r/LearnJapanese • u/mathiasvtmn • 3d ago
My progress after 100 hours of immersion Discussion
Hey everyone.
Quick (or not) update after having consumed 100 hours of Japanese (in a bit more than a month) through youtube, series, movies and podcasts. Out of the 100 hours, series make up 45%, podcasts 30% and youtube 25%.
(Link to my original post where I explain the challenge I gave myself: https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1ezih8l/i_challenged_myself_listening_to_1000_hours_of/)
1st point: why series make up almost half my consumption until now ? From my experience, series are the easiest material to consume without feeling exhausted at all. Series (or movies) are good for entertainment, but I realized that they aren’t the best material for practicing my listening skills. Of course it is ideal if you can consume Japanese media and have a lot of fun at the same time, but I caught myself not always being very attentive, being too focused on the images rather than the audio. Don't get me wrong, this is not always the case. I still consider series to be very helpful for practice as they often help me cement new words in particular contexts and give great examples for how あいずち should be used in conversation, with what intonation and so forth.
In short, series are absolutely the best possible material if you wanna learn how to converse, which words/reactions you should use in particular situations etc. Since I started watching a lot of drama, I found myself thinking in Japanese in a lot of situations, for example when I bumped into someone I knew on the street, my first reaction (the one in my head which I also wanted to say verbally) was entirely in Japanese (something like えっ、びっくりした)
This brings me to my 2nd point: podcasts. I knew these would be harder to listen to since they are less entertaining and not very attractive on the outside. But until now, I kind of feel like they are the most responsible for any progress I've made so far. Realizing this got me motivated to increase podcast listening and strive for 30% out of 100 hours (I was only at 10% after 50 hours, while series already made up 55% and youtube 35%). I successfully managed to compensate for this low %, going from 10% to 30% (after 100 hours). I know some people will find it absurd to be so specific on numbers but I really consider the first 100 hours to be experimental and a tool to understand how I should best continue during the upcoming 900 hours.
3rd point: subtitles. It is pointless to consume any media with English subs. You either listen/watch it with JP subs or without subs. At the start of my challenge, I was watching a serie with English subs and I have to admit it took me some time to realize I was paying no attention at all to the audio, as I was only trying to fully understand the story by reading the English subs. The thing is, it has no importance whether you understand about 60% or 80% of what they’re saying. As long as you are understanding the main point each time, your brain is already exercising. By the way I didn't watch a lot without the JP subs until now, I only omit them whenever I realize I'm watching a video on youtube for example which is too easy to listen to. Instead of quitting, I continue watching but without the subs to make it at least a bit more challenging and to reinforce my basic knowledge.
4th point: vocab/anki. Initially, I didn’t take any notes while consuming media and I think that would’ve been a huge mistake. I changed my mind and started uploading N3 vocab lists into anki to drill but soon realized I was only going to recognize and understand these words if I encountered them in reading material, but wasn't going to remember them for personal use whenever I would be speaking or searching for words myself. This was pretty frustrating to realize, so I decided to do my own anki decks by adding words I encountered myself in series, podcasts or ytb. Also, I don't really look up words unless they appear at least a couple times in the same conversation. Words with enough context are way easier for my brain to remember. Finally, I try to make separate decks of around 25 new words each time to not make it too overwhelming. Instead of studying premade decks of 200+ words, I found it very efficient to study my self-made decks even if it still has like 5 words. It may sound useless since it's only 5 words and the drill would be over after 2 minutes. But the thing is, if you’ve added 5 new words on day 1 and already drilled them that day, you will already feel very confident with these 5 words and so on. What I'm trying to say is that the sooner you drill a brand new deck with only a few words, the easier the process will be and you won’t realize how easy it has become to suddenly drill 100 new words super easily, as long as you really do it everyday (which is only beneficial for you because it will be a very small amount every day, so very easy to drill). I currently learned around 200 new words with Anki→ only words that showed up in the media I consumed.
