u/Bobelle

Please note: I understand that for a lot of people here, native podcasts are not the best usage of your time, because there are better resources, but my TL's resources are quite limited so I am of the mindset of extracting as much as I can from what is available rather than giving up because the resources are not as efficient as more in-demand languages. And in this case, there are no podcasts that are perfectly appropriate for my level in my TL - only beginner and native. I am no longer a beginner, so now I want to tackle native podcasts.

Also, please keep in mind that this is for times I am unable to listen intensively. I want to be able to still extract value from podcasts when I am doing mundane things such as chores.

My listening skills are great. Different accents, fast speakers - you name it, I can understand them if it's within my vocabulary. And even if I can't understand what they're saying, I can transcribe easily. However, I have a lower intermediate vocabulary.

So this is my question:

1. At my level, if I pick like a 20 minute podcast or something, and play it over and over, will I understand more and more eventually?

By watching I don't mean just sitting there - I paused at any sentence I didn't know, figured it out using subtitles, turned the subtitles back off, rewinded to before the sentence and continued like that for the whole show. This process is called intensive listening.

I also added a reminder for each episode I watched on Anki, so I can rewatch using SRS and I won't forget what I learned.

It feels really good. My Yoruba has really improved a lot honestly. Oya - tell me congratulations. Mo ti jiya (I have suffered)

In case you have been keeping up with my posts, here are some changes I am making to my learning (Here is a post that details my original system):

• Instead of doing all the orisirisi I was doing before with audio flashcards and etc as I am going along, I will intensively listen to 1500+ hours of content first and do the flashcard orisirisi after. This is because it is important to get exposure as fast as possible so I don't accidentally mislearn things.

• Though I will still do some flashcard orisirisi with Ololade now that I am done. This is because Ololade is the only Yoruba show based in Lagos that has both English and Yoruba subtitles a.k.a this is one of the best resources out there for casual Lagos Yoruba, so I want to extract as much as I can from it as possible before moving forward. This will make the other 1494 hours easier for me.

• I am making some changes with how I go about my Anki flashcards. Instead of doing what I was doing before, I will make my flashcards in such a way that it's Yoruba audio in front and English at the back. This is to ensure I can actually comprehend sentences instead of relying on context to understand what their saying. I plan on doing this for any sentence which is not already in my active vocabulary for all 1500+ hours of content I have consumed.

• I will also be doing video flashcards. English to Yoruba flashcards. They are video so that I can mimick the facial expressions and body language.

Thanks for reading.

I knew barely anything in my TL beyond an extremely basic course and I got bored so I yeeted myself to native content. I am really proud of myself!

I have been using a native TV show to learn my TL and usually I spread a single episode over several weeks or months. But this time I was very motivated and had the time for it so I watched 2 and a half episodes (2.5 hours worth of content) in one go. Keep in mind it was a very grueling process. I would:

1. Watch until I didn't hear a sentence or I know the vocabulary for it (this was like half of the sentences).

2. I would pause and look at TL subs and then NL subs if I don't get it.

3. Rewind and listen that sentence again without subs.

I usually watch things I watched for the first time again the next day to reinforce my memory so that's what I did. I barely needed to look up anything this time but about 1.5 hours in I just stopped being able to comprehend period even though I was looking things up. I guess my brain couldn't take it anymore. It got tired.

How do I buildl up my endurance? I understand that the more I learn the easier this would become but I was wondering if there was a way for me to directly tackle this issue.

(TL)

Some days I get really tired of deciding what to eat, cooking, planning, etc. My appetite is really high so I can't just eat whatever and call it a day. It has to have lots of protein to curb my appetite.

Some ideas I have are greek yoghurt and kilishi. Any other suggestions?

I have 6 recipes to learn. I had like 14 more that I already learned through working on one meal a day but I would like other ideas for organisation. I must say that I am particularly interested in how a culinary school would organise this if they were to teach their students these 6 separate recipes.

