Finally A First Language Laddering Post! In The Near Future I Hope To Start Posting Updates To My Personal

Finally a first language laddering post! In the near future I hope to start posting updates to my personal studying, maybe accompanied by study materials for others to use if I have the time! But first, I wanted to post an introduction.

Transcript of the images below the cut!

Language Laddering!

An Overview

I recently made a post asking about interest in me posting my personal Japanese -> Korean language laddering study journey and resources. And a lot of people seemed interested! Let's start off with an introduction to language laddering itself, since people may not have heard of it, or may not recognize this name for it! For my own personal stuff, I hope to post updates to my studies along with some resources as regularly as I can manage!

What is Language Laddering?

Language laddering, as I'm using the term, is a method of language study in which you use one target language (TL1) to learn a second target language (TL2). Basically, you cut your native language out of the equation and study in a target language!

How I Ladder

There are several methods you can use that I'd say count as language laddering, but I'm only going to go super in-depth into the methods I personally use!

If you study this way and have a specific method you love that I didn't mention, please mention it in a comment or reblog! I'd love to hear more methods.

Reading Japanese textbooks for Korean

Getting access to resources in Japanese is definitely harder because of international shipping, but I'm able to find store listings that offer sample pages! I've been using these until I can get the money to actually buy them.

In the meantime as I wait to get fully Japanese texts, I use the speaking pen from Learn Korean With BTS, haha- the speaking pen reads the book in four languages, and Japanese is one of them! So I just listen to it like an audiobook instead of reading the English!

Using apps and websites made by and for Japanese learners

While my Japanese dictionaries and apps are all in English, my Korean dictionaries and apps are all in Japanese!

I use an online Japanese-Korean dictionary on my phone, and when I practice grammar and other concepts in Korean, I use Japanese websites for Korean learners.

Recently, I've been using the site ハングルの森 to review basic grammar. I've been getting a pretty strong hold on Japanese grammar terms, too, which is exciting for more fully laddering!

Laddering languages in the way I choose to can be a very fun way to learn a new language and study one you've already been working on, but it doesn't work for everyone!

People who enjoy learning grammar and reading about how language works may enjoy it because they can learn grammar the way it's taught in their target language rather than how it's taught in their native language! This can be exciting, it's interesting to see how different languages teach concepts and learning grammar terms in a TL can open grammar-related doors! If you're a linguistics nerd like me, grammar-related doors are super exciting.

However, if you struggle a lot with understanding language instruction, and classroom language learning is really difficult for you, then it may only make things harder to try and use your TL's classroom language learning material for a new TL.

And that's okay! Not every learning method is for everyone. Learning through immersion may be easier and less frustrating if you struggle with classroom learning!

And guess what?

You can still ladder languages when doing immersion learning! Watching something in your new TL with subtitles for your stronger TL is one good way you can combine immersion learning with laddering!

I hope to post more about language laddering, although it will probably be pretty catered to my own personal study! People can feel free to send asks about anything specific they'd like to know! (Although I certainly am not an expert, so I can't answer everything)

Also, I know this post was SUPER text heavy, so thank you for making it to the end! I hope it wasn't too droning to read ^-^ Good luck with language laddering if you decide to try it!

spring semester aesthetic 🌷⛰☕️📝🪴🫧🥭🍵

something about this color scheme just DOES things to me i cant quite explain it …

all images from pinterest! i did not take them~

Fun things to do for immersion in your target language

Some things you can do in your target language that are fun and make you care more than when reading a textbook:

Cook a traditional recipe

Find a video in your target language on how to cook something you like from somewhere that speaks your target language. The motivation here is obvious- if you don't understand the recipe you won't be able to make the dish. Watch it once to find out what the ingredients are, and again when making the dish. Use your dictionary of choice to help out if needed.

2. Play a video game

I prefer turn-based games with RPG elements as I get a mix of dialogue and utility words like save, menu, attack, etc. Right now, I'm playing Dicey Dungeons in Chinese and Pokemon SoulSilver in Japanese (hiragana only). The consequence here is obvious, if you can't navigate menus or choose the wrong attack, the game will be harder.