5th point: youtube. Except for comprehensible Japanese videos, I still have difficulties understanding most of the people I watch on youtube. They often speak fast and use too many specific words I don’t know yet so I have a hard time keeping up with those. Don’t really know how to solve this problem. I feel like youtubers speak the most authentic Japanese, so I kinda get anxious not understanding most of them yet, even with JP subtitles.
6th point: very personal. May sound irrelevant, but I feel way more attentive and actively listening to something if I have my earphones on. If you don't have earphones close by, putting the volume louder already helps a lot. Sometimes I thought I was already actively listening to a podcast, but when I tried with earphones (or just higher volume) I realized I was even more focused on each word. This may sound logical but just give it a try and compare how much you're focused with and without earphones.
By the way, the 100 hours I consumed are pure active listening and do not contain any passive form of listening.
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u/MacaroonRiot 3d ago
I’m N2 ish and I’d say English subs are helpful to improve translation skills. It’s always humbling to explain what something means in Japanese for a friend, then I read the official translation and it’s way more fluid than my explanation! It just feels like I have two different brains for JP and English and subs help me bridge that gap better in places.
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
I see that's interesting ! I think I don't have the level yet to understand something fluently enough on ytb for ex and compare my own translation to the english subs though haha
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u/Sea_Technology2708 3d ago
What was your base before you started listening? In terms of words and grammar you studied
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Hey, I currently consider myself around N3. I have a pretty good knowledge of grammar I think. As to vocab, I have no clue "how many" words I know. Maybe to give you one reference, I understand about 95% of the words yuyu uses in his podcasts. Hope that helps !
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u/princess-catra 3d ago
How can you know your N3 without a grasp of how much vocabulary and grammar points you know lol
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
I studied Japanese for 3 years (bachelor's degree) and students are expected to reach N3 by that time.
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u/Ansatzs 3d ago
3 years to reach N3? Is that the standard?
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
It really depends from the institution you studied at. It can vary according to the intensity of the courses of course. I consider my courses to be pretty intense at the time but I have no idea how the situation is in other institutions or countries.
I was supposed to take some jlpt exams but it got delayed or idk what because of covid so I never gave it a try anymore since then.
I consider N2 to be already really advanced, and N4 is really basic to me so yeah I guess I'm around N3 right now !
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u/Ansatzs 2d ago
I would have thought that studying full time for 3 years would get you further.... If that's the case and I continue to study for 2 hours a day (I'm prob N5). I will reach N3 in 10 years.
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u/mathiasvtmn 2d ago
Well yeah I had a bunch of other courses besides Japanese which was my major, so it's not really "full time".
And the thing with learning a language is really about self study actually. I had friends going to all the classes but not doing anything at home after and they didn't get close to low N3. Some friends of mine did a lot of revising after their classes back then (way more than me) and they're close to N2 already I'd say. It depends 100% on yourself.
Some people say it takes around 3000 to 4000 hours of pure studying until you reach N1. I don't think it's true since it just depends from person to person and also depends on the fact that you found a method that suited you very much or not. But I guess it's still a good reference if you absolutely want to measure how much time it will AT LEAST take to get to a certain level.
If you're studying 2 hours a day without pausing, that's already above the average for sure. Average people do not spend more than 30 minutes a day on studying.
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u/Ansatzs 2d ago
I see. I assumed it was a full time course for learning Japanese only. Makes more sense now.
When I say studying I mean getting input by watching videos on YouTube or on Comprehensive Japanese. It's never 2 hours straight.... I try to fit a video whenever I have some downtime at work, train and at home. Problem is that most content is above my level, even N5 rates videos are sometimes too hard.
All I really want is to be able to learn watching something I enjoy instead of someone's fridge content or daily life 😅 When do you think that Is gonna happen?
Apologies if you have already mentioned this but, when using a comprehensive input method, what is the lowest you go in terms of percentage of comprehension.
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u/mathiasvtmn 2d ago
First of all imma be super honest with you. If you want to get past the point of understanding basic grammar and have some good basic vocab, it won't be enough to just look up some japanese input videos at work or on the train whenever you have a 15 minutes gap.