It feels good.

The goal of learning my TL is to be able to:

1. Connect with others and the culture of this language to a very deep level

2. Express myself artistically in this language

3. Live, think and breathe in this language and culture primarily for the rest of my life.

4. Become as native-like as I can (indistinguishable from a native if possible)

Achieving my goals will take a lot of time. So I thought in the mean time it would be a good idea to learn to express myself how a young child would - because children have limited vocabulary, especially the younger ones, but yet they are connected to the language natively.

I would appreciate any advice, thanks.

I was sexually abused by my elder brother for a decade plus. This experience has destroyed me. I feel like there is something missing in my brain. I want to kms. I can't do this. I can't go on. I have let so many things happen to me and made so many mistakes because of this monster. I don't know how I can go on.

I am at a lower intermediate level right now. I want to get through 1500 hours of native (TL) content through the following procedure:

1. Watch new content without subtitles

2. Pausing when I don't understand or can't hear something

3. Trying to figure it out and if I can't or am unsure I look at TL subtitles.

4. If I'm still unsure I look at NL subtitles

5. Keep watching

6. I rewatch everything I had to keep pausing for everyday until I can comprehend without pausing

7. I put the timeframe I can comprehend without pausing in Anki and rewatch according to when it comes up on Anki.

8. Repeat steps 1-7

What I would like to go through is:

1. 300 hours worth of movies that are set in modern day and the geographical area where my target dialect is spoken

2. 300 hours worth of generic podcasts/radio

3. 300 hours worth of news

4. 300 hours worth od educational content

5. 300 hours worth of movies set in the olden days (this offers a deeper understanding of my TL specifically)

I am also in a quite fortunate position whereby things like speaking 3 languages in one sentence, having a conversation where each person is speaking a different language, etc etc is normal in my country, so it is very easy for me to just say what I can say in my TL and speak my NL the rest of the time and keep speaking my TL more and more as my vocabulary increases until I am no longer speaking my NL anymore. I do this every day too.

What do you think the results of this entire process will be?

I have been natural for about 13 years now and I have loved every second of my hair journey up until this very moment. I have fine dense type 4 hair hair that is midback length right now.

I spent like 2 days detangling my hair and I have to go wash my hair and I just cannot deal right now. The plan was to rock a combed out afro for the next week but I am just so tired and pissed off. The thought of having to deal with this hair with serrbehoic dermatitis is killing me so I have been procrastinating washing my hair. And this sucks so much because my hair tangles so easily and it needs to be detangled before I shampoo so there is a countdown before it gets tangled again..

I have never felt this way about my hair before, Maybe because I have been experimenting with my hairstyles a lot more now and my hair is a lot longer but I am just so fed up. Honestly. I will get over it though, I love my hair.

Sorry for the bad vibes. /endrant

Yoruba people, what do you think? Should I ban discussions about the book? It's blown up and its become a hollywood movie where mixed race people are playing the main characters too. Since Yoruba people are affected the most by this movie, it is Yoruba voices that will be prioritised on this matter.

So I have been living with my mother who I'm supposed to be working for but I decided to take a break (with her approval) ofc, to develop a bunch of recipes to aid my weight loss. And I am developing these recipes because:

1. These ones have more filling ingredients

2. I am eating more local foods

3. These recipes are more varied.

There are about 21 of these recipes and literally didn't know how to cook any so I have to teach myself how to cook all of them. I go out to buy ingredients and cook a new meal every day. I put pretty much my entire life on hold because of this because I need a food system and without a food system, my life is not stable.

I have run into a lot of problems since starting this:

• Really heavy rain like every other day

• Inconsistent electricty

• My phone has stopped working

• My room has become a complete pig sty

• I still have to keep a consistent budget lest everything goes to waste.

• I still have to deal with my hair. It's getting old and itchy and I need to detangle it and wash it and that will literally take like a full day.

So you can imagine I am not feeling very great right now.

