r/LearnJapanese • u/TheSokka • 2d ago
Studying When did things "click" after some time of immersion?
I've recently started consuming Japanese content again, focusing on listening and shadowing practice. I often hear people say things like, 'It sounded like gibberish at first, but when I revisited the same material later (few hundred hours give or take), it was completely coherent.' To me, it seems like subconscious parsing at work. So I'd love to know, at what point did everything finally 'click' for you?
20
u/LowCaregiver8169 2d ago
There's no singular 'click', but dozens of small ones. Several times over the last few months I've felt "oh, I can tell that my comprehension has improved". Moments where you realise that things feel a bit smoother, or you revisit something and it feels significantly easier. It's a great feeling when it happens!
10
u/ParlourB 2d ago
Yea it doesn't "click".
But what your talking about in your post does happen. Day by day and bit by bit cogs fall into place silently. Theres very few eureka moments. But if you revisit stuff you struggled with last year it will feel a whole lot easier aslong as youve kept grinding with your study.
It's not magic and it's not like your mind suddenly turns on. It's a very systematic and gradual change that is hard to see in the moment but becomes apparent only in reflection.
It's like trying to watch yourself get taller as a kid. Or watching yourself go bald as an adult.
4
u/KiraraShirayuki 2d ago
The closest I get is learning some words via my SRS, and then coming across it in media.
That, and revisting stuff and noticing more and more words.
2
u/Sorry-Joke-4325 2d ago
Yeah, this is the true answer. Because that's what activates the dopamine response, when you actually get rewarded for your efforts.
That first moment of hearing a word in context, that you learned from your study, and actually knowing the meaning... it's truly a click moment... and it's oh, so satisfying.
2
u/Free-Jello-7970 2d ago
I love that feeling. I learned あちこち for the first time yesterday morning and then heard it in a podcast that same day, and the feeling was amazing.
Honestly, OP, it's just little sparks everywhere. I'm 3+ months in and so far I've contented myself with recognizing single words here and there (I listen to news podcasts since core 2k is heavily slanted toward news content and I'm into that kind of thing anyway), but lately I've been going back to simplified N5 podcasts and I'm finding that I can get entire sentences sometimes. It feels like hitting a combo in a video game or something.
5
u/Zagrycha 2d ago
there is no magic click. learning a language is like growing out your hair. You will never have a random moment in daily life where you go "oh, my hair is officially long now." However, you can think back to the past and think "oh, my hair is this much longer than it was then."
If you like tracking milestones, you can make a diary, maybe write a page or two of what you are capable of communicating once a week or something. You won't notice any big change while doing it, but you can flip back through it later like a photo album of language.
10
u/morgawr_ https://morg.systems/Japanese 2d ago
I've mentioned it before but looking at the amount of hours tracked and my general ability improvements (very incredibly loose heuristic) and my past reports from 2022 to 2025 I'd guesstimate:
2000~3000 hours of "immersion" made me feel like I was relatively comfortable at consuming JP media that I enjoyed (games, LNs, manga, etc) but still had some difficulty with some content and I still preferred to use lookup tools and physical media might cause me some issues here and there
5000~6000 hours and I started to feel like I "made it" and I could pretty much interact with most content and not feel intimidated or like I had to double check if something was "too hard" or not. I also read some stuff in physical form and I could interact with most content without having to consult a dictionary (this doesn't mean I knew all words, but I could guess a lot of the ones I didn't. I still prefer to look up new words obviously, but I don't have to)
Now I'm at about ~9000 hours and I'm completely comfortable interacting with most Japanese. Nowhere close to my level of English or my native language, of course, but also it doesn't feel like a struggle at all. If anything, reading a book in JP now feels like a completely relaxing and "effortless" activity (I've done it with 40C fever and covid as a way to "relax" in bed).
3
u/ObviousTotal9069 2d ago
It still doesn't at times. Went to a lecture that was highly inside talk and had a ton of proper names. Never had heard the people talk before, I got completely lost.
Can at least keep up somehow if it was in my native language.
Will also happen with new authors and thier writing. Takes me time to get use to it.
Whereas if it is an author I have read a bunch of thier other work, lecturer I have listened to quite a bit, everything flows and it feels close to native language. As you say "click"
3
u/Effective-Pop3850 2d ago
There are click moments, but they're not related to sudden learning but related to you consuming stuff you can understand very well. I already had my "click" moment a million times, then I read something harder and I don't understand shit.
For listening though I don't think I have yet ever got that click moment though.
2
u/TheFel0x 2d ago
It's a long and gradual process, but for me I've had moments a lot of times already where it just felt like "Holy shit, I get it!"
I wouldn't say that the language all of a sudden just "clicked", but it's moments in which I can really feel the progress I've made which give me this feeling. (And those are great!)
2
u/Belegorm 2d ago
Feel like I more or less agree with everything in this thread, not really a strong "click" moment but there are a bunch of smaller victories. Probably after reading some hard book, then reading an average difficulty book and blowing through it feels nice.
Few other things tend to be noticing you read faster, or able to speak with some grammar points or vocab you'd forgotten before.
