I know resolutions can be a little silly and get dropped quickly. But setting goals is good practice, and any excuse for self-reflection is a valid one.
So yeah, what goals do you have in mind? Bonus points if you can be specific, realisitic, and/or measurable.
Do you plan to start a new language this year? Hit new milestones with ones you’re already learning?
My goal is just consistency. My spanish is coming along slowly, but it hasn’t always been steady. Sometimes, I just stop. This year, I just want to keep it consistent. At least some content, most days, even if only a short video.
If you have a platform that you check consistently for English content it helps a lot to find material there so it’s just part of your normal media consumption and not a thing you have to actively do. Like subscribing to Spanish youtube channels alongside your other channels. And if you can jump to native content instead of learner’s content it will be much more interesting even if you don’t understand everything immediately.
I avoid Youtube as much as possible, so that makes it harder
That being said, I use Dreaming Spanish for my native hispanohablante content. Plenty of content, and more every day. The biggest issue is whilst I love some of the content, quite often, I find myself struggling to stay engaged. And that’s the part I need to focus on. They have plenty of content, and I can find it if I go looking. I just need to make sure I do :)
It doesn’t have to be youtube, thankfully there’s Spanish content in most places. Dreaming Spanish seems nice, but yeah, actively looking for it is the hard part.
I’m still focused on the N2 (upper intermediate) Japanese proficiency exam, early December.
Still not entirely sure how attainable a passing score is just yet. I’m on track to finish my current intermediate textbook (Tobira) sometime in March, which gives me 8-9 months with Shinkanzen Master, a book that targets the JLPT specifically. My kanji will be fine, and going off my current vocab list and pace, I’ll have enough vocab in my SRS cycle but not a ton of time with the last of it. My listening comp’s going to be behind, just have to do the best I can there and make up for it in other areas.
The timeline feels tight, so I’m putting production skill on the backburner. Really not ideal, but the proficiency exam doesn’t test for it, and I only get to take the exam once a year. I’ll switch to focusing on production either way after the exam.
This is the opposite of me. I speak and listen well (do my own doctor, dentist, banking, business, etc.) but my brain just sucks at learning kanji. I also have never been able to get into manga or really anime. Reading is such a slog I always just give up.
By our powers combined… lol
I’m actually not a huge fan of anime/manga, I consume a little here and there. I’m more into visual novels and games. Although most of the native reading I’m doing right now is on Bluesky, or news articles.
To connect with my sister’s widow. She killed herself last year, was an international translator (spoke 12), and her husband & son both speak Italian. I’m trying to learn mostly to connect with the husband because her son is still very young (7).
I’m sorry that happened, but that’s really great that you’re trying to honor her and connect with her family. Whatever we do, human connection is usually the best of it. Good luck!
Grazie.
Aiming to pass the JLPT N3 in December. I know N3 is a pretty big jump up from N4, and I’ve kinda been slacking on my studies - still keeping up with SRS, but I know SRS alone isn’t really learning. Life stuff has just kept me too busy to make time for that big pile of manga. But I’m sure if I start picking up the pace, I can get there by December. I just have to procrastinate less and immerse more.
Secondary goal, maybe try to finish a JRPG. I sorta skimmed through Puyo Puyo Box last year, but I really only skimmed, and I’d like to actually try to dig into something more story-driven. That’s going to be a harder challenge, may or may not be one I’ll be ready for by the end of this year, but we’ll see where I’m at. There’s a few possible candidates I have in mind to try, pick one out, start on it and see if it feels doable.
Can be tough for me to approach games at the right balance, it’s so easy just keep playing as if there’s no text or to get bogged down looking up every little thing. What candidates do you have in mind?
Also, curious to hear your impressions once you get through all those manga.
First one I’m thinking of is Summon Night Swordcraft Story 3, I actually own a copy of this I picked up used when I visited Japan as part of a tour group when I was in high school. Loved the first two games, been waiting for that translation patch that’s been in development hell for forever, maybe I should just try to play it myself.
Second one, Boktai 3. First two games are so near and dear to my childhood, when the third game didn’t get localized I convinced my parents to sign me up for Japanese classes on the weekend just because I wanted to play it on original hardware with the Solar Sensor. Ended up dropping it because it was hard and I had too much trouble keeping up with my actual schoolwork, but now that I’m trying again as an adult maybe I could revisit the childhood holy grail.
Or maybe a Tales game, any of the ones that still aren’t translated yet.
But I’m also thinking about how when I tried to skim through Box, the pixel font was kind of a struggle for me. Might be better to play something newer, ideally something with Furigana. Though the appeal for me is to play games that don’t have localizations, and almost every modern game does now.
As for the manga, so far I have finished Yotsubato, RuriDragon, and Look Back. Enjoyed them all, but I needed a lot of help from those Wanikani vocab lists. Got a bookmark partway through Shirokuma Cafe, but haven’t been feeling this one as much. And since I started with the ones LearnNatively ranked as easiest, I fear the rest are getting harder from here…
je voudrais atteindre le fin du niveau B1 en français. C’est n’est pas trop loin, vraiment!
I’ll focus more on output/production in Japanese (mainly written). The goal is to gain confidence and stop trying to “overcorrect” myself and stop triple checking everything. I’ll start by writing a new year card to my teacher and my host family back in Japan. :)
I also want to keep developing the app I started last year, perhaps for a public release if I feel confident enough.
I’ve been learning Norwegian on and off for a while now but haven’t used it much. I want to make it part of daily life this year and maybe use it more actively. Speaking with natives would be best but it’s pretty hard to do that without living in Norway.
B2 or greater Norwegian.
I should probably attempt to get better at japanese, particularly kanji
@emb I want to use a little bit of Esperanto and Japanese every day.
Personally, I’ll be continuing with Japanese. I want to:
- Finish learning to write the joyo kanji (currently at 1400/2200 in Remembering the Kanji)
- Go through Genki II (currently have only done chapter 13 and half of 14; this textbook has chapters 13-23)
There are other things too, but these two points I want to commit to. Textbook should go quicker now that I have kanji under my belt; last year I dropped it to focus on RTK. All the while still watching videos, listening to podcasts, doing my Anki core 2k deck, and reading Tadoku and NHK Easy regularly. I think I could realisitically finish a (kid-targeted) RPG or short chapter book in Japanese, but those will be strech goals.
Would like to try the N4 exam, but I don’t know that a site is near me. Maybe someday.
That’s awesome! I have kinda-ish similar goals. Want to try N4 in October (well… Goal is N3, realistic is N4). Not half as far as you with Kanji though.
Thanks! It feels a little lopsided going for Kanji first, but to me it always felt like such a stumbling block reading or doing grammar when I have to stop and check the characters often. I figure, gotta learn 'em eventually anyway.
Good luck with your studies! Definitely understand the desire to aim a little lower. For me the test is just a personal benchmark, it doesn’t open any doors. I’d hate to very publicly go off to take it, stress hard studying, and then not come close to passing. Aiming a level down, there’s more confidence.