The actual weight loss gangan is eating less calories than you burn. Count your calories. No matter how healthy your diet is, if you are not in a calorie deficit, you will not lose weight. However, this doesn't mean you can just be eating anyhow as long as your within a calorie deficit. If you do that, your body will surely punish you for it. You will feel tired, hungry, etc and your body will torture you until you inevitably get out of that deficit.

This suffering is avoidable btw. Now the question is how do you avoid it? You can avoid it using the following principles in your weight loss journey:

1. Prioritising protein: Yes protein builds muscle and all that, but in terms of how you will feel if eating a lot of protein in your weight loss journey, it's like a potion. Protein will drastically reduce your food cravings and will drastically increase your will power. It will give you peace of mind.

2. Prioritise fruits and vegetables: Fruits and veggies increase the volume of your food and make you feel fuller by stretching out your stomach. They are low calorie so eat lots of it.

3. Prioritise water: Water again makes you feel fuller by stretching your stomach. Drink lots of it.

4. Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates give you energy. They help you think clearly and allow you to do physical tasks easily. However, carbs are not filling unlike the other bullet points written above - so they have to be limited but that doesn't mean you should avoid it. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (U.S.A/Canada government body), says 130 g is the bare minimum needed daily so make sure you eat this at the minimum every day.

5. Oil: Yes oil helps with organ function and etc, but in terms of how it makes you feel, it wakes you up. If you do not eat enough oil, you will move slowly and sluggishly. However, oil is also not filling - and unlike carbs and protein that are 4 calories per gram, oils and fats are 9 calories per gram. So it reaaallly needs to be limited. RDA says that the bare minimum for fat is 20% of your calorie intake, so stick to that.

6. STAY AWAY FROM SUGAR: Omo, sugar is demonic. It serves no function in weight loss, and is only an enemy of progress. It makes you hungrier, increases your cravings, makes you feel like you haven't eaten anything when you have eaten - it is not worth it. Stay away from it. STAY AWAY FROM SUGAR!!!

7. Taste: I advise that you still make your food taste good. You can use spices, and make sure your cooking is on your A-game.

If any of these principles are not adhered to, trust me, you will suffer. A lot. In order to carry out these principles, you need an organised system in place. How can you make sure you are organised. Honestly, this might be a case of everybody is different but this is how I do it:

1. I cook all my meals for the week every Sunday.

2. I weigh all my ingredients and calculate calories that way. I recommend using USDA for calorie counting. However, it is truly a shame that a lot of common Nigerian ingredients aren't present such as ponmo, pap, etc.

3. Note down these measurements you will be using for your recipes so you don't have to recalculate every time.

4. All principles I listed above (proteins, fruit and veg, etc) are applied to all meals.

These are the foods that fit into all I have written above. (Please keep in mind I mostly eat Yoruba food so I am biased towards that):

• Beans: anything beans I eat it vegetarian because of how much protein is already in it. Keep in mind I would literally never do this if I wasn't trying to lose weight.

  • Moin-moin: Omo, moin moin is truly the ultimate weight loss food. I can eat like 10 regular sized moin-moin and still only consume like 1300 calories. It is REALLY filling. I can't even fit fruit and veg in because of how filling it is. And there are different types: There is regular moin-moin, ekuru, jogi, etc.

  • Flakara: Most who consume this know this as "aKaRA pANcAkEs" but I personally believe that once beans has entered pancake you cannot call that food item pancake again abeg please let us be guided.

  • Beans: Regular beans is very good too.

• Rice: I usually eat this plain with different sauces: Normal stew, ofada stew, onion sauce, the sky is the limit. I also eat chinese fried rice too.

• Boiled Tubers: omooooooooooo, tubers are very very very filling. I know I said carbs aren't filling. However, they are really an exception. But keep in mind I still eat them with proteins and etc in case of incaseity. They really get that job done oooooo.... especially when eaten with a lot of protein. I eat yam, potato, cocoyam, sweet potato, etc. However there are more I want to try: cassava, wateryam, etc.

