I know there are so many different philosophies but I think that input immersion at 10% comprehension is unlikely to help you improve as quickly as balancing input/output AT YOUR LEVEL through lessons.
Kids get full immersion all the time, both conversations they can comprehend and ones they don’t understand a word of. But if they just listened to the stuff they didn’t understand they would not learn as quickly. Nothing helps as efficiently as language pitched just a tiny smidge above your current level, and only a caring adult who understands your level will be able to speak to you that way and scaffold your current ability to keep you constantly improving and learning new words and patterns. AKA why we need parents and not screens that talk to us. So… I’m all for team tutor for listening/conversation practice and I have the italki stats to prove it… keep going with the tutors.
Yeah… your advice makes sense. I’ve actually been looking at the iTalki tutors! Do you have any tutor recommendations? I’ve actually used iTalki on and off for awhile now. My first tutor was really nice, but she was much too focused on the textbook. It felt like I was getting more practice reading than talking. I’ve tried a few more, and they were all conversation only. Which is great! But I guess I wish there was something more balanced.
I tend to like it when it’s almost a game. Like we learn a grammar point, and then we practice it for half the time. And then we do conversation. Even better if there’s a second student too. I’ve tried communicating this to tutors, but they are very focused on their own style of course.
I’m actually taking a French private lesson with my roommate, and our tutor is perfect for us. We play some games, and then we talk. I look forward to his lessons each week! I just wish I could find something similar for Japanese.
Long story short - any tutor recommendations are appreciated!
I kinda stopped playing pokemon games after ORAS, but maybe if I keep playing pokemon games in japanese, I’ll use this as an excuse to play the games I passed on. Part of the reason I’m learning japanese in the first place is because of old video games and computers, and a lot of early stuff doesn’t have kanji due to hardware limitations. It’s best that I start getting used to kana only reading as soon as I can.
Hmm… well I’m hesitant to release the names of my favorite teachers lest they all be booked up… but no good can enter a closed fist… only an open palm. So here I go… I’ll give you a great rec based on everything you just said you’re looking for:
Naoto is one of my very fav tutors. The only downside is that he books up really fast because he is so good, BUT he almost always has SOME times available and he is totally worth booking in advance (I personally book him up to 3 months in advance to fit my available times). He is SUPER easy to talk to, has a wide variety of interests (while the intro video shows he is a total manga otaku and he also has a youtube channel dedicated to blurbs about his favorite manga for Japanese learners, he has a really wide array of interests and knowledge to draw from so even if you’re not super into manga, don’t be worried. I barely ever talk to him about manga… only if I’m actually reading something I want to talk about). But he specifically does a great job of balancing the time between pure convo and working grammar points into conversation. I can’t say he does games or quizzes naturally on his own, but I’ve introduced games before (specifically Rory’s Story Cubes) into our lessons before for a challenge and he has done great with that type of stuff. Great teacher. Highly recommend!
Hahahaha, I’m sold. I laughed aloud when I saw the potato chip scene. Thank you for sharing, I really appreciate it a lot!
I’ll have to check out Rory’s Story Cubes. That looks hilarious. I just watched a video of a man using it to tell a story of a not-yet-flying beetle who befriends a tired army ranger. Lovely.
Back from my small (ended up being three months because I started a new job ) lesson absence to focus on listening and reading, and have levelled up twice in the last fortnight - now level 24! Managed to get my reviews down to an incredibly manageable amount during that time and deal with some leeches, so I’m hopeful that I should be able to make it to level 30 without taking an extended lesson break!
And then… maybe I’ll reach the first observation deck before the year ends? Lofty goals for me, especially when I’m planning a gigantic Mandarake order for more reading material which would be incredibly distracting.
By now I can really feel the midway point in my reach. I’m two level away from 30, 128 lessons still until half of all lessons and only 12 more days to the presumable half-way date of my WK journey.
) lesson absence to focus on listening and reading, and have levelled up twice in the last fortnight - now level 24! Managed to get my reviews down to an incredibly manageable amount during that time and deal with some leeches, so I’m hopeful that I should be able to make it to level 30 without taking an extended lesson break!
