I personally don't think there's much point practising with natives as a beginner, so I just talk to myself (but with extra steps). I demonstrate how I do that in this video!!
Has anyone felt the opposite, that native speakers were useful to them early on?
My video. It's not specifically about Japanese learning methods or anything, but I thought it could be interesting to post more speaking related content because it seems like most of the posts here are about kanji, anki etc. but I'm new to the subreddit so could be wrong
I would be interested to hear other people's methods for practising speaking. Do you talk to natives online? Is it much quicker to become conversational if you live in Japan?
I mostly practised by talking to myself, talking in classes, and now by talking to a camera lol.
I'm trying to read 2-3 books a week in Japanese so that I can get through my big pile of them and switch to digital.
Recently I've been thinking about minimising hair related products. Previously used large hairbrush, shampoo, conditioner. Obviously not very fast
First the shampoo can be changed for the same soap you wash your body or clothes with. Some articles say this will leave soap residue on your hair but I have never had that problem. Maybe try changing the soap brand
Then you can towel or air dry the hair. I guess if you go outside it might dry quicker. I haven't tried that. Mine is thick and takes 3-4 hours to dry so you just have to plan to wash it when you have time to let it dry
Second, use coconut oil instead of conditioner. Again, some articles say it's "not really moisturising the hair" but my hair seems healthier afterwards so I don't know what that's about. Probably Big Conditioner wrote the articles
Next you can use a small comb instead of a hairbrush. I was worried this would make me take forever brushing, but if you put the coconut oil on the hair with your fingers first it actually takes less time than a hairbrush with no oil. I think some Swiss army knives come with a comb part so that would be ideal
After this I tie my hair into braids. Having it in braids means you have to brush and wash it less.
You can buy coconut oil in a small tube. I bought a larger bag because it was cheaper that way and i didn't know that you only need to dip your fingers in a few times and it's enough. This thing is probably gonna become a family heirloom cos I can't imagine ever getting through it oops. Other hair styles might need more though
The one I bought doesn't have anything other than coconut oil so it can also be used in cooking. Also it is scent free but coconut scented hair wouldn't be bad either
Pros and cons list of just cutting all the hair off
Pros: Minimalist
Cons: I don't want to
I made this video to demonstrate what it looks like reading in ancient greek!