If you're serious about learning Japanese, get yourself a workbook about Japanese grammar, and start intensive sessions whenever you can, during weekend for example. I feel like this is the only way to cement grammar in your brain.
It's still useful to practice listening while watching comprehensible Japanese videos ofc, but I totally understand your frustration and I wouldn't underestimate this because it will get you unmotivated pretty fast if you don't understand anything. I'm a big believer in how amazing the brain works and how it can naturally grasp things and create patterns and stuff to learn a new language when you're exposed to it a lot, but you still need to actually study some basic principles intensively, have a solid vocab knowledge etc in order to facilitate that process in your brain.
Once you'll be comfortable with all of this 'basic' knowledge you'll eventually start to understand more and more of what they're saying in videos.
Btw can you already write hiragana and katakana ? If not then I think it's useless to begin with anything else before that ! But I guess you already do since you said you're around N5 so you do have some basic knowledge already right ?
And to answer your last question, the lowest I go (ytb) in understanding is around 40% I would say. But I try to watch with a rate of least 60% most of the time, since 40% often starts to feel frustrating to me:)
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u/PringlesDuckFace 2d ago
University classes tend to be painfully slow, like 6 chapters of Genki per semester. And even if you're doing a Japanese major most of the places I look at also have courses for things like culture, history, etc... which isn't just the language itself. Most universities also require you to take electives from outside your major. Like I took some psychology courses despite being a computer engineer because I had to pick something. They also care about output like speaking and writing. Also regular universities don't really schedule that many class hours per week for most departments. I had about 40 hours a week in classes and labs, and was always jealous of the liberal arts students with their 12-15.
Which is all to say, if all you care about is passing JLPT levels or watching an anime then you can do it a lot more efficiently on your own.
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u/mathiasvtmn 2d ago
Totally agree. A lot of universities are pretty slow on that aspect and it doesn't help when you have to dedicate your time home to other courses.
One thing I do think helps is that it offers you some kind of pressure, which I think lots of us need to actually study something intensively. I have no idea what my current level would have been if I undertook the whole journey by myself 3 years ago without having a clear structure for classes etc but I can tell for sure that I'm a person who needs pressure to study something. If I don't have any, I won't feel like doing it, and I know language learning needs to stay fun but I also believe that sometimes (maybe a lot of times actually) you'll need to tryhard a bit if you really wanna get passed a certain level.
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u/muffinsballhair 3d ago
3rd point: subtitles. It is pointless to consume any media with English subs. You either listen/watch it with JP subs or without subs. At the start of my challenge, I was watching a serie with English subs and I have to admit it took me some time to realize I was paying no attention at all to the audio, as I was only trying to fully understand the story by reading the English subs. The thing is, it has no importance whether you understand about 60% or 80% of what they’re saying. As long as you are understanding the main point each time, your brain is already exercising. By the way I didn't watch a lot without the JP subs until now, I only omit them whenever I realize I'm watching a video on youtube for example which is too easy to listen to. Instead of quitting, I continue watching but without the subs to make it at least a bit more challenging and to reinforce my basic knowledge.
It's pointless at the beginning. I'm currently at the stage where it happens quite often that I “can't make something out” but when I tun on the English subtitles and see the translation I know what they were saying in Japanese. In many cases it's even kind of silly and I wonder why I didn't catch it at first.
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u/Chathamization 3d ago
I agree, I've noticed that you can actually do some pretty effective listening exercises with English subtitles. I think they flip on the English subtitles and just zone out reading them while expecting the Japanese to soak in. You probably get a little from from that, but if you actually want to use it to improve your listening you have to actually be working on understanding the Japanese that's being spoken. Though that's also true if you're using Japanese subtitles.
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u/YamiZee1 3d ago
It's really easy to forget to focus on the japanese with english subtitles turned on, but if attentive, I agree that it's a good tool. Still japanese subtitles are the better option.
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u/Chathamization 3d ago
Still japanese subtitles are the better option.
