Very quick look at Benny’s current Japanese level. Suggestions (with whom, about what) for longer upcoming video updates?

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Sorry that this video is so short! Starting next week, I'll get back into weekly updates until the end of the project with maybe just one break (so that's six more videos up until the week my 3 months runs out), but I hope this teaser snapshot shows you more or less how I'm doing right now!

The reason the video isn't longer is because my Skype recording software crashed after 4 minutes, which is a pity because Yuri asked me interesting questions and we had a real exchange (you only hear her say a couple of words in this video), discussing how my parents visited me here in Valencia.

Starting next week, I can record longer videos with much more interaction, but I hope this 2 minute video gives you an OK snapshot of where I am on day 45. Next week I'll definitely have caught up from the 2 weeks where I was sick one week and then had to catch up on work and travel collectively for a week, and will be on the way to making up for lost time, so I'll be ready to show myself as a solid advanced beginner level. From there I can hopefully launch myself on towards higher goals asap!

At this stage, there are a lot of basic grammar and vocab points I've learned but am still internalizing. For instance, I say “desu” when I should say “imasu” in this video (both meaning “to be”, but in different contexts in Japanese) – a basic mistake that I'm aware of and am unlikely to make in future videos. People on Youtube are also suggesting I need to veer away from my current ‘r' pronunciation, and work on my う vowel pronunciation.

Also, I'm aware that I'm saying “eeehhh” a lot rather than Japanese fillers. I either do or don't do this every second time in a call depending on if I consciously remind myself to do so, and I forgot to do that in this call, so I'll try to fix it for the next one, and make it more a force of habit 🙂

If you have other tips, let me know in the comments. At least you now know what I sound like when I am not reading a script, or referring to Google Translate (like in the Skype call video I uploaded about a month ago).

Suggestions for my next six videos?

If you have ideas for how my future Skype calls should go, let me know!

Topics? Should I just talk randomly and totally spontaneously, or if should we have a particular topic to discuss? I'm also open to suggestions on who I can have the chats with over the next six videos, although one of them will definitely be Yuri again so you can really hear us talk together.

Either way, I'm hoping that you'll see my ability to express myself improve and get more complex over the coming weeks!

Otherwise, have a great Halloween weekend! I'm sure you all know that this is originally an Irish holiday that we exported to the states, who have then packaged it on themselves everywhere else 🙂 – so thanks for celebrating Irish culture! 😀