🚦 Immersion Day / Study Binge - Home Thread (poll)

Immersion Day ・ Study Binge ・ 勉強の豪遊

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Got all summer break? A week for spring break? A long weekend? A responsibility-free Saturday? Maybe just a random day coming up with nothing to do?

:sparkles: Consider dipping yourself into a day of total immersion and comprehensible input! :sparkles:

Okay, but what does that actually mean?

“Immersion Spree” “Study Binge” “Japan-At-Home”

There are many ways that it’s been referred to on the WaniKani forums and other Japanese learning sites, but it typically just means a day of sun-up to sundown total Japanese input.

No English in your day unless absolutely unavoidable

  • Q. How is this different from the AJATT method? (All Japanese All The Time, total immersion 24/7)
  • A. This is a short-term spree for some fun and excitement, and to give ourselves a little boost when the plateau has been feeling extra real lately. Though some people do 100% AJATT every single day, typical experiences indicate that this method can cause intense burnout very quickly.

:arrow_down: :sunglasses: (Keep reading for some ideas on how to accomplish this)


Studying during your immersion time is not necessary, though you’re welcome to schedule study time into your day if you’d like. You may also want to consider adding study time into your immersion if you are planning an extended spree over multiple days.


[this spot reserved for links to group immersion threads]


How to Create a Day of Immersion

Step 1. いつ
In advance, identify the day(s) you would like to use for your immersion spree.
Because we’re looking for a tight seal of Japanese-only input and output, a decent amount of planning is required to create the best “schedule” for yourself. It might be difficult to plan and execute on the same day.

Step 2. どうやって
What does an ideal day at home look like for you? Are you watching movies? Listening to music? Maybe you play video games in the morning, go to the gym after lunch, read a book in the afternoon, and then watch a cozy drama at night?
By identifying your habits/hobbies/joys, you can use those to create a “schedule” for your immersion day and replace English games/movies/music with those entirely in Japanese.

Step 3. どんな
Check out some WaniKani resource lists or do some research on your own to find the Japanese-language input items you’d like to use during your immersion day and get ready to queue them up! There are activity ideas below to help you create an outline for your day.
REMINDER: Try not to choose input items too far above your current level! We are avoiding all English subtitles and media that is too difficult to understand will become too difficult to enjoy. The bulk of your input should be along your level, with only a few items above or below it.

Further Information
  • Do I have to stay home all day?
    No, of course not. However, if you live outside of Japan, immersion can be nearly impossible once you are no longer in control of your surroundings. Going for a walk in the park and listening to Japanese music is great! But once you enter a grocery store and spend 2 hours reading English labels, what’s the difference between that and a normal day? While anything could interrupt on an immersion day and you might need to run errands, we’re simply looking to create the tightest seal around our time for a Japanese-only day.

  • Do I have schedule out my day, or can I choose activities at random day-of?
    This really just depends on the type of person you are! At the very least, you should already have created an extensive list of items already queued in case you become bored with whatever your current activity is. Maybe the Sailor Moon episodes aren’t hitting like you thought they would - try to have many, many other items at the ready to choose from. For me, having too many things to choose from can lead me to stare at my phone in avoidance, so scheduling out my day works best in my case, but it might be the opposite for you and total freedom to choose might be better!


:desktop_computer: :books: Activities :memo: :film_projector:

I’ve sorted these by the general amount of time they can take up in your day, but, as always, everything is deeply customizable and these are simply suggestions.

The idea is that, of all of the items you choose, they are fully in Japanese and do not necessitate English/non-Japanese subtitles. Some small things, like your browser or TV menus, might be unavoidably in English, but I wouldn’t worry about changing these unless you’re attempting an ultra-hard mode.

Multi-Hour
Many Minutes, Possibly an Hour
  • Write a Japanese journal entry or blog post
  • Watch TEDx Japan videos
  • Explore Japan on:
    -Mapcrunch (free, not a game but still fun, choose “Japan” under Options)
    -GeoGuessr: Japan Map (free to an extent, is a game)
  • Cook along with Japanese recipes
  • Read manga
  • Watch some super awkward videos made for Japanese learners in the 90s
  • Write a short story
  • Record a video of:
    -Self-introduction
    -Talking about a topic
    -Reading the short story you just wrote (¬‿¬ )
  • Set yourself to Hardcore mode in the language exchange discord and chat it up
    -Speak in the Japanese-only voice rooms
Some Minutes, Less Than an Hour
Fill in the Gaps
  • Talk to your pet(s) in Japanese
  • Narrate your actions aloud
EXTREME MODE
  • Turn off notifications on your phone for all social media, oh look someone sent a dm- NO! Don’t get sucked in!
  • And don’t you DARE take your phone to the bathroom with you :eye: :eye: Unless you do this:
  • Video doom-scroller? Make a Japanese-only tiktok and set up the FYP algorithm in advance to only show Japanese creators
    -This also works for Instagram reels, though the algorithm is less sensitive and will throw English videos in as well
  • Get lost in Youtube too easily? Make a separate account and only use it for Japanese videos - you can also challenge yourself to exclusively leave comments in Japanese when using this account
  • Wander too easily on the computer? Set up a blocklist extension to temporarily block websites that tempt you toward English/non-Japanese content, like Youtube, Reddit, Twitter, the WaniKani forums (cough)
  • Want to tighten up your listening skills? Visit Tatoeba and try to write the sentences you hear without looking (cover your screen with paper or hide half of you browser)

:spiral_calendar: Schedule It!