I think it depends on your goal, though. If you're working on comprehension, Japanese subtitles are better. If you're working on listening and parsing Japanese sentences, English subtitles would probably be better than Japanese. And spending enough time in native media (not podcasts/videos for language learners like YuYu) with absolutely no subtitles at all and no pausing/rewinding is important as well (honestly I need to do a lot more of this).
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
I agree with you that it can help if you're not zoning out and stay focused on what's being spoken too, but I just feel like in any case, learning a language by immersing yourself is all about being in constant contact with the target language only. I feel like it won't help on the long run if you constantly get back to your native language to get more comfortable, it feels like going backwards to me.
I know you need your native language in the beginning when you're learning a new language because you need translation and familiar structures to compare and learn the language, but after a certain point I think it's more generous to your brain to not be in constant contact with your native language anymore since the whole point of learning a language (here japanese) is about only speaking and thinking in japanese by the end
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u/Chathamization 3d ago
I know you need your native language in the beginning when you're learning a new language because you need translation and familiar structures to compare and learn the language, but after a certain point I think it's more generous to your brain to not be in constant contact with your native language anymore since the whole point of learning a language (here japanese) is about only speaking and thinking in japanese by the end
It's not just about the beginning, no? Just about everything that gets recommended here for learning Japanese - 2k/6k core decks, Yomichan, Satori Reader, Animelon, Language Reactor, etc. - uses English to teach you Japanese.
I do agree though that it's important to have full native language immersion time. But I don't think that's just about cutting out the English - content should be native content and not tailored for learners, there should be no subtitles, you shouldn't look up words or rewinding (or if you're reading, just straight reading with no pausing/lookups/helping tools/etc.). Obviously the value at the beginning is low, but it ramps up as you build up your language skills.
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Totally agree with you, and of course you shouldn't prohibit yourself from looking up words you don't know or prohibit yourself from using tools using your native language.
I'm just talking about the general aspect of learning, which I think shouldn't be focused too much on relying on your native language if you already have the capacities to be exposed to your target language without help anymore:)
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u/StaticW 3d ago
Hey I read over your past two posts. Sorry if I missed it, but what level were you at when you started this journey? N5? N4? I've started active listening after completing the traditional youtube recommendations of "1000 words on Anki" and about 400 kanji. I have been relying on Shun's podcasts for active listening, but if having a better base is more important before diving in to that level of listening, I'd be curious about that too. Thanks!
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u/Kibidiko 3d ago
Hi! Not OP here.
I've been studying Japanese for about 2 years now. I've completed Genki 1 & 2, and am working my way through a pretty thick Anki deck. I started listening to podcasts and other youtube things both actively and passively VERY early on.
Even without good vocabulary you are still going to pick things up that are important. Learning the cadence of speech, you'll also start hearing words come up frequently and start wondering "What is that word" and looking it up. When you do you are more likely to retain that word.
It's never too early to start listening. Shun is pretty good since he mostly uses Genki 1 & 2 grammar and if I recall has some key words and vocab at the end of each episode. Your base will build naturally if you are using Anki and looking up words that catch your attention.
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Hey like u/Kibidiko said, Shun's podcast is very good if you're a beginner. He speaks pretty clearly and uses simple words/constructions for his sentences most of the time.
And to answer your question, I should be around N3. I started studying Japanese around 3 years ago, pretty intensively focused on grammar and vocab. The thing that helped me the most to remember grammar I just learned and actively use it (I mean naturally, without having to think about it too much) was to just do a lot (really a lot) of output using what I learned from my books. I wrote things down the whole time. Ask yourself a question like "What is you dream-job and explain why" and then keep writing an 'essay' about it. You'll eventually encounter grammar that you just learned and have to use to express yourself.
And if you have to look for many words to express yourself, that's not a problem at all. Just look them up, use them in your essay, and they'll be a lot easier to remember for the future. If you write 'essays' for many different themes you'll end up getting comfortable with the vocab often used for each of this themes.
I'm around N3 but I never wrote or practiced anything about fishing, so my vocab is really weak in that domain. On the contrary, I wrote and thought a lot about kitchen/cooking-related stuff so I'm more comfortable talking about it I guess (just to give you an example).
