Hi, I’ve been self-studying Japanese on and off for about 2 years. At my current level, it takes a lot of energy to try to understand Japanese videos even at 0.50x speed. So when I study for a long period of time, lets say a solid 3-4 hours of listening + reading practice, I get sort of a headache and it’s like my brain tells me that it has enough practice and want a break or something. Is it just something dumb like dehydratation and im dying or i’m really “tired at the brain”? Is that a real thing?
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4 hours straight of anything makes me tired
I have a similar thing when I try to learn too much of foreign language. I’m not sure I’ve experienced something like that in my native language, but on the other hand there is a difference. In native language you don’t have to learn a lot of things, rather you already have some blocks, which you need to arrange. But in foreign language absolutely everything is new, so amount you need to learn is much higher. I’ve noticed that with SRS.
If I try to learn more than 30 absolutely unknown words, I start to get dizzy/headache. If it’s partially known like compounds where I know one word, then it’s around double amount. And easier it becomes up to reviews, the more number increases.
At least it’s the only reason I’ve found considering that I can read a whole book in my native language in a day and remember a huge amount of details, but at the same time 20-30 completely unknown words in foreign language already block new learning for a while. It’s not only about uncomfortable feeling, but your retention drops to zero too.
Honestly listening to Japanese for 30 minutes makes me tired, even when I understand most of it. I’ve studied Japanese for over 20 years, too.
It’s not that I get tired, my mind wanders after about 15-30 minutes and I have to keep pulling myself back to the subject at hand.
>I get sort of a headache and it’s like my brain tells me that it has enough practice and want a break or something. […] i’m really “tired at the brain”? Is that a real thing?
Yes, it’s a real thing. This problem was pretty universal in my intensive Japanese class. We used a medicine sold in every convenience store in Japan called Strong Zero in order to combat this. It was highly effective.
Of course mental fatigue is a thing.
Different people have different abilities to concentrate for long periods. Lots of things can affect that: genetics, diet, sleep hygiene, mental health, infection (eg. long Covid), physical exercise, etc.
Been a year since I started studying japanese. Now, I’m at around N2. I faced similar problem when learning a new thing for a long period of time. For first 3 or 4 months, I studied intensively, usually at least 6 hours a day.
Talking about your issue, try change your learning techinique. Try active & passive immersion. Instead of reading paragraphs after paragraphs from textbooks, try using twitter solely for japanese reading. U can follow japanese people, anime VAs, etc.
For listening, I only have done listening drills when I was N5. I didn’t do any kind of listening practice from textbook after that. Instead I try to listen from natives, usually from fav youtube videos, podcasts, games, etc.
My study method prioritize vocabulary. After getting a significant knowledge of word, I can read more and more of twitter tweeks, can catch up more words from youtube videos. Lately, I am listening to Genshin Impact radio show.
Keep in mind that, our way of studying differ greatly. While u study on and off, I study quite a lot. Though my study method has lots of weakness and it works work for me, does mean that it will work for other. Just take it as a grind of salt.