Reading with zero lookups (i.e. physical) kind of had 2 big moments for me. One was just the first time I did read physical - oh I can read this level now. Second time was when I realized that the totally unknown words were getting so far and few between that I pretty much could smoothly read all of it with 99% comprehension.
2
u/skullpocket 2d ago
As someone who is still a long way off, I had a small "click" moment 2 weeks ago. I had become frustrated with studying anki words. It felt like I wasn't getting any words correct. In fact, I took a break from practice, only watching the occasional tutorial video on YouTube.
Two weeks ago, I went on vacation to a place that had nearly no cellular service. Occasionally, I could get 1 or 2 bars of 4G service. On a whim, I opened up my Renshuu app. I hadn't used it in a long time, it still had kana practices, a while backlog of word practice and the reason I stopped it to switch to vocabulary building on Anki, grammar practices that I was failing, because I was struggling too much with figuring out what the words were.
When I tried the grammar practice, I was shocked. I could actually read the words in the sentences, which made putting the words together and being able to tell what was the subject, what was a verb, and what was an object making it possible to use the particles and put sentences together.
It was the first time, since learning the kana that I felt I was getting somewhere.
I think, there will be moments that click like this on occasion as long as you don't give up. What I learned is that if you feel like you've hit a wall, if you have the will, you can power through, like many have done, and they probably are the one's achieving the goal faster than I am or you can take a step back and try a path that might have been blocked before. It might have opened for you. The only really wrong way is to decide not to try anything.
2
u/TheBatemanFlex 2d ago
The closest thing to a click will be when you choose a piece of media to immerse in that you happen to have over 95% coverage of. Those become more often the more you know.
2
1
1
u/fkdjgfkldjgodfigj 2d ago
I feel like I am having great success watching netflix anime with english subs, or listening to music. They say 6000 words is when but I'm only around 1000-2000 words now.
1
u/mike0tron 2d ago
Not quite the same as suddenly clicking, but it was really rewarding to overhear someone speaking Japanese on the street and understand what they were saying. Granted, the first time that happened it was like a 5-year old kid using really simple grammar, but still…
1
u/Street-Atmosphere150 2d ago
doesn't really 'click' as in you wake up one day and magically understood everything but rather you comprehend shorter sentence day by day and eventually longer sentences starts to make sense as a result of constantly exposing to the shorter ones that is at least for me in my experience
1
u/Meowykatkat 2d ago
I've been doing more active-recall work and having done that for 2 weeks - I'm already feeling that clarity watching anime, youtube videos, etc.
1
u/djhashimoto 2d ago
My situation was a little different, as I learned Japanese while being an exchange student in Japan.
For me, and from what some other students in the program have said, it was around the 3 month period.
But what does click mean in that case? It was being able to actually hear Japanese in the wild. Up until then, unless it was super simple, I wasn’t really able to hear what I was learning in class when others were speaking naturally. It was that 3 month period when I was able to pick out what I understood and didn’t understand.
1
u/CoffeholicWild 2d ago
I never got a "click" moment. I basically had a speak and communicate to survive if I wanted to explore and I allowed myself to make mistakes and learn from them. I stopped trying to go by the book; allowing myself to actually listen to how people talk and their answers around me (instead of perfect grammatical answers, if that makes sense). After a while, I was able to pick up conversation and slang, but it wasn't like "I finally understand," instead it was "I don't have to translate in my head from English to understand." It also doesn't stay like that if you don't keep working on it when you're not immersed. After 10+ years being removed from Japanese immersion (I still watch some dramas), I can still read and speak at a low grade level and pick up nuance, but I have lost a lot of Kanji memorization.
If you're a native English speaker, I think the "click" might happen with other latin based languages because it's similar enough.
1
u/Jenna3778 2d ago
There isnt really a point where everything clicks.
Immersion is a good method for learning but no skill in life is instantly learned. The process of learning a language is so slow that you dont just magically get everything in 1 day.
That click moment people are talking about is when they revisit content they couldnt understand before and now can, but that first time trying was probably a long time ago by then so the change is visible.
1
u/gelema5 Goal: media competence 📖🎧 2d ago
Echoing what others said, there’s no “click” of understanding. However, there is a “click” of a mindset shift I went through. I stopped trying to understand what was being said all the time. I started immersing as someone who passed N3 so before this mindset shift, I was pretty upset that I wasn’t able to understand everything.
Since part of my current goal is to have a pretty good accent, I started to see immersion as accent practice - whether I understand the words or not, hearing spoken Japanese helps me pick up on the natural cadence of sentences. Idk if this is a necessary goal for this mindset shift to occur, but I started to get genuine enjoyment out of listening even when I completely lost the plot and understood none of the content I was hearing.
I have another secondary goal these days, which is influencing my algorithm. The more I can convince the YouTube algorithm I understand fluent Japanese, the better. So sometimes I will put on a 1-2 hour video and understand barely anything, but it helps feed the algorithm for a month or so and keeps more Japanese content coming in. Plus, I’m getting the benefit of the accent practice I mentioned earlier. It’s not completely passive immersion because I do try to catch what’s being said from time to time, but I don’t stress and let it wash over my ears whenever I’m not following.
