Language Learning

in/fluency 1.4K members

154

Stuck at B1 Japanese for a year despite daily study, what actually changes Plateau

Roughly 45 minutes a day for 15 months: textbook chapters, kanji reviews, and a podcast on the commute. I passed a mock N4 easily nine months ago and I would probably still only just pass it today. Nothing feels like it…

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@skillet_sara · 2mo ago

Is it normal to forget words I knew last month once I started speaking Method

I started conversation practice twice a week in Italian after a year of mostly reading. Since then my vocabulary feels like it has shrunk â€” words I would have recognised instantly a month ago will not come out, and I…

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612

@nightbus_nina · 3mo ago

I understand podcasts fine but freeze completely when someone speaks to me Speaking

About 14 months into French. I can follow a 30 minute podcast at normal speed and get maybe 80 percent of it, and I read news articles without a dictionary. But the second a real person asks me something in a shop my…

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187

@perlite_pete · 8mo ago

Six months of Anki and my Spanish reading is fine but listening is zero Listening

I have about 4,200 mature cards and I can read a B2 graded reader comfortably. Then I put on a normal Spanish YouTube video and it is a wall of noise â€” I catch maybe one word in twelve, and words I definitely know go…

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@seedstart_sib · 12mo ago

Weekly tutor or self study plus one conversation hour on 80 a month Method

I have about 80 a month and 6 hours a week for Portuguese. Option A is two 30 minute sessions weekly with a structured teacher. Option B is free self study with a grammar book plus one hour of conversation practice with…

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For adults learning a second language who want method questions answered — plateaus, listening, output practice, and study routines that stick.

What this room is for

How to actually get from textbook sentences to understanding a phone call. Listening practice that works, when to start speaking, how to handle the intermediate plateau, building a routine that survives a busy week, and knowing whether you're improving at all.

Name your language pair and level

"Beginner" covers a huge range. Say roughly what you can do now — read a menu, follow a slow podcast, hold a five-minute conversation — and how many hours a week you have.

What gets removed

App referral links, "which language should I learn" polls, translation requests for tattoos or homework, and progress posts with no question in them.

Method over motivation

We're more useful on "my listening isn't improving after 300 hours" than on "how do I stay motivated". Describe what your practice actually looks like on a normal day.

1.4K members
5 posts

Created June 9, 2025

Ask in this room

1
State your language pair and level

Describe what you can currently do rather than using a label, and say how much time you study.
2
No translation requests

This room is about learning methods; single-sentence translations and tattoo checks are removed.
3
No app referral links or promo codes

Recommend a resource by name and say why it worked for you at your level.
4
Ask about method, not motivation

Describe the routine you already have and the specific place it's failing.
5
No which-language-should-I-pick polls

Nobody else can answer that; ask instead about what studying a particular language is like.