Setting and context is really important in language learning. If you're only used to practicing in a very specific and limited setting then you're only going to be able to recall under those conditions. Some apps try to resolve this by using video conversations, allowing you to chat with other users of similar levels (extremely useful!) and canned conversations (Duolingo has this one). All these are important but you also need to practice "offline." It is also important to watch and listen to content (like you're doing), even if it is far above your level. You'll probably notice in your Japanese adventure that a big thing is that you're probably way better at parsing words and sounds (e.g. hearing differences in tones for Chinese) than when you first started. Even learning to parse words is a big step, but only unfortunately comes from exposure of longer form content, something Duolingo-like apps (not all apps) don't provide.
Comic books is what really worked for me. I'm lucky that I was learning Dutch and the Belgians are great at comic writing. When you don't quite have the vocabulary you can use the pictures for enough context clues to decipher it.
When I started it took me a week to read one story. Got that down to an evening, then one hour. Now I can read them as quickly as English unless there's something very unusual happening.
> allowing you to chat with other users of similar levels (extremely useful!)
Agreed. I lurk in libera's japanese language channel in order to read the messages. It's been a big help.
> You'll probably notice in your Japanese adventure that a big thing is that you're probably way better at parsing words and sounds
Absolutely. I'm getting a lot better at parsing out the components of sentences, especially the particles, even in fast speech. My understanding is still pretty basic but this skill allows me to at least try to infer information from context. It's a great way to puzzle out meaning and it's amazing when I get it right.
> exposure of longer form content, something Duolingo-like apps (not all apps) don't provide
That's partially true. Duolingo has stories but I think they're somewhat basic. It's just not the same as really immersing oneself in another culture. I'm not supplementing Duolingo with japanese books or anything but I enjoy watching japanese stuff so I have at least some exposure.
The most important thing about Duolingo is it got me started. I've been progressing over 2 years now. Almost 1000 days.
The stories were something I really liked and they were a great break from the monotony of the usual lessons and a nice diversion. With the latest updates, you don’t get a single story (at least in Japanese) until you’re like at level 37. That’s a gigantic amount of effort to get to. It’s not like before where you had many stories relatively early on.
Yeah I really hated how the update just got rid of them. Why gate them at level 37? I'm at level 19 and I was able to understand many of those stories.
Setting and context is really important in language learning. If you're only used to practicing in a very specific and limited setting then you're only going to be able to recall under those conditions. Some apps try to resolve this by using video conversations, allowing you to chat with other users of similar levels (extremely useful!) and canned conversations (Duolingo has this one). All these are important but you also need to practice "offline." It is also important to watch and listen to content (like you're doing), even if it is far above your level. You'll probably notice in your Japanese adventure that a big thing is that you're probably way better at parsing words and sounds (e.g. hearing differences in tones for Chinese) than when you first started. Even learning to parse words is a big step, but only unfortunately comes from exposure of longer form content, something Duolingo-like apps (not all apps) don't provide.