#Immersive Language Learning

[theenglishnook]

Stress Management and Language Learning

How Stress Affects Language Learning Stress management and language learning are intricately connected, with each influencing the other in significant ways. Understanding how stress affects language acquisition and implementing strategies to manage it can enhance the learning experience and lead to more successful outcomes. Stress can have a profound impact on language learning by increasing…

[survivetoread]

I'm a big fan of extensive reading apps for language learning, and even collaborated on such an app some 10 years ago. It eventually had to be shut down, sadly enough.

Right now, the biggest one in the market is the paywalled LingQ, which is pretty good, but well, requires money.

There's also the OG programs, LWT (Learning With Texts) and FLTR (Foreign Language Text Reader), which are so cumbersome to set up and use that I'm not going to bother with them.

I presently use Vocab Tracker as my daily driver, but I took a spin around GitHub to see what fresh new stuff is being developed. Here's an overview of what I found, as well as VT itself.

(There were a few more, like Aprelendo and TextLingo, which did not have end-user-friendly installations, so I'm not counting them).

Vocab Tracker

++ Available on web ++ 1-5 word-marking hotkeys and instant meanings makes using it a breeze ++ Supports websites

-- Default meaning/translation is not always reliable -- No custom languages -- Ugliest interface by far -- Does not always recognise user-selected phrases -- Virtually unusable on mobile -- Most likely no longer maintained/developed

Lute

++ Supports virtually all languages (custom language support), including Hindi and Sanskrit ++ Per-language, customisable dictionary settings ++ Excellent, customisable hotkey support

-- No instant meaning look-up makes it cumbersome to use, as you have to load an external dictionary for each word -- Docker installation

LinguaCafe

++ Instant meanings thanks to pre-loaded dictionaries ++ Supports ebooks, YouTube, subtitles, and websites ++ Customisable fonts ++ Best interface of the bunch

== Has 7 word learning levels, which may be too many for some

-- Hotkeys are not customisable (yet) and existing ones are a bit cumbersome (0 for known, for eg.) -- No online dictionary look-up other than DeepL, which requires an API key (not an intuitive process) -- No custom languages -- Supports a maximum of 15,000 characters per "chapter", making organising longer texts cumbersome -- Docker installation

Dzelda

++ Supports pdf and epub ++ Available on web

-- Requires confirming meaning for each word to mark that word, making it less efficient to read through -- No custom languages, supports only some Latin-script languages -- No user-customisable dictionaries (has a Google Form to suggest more dictionaries)

[disastergenius]

i appreciate Alex noting that just because he would know Draconic from the orb wouldn't mean he would have the cultural/social context of the language

[benkyoutobentou]

language learning culture is always watching children’s media in various languages

[luckydoeslanguage]

🎏Immersion, its quirks, and tips for language learning this way!

its the 5th of May, so happy children's day! 🎏 I got a question in one of my posts asking for some advice on immersion learning! i thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about immersion in general, my current study(?) routine and perhaps give some useful advice! As the name suggests, Immersion language learning is done primarily by consuming media in your target language. Immersion can seem super intimidating to us learners, mostly cause we can't understand most of the stuff available to us. But! its not impossible to start out using immersion right out of the gate. i think people tend to get scared or go "I'll immerse when i get better at my TL!" But the truth of the matter is, your not going to get used to, or better at your target language unless you consume actual content. (in my opinion.)

Honestly, a lot of immersion learning is being able to tolerate that i probably wont understand everything right away. I will someday, but for now i have to be comfortable with not understanding a lot. which is okay! So, what is my current study routine?

right now, my routine consists of:

doing vocabulary cards on Anki from a premade anki deck.

playing about an hour of Animal crossing everyday

watching 1 - 3 episodes of an anime

watching Youtube videos

weekly (ish) grammar done by reading Imabi, and watching Cure Dolly videos on Youtube.

The bread and butter of my routine is learning vocab, and occasional grammar studies. I'm using the core2k/6k deck. which as the name implies, is an optimized vocab deck that contains the most common 6k JP vocabulary. i currently take 5 new vocab cards a day, and try to get my reviews in everyday. my anki deck has contributed a lot to me being able to immerse so early in my language journey. learning and then reviewing new words everyday lets me recognize words in my immersion. As time has gone on, i can recognize more and more words, and even some words I haven't encountered yet in my deck. Immersion, while still uncomfortable, (especially with complex media) is the other side of the coin. i try to spend double the time i spend on anki, immersing. Mostly because i enjoy what I'm immersing in, but also because i get more out of it the more time i spend immersing.

