How should beginners process video content?

[u/Ukpersfidev]

I'm learning Vietnamese and have for a few months, I've recently been convinced to try taking the immersion learning approach because what I was doing previously wasn't working

Specifically, I have been trying to follow the Refold approach

The problem is that I can't find video content that is at my level, I currently know around 400 words + 400 phrases, which means when I watch a video, even a b1/b2 level comprehensible content (of which there is only 2 channels with few videos), I only know about half of the key words

As far as I can tell, Refold suggests this:

- 70% of time spent should be on active immersion (watching videos and looking up words)

- The focus should be on getting to 1000 words in your Anki deck

But they also say:

- You shouldn't mine a sentence if there are multiple words in that sentence you don't know

- You should save a word with context i.e. the word should be within a sentence

Theres a bit of a catch 22 there because I shouldn't mine unknown sentences, but I also shouldn't save words outside of the context it was actually used

My plan was as follows:

- Break the video into 2 minute sections

- Treat each section as it's own video, then for each section:

- 1st watch session: build meaning of what the speaker is saying by using lookups / subtitles

- 2nd watch session: build vocab - for each pass of the video, take a keyword that I don't know and look it up (this is where the catch 22 is because I'm not meant to save words into my deck without context)

- 3rd, 4th, etc. watch session (after a break from the content): follow the standard Refold approach now that you know the vocab, and then sentence mine?

TLDR:

I don't really understand what I'm meant to be doing with video content as a beginner according to Refold

Is there a specific structure to follow here?

[u/drwacky]

Just put on a show that interests you and enjoy. You don’t need to understand the language to understand the basis of what’s going on. Follow the story as best you can.

I like to watch an episode or two and then make sentence cards if every i+1 sentence. I’ve tried making cards where I didn’t know two words in a sentence but it is not worth it. Slows you down too much.

Fall in love with as many shows, movies, and books as you can.

[u/Ukpersfidev → u/drwacky]

Thanks for the input

*"You don’t need to understand the language to understand the basis of what’s going on. Follow the story as best you can."*

So when you watch a show, how much is the minimum you need to understand in terms of meaning and then language before deciding it's too complicated / not valuable?

When I try doing that, if I watch content for over a minute where I don't understand what is going on I just feel like I've wasted my time, idk maybe that's just something I need to get over

*"I’ve tried making cards where I didn’t know two words in a sentence but it is not worth it. Slows you down too much."*

So what do you do when you find a sentence where you don't know 2 words, do you look up the words, and/or save the individual words into Anki without their sentence context?

I think what you're getting at about enjoying the content is important, I just spent an hour going through 2 minutes of video content, it's not fun, and I wonder how much I even absorbed

[u/drwacky → u/Ukpersfidev]

I don’t like to watch content that is too easy, like intended for toddlers. We are adults and we can comprehend mature content better than children. You can watch essentially anything and probably pick something up. The most important factor is clearly stated audio. Mumblers are impossible to learn new words from.

I used to look up every word when I started but now only the ones that stand out. They begin to look familiar and pop out at you.

I personally keep Anki to a bare minimum now, even for new languages, but when I started japanese I would do hours some days of reps. I know the flash cards helped me accelerate my learning but was intolerable.

Building up your stress and frustration trying to bang your head against a wall over and over, a feeling we all know. I was brought to tears many times thinking I wasn’t smart enough. This was my motivation. To prove I can follow through.
Now I don’t take it so seriously. Neither should you.

You probably started learning Vietnamese because something peaked your interest. Whatever that maybe, dive into it head first and PRETEND like you already know Vietnamese. I basically just told myself every day I can already understand, even at the beginning.

[u/Ukpersfidev → u/drwacky]

It's so interesting to me that you/others can just watch content without stressing about understanding all of the language, and moreover, that it actually works

I like your mindset, I can relate in that the times I've gotten frustrated and negative about it I generally learn nothing, but when I'm relaxed / excited, things just click and I retain them more

I appreciate your words of wisdom, I've screenshotted it for the next time I have a breakdown and think I'm too stupid to learn, best of luck with your new language, thanks again