Me at 5 am on the way to SYD airport
Hello, Heros
Cheers to another side quest. I'm currently in the travel spirit before my big trip to Japan.
Throwback to when I was coming home from my study abroad semester in Australia and I watched the entire John Wick series in a row. Yeah, from start to finish.
To be fair, what else was I supposed to do on a 16 hour nonstop flight? This was the best case scenario in my opinion.
Also the australian airline was serving free wine and I was sleep deprived from leaving at 7 in the morning and walking with 70lbs worth of luggage to the airport, until evidendly a pity call to acquire an uber made me fold my hand.
But I will never forget this quote from the fourth movie:
Freindship means little when it's convenient Koji (Osaka continental hotel manager) John Wick Chapter 4
SIDE QUEST
子にちわ！私の名前わJoseph
(hello! My name is Joseph)
I've been learning Japanese over the past few months, and I'm proud to say that i'm currently on a 122 day streak on Duolingo. (yes, go on. you can clap now).
Learning Spanish in high school was one thing, but trying to learn japanese is like dusting-off bowls in china shop while on 400mg of caffine.
Mistakes are bound to happen.
But i've actually continuously saught after mistakes in this process because of how rewarding it is to actually correct these mistakes. It also reinforces learning a lot faster than simply trying to avoid mistakes.
My side quest goal? complete a 365 day streak in duolingo japanese, and maybe consider exploring different learning techniques to eventually become profficient. ex. other courses or in-person chats, maybe with friends I meet in Japan? (would be insanely hype)
Language proficiency exists on a scale, starting from A1 and going to A2, B1,B2,C1 and eventually C2: the most proficient. (probably not my lifelong goal, considering how hard japanese is, but B2 might be the level where i'm honestly aiming for.)
Add me on duolingo! @jetblizzard
EXP share
Here are my tips to learning any language as fast as flipping possible:
- Sound out and actually prononciate each word/character they give you. This helps a ton for solidifying the synapse connection each instance you hear the given word. Actually activating mouth muscles creates additional pathways to remember something.
- Practice twice a day if possible: once in the morning and once at night. This spaces out learning to consistantly keep language learning present and always active in your mind.
- Notice patterns and look up any questions about parts of speech. This happened when i noticed "wa" (わ）constantly appering in japanese, I thought for the longest time it was translated to "is" but it's actually a topic marker. now I know for future lessons.
- Biggest one? embrace the material and have fun. Enjoying it makes learning it faster.
Embrace ENTROPY!
Photograph:
Vivid Sydney Neon Art Sculpture
Photographer: Joseph Shoemaker - Original Art installation artist unknown
Thanks for reading DO MORE SIDE QUESTS! I’ll see you in the next one.
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Cheers,
Joseph Shoemaker | Jet Blizzard
