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I don't mess around when it comes to learning languages.  If I am going to spend time studying, I'm going to get the most out of my time.  I try to learn the best hacks for quick and efficient study.  After 13 years of teaching and studying languages, I've got a few tricks up my sleeves.

Despite that, I’ve never really reached what I’d call advanced level.  This is mostly due to dedication and balancing different goals.  I’m conversational in Japanese and Mandarin and learned a hell of a lot of Cantonese Spanish and Indonesian for the very short time I spent with them, but I’ve never really become what I would call fully fluent in anything. 

Since I am back in Japan, I’ve been trying my best to continue learning Japanese even though I’m busy with a million other things.  

I used to be able to read novels at about 80% speed with about 90% understanding. I could never understand news though, and after 6 years outside Japan, I’ve lost about 20-30% of my vocabulary and fluency. 

Some people say “Just speak with more people, you’ll get better”. This is fine if you are trying to become **conversational**, but that's different from **fluent**. My problem is understanding things that are outside of my daily routine and my own personal context. If I want to understand stories, I need to read more stories. For news I need more news. 

Vocabulary and listening are my weak points. That’s why I use very particular study methods to improve my level now, and I think these will help me finally move from upper-intermediate to advanced level. 

##### #1 Learning from the city
**There are a ton of signs in Tokyo.** You are constantly being bombarded with words and phrases. There are shops everywhere with signs, advertisements on the train. official notices, bulletin boards with community activity info, political candidate posters, street signs. Words everywhere. 

I feel like I’ve wasted my entire time in Japan not paying attention to these. The past two weeks I’ve been studying this kind of stuff in context.  It’s extremely helpful. 

四輪車通り抜け不可　4 wheel vehicles cannot pass
調剤　filling a prescription 
実施中 In operation
収納 storage

These are all words I’ve never had to use for my daily life but which I come across sometimes so it’s best to know them. 

I also learn some words from conversation and news headlines

温室効果ガス greenhouse gases
候補者 candidate 
痴呆症 dementia
半導体 semiconductor 
接種 vaccination 
爪楊枝　toothpick 
 
I talk to a lot of people for work so I sometimes hear about family members with dementia, or we talk about current events and they mention things like semiconductor shortages or presidential candidates.  Some people think these words aren't useful, but I would say, that depends on whether you want to be **conversational** or **fluent**.  True fluency needs an understanding of words beyond one's own daily context.

Obviously I know most people reading can’t understand the Japanese, but as usual, I just want to give you an idea of what I’m studying. 

**I then make flash cards for these words.** 

##### #2 Studying media

When I say studying media, I don’t just mean watching a TV show. I mean studying every line. I get close to memorizing them. 

Games and anime are the best for Japanese because there are so many and a bunch of them are good. Movies and books work too although books will take a very long time to get through. 

I practice reading these sentences at lightning speed without any mistakes. This actually helps my listening and overall grammar because I get used to the grammar and vocab at super speed which is the speed you need to be able to understand it if you want better listening. 

[As I mentioned before](https://peakd.com/hive-181017/@selfhelp4trolls/could-you-memorize-2500-vocabulary-words-in-100-days-with-just-a-few-minutes-a-day-its-easy--p) I’m watching **Made in Abyss** and playing **NieR: Reincarnation** on my phone. 


![342B9096-16B3-4922-B83F-E957ED12BF18.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/selfhelp4trolls/243BgBZycoYy1SkoLLvkLM1jwzTuuRWfpbqv2wadEzp3aFwsMbUhybfUH6vCwkHq9HFjy.png)


I chose this game because it has a lot of stories which are almost told like poetic fairy tales. The vocabulary is extremely diverse, with lots of verbs and adjectives that you don't use in daily conversation but with need to understand stories and the grammar isn’t easy either. 



I learned words like:

たぐいまれ unique (written)
朽ち果てる completely rotten
漠然 vague
命を落とす lose one’s life
礼拝 worship 
錆びつく to be covered in rust
原型　prototype
追い払う to disperse 
急所 vital point
入手 acquisition 
草木 vegetation 
凄惨　gruesome

These words all need context, otherwise I’ll surely use them incorrectly if I can even think of them to use at all.  That's why I try to memorize or get close to memorizing every line.   Since they aren’t words I use in daily life but could use at some point, I need to put extra effort into memorizing them in context.

I don't have much time so I do this 2 or 3 times a week for 20 minutes.


##### #3 Flashcards - review

I mentioned it previously but I review all new words with flashcards using an app. I find flashcards incredibly useless if it’s not connected to context…but when the words are connected to context, it’s incredibly useful. 

I’m still trying my best to learn 150 words a week. It’s hard to balance with everything else but I think I’m managing at least 100, sometimes more. 

Hopefully within a year I can understand when watching tv or other media and get back to reading at natural speed 😛  If you are at a loss for how to move from intermediate to advance in a language, I recommend trying these methods out.  At the very least, you will improve your vocabulary and your reading fluency.



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##### My music:

https://youtu.be/cfjCagMwoVE

##### My lazy vlogs:

https://youtu.be/11JrTlM8BIU

https://youtu.be/oJbVgyoeiY4


##### my mini-novella series:

## [Confessions of the Damaged](https://books2read.com/u/4ERDlE) - Out Now! 
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#### 📕 [Confessions of the Damaged](https://books2read.com/u/4ERDlE) OUT NOW :-)


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