So I started learning Japanese using Minna no Nihongo and was on the track, almost halfway there. I took a break because of personal issues but I want to jump back in. Do I just start where I left off or should I start from the beginning? Any advice is much appreciated!
3 comments
Probably best to start all over. At the start of my learning I read through half of Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese, stopped, when I tried to get back into it from where I forgot half of the stuff on the book. That’s why I started to read through the whole thing and make Anki flashcards to make sure I didn’t forget anything just in case I stopped reading through the book which I did but now I can start from where I left off because I can be sure that I remember everything I read.
I had a big hiatus a few years back, and rereading my early textbook chapters and notes definitely helped. Don’t spend too long on it or fall into the trap of endlessly reviewing the same chapters, though. Even if you don’t remember the old stuff 100% perfectly, forging ahead will keep you motivated and making progress. You can always flip back and re-read sections as needed.
I did something similar after my kid was born. I didn’t completely start over, but it helps to skim over the chapter in general just to refresh your memory. I’d also heavily recommend going through the vocab in Anki if you haven’t been. If you’ve been doing the workbook just refresh that too a little, if not I highly recommend buying the sentence pattern workbook. Also go over the old listening practice again.
After you do all this refreshing you will probably notice where you memory grows more hazy. Start back up wherever it is you start to really feel like you struggling. The books constantly builds on itself so you don’t want to be missing points from earlier in the book, but at the same time you’ll also be able to rely on the book helping refresh all the info as you work through it.