Language Learning Update 3
2024-12-31
Welcome back! I'm coming in tepidly on the last day of 2024 with this year's language learning update. If you haven't, check out my prior updates for more background on where my language journey started:
I hate driving, but getting more input is its only redeeming trait
Summary
- I'm still focused on acquiring Spanish and Japanese through comprehensible input (CI)
- Reminder: this means listening to the target language in contexts that I can (mostly) understand
- My focus has shifted largely to consuming Japanese input, with about a 3:1 split between it and Spanish
- I've started reading Japanese and speaking Spanish a bit, both rewarding and fun ways to interact with the languages more
- CI has been working, it is actively working, and I have every reason to believe it will continue to work
Spanish
I continue to track hours through Dreaming Spanish (DS), hence broad numbers only:
- 2023-12-23: 479 hours
- 2024-12-31: 644 hours
- Difference: 165 hours over 373 days
- Current daily goal: 20 minutes/day
- Actual rate: 26 minutes/day
As you can see, because of the aforementioned shift in prioritization, I substantially dropped my Spanish input this year compared to 2023, and it's probably going to stay at this rate for the foreseeable future.
Input
Higher comprehension means an easier time finding sources of input. I was able to watch dubbed anime (largely Black Clover) to carry me through to 600 hours, and then I've just been listening to an episode of No Hay Tos every day.
- 479 — 600: How To Spanish (podcast), Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Classroom of the Elite, Reborn as a Vending Machine, Black Clover
- 600+: No Hay Tos (podcast)
Reading-wise, I... legit didn't read anything this year.
Sorry, books! You're for nerds!
Output
🚨🚨 BETRAYAL OF CI PURISM ALERT 🚨🚨
🚨🚨 SUSPECT IS ARMED WITH 600 HOURS OF INPUT AND IS DANGEROUSLY MAKING IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE MISTAKES 🚨🚨
🚨🚨 ENGAGE AT YOUR OWN RISK 🚨🚨
I started speaking with an iTalki tutor in November. My Spanish is halting, awkward, and filled with grammatical errors, but I do feel I can communicate basic ideas. When I try to express complex thoughts, I stumble because I want to use words that I simply haven't acquired yet, which is natural and not really concerning. Apparently, my pronunciation and articulation are quite clear; I immediately know when I spit out a word that's incorrectly pronounced, as it just sounds wrong. I chalk that up to the input working its magic (or it's just a clever flattery play that my tutor does with everyone).
Why did I choose to begin outputting? It pains me to say, but... no reason in particular? I just felt like speaking and interacting more with the world around me in Spanish.
Final thoughts on Spanish
Despite my lower input, I feel really comfortable and at home with Spanish. Lately, I've been able to consume podcasts while doing some mindless drum practice, which is wild because I have both the metronome and the podcast going simultaneously. I can talk to people if needed, and I'm happy to plod along on my acquisition journey at a steady pace.
Japanese
My goal was to reach 600 hours this year, which did not happen. However, the amazing thing about a CI approach is that I'm strangely at peace with missing these big number goals. Internally, I know that as long as I keep receiving input, I will eventually acquire more and more of the language.
- 2023-12-23: 108 hours
- 2024-12-31: 478 hours
- Difference: 370 hours over 373 days
- Current daily goal: 60 minutes/day
- Average rate: 59.5 minutes/day (so close to 60!)
When your data doesn't prove your hypothesis...
...just change the timeframe until you find a view of it that does
Input
Beyond the occasional CIJ video, I primarily cycled through a number of podcasts this year:
- Nihongo con Teppei Beginners (2x through!)
- Bite Size Japanese Podcast (2x through!)
- Japanese with Shun / Oyasumi Japanese with Shun
- Sakura Tips
- Nihongo Storytime Beginners
I remain quite miffed at all the podcasts out there claiming to be "beginner" podcasts when they're actually not. IMO vocabulary is the most fundamental thing to level-match — it doesn't matter how slowly you're speaking if I only know 50% of the words you're using. But if I know 90% of the words you're using, then speaking quickly isn't a problem at all.
Once again, shoutout to Nami for continuing crosstalk with me for this entire year. I really look forward to our biweekly chats, and I just can't recommend crosstalk enough as the most enjoyable way to get input. If you're learning a language, and you have a native-speaking friend, definitely give it a shot.
Kanji
Last year's revving of Anki worked out, and I finished all new cards in the RTK deck by mid-July. I just spend a quick 5-10 minutes on reviews every day.
My favorite kanji remains 胞 (placenta). Congratulations.
Kana
I learned both hiragana and katakana this year through a combination of http://www.japanese-lesson.com, https://www.readthekanji.com/, and Anki. If I were to do it again, I'd simply start with Anki — the other tools weren't better in any differentiating way.
Reading
I started reading one small book a day using Free Tadoku Books, a remarkable free resource. Initially, my motivation was just to be able to go to Japan and read basic signage, but it's been much more fascinating than I expected. I struggle as I sound out each kana, but once I hear the words out loud, I know what they mean due to all my input. Only rarely do I encounter words that I don't know, and usually they're less common nouns (e.g. names of foods, plants, and animals).
It's equally interesting with kanji. I know what each kanji means approximately due to RTK, and I know the meaning of the words when pronounced out loud due to input, so my brain only needs to make the connection between the two. For example, with 神社, the process looked something like:
- Decipher the individual kanji meanings as "gods" and "company". Not sure exactly what that means...
- Read the furigana out loud: じんじゃ
- From the pronunciation, I know what it means (Shinto shrine), and that makes decent sense with "gods" and "company"
- Connection established 🤝
Reading has also helped my brain formalize words that I hear all the time but never consciously have to think about, often small adverbs or particles. Grammar study isn't on my roadmap yet, but I wonder how far my understanding can get with just reading a bit.
Output
I have to admit something even more appalling, even graver, beyonder the pale: I tried speaking Japanese a bit too. In preparation for my upcoming trip to Japan, I figured that I might try my hand and see what hundreds of hours of pure input would get me in terms of speaking, but the answer is truly: not much. I gave up after one session — it was frustrating and bad and I'm not surprised at all. I knew the words existed, but I couldn't magically pull them out of my head.
Will input magically make you conversational? Clearly not this amount of input. That's what this whole long-term experiment is about, right, that enough input will eventually enable output? It's obvious that the amount I have now is not enough yet. If my Japanese comprehension isn't at parity with my Spanish comprehension, then it stands to reason that my speaking wouldn't match either. And hence...
Final thoughts on Japanese
Japanese is hard! It's way harder than Spanish! At 476 hours of Spanish, I was able to watch dubbed TV with some difficulty, but I'm nowhere near that with Japanese. Despite my lofty ambitions, this year really only reinforced that language acquisition is slow and gradual. I can't simply uproot my life to consume 6 hours of input a day, but as long as I keep listening to Japanese, I'm confident that I'll improve.
End
This is really a "more of the same" update. Thanks again for giving it a read, and if you're interested at all in acquiring a language through input, go for it! You only need to start with 10 minutes a day.