I mentioned this above, but the best practice in this situation might be to have a super lengthy list/queue of items ready to be put into action for when you’re eventually bored of your previous activity. I’m a big movie person, so my ideal day off is popcorn and literally like four or five movies. Maybe I’ll get fancy and write the Letterboxd reviews in Japanese, too.

A Saturday immersion for me might look like this:

09 :sunny: Wake up, read News Web Easy, have breakfast, do 100 WK reviews
10 :soap: Do laundry and vacuum, listen to 水のカン or YOASOBI, scream the lyrics
11 :musical_note: Continue that until my apartment is clean and「赤ずきん」is stuck in my head
12 :memo: Summarize my week in Japanese in my journal, flex recent new grammar (use incorrectly)
13 :green_salad: Try following a new 弁当 recipe and narrate aloud like I’m on a cooking show
14 :tv: All of those things were done to make me feel better about watching movies all day
15 :tv: I’m excited for Suzume so I’ll use that as an example (no subs, remember!)
16 :tv:
17 :tv: :popcorn: Make a snack, switch to uhh a Naruto movie if we’re being honest
18 :tv: (The Lost Tower is my favorite but Road to Ninja is good too i guess pfft)
19 :tv:
20 :tv:
21 :curry: Make dinner! Follow the tiny Japanese instructions on the back of the curry box
22 :iphone: Scroll Japanese live tiktoks, comment on them because I love when they respond live
23 :compass: Play the GeoGuessr Japan map and try to get over 20k points (I usually get 19k rip)
00 :computer: Do 100 more WK reviews, play Ni No Kuni in bed (this is my fave game to play in Japanese)
01 :alarm_clock: Look at how late it is, freak out, watch more Japanese tiktoks until I fall asleep

Things that are NOT my goal during an immersion day:
→ Look up every word I don’t understand (I will write some on a notepad and look them up TOMORROW)
→ Cram insane amounts of books, TV, movies, manga, music in to the point of overwhelming myself

Things I will purposefully avoid doing:
→ Getting locked into my everyday habit of mindlessly scrolling forums and social media
→ Speaking English aloud, unless it is to someone who wouldn’t otherwise understand me, but then doing my regular mumbling and grumbling in Japanese instead

:rotating_light: If studying is an important part of your immersion journey, PLEASE add it to your schedule! Don’t feel like immersion must separate from studying, every aspect is extremely flexible and open for personalization.

In general, the most effective immersion day will touch on all four of the main components of language: Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening. A day of only watching anime won’t do as much as a day that includes anime plus a book, a short writing prompt, and some speaking practice.

Ready? (✧∀✧)

When you queue things up, you won’t waste any time looking for them or downloading them on the day you want to use them. This is part of the reason why I recommend planning at least a day in advance to ensure everything is ready to go for your fun immersion day!

There are so many more ways to fine-tune an immersion day to your level and interests, so I hope you experiment with what worked, didn’t work, was GREAT, was awful, and report in to help other people work on their own special 日本語だけ days.

REMEMBER: Focus on comprehensible, though a little challenge isn’t a bad thing. The point is not to make yourself feel stupid or lacking, but to help you add real-world context to what you already know!

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(if you have more ideas for activities or general information, please add them to the discussion and i will happily add them to the thread!)

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okay, first of all, i don’t wanna talk about how long this post took me

secondly, i got some interest when i mentioned doing one of these in my study log, so please feel free to tweak/add/criticize as needed

i also encourage doing these together with a group and maybe reporting in at the end of the day/weekend and having fun with it, maybe making the reports study log style

which weekend day would work best for you to do group immersion
  • Saturday :camping:
  • Sunday :desert_island:
  • Weekdays work better for me :alien:

0 voters

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This is very nice!
Thanks so much for sharing your immersion day resources.

I live in Japan, but I still very very rarely have a true immersion day, since I have a lot of English-only friends, use English exclusively at work and end up watching a ton of English Netflix/YouTube on my days off.

I’ll have to give your schedule a go! Two Sundays a month seems doable.

