I tried learning a new language for 30 days

Learning a new language is often difficult because of the consistency and the time that it requires. Because that time can range from like six months to several years. So that's why I start learning a new one. challenge behind this is not only learning a new language, but also the fact that as you get older, it's usually more difficult to add a new language to your brain. Now, if you're currently learning a new language, or if you want to learn a new language, which language is it, let me know. me, choosing a new language to learn. It came down to three different things. Practicality, interest, and ease. I mean, let's be honest, because I live in the US of a it shouldn't be Spanish, but I wanted to try something outside of that. So I asked people that exact question and later put the pros and cons of each. And while Korean was the most popular, maybe because of one of my recent videos, I also thought of Mandarin. But I eventually landed on Japanese. So let me be the first to say Konichiwa. Personally, I've been interested in the Japanese culture for quite some time, and that only enhanced with things like movies. TV shows and wanting to run in the Tokyo Marathon one day. But the reality is, I know that it's more difficult for me to immerse myself in the Japanese language and culture in my area. my personal goal is to be able to one day watch any Japanese anime, or read some manga, and understand at least 75% of what they're saying or what I'm reading. Obviously, that can't happen in a month, though. Okay, let me be the first to say that there are so many resources out there when it comes to learning a new language, especially Japanese. But I ended up downloading Duolingo anyway. And I know this may not be the best for some, but it's definitely the most popular right now And has been for a while. And I also think the game factor will kind of help me be consistent and just be more interested to continue to learn the language. I have some friends that are learning other different languages, and they have a streak of at least a year, and I heard of and know some others that are just beyond that, which is crazy. I'm going to be honest, though, and say that I'm also looking forward to this app that supposed to be released later this year called Flu Yo. But as I started with Duolingo, I quickly went through the intro stuff and sped through a few lessons. Although I thought it was kind of weird to start with ordering food, but hey, what do I know? Jack? Could I say. Oh, Jack. Kudzai. He. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Making progress. I made it through the first week and honestly, I hope this isn't like the honeymoon phase where I'm like, I'm all excited and then eventually it'll fade out and I just don't want to lose the streak at this point. And I know it's only been a week. It's crazy. Now, throughout the units you hit these doors that make you learn about the Japanese alphabet before continuing. Which, by the way, the Japanese writing system has three different parts. I'll try to pronounce them correctly, but we'll see how this goes. You got hiragana, katakana and kanji. And so far we've been chilling right here. And as I continued, I realized that, like, there wasn't that much repetition when it came to learning all these various characters. And so I began to forget a lot of them. And because of that, I think I jumped the gun a little bit. Sure. Yeah. So I went and got a journal. I found a video that went through each character, and I drew each one five times and wrote how to pronounce them. After doing this, I was like, is this a good idea? And then I was like, no idea. But what's done is done at this point. No. many things happened. I started watching more videos that help explain things a little further. And I joined Super Duolingo because I was getting tired of those ads. Power up with super Duolingo. The advanced way to learn a language. A few days after, I started learning Japanese. My friend Michael started learning Mandarin because his wife is fluent in it. His wife started learning Japanese and Spanish. His cousin is currently learning Italian and Abigail wants to get back on to learning Spanish. Thus, we join the Super Duolingo Family plan. The more people, the better and cheaper. On top of all this, I also don't know if this was a good idea, but I started watching other people's experience while learning the Japanese language. Even then, I know that like, people learn differently, And the main reason I kept looking at other people's experience is because I was getting frustrated. I'm not gonna lie with the words sort of incorrect as far as like the the grammar behind it because it was kicking my butt. So I took a lot of L's this week. I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of sad. Of course, Duolingo was happy to remind me of my progress report in my email. that clearly I'm on the decline, but I didn't want to let that hurt my motivation. How's your, your your Mandarin training going? I do it every day before I go to sleep. I many how many lessons would you say you do a day, though? I used to be, like, three, right? Yeah, exactly. But now that's how I kind of feel like it's a little bit of a chore right now. Because there's a lot going on. So I just do 1 to 2. But you're doing it just because you want to keep the streak alive. That's literally it. Okay. It's interesting. But you. One would say you're more afraid of the bird than the actual, Or whatever you think of the bird. Since the. Out of all the words that I've learned so far, the hardest one to pronounce is, Brazilian gin. But as gin Which just means Brazilian. But it just gets me sometimes. Because you would think that characters like these are pronounced ra RI and ru. But no, for some reason the r is pronounced differently, so it's pronounced la de. And do in my English mind just can't comprehend that. And it just trips me up every single time. But I at least know the symbols. I think. And I did think about like making myself some flashcards. But Duolingo also lets you just practice with the words that you've learned so far. So in my case, it's just 48 words. They also let you learn the characters whenever you want, which now makes it seem like my journal was just extra work. But I'm a firm believer in, like, the odds of you remembering something when you actually write it down is way higher than if you were to put it in your phone or something like that. So throughout this week, I eventually hit 30 days, but day 33 was actually four weeks somehow, and I'm currently on section one, unit five, and according to this email, I did better this week versus any other week. Onward and upward as they say. I actually don't know anybody that says that. Yeah, I know, that's it. This year, Canada doing this? No. He's Canadian. Let's is be okay in this It's interesting though, because even though I know with technology and the instantaneous culture that we live in, I kind of like want the process to speed up, even though I know that something like this takes time to develop and all that. It's just like if you were to start working out, you can expect huge major changes within the first month. Granted, it does happen to some people, but you can't expect to be a pro within a month at something, so it's just the way it is. But I do know that there's going to be a time when I'm asked to say a word without any romaji help. And I just have to trust the process that will help me get there. For now, I'm just proud of myself for not giving up. And the fact that I can say full sentences like Hotaru doko desker. If I ever have time in my life to visit any home you know, like in English and Spanish, when you like, say English and Spanish in the same sentence, they call it Spanglish. So with like English and Japanese. Is it called Japan? Lish or is there another name for it? I'm just curious. Will Duolingo be the only thing that I use as I continue to learn Japanese? Probably not, but I'll probably use it the most. Mainly because the whole game feature in the streak feature and just the there's some kind of psychology behind it. I'm sure. And I actually did try other apps while using Duolingo, but I think the overlap of different things made it a little overwhelming. I know I won't become fluent in Japanese just by using Duolingo, but at the same time, I think it's a perfect way to start learning a new language. If you want to do that and you can go at your own pace while keeping your streak alive, you can do one less than a day, or you can do 20 lessons a day. It's up to you. Go at your own pace. and even though Duolingo is one of the most popular, if not the most popular language learning software. Don't feel like you have to use it like there are plenty of other resources out there, and I just encourage you to take that first step. I guess all I got left to say is Johnny. I'm sure over time my pronunciation will get better, but it's a start. Sunday morning news quickly turns to afternoons. It's like that. I can barely go and catch it. Kinda how I feel when you.