"that's all well and good Lucky, but what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn this way?"

Well! first of all, and this is very important:

Be comfortable with ambiguity. you may not be able to understand some, or maybe most of the thing you are immersing in. that's okay! Your brain is already looking for patterns to see in your TL, and is growing more accustomed to it. I got a lot of headaches in the beginning, i still do actually. but i know that's my brain working hard! (take a break if you get a headache!!)

Second, and probably just as important:

Follow your interests. make immersion fun! whats the point of immersing if its torturous?! I'm a lot more likely to continue immersing in something if i actually enjoy it. there are a lot of easier anime to immerse in, but if I'm not having fun, I'm not going to learn anything. you should do the same! even if its too difficult to understand. I'm currently watching someone on YouTube play a dating sim, and even though its waaaay above my skill level, I'm really enjoying myself watching it! I've even recognized some words i know. whole sentences, even.

Third:

Be Consistent! This is probably advice you've already heard, but it bears repeating! even if you do something small like listening to a song in your TL, that's immersion babyy :) consistency is key, above all.

Lastly: Track your Immersion. a problem with immersion is it can feel like you are going nowhere. tracking how much time you spend doing an activity, (watching videos, reading, etc) is a great way to make immersion more tangible. lots of people reccomend toggl, but i personally use polylogger. its built with language learners in mind, and is stupidly easy to use. i also keep personal logs in an online diary, as well as here on my blog to measure my progress. it helps!

alright, i think thats everything i have to say for now! if you've made it to the end of this long post, hello! and thank you <3 hope you've had a good day so far! I will leave you with some links to more reading on the subject under the cut, they go into more detail than i have here.

take care for now! またね！

this article by Refold about tolerating ambiguity:

The Moe ways guide to immersion:

Making the leap to Immersion, Video by Cure Dolly:

[davieyturner]

And with that, the end of Vanitas no Carte volume 2.

I have accidentally maintained the bad habit of being scared of immersion because it used to be so hard.

The first year or so is like being lost at sea, before all the pieces (grammar, kanji, meaning) start to come together.

Eventually it just kind of all makes sense (3 years or so).

I can’t believe I can actually read manga fluidly now.

[balloons-and-shadows]

Daily Swedish Lesson #94

Authors note It's been awhile since I posted anything. I can't promise I'm back for good, but with uni (finally) slowing down, I want to get back into some language learning.

Learning Swedish with ABBA

What's a better way to learn Swedish than with ABBA? Below, you will find the official Swedish version of the song 'Waterloo' by ABBA, with its English version directly under it.

Waterloo

[Vers 1] Jo, jo - vid Waterloo Napoleon fick ge sig Men, men - sitt öde kan man möta på så många skilda sätt

My, my - At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender Oh, yeah - And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way

[Brygga] Själv känner jag, sen jag mött dig Historien upprepar sig

The history book on the shelf Is always repeating itself

[Refräng] Waterloo, jag är besegrad, nu ger jag mig Waterloo, lovar med nöje att älska dig Waterloo, allting känns rätt, och det är min tro Waterloo, du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Waterloo Du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo

Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war Waterloo, promise to love you forevermore Waterloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you Woah, woah, woah, woah, Waterloo Finally facing my Waterloo

[Vers 2] Jo, jo - man värjer sig och fäktas i det längsta Men, men - mot känslor kämpar gudarna förgäves har man sagt

My, my - I tried to hold you back, but you were stronger Oh, yeah - And now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight

[Brygga] Det är som jag hörde en sång Jag tror det är kärlek på gång

And how could I ever refuse? I feel like I win when I lose

[Refräng] Waterloo, så har man funnit sin överman Waterloo, mäktig och väldig och stark är han Waterloo, allting känns rätt, och det är min tro Waterloo, du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Waterloo Du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo

Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war Waterloo, promise to love you forevermore Waterloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you Woah, woah, woah, woah, Waterloo Finally facing my Waterloo

