The monolingual transition might be easier than you think

Hey KoreKara Squad,

If you're familiar with any of the other methods to learn Japanese floating around out there like AJATT, MIA, and even Refold, there comes a time in every immersion learner’s journey when they are required to make a massive change – the monolingual transition. It’s always been a critical point in these language-learning philosophies and the same questions always come up… when, why, and how? I wanted to share some of my thoughts on this topic and how they may differ from the old standards. (This is part of the KoreKara Method for learning Japanese)

💡 Tip of the week

The monolingual transition refers to this shift when you stop using an English dictionary and start using a Japanese dictionary. Many learners get stuck on this step, due to a bunch of new words only found in dictionaries. I’m going to tell you how to easily navigate this shift.

First let me explain when you should consider making this shift.

Most of the time when you look something up in an English dictionary, you’ll find a one word definition. It’s convenient because you can instantly understand the concept up to 80%, but a lot of the nuance is lost.

Japanese definitions often have super in-depth explanations of what a word means in every sense, with multiple explanations. This is when they become super useful.

You should start using a monolingual dictionary when you already understand the word and want more clarity on the nuances around it. Otherwise, just use an English dictionary and quickly understand the concept. Your goal is to make the input comprehensible and move on.

There will be a period where you will find it hard to use a dictionary because you’re not used to the wording, but continuing to look up words or even just looking up words you already understand with 100% clarity can help you with this.

However, if you struggle with understanding Japanese definitions, this is where my opinion differs from most methods you might read about online.

Avoid monolingual definitions in Anki.

Anki is a tool to get thousands of words into your head as quickly as possible. Keyword quickly. Stumbling around trying to get an understanding of the Japanese definition in Anki will not only slow you down, but it might also cause you to have a weaker grasp of the meaning of the word altogether.

The goal with Anki is to quickly review words and move on to real immersion. You don’t want to spend hours in Anki trying to understand Japanese words.

Originally, the idea behind going monolingual was getting to a point where you were able to kick the English scaffolding away from your Japanese. There would come a time when your Japanese had gotten so good that it was self-sustaining and you would be able to learn more Japanese through Japanese.

If getting through Anki quickly to you means using Jp definitions, then by all means go for it. Sometimes you’ll find that ONLY the Japanese definition makes sense, and the english one does not.

If you’re not at that level use your native language definitions in Anki and get back to what's actually leading to progress – immersion.

So the monolingual transition is really just this:

1. Only use English definitions in Anki

2. Start looking stuff up in Japanese once you get comfortable with reading and want more nuance behind definitions or certain words

3. If Japanese definitions make more sense than English ones, start adding those to Anki

4. Otherwise, just continue just reviewing cards until English

Just by doing this, you’ll be able to make the monolingual transition easily. Remember, you can’t force language acquisition to happen. You can only expose yourself to enough immersion and let your brain acquire it.

📺 Immersion of the week 

I was hesitant to share this one because of how ridiculous this channel can be but hey, one man’s trash is another man’s entertainment. They’re called たまゆら学園. They’re a male and female comedy duo who post vlogs and skits. Most of the comedy centers around the guy confessing his love and constantly getting rejected. If you’re looking for a cheap laugh and some uncomfortable situations look no further.

✍️ Kanji of the week

The Kanji literally translates to monolingual, but it refers to the first language you learned, or your native tongue. Just another way to say 母国語 if you’re familiar with that!

🗣️ KoreKara Club Update 

I’m going to be recording a Q&A later this month answering Japanese learning questions from the community. If you have any, feel free to drop by and ask them!

I also respond to all DMs in there if you want to just hit me up and talk Japanese. 🙂 

Eric