JJapanese

Staying motivated for the Japanese language

I enjoy the Japanese language. Reading manga, the levels of language. I’ve managed to get only a few Japanese friends, the rest are acquaintances. I know there are lots of posts on Japanese people being in-group, cold and blah blah, so I’m not going to go deep into that even though it affects me because I’m sure everyone here understands. I’m just wondering how to stay motivated and continue on the learning journey.

5 comments

  1. There is 0 motivation for me it is just routine, like the gym. If it required motivation I would have quit a long time ago.

  2. Same as the comment above, I think the Japanese language is just too rich to learn while being motivated only (that’s why you hear all the time that people study Japanese and quit after a week)
    Probably the only long-lasting motivation is wanting to be able to speak to people and make friends from the Japanese culture, it’s not gonna be enough to just push you through everything but it is something to chase.
    It’s also important not to get too excited and study for many many hours every single day, it’s just not practical and you will end up not being able to memorize much of what you learn, just take it slow, how much time to study per day really depends on you and how much you study, it’s also important to take days off if you’re feeling that unmotivated (I personally study for at least an hour a day and I also text many Japanese friends so it really helped me to take one day off every week or so).
    I think the most important advice is not to study much if you’re unable to and just taking small steps while also not taking shortcuts through essential stuff because that will also build up some kind of stress about learning Japanese in general.
    頑張ってね!

  3. What has worked for me is a combination of 2 things:

    1. **WaniKani**: Every morning, afternoon, and evening. Getting to level 60 will *really* help with reading and passing JLPT N1 (if that’s your aim).
    2. **Variety TV shows**: This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for me it’s a lot of fun. I get to hear about the latest topics, discussions, slang, news, etc. and improve my listening (and therefore speaking) of Japanese.

  4. Motivation is unreliable, you need discipline, but don’t push yourself either, if you feel burn out you can do only your anki reviews for a few days and you’ll feel motivated again

  5. If you can’t continue to motivate yourself by thinking about whatever you will do once your skills advance I think it’s fair to ask yourself if it is even worth continuing. You’re not going to make a lot of money learning Japanese so it’s really kind of a “for its own sake” kind of a pursuit for most people.

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