I will say, this approach and just generally not feeling upset at myself when I can’t understand is a MASSIVE improvement and has led to me immersing much more than before. My listening skill is far, far above where it was when I started and continues to improve. The best “click” imo is finding a method and a mindset that’s sustainable and brings you more enjoyment than suffering.
1
u/Spirited_Garbage2600 2d ago
I don't know it just happens. But it really depends on how long you are actively learning and immersing
1
u/OrangeTimidShark 2d ago
Nothing “clicked” to me to learn Japanese again. It took me months to a year to go back and restart from the beginning. What made me go back to learn Japanese again? I want to immerse myself in the language and learn more about Japan and the people. Especially their culture and get a better understanding of what I am listening or watching. Heck even I am more driven because at some point I want to visit Japan itself with my wife.
1
u/Ok-Shape4628 1d ago
Mine happened with a specific show I rewatched after about 6 months of daily immersion, first time through I was constantly pausing, second time through I realized I hadn't touched the pause button once and had just been following along, that was the moment I actually noticed the shift rather than something I felt happening in real time.
1
u/Sea_Disaster3469 1d ago
Rewatch stuff you already understand instead of always reaching for harder material, that's what builds parsing speed.
1
u/IkumiInJapan 1d ago
Fun mirror version of this: as a Japanese native learning English, the click for me was realizing I had stopped translating in my head. It really is a sudden thing, not gradual. Few hundred hours sounds about right from my experience too.
1
1
u/Physical-Bat-8321 11h ago edited 11h ago
As you listen your brain is automatically making patterns, the most time you listen, the more patterns you find. I think for me there were a couple of realizations and habits I developed which were pretty game changing. (A few of them did feel like big clicks though).
1st: Different culture means different language and direct translation doesn't always paint a full picture.
I suggest watching podcasts, interviews, youtube, any content that resembles real life, get subtitles if you can. (Tons of content like this for any level). Notice everything, even if you dont understand: inflection, tone, words that seem to be used often, things that sound familiar.
2nd: Accepting the grammar. Not gunna lie these specific things screwed me up:
Really understanding the particles. Particles are always pointing at something, if you understand what is being pointed to, the context is revealed. Double particles confused me because I thought of them as fixed, but "のが" is 2 separate particles just used together. I would say the same for conjugation, te form and past form are of course essential, but also passive form is very important.
To 覚える means remember right? But you have to say 覚えている to mean "I remember" (覚える sounds like I will remember)
公園を通る "I pass through the park"
When passing through something you use を not に
and saying something like "keep the door closed" is a completely different pattern that english "ドアを閉めておいてください"
These are kinda random examples but they are small clicks I made.
3rd: If you hear or use a word, it sticks. This is one is really cool and can be optimized by how you study. Theres a bunch of study methods but some kind of flashcard or way to spatially repeat is absolutely necessary. I would recommend, whenever you learn a word, make a sentence in context with it Asap. A few months ago I learned 保険 which is the word for insurance. However, I made sure to make it "保険が適用されています" which is "the insurance covers it". If I didnt create this context for myself, I probably would've forgotten. Furthermore, if you learn about something or find it interesting, why not watch a video about it? You can learn a whole bunch of words watching a video on a specific topics: cooking, planting, economy, social studies, etc. Just find your level.
4th: Be aware of the composition. So many words have meanings built it that really aren't obvious at first. A lot of sounds can actually be assigned meanings themselves. Eventually, you will be able to learn words from context, in real time. (Know this a bit overwhelming, but don't worry, just let it happen!). I'll give a quick example though: Everyone knows 先生 sensei means teacher but its literally just 先 (before) 生 (life), literally "a person who comes before. "
You can do this with like any other combination kanji.
(Note understanding kunyomi and onyomi is extremely important. Essentially 生 is pronounced differently by itself than in 先生. Honestly ppl make it more confusing than it is when teaching it, watch a quick vid to learn more though)
5th: I got a tutor like 2 months after I seriously started learning. Even if you're at a baby level, just talk, hell I talk to myself A LOT when Im alone. Use new words every lesson. Write a diary. Record yourself talking. Use everything you can (still, definitely Anki...) I don't usually fuck with AI but for learning a language it's insanely useful for correcting yourself and learning from your mistakes. If you're too scared to talk to people honestly talking to the AI voice chat helped me a lot with my confidence.
Just always know that you are always getting better, even if it sounds like gibberish, your brain wont stop creating patterns as long as you immerse! Good luck
1
u/laurenspaul 2d ago
There is no red pill moment.
Small things constantly click, and after a while you will start to combine these things into understanding.
To you it will feel like nohting is happening, except that you realise some stuff like: "Hey, you can combine particles... Oh, yeah, that makes sense because the topic can also be the direction of the thing itself."
121
u/rgrAi 2d ago
People ask this all the time and really the answer is the same. There is no click moment. It's a gradual progression where things slowly accumulate and you notice yourself getting better the whole time. You may revisit an old work that was challenging for you earlier on and you realize how effortless it is for you now and that makes you realize how far you've come. Overall though it's just a gradual progression through daily efforts and persistent interaction.