Any tips for casually learning a language?

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moo
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Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby moo » Wed Jan 18, 2017 11:00 am

Hi guys,

I am going to start learning Japanese. It's not a priority and won't be for the foreseeable future; it's purely for fun.

Just wondering how others go about learning a language in a more casual fashion . I might take some time at first out of my language learning of French to learn the Hiragana, Katakana and some Kanji to get started but after that, Japanese will be my language I can give some time to after I've studied French for a few hours and maintained German.

Is anyone doing the same with any languages and if so, how do you keep motivated ? I know my progression will be super slow and that may demotivate me.

Thanks in advance for any replies ^_^
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moo
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby moo » Wed Jan 18, 2017 4:43 pm

Thanks but I don't think it's for you to say whether I "should" or "shouldn't " feel a certain way. You are not me, motivation could be a problem for me , in an ideal world I'd have unlimited time but unfortunately I don't .
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby tuckamore » Wed Jan 18, 2017 7:31 pm

moo wrote:Hi guys,

I am going to start learning Japanese. It's not a priority and won't be for the foreseeable future; it's purely for fun.

Just wondering how others go about learning a language in a more casual fashion . I might take some time at first out of my language learning of French to learn the Hiragana, Katakana and some Kanji to get started but after that, Japanese will be my language I can give some time to after I've studied French for a few hours and maintained German.

Is anyone doing the same with any languages and if so, how do you keep motivated ? I know my progression will be super slow and that may demotivate me.

Thanks in advance for any replies ^_^

I'm doing this with Thai at the moment by listening to one GSR file from Glossika every night before bed. During the first weeks, I often choose sleep, but now it is an entrenched habit. An extremely welcomed entrenched habit. No matter how late or tired, I easily muster another 20-25 minutes for Thai. Besides the habit that I've formed, what makes Glossika GSR files work for me in this context is that (1) the task is self-contained (I only need the audio file), (2) each task is within a block of time that I am willing to devote (<30 min), and then I can move on to the next task the next day (so I feel like I'm progressing), and (3) there are about 300 files, so I have a years worth of material. I don't need to replan every month or so, find new material, etc. I do repeat difficult files on subsequent days, but otherwise I just keep moving forward. This continuous forward movement with the files is one way I keep motivated. Any material that has these 3 traits would work for me, for example Thaipod101 or in your case Japanesepod101. If I were in your shoes and wanted to take the same audio-only approach with Japanese, I'd probably use Jpod101. I had already worked through the Glossika sentences intensively a year before I started this habit, so I had some familiarity with the content, vocabulary, and grammar. If I were starting from scratch in this 'casual fashion' I think Glossika would be too difficult. Of course, with an audio only approach, I'm neglecting reading right now, but I'm not worried. I'll devote time to that in the future. Japanese is a bit different though as it takes time to amass the kanji, so if I were doing this for Japanese I'd probably also try to incorporate some kanji study along the way. In the long run, learning hiragana and katakana will be a drop in the bucket in your Japanese journey and, I think, worth the time upfront to get it out of the way.

I don't ever feel demotivated, but sometimes I have a pang and start dreaming about doing more and progressing faster with Thai. But, then I wake up and remember that if I did this I'd be sacrificing my progress in Japanese and French, which I am not willing to do right now. If the pangs became strong enough, I'd reevaluate my priorities among these three languages and where Thai fits in. Since I've incorporated Thai into the mix in October, I fortunately haven't had to reevaluate, yet.
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby Xenops » Wed Jan 18, 2017 7:58 pm

I find that I only stay motivated in a language if I spend significant amount of time each day to it, and if I'm making good progress.
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby moo » Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:29 pm

I'm doing this with Thai at the moment by listening to one GSR file from Glossika every night before bed. During the first weeks, I often choose sleep, but now it is an entrenched habit.


Glad to hear about your Thai journey and your progress with Japanese. ^_^

Thanks for the advice. Yep, that's the thing, I think I'll start to want to do more and more Japanese. Need to stick to a set amount of time and not go over the limit due to other commitments but I think I'll find that difficult as I love to spend a lot of time with a language when I first start to learn it and the lack of progress could be a real problem for someone like me
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby smallwhite » Wed Jan 18, 2017 11:27 pm

moo wrote:Just wondering how others go about learning a language in a more casual fashion .


What do you mean by more casual? Less time per day, or not spending money, or lower goals, or?
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby Ani » Thu Jan 19, 2017 8:08 am

ロータス wrote:If you are learning Japanese "purely for fun" than you shouldn't get "demotivate" by your "progression ...be[ing] super slow" since you want to "[learn] a language in a more casual fashion".


moo wrote:Thanks but I don't think it's for you to say whether I "should" or "shouldn't " feel a certain way. You are not me, motivation could be a problem for me , in an ideal world I'd have unlimited time but unfortunately I don't .


I highly doubt he was trying to say you should not as in you ought not do it, but should not in the sense that you will not be demotivated by slow progress since you know you are putting in slow effort.

Personally then I am confused as to what you are asking since you mention demotivation but also that you expect to have huge desire to spend more and more time on the language. Can't see how you have both. Maybe you are putting the cart before the horse and should just try something and then ask about more specific problems that arise in trying to balance three languages?
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby Cainntear » Thu Jan 19, 2017 10:37 am

moo wrote:I know my progression will be super slow and that may demotivate me.

If that's likely to happen, then I winder why you would even bother starting. Personally, slow progress demotivates me utterly and without making a conscious decision to, I just stop. When I'm learning a language, I have to be focused and I have to be committed.
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moo
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby moo » Thu Jan 19, 2017 11:54 am

What do you mean by more casual? Less time per day, or not spending money, or lower goals, or?


Hey, it's not about money, it's just I want to learn French and German for life and reach high levels. I guess at the start anyway I don't have goals for Japanese as , yeah, less time per day basically and it's more casual in that sense. I was just asking if anyone is doing this with a language and how they go about doing it , maybe not having fluency in sight , not having a lot of time etc
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moo
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Re: Any tips for casually learning a language?

Postby moo » Thu Jan 19, 2017 11:56 am

Personally then I am confused as to what you are asking since you mention demotivation but also that you expect to have huge desire to spend more and more time on the language. Can't see how you have both


If I'm restricted to little time, i'll make virtually no progress which is where the problem lies (leads to loss of motivation)
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