator, culture notes, and a whole suite of travel tools to aid the language-bereft wayward wanderer.

There's even a built-in wi-fi dialer for saving money on costly roaming calls!

AnkiApp: Best language learning app for customizable phrases and flashcards

Flashcards are a great way to learn languages. What AnkiApp offers is customizable flashcards, for learners who have specific word sets or vocabularies they want to learn.

Sure, some of the other apps on this list offer customizable flashcards. But AnkiApp offers a simple, streamlined solution, for those who simply want flashcards without any of the other features.

You can also search through a ton of community content in a wide range of languages, if you'd rather not spend time building flashcards yourself.

Definitely one to try if you are a fan of flashcards.

Moreover, it has a particularly strong cult following among those who are learning Asian languages. Some of the communities are practically Anki fan clubs. So if you’re learning Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or another Asian language, you should definitely check it out to see what all the fuss is about!

HiNative: Best Q&A language learning app

Last but not least, we have HiNative.

HiNative is a Q&A app that lets you ask any question you can think of to native speakers of the language you're trying to learn, with audio, image, and/or text support.

Because the format is quite conversational (you can ask about whatever you're interested in) it makes for a natural, fun way to build and practice vocabulary.

It's also informal and unstructured, so you have the chance to ask about things you may not find in some of the other offerings of this list, such as curse words (though that is far from the only way to use HiNative).

With over 100 languages, HiNative can be a great supplement to some of the other apps in this list, and deserves a mention if only for its unique offering.

What are your best language learning apps?

I've reviewed the best workflow apps, task management apps, BPM software, todo list apps, and productivity software, and people always have new apps they want to recommend in the comments.

So, go ahead and let me know! What are your favorite language learning apps? Do you know any hidden gems?

For more from Idyoma, check out these articles:

The 7 Best Language Learning Software of 2018: The Awards!

The Best 12 Spanish Movies to Immerse Yourself in the Language

Best Way to Learn Spanish: A 6 Month Process That Works for You

This article was written by Idyoma’s Adam Henshall and Oliver Peterson, who writes about processes and systems for business process management and workflow automation platform Process Street. Oliver is learning Spanish.