[Brygga] Det är som jag hörde en sång Jag tror det är kärlek på gång

So how could I ever refuse? I feel like I win when I lose

[Outro] Waterloo, allting känns rätt, och det är min tro Waterloo, du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Waterloo Du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo Waterloo, du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo Wa-Wa-Wa-Wa-Waterloo Waterloo, du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo Waterloo, du är mitt öde, mitt Waterloo

Waterloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you Woah, woah, woah, woah, Waterloo Finally facing my Waterloo Woo-ooh-ooh-ooh Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you Woah, woah, woah, woah, Waterloo Finally facing my Waterloo Woo-ooh-ooh-ooh Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you

[onigiriforears]

Seitokai Book Club Master List

Hi!

Sometimes, life gets the best of me and I'm not able to make my usual announcement post on here about what the current Seitokai book club read is. However, I do actually update it on the master Google Doc (links to associated vocab lists included), my Natively profile, and on the Seitokai instagram. These include the books from the start of the club in 2022 until present day.

If you're not particularly interested in the vocab lists or you hate accessing Google Docs bc it takes up Google Drive space, you can also see it on THIS NATIVELY LIST.

Or if you're thinking "ALL OF THOSE OPTIONS SUCK, I'M NOT LEAVING TUMBLR!," fair enough, I can't argue with that. You can always DM me, send an ask, or even @tokidokitokyo might make a post about it as well.

[rigelmejo]

Language Learning Terms

Some useful terms below. I will not define comprehensible input and related terms in depth here, as I already did that on this post (I will summarize on this post though).

Comprehensible Input generally is anything you understand the main idea of - literally anything. It's any experience in the language you understand. (So textbook dialogues with translation and grammar notes to explain what the dialogue means, conversations where someone gestures to get the main idea across, cartoons for toddlers where the visuals make what's happening clear, bilingual texts, learner podcasts with translations or explanations, graded readers, CI Lessons, etc... and then once you understand more of the language, most things become comprehensible input as you understand more things).

Comprehensible Input Lessons are TRPS lessons, Learner Podcasts, Graded Readers, and anything designed to be completely understood to a learner for their level of knowledge, typically CI Lessons for beginners are audio-visual lessons where all of the meaning can be understood from the visuals alone - Dreaming Spanish is an example, or the teacher provides a short word list-summary of things the learner needs to understand to follow along - Lazy Chinese is an example.

Automatic Language Growth is a theory of language learning Marvin Brown came up with, and he made an ALG Thai school that followed the theory. ALG theory is that people learn language only by meaningful experiences in the language. And that any explicit study, any thinking about the language features, or speaking or reading before you have a good grasp of the language, causes issues. ALG Lessons are a subset of CI Lessons, stricter requirements for ALG Lessons as they MUST be entirely in the target language and must not contain text until the learner is higher level, must not ask the learner to speak until they're a high level, and must not contain translations. ALG Lessons are Comprehensible Input Lessons, but CI Lessons are a broader category of things. The general term comprehensible input is even broader still, as it is anything you can understand the main idea of in the language you are learning.

CI Method - this is how Dreaming Spanish learners tend to refer to Dreaming Spanish's method of learning. The method is ALG, with some relaxing of the ALG recommendations. The method can be boiled down to: you learn by extensive listening to CI Lessons (particularly ALG Lessons if you're being strict about ALG), and by extensive listening to Learner Podcasts (particularly ones that use zero translations if you're being strict about ALG), and then eventually extensively listening to media made for native speakers that you can understand the main idea of. So the entire "learn by only comprehensible input" learning method is to learn entirely by extensive listening to stuff made for learners, then stuff made for native speakers, that you can understand.

Learner materials/materials made for learners - any learning material designed with a learner in mind. So graded readers made for learners who know X amount of words, learner podcasts made for learners who are beginner/intermediate/advanced, CI Lessons made for beginners with many visuals, CI Lessons made for intermediate learners where they assume the learner knows X words, dialogues with translations, textbooks, podcasts that include explanations of new words and grammar, classes. Usually a learner material will contain whatever it expects you to need - so if it's made to be studied intensively then the material will include any translations and explanations it expects a learner at that level to need, and if it's made to be studied extensively then it will use mostly stuff it expects the learner at that level to already know and enough context to guess/figure out the unknown bits.