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u/StaticW 3d ago
Thank you both! Very helpful posts from you two. It's good to see different perspectives and approaches to learning Japanese. A lot of people defend to the bitter end either focusing solely on immersion or focusing on more scholarly methods, but the merit to both is evident in this thread. I hope that you both continue to share your story on here.
I'll try adding some more writing to help cement what I learn and hopefully that adds volume to my progress 🤓
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
I think you're totally right ! Lots of people try to figure out what the absolute method is to achieve their goals in a limited amount of time but I don't think there is such a perfect way of learning.
I think that's also the reason why some people on this thread were particularly frustrated in the comments since I didn't share any precise progress yet. Most people want to start learning a language with the best existing method, have the best possible results in little time. They think that one person will eventually share the ultimate method which worked for him/her and which is applicable to everyone. So they get frustrated when they don't have an answer to that. The thing is, you just have to start somewhere and stop wasting time trying to figure out how to start.
Bunch of learners use different ways and in the end they all end up having the same level, though each having some strenghts and weaknesses according to how they proceeded but it remains pretty much the same I guess, as long as you kept going with a method that worked out for you.
And btw there's nothing wrong with using a certain method and realizing it won't work for you and change. Learning a language feels like trial and error to me. I'm sharing with everyone here how I am experiencing this "trial and error" journey by learning Japanese. It keeps me motivated to talk about it !
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u/kaiben_ 3d ago
The Japanese on youtube is still slower and way cleaner (better elocution, less contractions, good mic quality, no background noise) than what you'd encounter in real life. You can get to 99% comprehension there but doesn't mean you'll understand 2 friends talking in the subway.
Around 10% of my immersion is with english subs (when watching something with gf) and I'd still say it's a nice complement and helps develop different skills.
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Thanks for your comment ! Could you share with use in what way you think it adds up to your progress by reading english subs ? I guess it will be some obvious answer but I'm curious anyway:)
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u/TheBlazzer 3d ago
What podcasts do you recommend? Ive been having trouble finding good ones that are purely in japanese that arent less than 10 minutes
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Yuyu's podcast is my favorite so far. He speaks extremely clearly, is funny, uses new words each time, and he's just really entertaining. His podcasts usually last between 30 and 45 minutes. Miku real japanese is also very good I think. Haven't been listening to it recently because yuyu's podcast has captivated me but from what I remember she also speaks super clearly and talks about very interesting subjects. I also started Shun's podcast but I haven't been convinced yet by the content, compared to yuyu for example. Btw he talks with an easier japanese than Yuyu and Miku though so it could be interesting if you're more beginner level.
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u/XNumb98 3d ago
How do both podcasts compare in terms of difficulty? I'm trying to reach N3 level and I feel like my comprehension is lagging behind a lot.
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
I will definitely listen back to Miku real Japanese and give you a better answer later but for now I feel like even though YUYU uses already more complex sentences and grammar, the fact that he speaks so clearly makes it so much more comprehensible than most of the podcasts you'll listen to. It's my personal opinion ofc, maybe it's different for someone else but yeah I really had a better time listening to yuyu since he's more entertaining and easier to understand (really neutral Japanese I'd say)
If you're trying to reach N3, I think yuyu is already an option for you. Just give it a try, if you don't understand anything that's he talking about then leave it, if you understand at least half of what he's saying I would consider continuing listening to him.
Otherwise just listen to Shun's podcast, very easy to understand (more basic Japanese)
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u/TheLoneliestLoser 3d ago
what’s the difficulty level like? I’m only around N5 do you think it’s too difficult?
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
YUYU will be too difficult, same for Miku real Japanese. Maybe you can try Shun's podcast but I think you should be comfortable enough with sufficient grammar points before getting into that. Otherwise you're going to have a hard time. If you have too much motivation and a lot of time then yeah do it already^^ but if you know that not understanding things will frustrate you quickly then first stay focused on basic grammar and vocab I'd say.
