I’ll ask my question upfront before providing some background on myself as a learner and such: After a long pause in your learning effort how do you properly restart? I understand that for the most part it’s just *insert shia lebouf just do it meme here* but I’d like to hit the ground running “right”.
Background:
I’m 29, been interested in Japanese for most of my life since I play so many video games made by them, watch anime, typical nerd stuff. It goes beyond just this, but it was the heart of what got me started. I started learning about a year and a half ago via Immersion learning after I discovered MattvsJapan and Refold/Migaku, my routine looked like this basically:
– Wake up
– Do Anki reviews 15-20 new cards + however many reviews
– Watch like 4 episodes of anime with JP subs and try my best to both understand what I was hearing/reading and making the occasional card for Anki.
– Do some purely reading using Satori Reader, do it’s review cards I made while doing that.
Play video games, sleep/work, handle responsibilities, go to gym, have social life, was all mixed in there too of course, but I slotted the above everyday for months on end, not missing a day for a long long long time.
I saw improvement, but it wasn’t as drastic as some people have had in the same time frame (stories and such I’ve read on this sub and other places, but I know a lot of folks go harder than myself). I’d say this was about 9 months at least non-stop. I then took like a month off (due to burnout), before finding the passion again, where I restarted before, just trying to pick up where I left off which lasted for a shorter period (like another 3-4 months) and it’s now been probably 3-4 months since then. Recently, however, a bunch of my freinds started planning a trip to japan with myself included in about 3 years time, and obviously I want to try and get to a point where I can read/talk to people while I’m there, I don’t expect perfection, but I’ve been at this for a while and think I can get there in that time if I try, I just don’t know what to do really.
I’ve never tested myself formally, but I know I’m probably still like N5 if even (really struggle with Japanese grammar). Some very simple sentences come to me naturally, but I struggle with most and don’t know probably like 95% of what I’m looking at vocab wise too (even worse now that I’m rusty again). I was decent at recalling meaning in a vacuum, but throw things in a sentence and my brain would melt (or at the minimum, I’d have no idea if I was right on the meaning or not, self learning troubles).
If you have any tips in general for someone like myself (things that helped you out of a hole like this, or similar situations) I’d appreciate them. Especially how someone using my learning method might better understand grammar, but if it is just continue to consistently expose myself to it so be it. I’d also be willing to hear out good Anki decks to use for someone in my situation.
If you made it this far thanks for coming to my TED talk, feel free to leave me advice or your favorite JP subbed anime to watch for immersion learning I’ll watch anything really Slice of Life to Shonen and beyond.
3 comments
Firstly, stop calling this a “restart” for goodness sake. Also, stop using the stories on this sub as some sort of thing you need to measure up to; a good chunk of them are either overexaggerated or plain unrealistic for a person with IRL things to do.
What resources did you use for grammar?
I’m going to admit right here that, despite fully wanting to read it all, I found myself skimming over your post towards the end. Not meant as an attack in any way, expressing your thoughts is therapeutic isn’t it? It just feels like you may be slightly overthinking this, is all 🙂 “Just do it” is the ultimate advice, but it is not easy haha. I truly do understand.
I think comparing your progress or growth to other people’s is not productive, everybody is different! People following identical methods for 9 months would retain information in a different way. If watching anime works for you, how about kicking back with an old favorite? Maybe something you already know the plot of, so there’s no stress of trying to understand a new story on top of practicing. It might be a good way to get back into the loop.
Your routine sounds like something someone with a decent grasp of Japanese would do to not forget the language, it’s not something for a complete beginner. Get an actual textbook and start studying for real.