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NOOOO
THE VOCAL STRAIN

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If I were living in Japan, I would try to find a local club for something I’m interested in, like a knitting club, or gardening, or an instrument. I feel it’s a good way to meet locals outside your friend group, and lots of potential to go beyond introductions/what do you do kind of conversations. Since you’re likely to see each other every week. Maybe you can add something like that to your immersion schedule?

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That’s a good idea!

It’s hard to do classes and things like that with my schedule (my days off change every week :smiling_face_with_tear:), but I should definitely try to get involved with events that happen to match my schedule and stuff like that.

In the meantime, I go out to the local izakaya more nights a week than I should admit :joy:. But even on those days, I rarely commit to immersion before/after.

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Thank you for your post! This is a great idea, I actually tried something similar today.

I had a lazy Sunday so I watched a Japanese movie this morning, did some reviews on Duolingo and then after cooking I finished an anime I was watching.
In the afternoon I played a bit of Persona 5 and after that I read some Tadoku books, I’m trying to read all those free books to see how far I can go before not understanding the ideas.
I still have my reviews of today coming up in 1 hour too!

Arrghh guilty! I need to incorporate producing language more. I seldom write because I feel too self-conscious of my grammar mistakes and the same thing with oral production.

Oh yes, there is a group like that for Japanese speaking practice in my town but the thought of going there gives me way too much anxiety. I don’t know at which level is okay to go to those meet ups, I feel I’m just going to make everyone uncomfortable with my low level.

I’m pretty sure for people that are at an intermediate level or upper intermediate level would benefit from that a lot.

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If the group is there specifically for speaking practice, AND they don’t specify a level, then of course it’s also meant for you. Early on in my speaking journey I also went to these kinds of meetups, and everyone was always very nice and understanding. And even if I couldn’t really talk along with some topic or other, it was fun and helpful trying to understand what they were talking about. They might have games planned that help prompt people to talk, and they want to help you formulate your ideas. I would just go to a meeting and see if you like it.

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mirroring what @Saida said, low levels are absolutely invited unless explicitly stated otherwise. i took a chance and went to a language exchange group when living in Nagano when my level was essentially N6 - we all went to kbbq and basically just interviewed each other (my questions were so basic - “what’s your favorite ice cream” “what kind of movies do you like”), but it devolved with a few drinks until we were making up jokes and feeling more free to ask dumb questions, which ended up helping the most helpful. it also gives the higher level folks a chance to flex their teaching skills when you ask questions.

if you feel up to it, try to shoot them a message and ask if it’d be okay to attend at such a low level, just to be open about your trepidation. if they hit you with the ちょっと… then maybe a different group would be better, but i’d be willing to bet they’re excited to have you :raised_hands:

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This is an excellent write-up. I’m definitely a fan of immersion, and I could definitely do better at having some Japanese-only days instead of my usual mix.

Just a friendly heads-up, though, animelon is a site that WK doesn’t really like us to link to because of its grey area of legality, so you’ll probably want to nix that link from your post. :grin:

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i had that moment of thought while writing and i definitely went back and forth before deciding to add it, thinking that i had seen it here before, but i think you’re right :woozy_face: i’ll replace it!

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Thanks for sharing so many ideas! I think immersion and actual use of the language is what excites me the most about learning Japanese. It’s a bit tough to fully immerse since I live with my partner who doesn’t speak Japanese, but I’m sure I can rope him into joining me on some of these. I’ll probably try it out this coming weekend or spring break in 2 weeks!

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I know exactly what you mean, I’m definitely taking advantage of my partner being out of the house for workdays :sweat_smile: though i will say i’ve been slowly working japanese into the household for several months now and my partner is able to offer a few funny sentences from memory without being prompted lol

i wonder if there is a way we could work “teach a phrase/vocab word” into the “filling the gaps” section as a little bit of speaking practice :thinking:

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i was just thinking about it, and thought I should suggest one of my favorite immersion methods! i made a separate youtube account, and strictly only watch japanese content/content in japanese on it. that way, the algorithm recommends more Japanese content and usually regarding topics i enjoy. for extra steps you can also leave comments on those videos in japanese and set your language on youtube to japanese. i esp enjoy gaming playthroughs when doing japanese immersion. r/learnjapanese on reddit also has plentyyyyy of youtuber recommendations if you just search up “japanese youubers”. i’ve found some interesting recommendations there! i’m sure the wk forums have some good ones too but i haven’t checked here yet.

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yesss!!! i also did this, i’m a huge fan of this idea. i’ll add it to the main post :raised_hands:

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I just want to link @makrill1’s fantastic post here because there are some really great immersion resources referenced throughout that might be helpful!

https://community.wanikani.com/t/over-700-hours-of-immersion-later/60900

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just cross-posting from my study log because i’m doing an immersion day tomorrow and i want to add my thoughts and notes here afterward

if you end up doing an immersion day at some other time, feel free to add your thoughts here, too! something like a shared study log thread, but shared immersion day notes

( ´ ▿ ` )

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