I have been learning Japanese on and off for 2 years now. I started with using Duolingo and quickly got past the first few levels. But after a while I slowed down and basically repeated the first few lessons just to keep my streak going.
After the Duolingo period I picked up Wanikani. I finished the first 3 levels in 5-ish weeks and bought a yearly subscription. More than half a year later I’m stuck on level 6 for 4 months.
I understand that this question might not be specific to learning Japanese, but I imagined some people on this subreddit must have gone through a similar experience.
I notice that as soon as my motivation kind of dwindles I don’t have the discipline to keep learning, and instead wait for a new burst of motivation to happen. Do you guys have any tips or tools that can help me stay committed?
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For me it’s not about motivation. You do what you have to do regardless about how you feel. I didn’t have motivation to study kanji on WaniKani I took multiply breaks. I just reached level 51 yesterday. I’m still not sure if I can finish. I live in Japan and if I want to have a bad experience I could stop studying but I have to study if I want what I want. Which is an easier life in Japan. To be able to communicate.
Find your reason why you want to learn Japanese , use that energy , channel it into your studies. Learning a language is not about just being able to enjoy certain things . It’s a tool. Breaks are not bad. I’ve been burned out multiply times and came back.
BUT if you want it, you have to do it. There’s no magic trick.
EDIT: If your reason is strong enough, you’ll be fine. Think about what kind of pressure lies on you if you didn’t study? Would it effect you? Maybe not? Learning a language is a very personal thing.
I had that before I started seriously. The thing holding me back was kanji. After trying different tools like Anki, just learning them as they come and few websites, it felt hopeless.
Started Wanikani around a year ago, hit level 30 and slowed down a bit. Kanji sure feels different now and I feel like there’s no major obstacles anymore. >!No mountains but language learning is still like swimming in tar!<
Can you identify anything that motivates you to learn? Any notable things that spurred you to learn in the first place? I feel like when I start to fade, I go consume some sort of Japanese media (currently playing Ghostwire: Tokyo) and find myself re-energized by wanting to understand more of what I’m seeing.
What got you excited to learn Japanese in the first place, and is there anything you can do to recapture that magic?
The problem with motivation is that it’s the first thing that gives way when you’re tired, busy, or distracted.
It’s better to make studying and immersing in Japanese a part of your day that it eventually becomes a habit. For example, set time in the evening before you sleep for anything involving Japanese. You can also use triggers like after eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner you’ll answer your Wanikani reviews. Do it regularly everyday that it becomes automatic.
When you get the basics of Japanese you can sustain your progress of slowly climbing the difficulty in native material with “aha” or “wtf, I know and understand this word/sentence” moments.
> Do you guys have any tips or tools that can help me stay committed?
You obviously need a new spin on things.
Why don’t you try something which doesn’t involve “gamification”
Grab a textbook (genki or whatever you want) and read it slowly and steadily for X minutes a day. Maybe 30 min, maybe 60, maybe 90, but do something regular.
And then take studying as just something you always do. If it’s fun, it’s fun. If it’s hard, it’s hard. If it sucks some days, then it sucks. But you have to do it every day.
Also after textbook level, by the way, things get very nice. You can read books then!
>I notice that as soon as my motivation kind of dwindles I don’t have the discipline to keep learning
Then you didn’t have the discipline to begin with. Motivation is temporary feeling that gets you to start.
Discipline = Doing it despite not feeling motivated. Rain/shine/defeated/sad/tired, you still try = discipline.
Getting a teacher helps improve motivation
Making it a habit will make it easier to continue. Even if you just do a little, it’s progress and doing something is better than doing literally nothing.
If you still struggle a bit in the beginning it’s normal but having a way to keep yourself accountable (ie telling people what you’re going to do so you’re forced to do it and not lie; rewards system etc) or even try to make some time with a friend everyday to mutually work on something will help insure you progressing.
I also struggle heavily with studying in general. What’s helped me is to collect as many sources as I can, and count them all as a source of study. Books (I always check at secondhand stores) manga, podcasts, anime, music, apps, educational videos, and this forum. As long as some Japanese is going into my eyes or ears from any source, I make sure to pay attention as much as I can, and I feel myself making progress, so I maintain enough motivation to keep going. I try for just a few minutes a day, with no lower limit. Just keep finding things and sprinkling them through your life.
I think a part of it might be because you’re not seeing yourself improve over time. Basically, you’re working on a very specific set of skills that as of right now, aren’t really conducive towards language learning, which requires you to master listening, writing and speaking. Wanikani isn’t my favorite because it’s quite slow and I didn’t feel like I was really learning anything useful, so I quit it. I definitely prefer using the Anki software and I added [these](https://refold.la/roadmap/stage-1/a/anki-setup) settings to make sure I am definitely memorizing a sustainable amount of cards every day. If you’re using a textbook, you can find anki decks with vocabulary words from that specific textbook. I honestly think Anki is way more effective and I’m sure you’ll see yourself recognizing a lot more characters, a lot faster. For me, reading the Genki series + doing exercises from the book + watching Tokiny Andy’s YouTube channel has been super helpful in understanding the various grammatical explanations that Duolingo lacks. Of course, if you don’t like Duolingo, you can drop it and focus on other things. I personally like it as it keeps me going on days where I’m just too busy, but it’s entirely up to you. At the end of day, staying engaged with the language in a sustainable way is very important. For listening and speaking at the beginner level, I think italki is the very best because the teachers typically know what level they should use to talk to you (not too fast and using beginner friendly words). If that’s not an option, at least listening to natives speak in beginner friendly podcasts and vlog style YouTube videos is quite helpful. Street interview videos on YouTube are nice too because you get to hear the same question, and similar answers over and over again. There are also good Japanese tv shows on Netflix like Alice in Borderland. This was a lot of info but I’ll summarize my recommendations so you choose which methods work best for you:
1. Ditch wanikani, it’s not worth it imo
2. Try out anki with the settings I linked above
3. Don’t use Duolingo too much unless you’re sure it’s actually helping you
4. Try to engage with or at least listen to native speakers (choose content/medium that you like)
5. Consider following a textbook or at least check out Tokiny Andys YouTube channel
I hope this helps!!