April Updates

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 There have been a lot of little updates on Scribelate in the last month or so.  A LOT of little tweaks and bug fixes and there is a new feature that was added too - if you select a podcast or youtube video to work with you'll find a download button just above where all the segments are.  If you click on that Scribelate will assemble all of the transcripts that you have created into a single document so that you can practice reading the language you are trying to learn.  

I've talked before about the 4 pillars of fluency - Listening, Writing, Speaking and Reading.  This feature is designed to improve your reading ability.  It is interesting, especially with Japanese, how you can learn audibly and feel like you're making progress and then you try to read something and are lost.  That is the gap this feature is meant to close.  With the different scripts and throw in a different word order typology: Subject Object Verb compared to  Subject Verb Object as in English - it's a challenge to say the least.

Scribelate is continuing to get better! To help prove how effective it is here is my personal update learning Japanese.

I'm now a solid 3 months into Scribelate since I added the listening Tracker I have a total of 50 hours and 32 minutes of listening to podcasts or watching youtube videos.  That in addition to doing daily SRS flashcard review. I am feeling like I'm making progress.  

So, what does progress look like?  Well, with the podcasts/videos I have worked through with Scribelate I can listen to and understand them now.  That is pretty cool. So I can sit down and put on a handful of these shows and listen to Japanese and understand them. I still get lost occasionally - especially if I get distracted but I can eventually find my way back.

Words are starting to come to me...  That is an exciting thing - I was listening to a podcast in English - and the guy talking said "Oh, that is interesting..." and the Japanese: 「あ、これは面白いですね」just popped into my head - it technically isn't correct it should be 「あ、それは面白いですね」, but to be fair I got "esto" and "eso" mixed all the time in Spanish.. some things just take time.

Oh, and I have been trying to hit an hour of listening a day - since March 20th I haven't missed a day.  Monthly check-ins feel about the right time, so I'll post again in May.  


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