On Learning With Unconventional Content
Thursday's Thousandth Thought (TTT #25)
I’ve tried all sorts of resources to learn languages throughout the years.
From video games to series, manga to books, music to podcasts, many—if not most—of the good ones had a little something different. A je-ne-sais-quoi that grabbed my attention and got me hooked.
I’ve considered objectively “bad resources” as great resources because I connected to them.
For example, I’ve watched YouTube content aimed at teaching Korean made by two acquaintances. I didn’t think the content was well-organized and it often lacked detail and context. And yet, since I knew the people, I stuck and enjoyed learning with their videos for quite a few months.1
Earlier today, I fell upon an episode of a podcast I absolutely loved and had unfortunately forgotten: Mandarin Monkey.
And this reminded me of an important factor in deciding to stick with a resource.