• I know I said stay away from sugar but I really felt I needed more variety so I eat sandwich regulary (don't beat me😭). I eat it because I need a lot of variety in my food and I don't want to be eating Non-nigerian food so I decided to include sandwich. One can easily fit a lot of protein into a sandwich so that is why.

Foods to stay away from:

• Swallow. Don't listen to people who tell you they lose weight while eating swallow. Those people are suffering. Even the "healthy" swallows like oat swallow - don't eat it o! I have tried to fit it into my diet - I could finish my swallow in 3 bites. Swallow cannot be included in a weight loss diet in a sensible manner. Don't eat it!

• Jollof rice: You cannot make a jollof rice that is enough to be satiating, and still taste nice. It can't be done. If you are still going to make jollof despite my warning, choose one to sacrifice: taste or quantity.

Foods I want to experiment with to see if I can add them to my diet: pap, eko, yam porridge, ebiripo

Some additional tips:

-Lift heavy weights. This makes you look better overall and allows you to eat more food without gaining fat. Even if you do overeat, your muscles will make it so that you don't gain as much fat as you would have otherwise. If you're lifting you have to take breaks every 3 months or so.

-If you have big breast, don't lose weight fast unless you want your breast to sag quickly. Lose weight slowly - 2 months of 0.5 kg per week, and 1 month maintenance.

The actual weight loss gangan is eating less calories than you burn. Count your calories. No matter how healthy your diet is, if you are not in a calorie deficit, you will not lose weight. However, this doesn't mean you can just be eating anyhow as long as your within a calorie deficit. If you do that, your body will surely punish you for it. You will feel tired, hungry, etc and your body will torture you until you inevitably get out of that deficit.

This suffering is avoidable btw. Now the question is how do you avoid it? You can avoid it using the following principles in your weight loss journey:

1. Prioritising protein: Yes protein builds muscle and all that, but in terms of how you will feel if eating a lot of protein in your weight loss journey, it's like a potion. Protein will drastically reduce your food cravings and will drastically increase your will power. It will give you peace of mind.

2. Prioritise fruits and vegetables: Fruits and veggies increase the volume of your food and make you feel fuller by stretching out your stomach. They are low calorie so eat lots of it.

3. Prioritise water: Water again makes you feel fuller by stretching your stomach. Drink lots of it.

4. Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates give you energy. They help you think clearly and allow you to do physical tasks easily. However, carbs are not filling unlike the other bullet points written above - so they have to be limited but that doesn't mean you should avoid it. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (U.S.A/Canada government body), says 130 g is the bare minimum needed daily so make sure you eat this at the minimum every day.

5. Oil: Yes oil helps with organ function and etc, but in terms of how it makes you feel, it wakes you up. If you do not eat enough oil, you will move slowly and sluggishly. However, oil is also not filling - and unlike carbs and protein that are 4 calories per gram, oils and fats are 9 calories per gram. So it reaaallly needs to be limited. RDA says that the bare minimum for fat is 20% of your calorie intake, so stick to that.

6. STAY AWAY FROM SUGAR: Omo, sugar is demonic. It serves no function in weight loss, and is only an enemy of progress. It makes you hungrier, increases your cravings, makes you feel like you haven't eaten anything when you have eaten - it is not worth it. Stay away from it. STAY AWAY FROM SUGAR!!!

7. Taste: I advise that you still make your food taste good. You can use spices, and make sure your cooking is on your A-game.

If any of these principles are not adhered to, trust me, you will suffer. A lot. In order to carry out these principles, you need an organised system in place. How can you make sure you are organised. Honestly, this might be a case of everybody is different but this is how I do it:

1. I cook all my meals for the week every Sunday.

2. I weigh all my ingredients and calculate calories that way. I recommend using USDA for calorie counting. However, it is truly a shame that a lot of common Nigerian ingredients aren't present such as ponmo, pap, etc.