Extensive - this word is used to refer to extensive listening and extensive reading. All it means is that you listen or read without looking anything up, without relying on any explanations or needing any language learning tools to help. Extensive reading is what you do in your native language now, any time you read. Extensive listening is what you do in your native language now, any time you listen. Extensive reading or listening is usually done with things you understand the main idea of, because it can be frustrating if you do NOT understand at least that much. Typically learner material that is made to be read extensively uses 95-98% words they expect you to understand already, as if you know less words than that you tend to feel frustrated reading extensively.

Intensive - this word is used to refer to intensive listening and intensive reading. All it means is you look up words/explanations/use aids to understand something. You usually look up at least enough unknown words/grammar to understand the main idea, you may look up every single unknown word if you want to. You did this in your native language back in school, when your textbook would define a bunch of terms for you in a glossary and you had to read the definitions before you could read the chapter. You needed to read those definitions, to understand the chapter. Intensive reading is just doing the same thing, in new languages. Some intensive reading materials are already-made for intensive reading with ease: Parallel texts, Graded Readers with vocabulary lists you must read in advance, a learner podcast episode with a list of vocabulary translations in the summary (or that translates when speaking when they figure the word will be new to their audience), textbook dialogues that define all the words before you read the dialogue, textbook passages where they give you the word definitions in advance. Typically learner material designed to be used intensively is 90-94% words you know, and then it defines the key words you don't know. Typically learner material designed to be used intensively that uses less than 90% words you know feels exhausting, even if they define many key words, and that is why for example an Advanced Textbook excerpt feels exhausting if you're a Beginner - despite the Beginner and Advanced textbooks including some intensive reading. Any time you ever listened to a technical podcast, or read a technical text, and looked up a bunch of unknown words that seemed key to understanding the material, you were intensive reading.

Typically in our native language, we did a mix of intensive reading (teacher providing us vocabulary lists, textbook defining vocabulary) and extensive reading (the novels the library suggested were at our reading level, the reading material our teachers gave us that they did not expect us to need word-definitions to understand). Eventually, in our native language, we probably switched to reading and listening to most things extensively, and just looking up a key word once in a while if we hear a word we don't understand and feel particularly frustrated or confused because we can't understand it. The same eventually happens in the language you are learning - you'll look up a word occassionally, but you won't strictly need to. This could be called extensive listening/reading while looking up a few words, or intensive listening/reading while looking up a few words, as it's a bit of both. Different language learning materials will define the activity of "reading/listening while looking up only a few words" differently. I feel at the point you're understanding most stuff, whether you look up a word once in a while or not doesn't particularly change the primary activity which is just reading/listening for long stretches.

Immersion - used to define any activity where you are engaged with the language. Sometimes this is used to define a class that's entirely in the target language (example: a Spanish class taught entirely in Spanish, in Spain). Sometimes used to define living in a country that speaks the language (as in - you are immersed in the language any time you leave your home). Sometimes used to define staying at a home that speaks the language (immersed at home), or living with a partner/family members that only speak the language. Sometimes used to define watching shows, listening to, or reading media in the language - intensively or extensively. ALG Thai classes are an example of immersion classes, you take classes entirely in Thai, perhaps while living in Thailand. Dreaming Spanish website is an example of immersion classes, you hear only Spanish in the lessons. Watching anime in Japanese, whether you look up words or not (intensive or extensive), is immersing. Reading French books, whether looking up words or not (intensive or extensive), is immersing. Watching Chinese dramas, whether you look up words or not (intensive or extensive), is immersing. The term immersion can get confusing because, like the general term comprehensible input, it means A LOT of things broadly. When some people say immersion they mean engaging with the language extensively (no word lookups) - like Dreaming Spanish purist learners who are only learning by extensive listening. When other people say immersion they mean engaging with the language intensively (lots of word lookups) - like Refold Japanese learners who are looking up many words and making anki cards to study. Some people mean immersion as in they are living, working, doing everything in the language. Some people mean immersion as in they live in a country that speaks the language, but in their daily life they avoid using the language or engaging with it as much as possible. This is why it can be frustrating when you're told "just immerse!" okay but... what does the person saying that specifically think of when they say 'immerse' as there's many activities that count as immersion. And sometimes people mean wildly different things by it (such as meaning intensive versus extensive study, depending on the person saying to immerse).

