#it can be frustrating and exhausting

[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:

[deoidesign]

Idk who needs to hear this but time and time again isn't over!!!

Webtoon removed the "time and time again will return!!!" Banner and I don't know why, but it's not over!!! There's still another 1/3 of the comic to go! There's a lot more stuff that I'm working on and it'll be coming back soon!

Please be patient with me, I know it's been a long time... But the stuff I'm making is really good and there's a lot of reasons it's taken this long. I promise I want it back more than anyone.

I'm trying to come back around the end of October. I'm doing my best to get everything ready in time, so no promises, but I'm on track to do so! I'm just one person writing and drawing everything, and my editor was fired so I'm not even getting any notes anymore. It's literally just me. I'm doing my best I promise!

[fayeandknight]

I was talking to a client and they were expressing frustration with having to move or change routes because of their dogs reactivity. It's something they are working on and part of it involves creating distance right now.

They wanted to know if they'd ever get to a point where they can walk by any dog and not have to worry. And I told them, honestly no. You will always need to assess other dogs and sometimes make the call to go a different way.

Because even if your dog can walk by a dog losing its shit without doing the same in turn, it's still not always the best move.

I relayed a recent experience I had walking Forte. Now Forte does really well ignoring other dogs and I am confident in his ability to remain neutral. But I maintain that neutrality by not putting him in sketchy situations. So when we rounded a corner onto a street I immediately noticed a person sitting in their front lawn with their large dog. I paused to see if I could spot a leash or invisible fence markers. While I was looking the dog noticed us, stood up with a wide stance, and started flicking it's tongue quickly. I also noticed that it had nothing on, not even a flat collar.

I turned around and went back the other way. Not because I thought Forte would react, but because that dog gave a pretty clear indication it was uncomfortable with us approaching. And if it had decided to charge us, the person had no way of restraining it.

Could Forte remain neutral if the dog charged and barked at us? Maybe. But there was no reason to put him in that situation. Also, could he remain neutral if it attacked us? I'm guessing no. So for the safety of my dog and the health of his trust that I will not put him in a risky situation, I turned around.

The client thought about that for a minute and then told me they'd not considered that. That part of them giving space or changing course wasn't just about keeping their dog under threshold, but also about showing their dog that they, the person, won't put them in a stressful/risky situation.

So I'm sharing this story in case anyone else finds it helpful.

[brucewaynehater101]

Alright. I suffer from chronic pain and there's no way the batfam doesn't as well. They brutalize their bodies by pushing them to the extremes, not resting when they get injuries, and keep a rigorous workout.

I need more fics where the batfam has to wear compression gloves/socks/etc. They rely on heating and ice packs because it's just one of those days. I want fics where they complain and grow upset because they should be able to power through the pain, but by the gods does that take so much energy. They have multiple discussion on what they should be able to handle and what they can handle. There needs to be arguments about overreliance and under reliance on pain medication. They should get mad and frustrated and sad that they have to feel pain even after the fighting is over and they've healed.

I need the 4 am meetings in the kitchen because their joints ache and they can't sleep. There's different kinds of pains and they, unfortunately, experience them all. At inconvient and annoying times, old injuries and wounds that never healed act up.

They should realize that they are destroying their bodies, they will pay for this if they grow old, but they don't care. They don't care that they're paying for it now, and it'll only get worse.

[vaguely-concerned]

more for the garashir fairytale grab bag AU I am never going to actually write: garak knows exactly what would break his curse from the start, he just never tells anyone for the longest time b/c he's so sure it could never happen

(it's asking forgiveness, of course. he thinks it's tain's forgiveness he needs, and tain is fucking dead and knew he would be by the time garak woke up so it seems the perfect unbreakable parting fuck-you revenge curse. and garak would expect nothing less from his father than that, so he's resigned to dwindling away painfully. enter julian bashir and his fierce force-of-nature compassion (and also secret illicit immense magical powers) with a steel chair!!! to go 'OH YEAH??? we'll see about that', as you might expect. oh. OH necromancer-ish julian calling tain's ghost up to ask him about what the hell he did and how to undo it, ala his gambit to go see him the wire? and the knowledge he gains from that is what confirms garak's suspicions as to what is Up with this handsome young healer mage because it could be known only by those long dead. cue east of the sun west of the moon part of the narrative once julian understands his game is up and runs away??

anyway getting some true love's kissing in by the end of it all is just a nice bonus it's not needed like strictly magically for either of their situations lol)

[phatcatphergus]

While I do think that Tubbo was a bit over the top today in regards to making light of the lore, I think it’s mainly because he’s tired of this arc and how there isn’t a roleplayable response unless the eye workers permit there to be. It’s frustrating on a viewer and player level for sure.

