Hello my friends!
So, do you guys know the Add1Challenge? It's a "video-based challenge" created by Brian Kwong to help people with motivation, for those wanting either to learn a new language or improve your level in a language that you already speak. The challenge lasts 90 days (or less, depending on your choice), and the idea is to study every single day.
At the beginning of the challenge you have to set a goal for the 90 days, and my goal was to be able to have a 5 minute unscripted conversation with a native.
Surprisingly, it worked! Haha During the last 90~100 days I've studied a little bit every single day. I started off with Michel Thomas (which I found amazing, probably the best way to start), then moved to JFBP 1, which I hated and abandoned after lesson 3, and finally I started with Genki 1, which is also great. Actually, I've just finished Genki 1 and I'll probably get Genki 2 anytime soon.
During the 90 days, I also started having lessons on Italki with an amazing teacher (you can see that below, on the 3rd video), and it helped me a lot! After ~1 month I was having 1 hour chats/lessons with this teacher, which were ~80% in Japanese!
Anyway, during the challenge I recorded myself in Japanese 3 times, and I would like to share that with you! To be 100% transparent, I'll tell the story of each video underneath its link (all of them have subtitles in English):
Fabricio's first attempt to speak Japanese after 3 weeks - #Add1Challenge 2
Partially scripted, partially unscripted. The part in the living room was scripted before hand, the other parts were natural.
Cooking with Fabricio in Japanese! - #Add1Challenge 2
Pretty much the same as the last one. I looked up some unknown words beforehand, such as "garlic", "olive oil", "to heat up"... but the long take was natural.
Fabricio's last update! Speaking Japanese with a native - #Add1Challenge 2
100% unscripted. I've achieved my goal! =D \o/ \o/ \o/
I know, I'm light-years far from being fluent or anything like that, but becoming conversational in Japanese is not as hard as most people might think.
Anyway, sorry if I'm being silly, but I just wanted to share my joy and maybe motivate other beginners like me, who might be afraid of voice-chats. =)
Believe me, I'm sure you know a lot more than you think you do, and even if you don't know a word or how to say a sentence, it's not a big deal at all! Just look it up on an online dictionary and try to produce a sentence! Japanese people are usually very nice, patient and helpful with people learning their language, they won't bite!
I hope you guys like it! =)
So, do you guys know the Add1Challenge? It's a "video-based challenge" created by Brian Kwong to help people with motivation, for those wanting either to learn a new language or improve your level in a language that you already speak. The challenge lasts 90 days (or less, depending on your choice), and the idea is to study every single day.
At the beginning of the challenge you have to set a goal for the 90 days, and my goal was to be able to have a 5 minute unscripted conversation with a native.
Surprisingly, it worked! Haha During the last 90~100 days I've studied a little bit every single day. I started off with Michel Thomas (which I found amazing, probably the best way to start), then moved to JFBP 1, which I hated and abandoned after lesson 3, and finally I started with Genki 1, which is also great. Actually, I've just finished Genki 1 and I'll probably get Genki 2 anytime soon.
During the 90 days, I also started having lessons on Italki with an amazing teacher (you can see that below, on the 3rd video), and it helped me a lot! After ~1 month I was having 1 hour chats/lessons with this teacher, which were ~80% in Japanese!
Anyway, during the challenge I recorded myself in Japanese 3 times, and I would like to share that with you! To be 100% transparent, I'll tell the story of each video underneath its link (all of them have subtitles in English):
Fabricio's first attempt to speak Japanese after 3 weeks - #Add1Challenge 2
Partially scripted, partially unscripted. The part in the living room was scripted before hand, the other parts were natural.
Cooking with Fabricio in Japanese! - #Add1Challenge 2
Pretty much the same as the last one. I looked up some unknown words beforehand, such as "garlic", "olive oil", "to heat up"... but the long take was natural.
Fabricio's last update! Speaking Japanese with a native - #Add1Challenge 2
100% unscripted. I've achieved my goal! =D \o/ \o/ \o/
I know, I'm light-years far from being fluent or anything like that, but becoming conversational in Japanese is not as hard as most people might think.
Anyway, sorry if I'm being silly, but I just wanted to share my joy and maybe motivate other beginners like me, who might be afraid of voice-chats. =)
Believe me, I'm sure you know a lot more than you think you do, and even if you don't know a word or how to say a sentence, it's not a big deal at all! Just look it up on an online dictionary and try to produce a sentence! Japanese people are usually very nice, patient and helpful with people learning their language, they won't bite!
I hope you guys like it! =)
Thank you for sharing!