[theenglishnook]

The Power and Perils of Learning Through Games

Unlocking Language Proficiency In the dynamic landscape of language acquisition, where immersion and engagement are pivotal, the integration of games into learning environments has emerged as a potent tool. Harnessing the innate human affinity for play, incorporating games into language learning endeavors offers a multitude of benefits that are both scientifically backed and experientially…

[lilbittymonster]

Was thinking about Kitali and languages as I was falling asleep last night and she's gonna sound weird and out of place no matter where in Ishgard she is bc of how many registers she mixes.

Like she would absolutely have learned to speak Ishgardian before she learned to read it, and most of that exposure would've been with working class people from the Brume and the lower levels of the city. And especially so during the Restoration because she would've been spending most, if not all of, her time with the Skysteel workers. So she's going to adopt most of the speech patterns and mannerisms from them.

And then she's also married to a nobleman, who has a distinctly different speech pattern and accent, and because she spends the time she's not working or out dealing with Scion bullshit with him, she's going to pick those up as well and incorporate it into her understanding of The Ishgardian Language.

And because she learned to speak it before she learned to read it, the first time she tries to read one of Aymeric's books not written in Eorzean common, she's going to look up at him with anguish and confusion and betrayal as if he's the one responsible for why Ishgardian is spelled Like That. And then proceeds to bitch and moan about it while trying to reverse engineer it through context clues alone.

And then on top of all that, once Estinien joins the Scions and she's spending a lot of time around him and speaking in Ishgardian to deliberately exclude everyone else from their conversations, she's going to pick up his Coerthan idioms because I think he would stubbornly cling to those even after living in Ishgard for 20 years.

I just think language barriers are neat and I feel like they aren't utilised in game enough bc Video Game Mechanics.

[delusionalforolderwomen]

Is there any italian lilia lovers that would write a fic in italian??? I really wanna learn another language and i have some basics from italian(mostly bc i speak spanish) but i rlly wanna become trilingual

[scribblingface]

friendship ended with rosetta stone, new best friend busuu. rosetta stone never ever explains what your mistake was or why the correct answer is correct, you are supposed to learn the language solely by repetition and context without any explanations at all. and I hate it. just TELL ME what the rule is and then I will apply it to future situations! because I'll understand!!

[slayerkitty]

Hey, I'm going to visit Thailand at the end of the year (chiefly the region around Phuket) and would like to start familiarising myself with the language.

Do you have any good tips on stuff to watch that would be both entertaining and simple enough to help me learn? I'm pretty good at obtaining international shows, but not super familiar with what's out there.

(any other advice also much appreciated!)

Hiiii! Well, I am downright tickled by this ask and super excited (and jealous, lol) that you're going to Thailand.

Having said that, I'm not sure if I'm exactly the best person to ask about learning Thai - most of the Thai I have picked up over the years has come from repeated phrases in various shows, a little bit of dabbling into Thai culture (learning about honorifics and use names, etc) and watching my faves in interviews without subs. Listening to the flow of speech helped me pick out words that are used a lot and also helped me understand a little bit of Thai sentence structure.

From talking to friends who are fairly fluent in Thai as a second language, they've said that university BLs tend to use more common everyday language and tend to be the easiest to understand (for them) without subs.

So, with that in mind, I'll rec a couple of my fave university BLs for you (you may or may not have seen them, not sure where you're at with watching shows because you said you weren't familiar with a lot of what's out there.)

In no particular order: Bad Buddy, Your Sky, Until We Meet Again (mind the trigger warnings on this one), We Are, and Star in my Mind (most of these are free on youtube or can be found on Viki).

I would also recommend scrolling youtube for beginners guides to Thai. I haven't done this, so I don't have any specific recs, but I know others who have found some useful.

Ooops, this got very long winded, and I hope I was able to help?!

(Anyone who wants to add recs or suggestions for OP, please do!)

[eirenses]

watching a spanish stream long after the qsmp is so weird. like why do i kinda understand what they're saying?

[lunar-wandering]

arguably it's really funny that me and a few other students in my Japanese Class at uni keep slipping into speaking French-