Hey everyone. This is my first post on the CIJ platform, and I thought I would share my experiences with CI after reaching 50 hours (never thought I would make it this far lol) and my experiences before CI.
Background:
Native English speaker who took Spanish classes from elementary schol to high school (pretty much mandatory in Texas). Didn’t really enjoy the way Spanish was taught to us (grammar drills, tests, textbooks, etc.), which negatively affected my overall enjoyment for language learning.
Fast forward to May 2023, I graduated with my bachelor’s degree and thought I should pick up language learning again. However, I wanted to do something other than Spanish, since I was forced to learn it. That is when I went with Japanese because of my love for the culture, video games, and animanga (Favorite mangas include One Piece, Berserk, and Hajime no Ippo).
First Approach:
Watched a lot of videos on AJATT/Refold from Khatzumoto and MattvsJapan. Followed their method(s) for about 1 year until I realized I didn’t like either of their approaches and felt I wasn’t making progress. Too much conscious study of the language, and it felt more like a chore than something I enjoyed doing each day. I burned out and stopped learning Japanese for a while after I did my last set of Anki flashcards (iykyk).
Current Approach:
Fast forward to November 2024. After watching a lot of videos regarding Comprehensible Input from Stephen Krashen, Steve Kaufmann, and Pablo from Dreaming Spanish, I decided to resume my journey to Japanese fluency with CI Japanese. The concept of acquisition versus learning, and focusing heavily on input first resonated with me. My attention span for the complete beginner videos was not good at first, so I started with 5-10 minutes a day to build the habit. Now, I do 30 minutes to 1 hour each day, with 30 minutes of input in the morning, and 30 minutes in the afternoon if I have time. I also rewatch videos often to solidify my understanding of the content. I usually don’t do any immersion in the evening because I’m mentally exhausted at this point. Hopefully in the future, I can get up to 2 hours of input each day.
What I’ve Learned:
- After 50 hours of CI, I would say most of the Complete Beginner videos I can follow at least 80% of it, with the higher difficulty videos at about %70.
- I’ve found that dividing my immersion time into multiple sessions throughout the day instead of just one allowed me to stay consistent and prevent burnout.
- The beginning of any journey, especially language learning, is rough at first, but my having faith and discipline in the process and not focusing so much on the outcome will yield a great reward. Tough time never last, only tough people last!
- It’s okay to have an easy day for language learning. I had always thought that I had to do a lot each day, but taking time away or just doing 10 minutes a day will benefit your mental health. An easy day keeps burnout at bay!
- For a while, I’ve always compared myself to the people who were doing at least 4 hours a day of comprehensible input, always asking myself “How do they have the time and energy?” In the end, I realized that everyone has their own pace and that I would effortlessly gain more input time when my comprehensibility of higher-difficulty content improved. Also, even if I had a lot of free time, I don’t think I would’ve spent 4+ hours immersing each day. My brain would look like a blobfish.
Conclusion:
Overall, I’m going to keep using CI (CIJ for Japanese) as my main method for acquiring languages. It’s natural, effortless, and doesn’t require conscious studying, which I love. It also conceptually resonates with my perspective of how one should acquire a language.
I hope my rambling in this post serves as a source of inspiration/motivation both aspiring and current language learner, especially someone who is just starting their journey. A huge thank you to the CIJ team for making it what it is today, for you have reignited my passion for language learning.
I will probably make another post on my progress between 100-150 hours. In the meantime, thank you all for reading and let me know if you have any questions regarding my language learning journey. Peace out!
P.S. - I’m also going on a 2-week trip to Japan in 3 weeks. Can’t wait!
TLDR: Most of my life, I learned languages through conscious study, which I disliked, Then, I found Comprehensible Input, which resonated with me and my goal to learn Japanese. Acquiring Japanese through CI has benefitted me in many ways and I plan to use this method for other languages.