I was studying Japanese having a good run, but then burn out and life got in the way, so I dropped it until now. Though, I don’t really know how to go about this again.
Like, what I used to study was Anki, WaniKani, read some stuff from Tae Kim’s Guide and Cure Dolly’s, and then read some things for my level from Tadoku to improve reading. How I’d study would just be me doing these things until I felt I done it enough and just move onto the next. After a while it felt like I wasn’t really doing any progress. I don’t know if this was enough or not, but it’s kinda why i got burn out for trying to do a lot.
Another thing, I don’t know if I should reset things like Anki decks and WaniKani. Should I? Cause the reviews are ridiculously long now, and though things look familiar I can’t remember the meanings like before. The only knowledge I’ve retrained is everything which way kana is shown.
What’s just the main thing is now I don’t know how to use all resources I get from looking things up or what other people have said. Like it feels like I’ve been given materials to build a bookshelf, but it came with no manual, so I don’t know what’s right to use or not, or if I should even use it, or what im putting down is too much or too little.
Lowkey need some chart to just hand hold me like a toddler through my studies lol /hj
but seriously, no idea how I start again. (And side note, I can only take free stuff. Don’t have the money for otherwise.)
4 comments
Maybe you can try textbooks, since it holds your hand up to… well, whatever level the textbook will get you? At least you got the manual to build the bookshelf, along with necessary boards and screws.
Unfortunately, *looking familiar but not being able to recall what it means* is going to haunt you forever (at various degrees) so you’ll have to accept that.
I’m not sure if you just didn’t think to say it, but I can’t help but notice you didn’t mention reading books, watching anime or j-dramas, going through manga, talking with natives, or really anything enjoyable in your post. (Tadoku is great but I can’t imagine it’s an end-goal for anyone.) Maybe that’s why you burned out?
I saw a post awhile back that might be relevant to your situation:
https://reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/10qrrrw/
It seems to be a 30 day crash course of sorts, with specific intructions for each day. And it seems to focus on actually using your Japanese abilities in practical ways. I don’t have personal experience with this, but it seems like everyone responding to that post enjoys the method.
Starting completely fresh with this guide might give you the refresher you need, and set you up with good habits to enjoy the process of learning. Plus it’ll give you a good excuse to free yourself from all the chains of your past learning and start over again – the knowledge that has stuck around will expedite the process, while the knowledge you lost won’t hang around your neck. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck in your Japanese journey.
Crack open Yotsubato and read a bit of it. If the amount of unknown words is manageable, go on until you feel it’s too easy. If it’s too high use a textbook, and if it’s too low just read an anime/watch a manga you like. Either way put unknown words in Anki or write them down or however you learn unknown words normally.
how far did you get the first time around?
if you want to get back into anki, maybe just set your max reviews per day to a manageable level and your max new cards per day to zero.
I once got to like chapter 5 in genki, then stopped for a few years, then started from the beginning. i remembered next to nothing, but it still made everything easier the second time around