For as long as I can remember, “studying Japanese” has been the hallmark of my day. It’s something I enjoy. Between Bunpro, Anki, Japanesepod 101 and media consumption. This past year has been particularly helpful because of the addition of Bunpro. Still, I’ve neglected immersion learning for a good while. There are many reasons for this, but that may be a topic for another time.
Before, most of my immersion learning came in the form of a daily podcast and misc scattered gaming and videos. And I would do the podcast during work which counts more as passive listening. Overall, very little. Over the past month I have eased myself into more transition by replacing some of the things I was previously doing.
Watching: Anime. Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works. (2 episodes per day)
I had heard the Fate can be a notoriously difficult anime and I agree with that. Some episodes I was genuinely lost, mostly when talking about all the war and magic stuff, the slice of life stuff was easy at my level. Have a few episodes left, but I have a feeling I’m going to rewatch this one down the line. Will probably watch a slice of life as the next series.
Reading: Light Novel: Hataraku Maou Sama
About 25-30 min a day. I had actually purchased it a long a while back along with a Kindle but read it very sparingly. After several months, I was only 12% complete. Now I’m at 17% which is a comparatively higher jump. Didn’t start this one until later on the month. Lots of demonology, but also some deeply rooted Japanese cultural bits. Once I finish this one it will be the first light novel I finish in Japanese, and I hope it will get easier from there.
Videogames: Persona 5 Royal
I’ve finished other RPGs in Japanese before, but the Persona series is among the hardest for me to play in Japanese. This is my fourth attempt to play through a Persona game in Japanese, but it is so far the most consistent. It is easier for me now, but by no means is it easy. Playing about 30 min before bed as a “reward”. About 12 hours in.
Additional reading: I enjoy reading Famitsu and Rocketnews24, because reading about video game and stupid thing is fun. I might mix it up and read articles instead of a light novel on some days.
Additional learning: While not immersion, I recently started watching Cure Dolly’s videos. Very informative, and while not for everyone, falls in line with the transition I’m making.
Other changes: Transitioning from J-E dictionary to J-J. So far very interesting, some explanations give a nuance that you don’t find in a J-E dictionary. If I don’t understand the description, I will look up the English one.
So far, it’s been interesting. Some excitement, some frustration, but so far very fruitful I feel. I’ve tried a lot of passive listening before, but it just doesn’t seem to work without a good amount of focused listening. My parter is not so hung-ho about me watching a lot of stuff on my own with headphones, but she understands. I hope to progressively increase this habit as the year goes on. While of course, still doing Bunpro.