Mini check-in after two months of immersion!

  • Comprehension is improving. I still have to pay serious attention to follow anything, but when I do I am getting somewhere around 75% of what’s said, depending on the content.

  • Wearing earbuds makes a massive difference in being able to parse what’s being said. Playing anything over laptop speakers or thru the TV itself makes me drop to < 50% understanding. I assume this will get easier as my brain gets more used to German, right? I hope so…

  • I listen to the audio of shows I’ve already watched using my mp3 player while I’m at the gym and bike commuting. This has been really helpful after active immersion / sentence mining, I recommend it!

  • I’m not really using Anki at all. I’m just writing down new things that I hear into a notepad. I still call this sentence mining though 🙂

  • This month I finished Neon Genesis: Evangelion (series + movies), and I’m now watching Star Blazers as well as this very gay drama on ARD called All You Need. Honestly it’s terrible but it’s an antidote to all the schoolgirl anime I’ve watched thus far. Men with beards! Finally 😂

  • I’ve begun watching some YouTubers to shift toward “native content for natives” instead of dubs; mostly videogame channels including Ulti and Jinja. Deutsch mit Benjamin is also oddly compelling!!!

  • Pokemon: Smaragd Edition in German is awesome! Download the mGBA emulator and start playing!

Verdict

OK so I feel like I’m spending a TON of time in immersion between all of these different mixed up activities. Not sure if I can maintain this level through the fall, once classes start in October it’ll be harder. But my motivation is sky-high right now.

If this keeps up, I’m hopeful I can bump to stage Stage 2C by the end of October! Time will tell. Exciting!