(2016-06-08, 2:35 pm)gaiaslastlaugh Wrote: I don't read a lot of "Japanese learning" blogs per se. None, really. I think there's a period at the beginning where it makes sense to dig into different methods, software, learning styles, etc., and forge one's own self-styled learning program. Once you get past a certain point, it's much more worthwhile just to immerse yourself in the language.
I absolutely agree. Since I am the main writer for KawaJapa, this may seem a bit strange of me, but I really think English-language Japanese blogs are a huge distraction.
Of course I hope what I write helps people, and therefore hope they will read some of it. But getting "blogged down" in our blog or anyone else's is not something I recommend at all.
The web seems to be full of people blathering about Japanese, and always in English. English has a huge magnetic power, and not only for native English speakers.
I spent a very short time in Tokyo (less than a week before I fled back to the Mie-prefecture countryside where gaikokujin are as rare as talking dolls) in a kind of shared house arrangement that turned out to be mainly inhabited by gaikokujin.
One of the first people I met there was a French student, who was studying at a Japanese university. Before he even saw me (I was on the other side of a half-open door) he greeted me in English.
I do not speak English in Japan, so I replied with a hesitant “Sumimasen…”
The door was open by now and the Frenchman stared at me.
“Nihonjin desu ka? Iya…”
He was clearly shocked and surprised. He seemed to look over my shoulder in case four horsemen were about. Here was a European-ish looking foreigner in Japan speaking -
Japanese. Why on earth would that happen? Even if I was a Finn or a Russian, surely I could summon up some English.
However, when it became clear that I didn’t speak English, we continued quite happily in Japanese. We spoke on several occasions afterward and always in Japanese. But under “normal circumstances” every word we said to each other would have been English, even though we were in Japan and both perfectly capable of communicating in Japanese.
We communicated in Japanese because we had to. There wasn’t another language that both of us were able/willing to talk.
I do think meta-Japanese activities in English are one of the things that help to prevent and disrupt real immersion. When I participate in this forum I find myself thinking in English afterwards. Regulars probably notice that I tend to participate in fairly-intense bursts and then go a long time without coming here.
In fact, since Japanese acquisition is a passion of mine I do like to discuss it and there seem to be very few people who are willing to discuss it in Japanese, so I occasionally give in to the temptation. But I know it isn't good for my Immersion.
I have learned some genuinely useful things in this little burst of activity, and I hope I have helped some people, so that is my excuse.
So I guess to sum up I would say that if "learning Japanese" is fundamentally an activity that one pursues from an English-speaker perspective (one's
default language remains English), then English-language Japanese blogs are fine, but if one is intending to move a substantial part of one's consciousness into Japanese immersion, then ... well they can provide useful information at times, but mainly they are a mirage that keeps one away from the true oasis.
And as mama (in the cafe-proprietress sense) of KawaJapa I think I can fairly say that I am not trying to be mean to anyone and am speaking against my own "interest".
But it is what I really believe.
Edited: 2016-06-10, 11:03 am
( although, it does look like something is changing, stay tuned...) japaneselevelup.com is a good one too. Do you guys know anymore? I would prefer if the blogger already knows Japanese( i.e. can read, speak, and write it) as opposed to just learning. Thanks guys 