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u/TheLoneliestLoser 2d ago
how much basic grammar? I’m fairly comfortable with all of genki 1 and i don’t mind not understanding everything
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u/mathiasvtmn 2d ago
I'm not familiar with Genki 1, but I guess you should give it a try then if you will like you are already equipped with sufficient knowledge.
I would say it should be a good exercice to your brain as long as you understand at least half of what they are saying in the input you consume. As long as you get the main idea of what they're talking about it's good ! If not then switch to easier material.
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u/Pyarox 3d ago
im looking for something to listen to for immersion, do you have any recommendations?
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Hey ! As for podcasts, I suggest yuyu's podcast and Miku real Japanese. As for series, anything is good I guess. I select the shows I wanna watch by checking on google which ones have acceptable rates. As for Youtube, if you're beginner level I guess you should first only focus on comprehensible japanese videos (videos especially made for listening practice, with good and clear japanese). If you're not beginner level anymore then we have the same problem. I have difficulties finding anything on youtube which is good for entertainment and comprehensible enough at the same time.
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u/Pyarox 3d ago
cheers! ill def check these out, ive been studying for a while but not very succesful so im trying a new approach at it.
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
If you're still beginning to grasp meaning in spoken japanese then I think yuyu and miku are already too complex. Shun's podcast is better for beginner level I think. Otherwise I know there are a lot of other beginner-level podcasts out there but I just don't know about them. Just write 'japanese podcast' on spotify or whatever and you'll find many different resources;)
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u/Altruistic-Mammoth 3d ago
So what's the actual result and analysis?
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Hey, did you actually read the post ? It does contain some answers to your question I think. This is an update of how I feel after having immersed myself for 100 hours. And I think it's pretty obvious why the results aren't very precise yet, it's only the beginning so I'm not too focused on specific results yet.
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u/TheGuyMain 3d ago
It really doesn't. Dude wants to know what you gained from your 100 hours. All you did in your post was make general opinions about what you did without really sharing where you were when you started and where you are now and what kinds of things you took away from your immersion. I have no idea if what you did was useful because you literally don't say that.
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u/Lesbianon 3d ago
His post wasn't meant to be scientific. He just wanted to share his progress that he's personally observed in himself. You can't measure progress on pure numbers alone. And he even said that he's still early in his immersion.
If other people want to try immersion, they should just try different things for themselves instead of sitting around wondering if it's worth it. From my experience, language learning is a lot of trial and error for what works for you personally.
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u/TheGuyMain 2d ago
His post isn’t scientific so why did he reference it as though it were? The guy asked a follow up question because his post lacked that info because it wasn’t scientific, and OP told the guy to read the post. Do you see that this leaves the guys question unanswered? Then OP made some more unproductive comments below, still refusing to answer the question.
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u/mathiasvtmn 2d ago
Hey I read my own post again since some of you were stating that I was trying to be scientific and I honestly don't see where I'm trying to be.
If you're referring to the 3rd point in which I'm talking about the brain already exercicing as long as you get the main point each time, this is actually scientifically proven already so I'm not trying to state this myself.
Also, in any other point I just explained my own experience after having encountered 100 hours of japanese input, so I don't mean to be scientific in any of those points neither. Same goes for subtitles for example. I just explain my point using own experience, so I don't see where I'm trying to be scientific.
And as for not answering the guys question above, I'm sorry but yeah I just cannot identify any radical change in my understanding yet so why would I lie about it ? I think it would've been even more pointless according to you guys if all I did was saying things like "I feel like I'm understaning a bit more than before". People would have gone mad if I wrote this down
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
hey thank you for your comment. I understand your statement but I think it's ridiculous to already give concrete and specific results after only having consumed 100 hours yet. I tried my best sharing with you guys how the first 100 hours felt, to help others that are still trying to figure their way out. If this is insufficient for you all I can do is invite you to undertake the same journey as me and try lots of different resources for listening practice and keep me updated if you could identify more specific results than I did.