3. Note down these measurements you will be using for your recipes so you don't have to recalculate every time.

4. All principles I listed above (proteins, fruit and veg, etc) are applied to all meals.

These are the foods that fit into all I have written above. (Please keep in mind I mostly eat Yoruba food so I am biased towards that):

• Beans: anything beans I eat it vegetarian because of how much protein is already in it. Keep in mind I would literally never do this if I wasn't trying to lose weight.

  • Moin-moin: Omo, moin moin is truly the ultimate weight loss food. I can eat like 10 regular sized moin-moin and still only consume like 1300 calories. It is REALLY filling. I can't even fit fruit and veg in because of how filling it is. And there are different types: There is regular moin-moin, ekuru, jogi, etc.

  • Flakara: Most who consume this know this as "aKaRA pANcAkEs" but I personally believe that once beans has entered pancake you cannot call that food item pancake again abeg please let us be guided.

  • Beans: Regular beans is very good too.

• Rice: I usually eat this plain with different sauces: Normal stew, ofada stew, onion sauce, the sky is the limit. I also eat chinese fried rice too.

• Boiled Tubers: omooooooooooo, tubers are very very very filling. I know I said carbs aren't filling. However, they are really an exception. But keep in mind I still eat them with proteins and etc in case of incaseity. They really get that job done oooooo.... especially when eaten with a lot of protein. I eat yam, potato, cocoyam, sweet potato, etc. However there are more I want to try: cassava, wateryam, etc.

• I know I said stay away from sugar but I really felt I needed more variety so I eat sandwich regulary (don't beat me😭). I eat it because I need a lot of variety in my food and I don't want to be eating Non-nigerian food so I decided to include sandwich. One can easily fit a lot of protein into a sandwich so that is why.

Foods to stay away from:

• Swallow. Don't listen to people who tell you they lose weight while eating swallow. Those people are suffering. Even the "healthy" swallows like oat swallow - don't eat it o! I have tried to fit it into my diet - I could finish my swallow in 3 bites. Swallow cannot be included in a weight loss diet in a sensible manner. Don't eat it!

• Jollof rice: You cannot make a jollof rice that is enough to be satiating, and still taste nice. It can't be done. If you are still going to make jollof despite my warning, choose one to sacrifice: taste or quantity.

Foods I want to experiment with to see if I can add them to my diet: pap, eko, yam porridge, ebiripo

If you have any questions, let me know.

Is it heavy?

I can't believe they made me invest in this movie like that and made it all a dream. Omo I go cry this night o, this movie wan kee me.

Edit: Like my heart is physically paining me I don't even know what to do.

Unfortunately, I can't make a poll due to technical reasons so just comment if you want it banned from this sub or not and why.

Edit: Replace the word 'acting' with BEING, because it is not an ACT!

I am a young Yoruba woman who 99% of the time:

-cooks and eats Yoruba food

-wears my natural hair with inspo from other tribes throughout Africa

-wears iro and buba

-listens to African music

-wears African influenced makeup

-consumes African media

-and more

I was raised in Nigeria, in Yorubaland. I have lived there for almost my whole life and I am still here in Yorubaland right now. It is really upsetting that anytime someone gets to know me and my way of living or they see me dressed up they say "African queen", "I love that you're being yourself.", "Mama Africa", etc

I find it so somehow. The context is that the two of us are Nigerian, in Africa, both of us grew up in Africa. Therefore, our default context in this conversation is already Africa yet they are calling me stuff like "mama Africa". Was I Mama Obodoyinbo before??? Like who else am I supposed to be if not myself??? Is the default Oyinbo queen???? Is it not natural for my life to revolve around the continent that:

-I am in

-I am from

-I was raised in

-Almost everyone I love and have ever loved are in????

I know that Nigeria has a problem with aspiring to white proximity - but the fact that simply not engaging with that is seen as so unusual that they're complimenting me as if they are not also Africans is just so sad.