Does that mean he had to be over the top? No, but I do think its good to keep in mind that Mike also was messing around during the lore today and in the dapper kidnapping stream, Phil did not give a shit that dapper was downed and kidnapped even after being told he was. I can find Tubbo making jokes at the eye workers funny and someone else can find it annoying, I personally had a problem when he kept speaking over Bagi today, he’s a human who does annoying things that I don’t like sometimes.

I think we all get a bit too defensive of our favs (absolutely guilty) and forget that we find other people doing the same thing annoying too. People can respond to lore however they want, especially when it’s impromptu lore like today.

We don’t have to be up in arms about everything and you don’t have to hate on someone for acting how another person acted in the past. Streamers do things we don’t like sometime because (surprisingly) they’re individuals! Who have their own reasons for doing the things they do. Sometimes it’s playing a certain game and sometimes it’s taking lore with a grain of salt. Maybe you like foolishs parenting style and hate Phil’s, that’s valid! Just remember that people can dislike foolishs parenting style too!

TLDR: it’s okay to critique tubbo for how he chose to interact with the lore today or how he interacts with sunny so long as you are okay with people saying the same thing about your streamer

[meadow-mellow]

Look, you are free to judge me, I do Plead Guilty u.u

These two have hijacked my brain and taken complete control over my ability to draw/write. I love everything about their dynamic, I will continue to create more content about them you CANNOT STOP ME.

Anyways, Rogue is getting her GILF whether you want her or not.

EDIT: Here's the pixiv (artworks/122209696) for the full pictures (needs an account!)

Or freeimage.host /i/d8uXuHu

/i/d8uXAAb (fingers crossed it works?)

Feel free to DM me for the art if you can't get access to it!

[mumpsetc]

If you draw suitcase with spotify shuffle I will bite and tear and rummage around like a rabjd aniaml pretty pretty llease carrie? 🥺

(Comment but in ask form so you don't forget)

'Round here, I think the water's poisoned To test it out, I drank a lot As a kid, I lived through Project Monarch This butterfly tattoo sure means a lot

California Wine By Girls Rituals

[dennistakesamentalhealthday]

dennis is an angry character btw im sorry but he is full of rage but that rage is not exclusive his anger does not negate sadness and fragility and insecurities in fact they work together and dtamhd was one of the first times where his anger was not used as a joke via a surface level rage explosion from him but instead explored the fragility of his anger. the way he keeps reassuring the workers he encounters (and himself) that he's not mad. when he tells daisy he's not mad but he is a little bit upset. dennis is angry and that anger is what makes him so fragile. he was upset and it manifested as rage bc he doesnt know what to do with his own sadness

[jimmyspades]

[littlecutiexox]

As soon as my last interview is done, I'm treating myself to new gym shoes and The Hobbit book

[deoidesign]

.

[a-walking-fandom-reference]

the fact that it’s safer and more enjoyable to make content about aroace headcanons because it’s less of a threat to fandom because everyone knows it will never be canon than it is to make content about canon aroace characters because canon aroace characters are a threat to fandom because shipping is the most crucial part of fandom

[thranduel]

i don’t understand why people hate gale.

“he’s annoying” or “he talks too much” or “he’s too clingy and got offended when i was in a relationship” (which was a BUG, it takes two seconds to do some research before jumping to conclusions) are the most stupid reasons to actually hate a character.

he’s the one that has the warmest personality when you first meet him as well, so i just don’t get it?? i’m not saying you’re not allowed to dislike him, and this doesn’t apply to everyone, but SOMETIMES it feels like people just hop on a “hate bandwagon” because i see so many comments (especially on tiktok… where most of the people only started playing because it’s “trendy” now) about him that are the exact same as each other and it’s like people have lost the ability to think for themselves and form their own opinions after actually playing the game properly and learning about the characters.

so many people even go on about how it’s a turn off that he “doesn’t shut up about his ex”… like maybe actually continue playing the story to understand why it’s a significant conversation to have and why it’s a huge part of his character arc, and stop being weirdly bitter/jealous/annoyed when the man is also a VICTIM that has been manipulated and abused in a relationship with a massive power imbalance.

[bookinit02]

thinking about this post i saw the other week where this person was saying how badly they wanted to be able to buy a nice mug without thinking twice about it. and all the comments were saying how they could just buy a cheaper mug. and they were like jesus fucking christ ITS NOT ABOUT THE MUG. because yeah

[kaibacorpintern]

im increasingly interested in writing fic about kaiba as a volatile, bull-headed, difficult person to get along with, and the effect this has on his relationships and the people around him... how mokuba deals with it, how atem deals with it, etc... loving someone in their entirety, flaws and all, while at the same time recognizing the relationship can be difficult or frustrating or upsetting... kaiba as a person capable of tremendous grace and self-reflection AND tremendous selfishness and high-intensity emotions and the people who love him know this... gnawing my bone, circling my enclosure...