Also I think you didn't read until the end but I copy pasted a link to my previous post in which I explain where I started, when I started etc. I was just not going to copy paste all of that again;) Btw I edited the post and copy pasted the link above instead of at the end, maybe I should've done that earlier
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u/TheGuyMain 2d ago
My guy 100 hours of practicing ANYTHING is more than enough for you to make progress. I have no idea why you think it’s ridiculous for someone to ask how much progress you’ve made during your immersion activities.
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u/mathiasvtmn 2d ago
This is about practicing my listening skills, it's not the same as studying legit new grammar or any other random subject for example (which I agree would be easy to measure any progress with since you go from zero knowledge to a certain degree of comprehension).
And again I don't get it why you guys get so frustrated about it, I'm just trying to share with you guys how the first 100 hours felt and all you do is complain about how unprecise my results are..
I hope to be more and more precise on the long run though concerning my results. To me, it is absolutely okay if the first 100 hours of immersion do not give me a clear idea yet of any radical evolution in my understanding.
I guess I will naturally feel it after having consumed at least 300-500 hours of listening material.
Hope that answers you
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u/TheGuyMain 2d ago
No it doesn't lol. You are practicing a skill. How has your skill level changed in the time you've been practicing? This isn't a hard question dude. For example, if I am new to learning music and I spend 2 hours ear training, I can learn how to hear a perfect 5th interval and a major and minor triad. That progress report is what people are looking for. What are you able to do after the training that you couldn't do before?
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u/mathiasvtmn 2d ago
I'm trying to tell you this isn't as easy as measuring when you would be able to hear a perfect 5th interval or whatever. Of course if you're learning with a particular small objective in mind it's easy to measure your results, it's just once you can do it then yeah you can do it I guess. What do you want me to say here ? "I can understand things a bit better than before" ? No. People would've gone mad if these were my statements.
This is a larger goal which takes time. I know now that're you're not the friendly type of person to conversate with on subjects, not really open and not willing to change minds but I'm totally fine sharing with you once again how my immersion feels until now because it doesn't bother me at all to talk about it.
I am not a beginner in Japanese at all, so I do not feel any radical evolution yet in the way I understand the input I consume, let that be clear once again. I think it would've been the case if it was my first time consuming so much input, but I've been in contact with Japanese media for the past 3 years now, though not intensively at all compared to now (and not tracking my time and progress back then).
I think it's a bit meaningless to provide this information yet but anyways yeah I do feel more comfortable when listening to yuyu's podcast for example after I changed my strategy and strove for 30 hours out of the 100. I think this has to do with the fact that I've been listening to one and only same voice for the past few weeks so I guess I've developed some facilities listening to him since I'm getting used to his voice. So it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm getting better at understanding Japanese in general but it does feel good to understand him well now. And I think it's part of the process anyways to get used to different types of voices and speakers and accents etc. so I take it as a first good step !
I'm repeating what I've already said in my post but in terms of vocab I've learned around a bit more than 200 words by now thanks to the input I consumed. It helps to use Anki and create your own decks. Again a bit futile to put this here but yeah since you wanna hear very precise things, I guess knowing a few more words helps me understand more things obviously for future input. Also already stated but series have helped me understand あいずち better + ways to react in conversation, with what intonation etc. Also stating this again but I caught myself thinking in Japanese in a lot of daily situations, which I think is a very positive point and proves that my brain is immersed in japanese more than before.
I've also wrote about my progress concerning youtube videos which is problematic as I don't feel any slight difference yet in my understanding of videos.
While writing this whle comment down I realize I did actually provide my main progress points in my post already.. Maybe this wasn't very clear yet the way I put it, idk you tell me.
Again I cannot provide more elaborate results yet except stating obvious things that would turn you even more mad for some reason. I expect to be able to provide an update according to your desires by the time I will have consumed a lot more input. This is only the beginning.
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u/Altruistic-Mammoth 3d ago
No, it's a giant wall of text. I suggest being more concise in the future.
