#so u know what happened? i only learned the 300 kanji. nothing else. in tons of hours. in at LEAST 700 hours of study

[rigelmejo]

The only language studying advice I’ve got that matters much, as in isn’t take or leave (because most advice really depends on the person and their preferences for how to study), is this:

if you study for enough cumulative hours, and are regularly spending study time on some new material that is requiring you to learn something (compared to picking 1 study material and reviewing it but never ever moving onto a new material with unknowns you must learn), you will make progress. 

Most people, eventually, will move onto studying something regularly challenging them with new material to learn. Usually when they realize they weren’t learning anything new long enough. (I’m a perfectionist so I perhaps realize slower than some people when I’m reviewing material to the point of refusing to move onto new challenging material that would provide more to new stuff to learn). So for the most part, as long as you just study Enough Hours, you will eventually make progress. 

There’s no fancy perfect or ‘better’ study method. Maybe there is for you personally. So it could be fun to explore various study methods. But in the end it mostly comes down to time spent studying. So WHATEVER study methods are ones you can do, and keep getting yourself to do, are the BEST ones for you to make progress with. (And its fine to change study methods if it gets you to KEEP studying). Because in the end, its going to be hundreds or thousands of hours you just need to spend reviewing what you’ve learned by practicing with it, and studying new stuff to increase what you know.

People like to argue sometimes that textbook study is best, or classroom study, or tutors, or immersion, flashcards, mnemonics, context learning, drills, audio lessons, etc. Pick whatever you can stick to, change it if you realize now you can get yourself to Do something else easier. If textbooks are something you get yourself to do, then do them. If you refuse to open textbooks you buy, then use something you WILL use more often. Whatever you pick will work if you put in the study hours. 

TLDR: the best study methods for YOU are the ones you will do, because the amount of total study time you put in is the biggest thing influencing if you make progress. 

Don’t worry too much about if your study method is perfect or if another would be ‘better.’ If you feel like switching it up, have fun. If you feel a method you’d hate looks effective, if you won’t do it then it wouldn’t be effective anyway.

*Note: if you have perfectionist tendencies or tend to stick to trying to master current materials (my worst tendency), my personal suggestion is maybe try to make sure 50% of your study time is spent on something containing Something new and challenging. To make sure you’re regularly making some progress in learning new material. (Examples: if you have read a graded reader then listening to the audiobook would provide at least 1 new thing to challenge yourself and learn - listening skills of those words you read, if you find a new novel chapter with mostly known words but a few new ones - it has some new words to learn and new sentences combinations of words you know, if you are listening to review of something you entirely know and can comprehend in listening then consider trying to shadow the audio so you can challenge yourself with new pronunciation practice, and of course stuff like reading a book/watching a show with a bunch of new words or having a conversation in a new topic would contain new challenging material to learn). 

#rant #90% of reddit language forums drama comes down to the arguement of what works 'best' #in reality most people who fail to learn a language fail because they give up before they put 500 hours - 2500 hours into it #so the most important factor of if you will succeed if if you will simply KEEP studying #so pick whatever you'll keep doing! #classrooms/tutors work well for people who like to be held accountable by a teacher #learning by context works well for me because it requires me to run into new material to learn and lets me learn by Doing which is what i #personally prefer. audio lessons work GREAT if you listen to stuff a lot while commuting/exercising #drills work Great if you do them! its just some people refuse to do them so of course they wouldnt work if you arent doing them #learning by reading works but only if you WILL read the amount it requires #and i only mention the *must regularly study something new* part #because as a perfectionist. in japanese i literally reviewed 300 kanji for TWO YEARS STRAIGHT refusing to study anything else out of fear #i wasnt prepared for ANYTHING else until i MASTERED the 300 basic kanji #so u know what happened? i only learned the 300 kanji. nothing else. in tons of hours. in at LEAST 700 hours of study #in retrospect. i know i could have learned at least 2000 words. at least 1000 kanji. at least basic reading ability with a dictionary #in 700 hours. if i had actually regularly been studying new challenging material as at least 50% of my study time #so as a person with perfectionist tendencies. i personally need 50% or more of all study time to always have SOME new content to learn