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Still working primarily on Japanese. But also found out I'll have a Spanish-speaking travel opportunity early next year, so trying to work on that.
I'm in such a weird place with my Spanish. It feels like I'm on the cusp of really being able to use it, but then my vocab is weak and I'm terrible at listening, so like what have I even got lol? At least I can read. Picking back up with El Tunél, a novel I've been meaning to finish for a long time.
That's exciting! Trips are awesome motivators for me to put time into a language.
The listening must be hard since it's such a fast phased language, but I really like the attitude of Spanish speakers, think you'll have a nice environment to practice there :)
Since I also struggle with vocab I just learned some keywords to use like "thing" and "don't know the word" lol.
Travel really does help a lot. I'm not big on travel, I mostly like learning languages for the fun of it, less as a communication tool... but going to the place and having conversations with people who don't speak English really triggers somethings in my brain like 'hey, this is important!' that makes the learning process click.
The speed is really tough. I know I've read before that Spanish and Japanese both have higher speed (eg, in this infographic), but then when I went to look it up Wikipedia says it may be an illusion, so idk lol. I know for sure that it seems overwhelmingly fast when native speakers talk to each other, and in TV shows etc. But if you're talking to a person irl at least they'll slow it down for ya.
Yeah and it's also super rewarding. I sometimes feel discouraged when I read something and I don't understand, but talking to someone can fix that (when the person compensates for my lack of skill/vocabulary).
I was wondering about that awhile back. Spanish (and now that you mentioned, Japanese) sound insanely fast!
I have been able to motivate myself to study for the japanese official exam (JLPT) I have coming this next december Pretty hard to tell for now if I have the required level, I should try a sample test of the level I am aiming for. Might do it this week :)
Good luck! What level are you going for?
Going for N4 ! So approximately a low - mis A2 level I guess ?
Sounds about right. I always forget which CEFR level is which.
Hopefully shouldn't be too bad. Definitely grind practice tests. I haven't tried it, but something like https://www.jlptmatome.com/jlpt-simulation might be good? What have you been using for practice tests?
Also, are you doing anything else in particular to study and prep?
Had a solid week. The no-lookup reading is starting to feel almost cozy, and it's giving me a ton of confidence. I feel like if I can just get on the other side of these intermediate grammar structures and boost my overall comprehension rate just a tick, I'm going to unlock so much content I want to read and listen to. Already the textbook is feeling so much easier than it did a couple months ago.
I can see vocab and speed being more the focus soon, and I can definitely handle that. Here's hoping!
I also tried no-lookup reading recently and it was great for seeing progress! Probably didn't understand everything I thought I understand but that's secondary for now.