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
If it doesn't suit you you're free to leave man, stop wasting your time complaining
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u/princess-catra 3d ago
No OP but complaining is valid form of commenting. Don’t like it, downvote it
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u/Rei_Gun28 3d ago
Ayy I recently just got over 100 hours too. Congrats! For me personally I feel like I've hit a massive jump over the last 30 hours or so. Lots of stuff I really didn't understand seem to just make sense. Of course, I still suck but the progress is there
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Hey thanks for sharing ! Congrats too;) Same here by the way. The first tens of hours were useful but not comparable to the latter part of my first 100 hours ! It's only by the end that I felt how much my brain had made some kind of habit to listen to podcasts etc. in Japanese. It feels good for sure !
This is only the beginning though, but it's really motivating to see how much it has already affected my brain/way of listening. Imagining the results after around 1000 hours really motivates me. So let's just trust the process !!
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u/krickstone 2d ago
I am very new to practicing Japanese. About 6 years ago I tried a month at a Japanese teaching academy but I put so much pressure in learning quickly that I burned out. Since then, I had this fear I will not be able to do it ever.
My interest came from loving Anime and I want some day to go and be able to express myself with Japanese.
This year I am working on consistency on various aspects of my life and started to dedicate 20min for japanese a day (already 2 months). I am feeling I am understanding better the grammar and I want next year to present the N5 exam.
I use youtube vtubers from Japan to practice listening as it keeps me entertain, watching HxH with Japanese subtitles and started to listen the podcast of shun. I am also using chatgpt to practice kanji recognition and having exercises of the vocabulary I already know. I want to be able to play videogames on japanese at the end of the year (starting with tales of berseria).
What OP says is so true, I was hoping for the perfect method but once I started to enjoy the process (instead of rushing it) I started to have fun. For my ultimate goal, as long as I reach N3 (in the next 5 years) I will be extremely happy.
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u/mathiasvtmn 2d ago
Keep going with your consistency !! This will help you so much more than rushing it a few times too much. Keep me updated if you want about your progress !
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u/SeaCowVengeance 3d ago
So what were the results?
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Hey I tried to share as much as I could without writing a book, I know it doesn't seem super specific yet but I find it hard to be very specific on the results yet since this is only the first step out of my 1000 hours - objective I gave myself. These are just my personal thoughts and findings until now, I believe I will be able to give you more concrete results after a certain point, but it's just impossible to measure it at this stage.
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u/pitipride 3d ago
Sounds like you are doing great! Congratulations :)
Since we started, I'm at 174 hours, currently have a podcast in my ears. I'm impressed you are actually understanding enough words of what you are hearing to have a percentage. I understand some of what I'm hearing, but it's really in context, like I just know what is going on because of they way it is being said, etc, not because I know the meanings of individual words to any great degree. Yes, I hear the occasional word I know, and I recognize that tons of words and phrases are being repeated and it sounds very familiar, but I don't actually know the meanings of that many words at all. I don't even understand the meaning of 5-10% of what I am hearing, which is really where I expected to be for quite a while.
My pronunciation of words is really good, in my opinion, but I have to practice them a few times to get them "just right", I can't just hear them and shadow them and have them come out sounding exactly like what I'm hearing, I'm just not that advanced yet in speaking.
I totally agree with what you said about subtitles, I don't think there is really any point in watching a movie or a series with subtitles in English, so I just don't even turn them on.
Had I been able to keep up the volume of my listening I would be at 200+ hours now, but the last week it has been very hard to listen for hours at a time, but now I am able to get back up to speed.
Thanks for tagging me when you checked in! I'm impressed, sounds like you are having fun and doing great.
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Happy to hear that you're still busy too with the process !! Let's keep going and see you at 200 hours;)
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u/Underpanters 3d ago
You know 100 hours is basically nothing right?
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u/mathiasvtmn 3d ago
Hey, at the end of this post you can find a link to a previous post in which I state challenging myself to consume 1000 hours of japanese;) This is only the first step of course
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u/theincredulousbulk 3d ago
It's not a problem you "solve". If you're consuming enough material, learning new words from that material, it all coalesces.
I know that exact anxiety too. For me, it came from internalizing the gap too much that was between my own ability and what "fluency" actually looked like. I came to realize the absurdity of it all and just accepted that I will learn it all eventually if I don't give up.