The Return of Tetsu: 9 Months of Japanese | Vlog #33

** Get $10 iTalki credit: https://go.italki.com/japaneseinayear ** ** Follow Tetsu on Twitter:   / tetsunakayama   ** Make sure to press “CC” to activate English subtitles! This conversation was a lot of fun. I’m happy to welcome back Tetsu and speak with him in Japanese (for the first time). Watch my original video with Tetsu here (with a much different lesson format):    • iTalki Lesson with Tetsu | Vlog #11   In the past 2-3 weeks, I feel something has ‘clicked’ with my Japanese. I've leveled up and I'm starting to see a glimpse of more flexible and fluid conversation (though I still have a long way to go). One of my favorite moments (around 9:30) was trying to describe a particular roller coaster. I didn’t expect to talk about theme parks here, much less have the vocabulary for it. Although I struggled, I’m happy that rather than switching to English, I stayed in Japanese and found another way to say it. This skill is ultimately a huge part of what makes one ’fluent’ (albeit I am still far from that). As a non-native speaker of another language, you will always have holes in your vocabulary. But if you can develop flexibility with the words you do know (through grammar, and a bit of creativity), you have a chance of expressing yourself in a variety of settings. Developing this flexibility will be a big part of my focus in the final 3 months of this year. VIDEO CONTENTS: 0:00 Shawn intro 0:48 Tetsu intro 2:45 日本語で Conversation begins 3:27 Tetsu’s trip to America 5:38 Cedar Point + Roller Coaster Tycoon 9:30 the craziest ride I’ve ever gone on (and my attempt at describing it) 10:52 my previous trip to Japan 12:58 my upcoming trip to Japan 14:23 Tetsu’s recommendations for celebrating New Year’s Eve in Japan 18:19 wrap-up MY LEARNING IN NUMBERS: Vocabulary: ~2072 words Kanji Characters: ~1019 Study Time: 452 hours (71%) Flashcard Creation: 134 hours (21%) iTalki.com Lessons: 13 hours (2%) Miscellaneous: 32 hours (5%) Total Time: 631 hours (2.25 hours / day average) SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS: Twitter:   / japaneseinayear   Instagram:   / japaneseinayear   My music channel:    / scrowdrlrr   MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO: https://sungazermusic.bandcamp.com/re...