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Appendix for Mining

summary to be added

I recommend going through the mining process first before advancing.

Whitenoising

graph LR
  A[Read the sentence] --> B{Do I understand it?};
  B -->|No| C[Moving on]

After reading a sentence for the first time, if don't understand a sentence and still move on to the next sentence then thats considered whitenoising. Moving one without having tried to understand a sentence is whitenoising and should be avoided at all costs. You learn nothing by just glossing over a sentence or letting something play in the background without paying attention. It's just a time waste.

Checking yourself is a good habit

Whitenoising happens to everyone, but confident people are the most prone. Confident people think they might know a word and don't bother checking themselves and move on, which can backfire. This can get to a point of learning words wrong. For example you might think you know a word because you have seen it being used so much, but actually don't know what it means. You think you know but you actually don't so you basically gaslit yourself into thinking you do. This doesn't mean you should check yourself always when immersing but once in a while doesn't hurt to decrease cases like these to occur.

On the other hand people who doubt themselves are not really prone to whitenoising because when they see an unfamiliar expression they usually opt to look it up. The same holds true for things they are unsure about, so naturally they spend more time with each given sentence.

Being confident is not bad, it doesn't hurt being confident in your ability, but it doesn't hurt as well looking things up you think you know to check yourself, occasionally. Both are good qualities but only in moderation. Be a confident and doubtful person! Check yourself once in a while!

Flowing while immersing

If you think you know a word it's most often better to check yourself once in a while by quickly looking it up with Yomitan. Otherwise you will experience learning a word wrong that you thought you knew. Being doubtful of yourself can be one's superpower but pausing too much to check yourself can break your immersion in whatever medium. There is this balance you should try to keep and to illustrate this let's talk about the flow in immersion.

Disclaimer

This is only applicable to people who are more advanced.

We can rewrite the steps we have outlined for the process of mining using the ratio discussed earlier: 80-85% of the time immersing should optimally be spent in pattern recognition (understanding sentences immediately) while 15-20% of the time we should spend in problem solving (pausing and trying to understand a sentence thoroughly).

Below is a small overview:

"Pattern recognition mode" is the sweet spot where you flow, where you are immersed in whatever medium you are consuming at the moment without pausing i.e interrupting your immersion too often. Since it's hard to come by a lot of sentences after each other where we get sentences like i+1, reaching the flow state is rare. But let's strive towards it!

Arguably pattern recognition, understanding the language immediately, is more important for reaching a high level of proficiency than being able to problem solve, pausing and trying to break apart the language thoroughly. This is partly due to when you are in that "pattern recognition mode" you build automatic comprehension, you're not "translating for yourself in your head" but actually understanding just off the language. You build speed, fluency and an "intuitive feel" for the language. On the other hand when in "problem solving mode" you pause your engagement / immersion and start to analyze the language, for example with Yomitan, where you mostly understand content with new piece(s) of information.

Both are definitely needed! But here is a crucial difference in how you are engaging with content in the language. Beginners might rarely reach the "flow state" because they don't know as much about the language as an advanced lerner, so they spent more time in "problem solving mode", which most often feels like a means to an end. The end being effortless and automatic comprehension, basically the ability to comprehend the language to their desired level, at the beginning mostly being a process of analyzing grammar and looking up unknowns. "I just need to immerse more and look up things I don't know, to stop the need of a conscious intermediary that is a dictionary".

Whereas for advanced learners who already have a sufficient base in the language, the priority shifts from "I need to look up and mine more so I can get better" to "using the language to learn / experience something else". Basically you stop "studying" the language and start "living" it instead.

Ultimately the balance between pattern recognition and problem solving is subject to change based on the person and what you are trying to achieve. The key is mindful off your habits, to check yourself occasionally when you think you know a word without breaking immersion too often. Remember that immersing is not just about learning but about experiencing the language and media through it as well. Keep immersing!

Dictionaries

Which dictionaries to use

To start out I recommend using a bilingual dictionary that uses definition in a language you understand, at best your native language. If available use multiple dictionaries to cover everything you might encounter while immersing because some words are in some dictionaries while not in others. Different dictionaries will describe the same word differently. This will make understanding a new word easier for you, in case you don't understand a dictionary entry.

Monolingual transition

Intermediate Learners

This section is targeted at "intermediate" learners.

During your immersion journey you should switch from a bilingual dictionary to a monolingual dictionary. This is called the monolingual transition. A monolingual dictionary is a dictionary that defines a word using it's own language. A common monolingual dictionary for the English language is the Oxford English Dictionary, for German it's the Duden. Some languages have a monolingual dictionary online like Naver for Korean.

Why use a monolingual dictionary

Strengths

  • You will learn the full nuance, connotation and usage which are hard to translate. Monolingual dictionaries clarify whether "smart" is more like intelligent, clever or well dressed, bilingual dictionaries don't.

  • You avoid false associations. Many words don't have a perfect one-to-one translation so relying on bilingual dictionaries can lead to errors.

  • Helps you think in your target language, since a word is explained using it.

When to switch to monolingual dictionaries

It's hard to pinpoint an exact time when to go monolingual. It also varies by person and how comfortable you are with your target language, but I would say around the time reading becomes more so easier maybe a bit more effortless than it used to be at the beginning. This at least after having read one or two books and you start to encounter words in different contexts and sense there's more to it than your bilingual definition is apparently telling you. It's also around the same time you want to read more challenging things, which doesn't mean going from finishing your first real reading material to your second one but more so from your second to your third.

How to transition to monolingual dictionary

Use multiple monolingual dictionaries in Yomitan since different monolingual dictionaries will define the same word differently, helping you pick up the feeling of a word. Prioritize their orderings so every time you look up a word first you should see the monolingual dictionaries then to read through your bilingual dictionary you should have to scroll down in Yomitan then be able to see it. This small detail of having to scroll down may seem insignificant but it adds another barrier between you defaulting back to your bilingual dictionary because they are easier to understand.

When looking up a word first try to read through the majority of your monolingual dictionaries first and see if you can understand the word from that alone. If you can great job and add the definition you like the most to your Anki card. If you can't then don't worry about it and read through the bilingual dictionary, then go back and read through the monolingual dictionaries and see if you can understand them now. If you can then add the monolingual definition to your card (maybe along side the bilingual one) or just add the bilingual one if you don't feel comfortable enough to understand the word during reviews justs by the monolingual definition. Rinse and repeat this process for the monolingual transition.

What to expect during the monolingual transition

  • A lot of unknown words

You will probably be "dictionary diving" and looking up words within dictionaries popups. The word you don't know within dictionaries are just normal words you just don't know yet so to fix that read more. You can mine these words within dictionaries but keep in mind when to mine and when not mine.

Small anecdote

I remember mining a word once 5 dictionary pop-ups deep. Meaning I looked up a word within a definition within a definition within a definition within a definition. Let's try to avoid deep diving!