Day 9

Interesting experience going through the video module for 事 again today… so, Reiko was here as I was going through the lesson for the second time, and I realized about 20 minutes in just how valuable it is to have her here when things come up that I need clarification on—particularly when dealing with somewhat abstract function words like 事.

And, now as I type this out, I’m realizing the other super valuable thing, which is we have each one of these little sidebar communications in English.

There is many an argument for immersion when it comes to language learning, and in a sense, our method employs an element of this too, given that we drop you right in the middle of a story, and for lower intermediate learners, we really place you right into a sea of kanji that can be difficult to swim through. That sort of immersion is helpful, we believe as long as the pace you’re learning at accommodates the starting and stopping you’l need to endure to keep moving. It’s precisely why the open ended self-study program requires you learn with a certified tutor, and why our 10-week cohort programs require an advanced level of Japanese just to apply. The time you have available, and the support you’ll need to stick with things are entwined.

What we’re not big fans of when it comes to immersion is when being in a sea of Japanese is done at the expense of communication and true understanding; experiencing the plus side of our insistence about this in my own home tonight has been eye-opening, and I almost missed it because it was so smooth.

The clarity I gained with this lesson, and the comfort of our back’n’forth was all because we were speaking a shared language that enabled me to deal with the complexity of the lesson. When you work with a tutor this is critical if you cannot do that level of communicating in Japanese. Keep that in mind.

One of the reasons Maplopo works for learners is precisely this method of teaching Japanese using English… when working with a tutor or private instructor who can do the same, you are winning on all fronts. (If you’re reading this and are a private tutor or instructor of Japanese, and want to see if you qualify for certification, do reach out.)

Not much to say otherwise with regard to the actual stuff I went over… you can see from my notes that I DID take notes on the video today in contrast to yesterday, and watching it again, as I’ve said, benefited me in more ways than one.

One final thing I’m noticing today is that I’m not doing a good job of keeping up with my Anki decks. I’d better do that in the morning. It literally takes me a few minutes, and I should be doing it. Note taken.

And away we go!

Cheers,
D

Time spent: @ 30 minutes
Completed Anki deck: no
Start time: 9:36pm
End time: 10:07pm