How do you keep motivated

4 comments

1. What helped me when I was learning was treating it like a little phone video game. Do some simple studying in your idle time. But definitely keep it simple, save the tough stuff for the time you set aside specifically for study. And lastly, please don’t be hard on yourself. Those 6 months were not wasted, you needed that time to focus on other things. It’s okay 🌸 Sincerely, a learner who chronically forgets to study.

2. Why do you want to learn Japanese? You need to find a motivation, or just accept that maybe it isn’t for you.

   Also, are your goals realistic? You’ll never really become fluent in any language unless you have the opportunity or the need to use it regularly. If you don’t have that then tailor your goals to something more reasonable – e.g. even if you never become fluent, you can still learn a lot about the language and culture.

   You also have to realize that trying to acquire a new language is going to be full of disappointments and frustrations. If you can push through those then you’ll eventually be glad you did.

   As for some specific advice, I think you should start from the beginning again. There’s no point continuing to study if nothing makes sense. Here’s some [guidance and resources](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/s5mtva/comment/ht1lo0x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) you may find helpful.

3. If you tried to start where you left off, try glancing at chapters 1-13. Usually people just get rusty but it starts coming back as they review previously learned things.

   I could be wrong, but I’ve heard みんなの日本語 is used more for classroom settings so maybe if you’re currently self studying that may make it harder. Have you tried the genki series? Or maybe the 日本語総まとめ(にほんごそうまとめ)? Don’t just use books to study, I suggest you also find content meant for natives and learn from there. I found that 日本語総まとめ does a great job at keeping out of your way..2 pages a day gets you finishing the book in 2 months and it doesn’t take that long daily, which gave me time to read content meant for natives…full disclosure, N3 level and on they have a book per JLPT point, and could take all day to get through..but I only ever used the grammar book so it only use to take me about 20-30 mins

   I can’t help you with the motivation part. Everyone has their own motivation so you have to ask yourself why is it that you want to learn Japanese and focus on that. You can also have smaller, weekly goals (small victories) meant to guide you to that main goal you set for yourself.

4. Personally I never did any textbooks. Putting whether they’re an effective tool for studying languages aside, they’re just so boring to me. I know for a fact that it’s very easy for me to give up something once I start finding it boring, so I spiced up my studying sessions by doing fun activities like analyzing song lyrics, reading visual novels, or just watching anime. The only active studying I did was 20 minutes of Anki every day, and I think it’s a good tradeoff for not having to worry about kanjis too much and just focus on the things I enjoy.

   My point is, just try to have fun. Try reading something you have always wanted to read in Japanese, or try analyzing the lyrics of your favorite Japanese songs to see what words they’re made of. You’ll have fun, and you’ll learn Japanese while having fun too. Don’t worry about progress too much; as long as you interact with the language a lot in meaningful ways, you brain will automatically pick up the words and grammar patterns, and before you know it, voila, you’re “learning” the language.