So as you can see from the title, I finally passed N1 in 1.5 years!
Yea… no I didn’t. But for a second did you start to feel a little bit tense? Maybe a little discouraged or dissatisfied with your own progress? If so I wanted to make this post to tell you that you’re doing absolutely fine. I see posts on this subreddit all the time about people passing JLPT and sharing their experience, and it always made me feel that I wasn’t doing enough, or that I just didn’t want it as bad. And by no means am I saying these posts are bad, in fact they are usually very helpful and filled with resources and study methods, but it oftentimes just made me feel let down with my own progress as I’m still just not nearly as advanced as some other people who’ve been studying for a similar timeframe.
But I’m here to say that that’s ok. It’s ok to practice at your own pace, and it’s ok to be a beginner even after a sacrificing a lot of time learning. At the end of the day, most of us here are just learning Japanese purely as a hobby. It’s supposed to be fun, and it’s ok not to devote your entire life outside of work to studying. It’s ok to use “less efficient” study methods simply because you enjoy them more. It’s ok to not use Anki, or not use WaniKani, or not to use Remembering the Kanji, simply because you don’t like them. And it’s ok to just… dare I say it, have FUN learning. So stop comparing yourself to the top 1% of language learners just because they make a happy post on the internet.
Again, I am not against anyone who makes these posts, congratulations on all of your progress. You worked hard and deserve to share it. But to those of you who read them, remember, this subbreddit is a TOOL for you to help guide your studying. It is nothing more than that. Everyone learns things differently, everyone uses different methods, and there is no right or wrong way to learn a language. There are things that may work better, but that doesn’t mean you have to do them. Don’t forget why you started. There’s no need to stress. There is no finish lane, and no one here is competing. So just focus on your own journey, and make small improvements along the way 🙂
頑張ってね！
by MAX7hd