Hard mode: Find a server with voice chat in your target language where teamwork or communication is important. Any MOBA or MMORPG comes to mind. You'll learn to communicate on the fly, and you'll learn a plethora of the foulest swear words imaginable.

3. Share your personal interests with others

Learn to talk about things that you do that are unique to you. Standard language courses teach you words that tend to be generally used: eat, sleep, drink, etc. What about things that are of special interest to you? Chances are, you will use this vocabulary more often than the average person, and you will be more passionate about the subject- this leads to higher motivation to retain this specialized vocabulary.

Then post it wherever you want, or in a diary, or talk about it to a native speaker.

4. Learn to tell a joke

Recite and rehearse jokes you find funny. Jokes in other languages reveal so much about the underlying culture that can't easily be translated. By understanding how to tell a joke in another language, you will gain more appreciation for the language itself. The upshot here is that telling a joke comes with social risk, so you will have to build the confidence before delivering the joke.

Bonus: Foreign language puns are hilarious.

5. Listen to a local radio station

Local radio stations have it all- interviews, ads, music, traffic updates, and more. Many of these are available online, so no need to move to the city and pull out your FM receiver! What's especially nice about this option is that radio hosts tend to enunciate and use proper language. Even if you don't understand every word, the grammar and structure of the language will slowly ingrain itself.

This is the most passive of the immersion techniques I use, but I've found many songs I enjoy through local radio stations. Then, I take a deep dive into the song lyrics and learn them, which is much more active. The goal is to learn the lyrics and rehearse them until I can sing along with the music.

gloomy autumn journaling challenge

a small intro!

hello everyone, it's ya girl yughost here with a small autumn challenge that might be of interest to some of you! those of you that follow me might remember that i recently finished the 100 day productivity challenge, which felt very rewarding, but also left me thinking "okay, what now?". even though the challenge took me over a year to complete, i realised how much i managed to document over the past year, so i thought it would be fun to do something similar, with a more gloomy feel just in time for the cold season.

this idea stems from the many "vlogtober" videos i've watched, as well as the autumn cozy studyblr challenges i've seen during my time here on tumblr.

info.

the challenge begins on september 23rd and ends on december 22nd

please reblog this post if you wish to participate!

this is not a productivity/studying challenge but rather a "diary/journal" challenge (images+"what i did today/how i felt etc."). however, you can treat it as one if you so wish!!!

the reason i've named it a "gloomy challenge" is to encourage low light/moody photographs: in the coming days where it will soon become dark at 4PM, it will probably be difficult to take bright photos, therefore i encourage everyone that partakes to not worry if their photos turn out bright or not - 'tis the spirit, after all!

you don't have to post every day! post however often you want! you don't have to start on the first day either - join whenever!

tag your posts with #gloomychallenge si i can keep track of all your posts and reblog them <3

the point.

the reason for this challenge existing in the first place is to try and document this autumn as much as possible! i scarcely do any "autumn activities" other than just looking at the leaves and trees in the yard, trying to burn the images into my eyeballs, so i thought i'd make this autumn more interactive for myself and see if anyone else wants to join the ride. the point is to be cozy, have fun and make some memories in the process :)

good luck and feel free to send me an ask if you wish <3

@ben-learns-smth @lacaffeina @notetaeker @frenchiepal @stargazerbibi @cravingstudyvalidation @studyblr-perhaps

i cant wait to be able to travel again and for the world to feel safe and normal. there were so many new places i planned to see this year and last year and return to others to explore more. i wanna go back to vietnam really bad and also go see cambodia, and visit all my classmates back in thailand or my coworkers in korea. now that ive progressed in my languages and started learning more im excited to be able to communicate better in more places

heyo ! update from school lol ive had 4/5 classes so far today and im overwhelmed. more detailed updates to come later but for now im off to archaeology !! (very excited for this one)