I think I messed up learning Japanese

22 comments

1. I’m like the epitome of learning the wrong way. LOL.

   I hit a spot where apps and things were too easy, but media was too hard, and spent some time hopping apps trying to find what took me to the next level.

   I have some N2 and N1 grammar and vocab on board, but at the same time I’ve gone through N4 and N3 vocab and grammar and been lost.

   So I feel you on the whole no level is appropriate thing.

   So finally I just dived into media and started using it to study.

   Looking up all the words and grammar I don’t know on an individual as-needed basis.

   It’s been so helpful I feel like I’ve improved more in 2 years than my initial 7.

2. Satori Reader might be right for you:

   — It is not on any specific fixed JLPT level, but instead you learn by reading and you just click on things for which you need an explanation and ignore those you already know.

   — It is made by the same people who made Human Japanese, which you say you used in the last, and uses that as a baseline for grammar knowledge.

   I also recommend using Anki for all vocab, if only because it will help you stay consistent and keep track of what you know and don’t know yet, which (sounds like) might currently be an issue for you.

3. Start with something around N4. Review what you don’t understand and sim what you do

4. maybe it’s time to actually start engaging with the language.

5. Just go back and learn whatever you missed. The only thing that can become a problem is learning to transliterate in your head rather than understanding directly. While everyone does it sometimes for hard sentences or early when just barely learning, this is the only bad one that’s hard to unlearn. Even that can be unlearned, it just takes extra effort. Everything else is just sunk cost from slightly inefficient learning and it doesn’t matter in the long run. Learn a lesson and retool, that’s totally normal.

6. You just wrote it. Learn the basics until you get them by heart. If you’re like, “oh this seems easy to undertand it’s not worth it to review it” and then you can’t understand it later it’s pretty much obvious what’s the problem there.

   Even if you move to the country that habit of you won’t let you make a change. Because everything in japan has romaji for the gaijins and natives are very reluctant to interact with foreigners and when they do it’s because they want to use them to practice english.

   Go little by little on your studies, don’t try to study a bit of everything because at the end you will end up learning nothing.

7. I’m in a similar position. I’ve studied Japanese (in classes and on my own) a few different times over the past twenty years, and have forgotten much of what I originally learned. So now I have a patchwork of knowledge at various different levels.

   I’m currently focusing on getting my kanji recognition really solid (using Wanikani, but any method is fine). Using that foundation, I can start reading native material. The reading serves to build vocabulary (which I’m putting into Anki for better long-term retention) and get a more intuitive sense of grammar and usage.

8. You didn’t learn the wrong way, you just discovered one way how **not** to learn Japanese.

9. The only way i could see you solving this problem quickly is by switching to an immersion method (preferably refold)

10. I’m a year and a half into Japanese and very similar to your experience. However, I am taking online classes that keep my studying quite decently structured. From your other comments I think you’re a little bit more advanced than me, so I suggest starting with beginning of N3 (I’m at pretty much the end of N4 study) material and try to get a grasp of every last little concept you come across. It’s not like N4 and N5 won’t be there, on the contrary, it will appear extremely frequently, so even if you missed some of those basics you will pick up on them eventually. I’m sure you can catch up without too much trouble and give structure to your studies. If you need some help from a fellow student you can hit me up anytime.

11. I feel you. I’ve been trying to learn on and off over the past ten years. At this point, I know a lot of vocab but that’s just about it. I decided to get serious about 6 months ago so I decided to buy MNK books for grammar. I hated going back and forth books because I couldn’t understand the kanji. So I tried wanikani. Reading is a lot easier now for me. I haven’t made much progress with grammar (but that’s a me thing). But I feel like learning grammar would be a smoother sailing now that I know N5/4 kanji.

12. I’m the same way. I just started from scratch. Lol

13. Yeah, I was taught in school, but it’s weird because I know all the alphabet and basic grammar, yet It’s either too easy, or I don’t understand what is happening.

14. Yeah you’re just gonna have to consume media. Read lots and lots and just look up anything you don’t know. That’ll save you having to sit through boring lessons.

15. I just started learning Japanese with the genki text book and workbook but kinda felt like I was missing something. So I got this app called Busuu and it’s working pretty well. It’s kinda pricey but the syllabus kinda matches up with the genki book. But anyway, I like it and it’s really helped with the book lessons.

16. I think Im in the same boat. Some things feel too basic and some feel too advance. I cant find material i can stick to.

    I just try to brute force my way through the basic stuff again. I have lost some motivation but I am still sticking with it. My hope is that I can find a friendly native speaker to talk with and hope that things click by then

17. The number one tip is to make sure you do listening and reading of actual Japanese – manga, shows without English subs. Your brain can pick up patterns without you studying it. Watching with Japanese subtitles is extra good.

18. feel like me in all my self taught languages… i just keep checking grammar lessons available on yt especially those I don’t fully understand yet. now I’m lost too but i decided not to push myself too much lol

19. Focus on communication. Write a journal. Talk to people on a language exchange app. This will reveal what you don’t know.

    Also I’m a big fan of checking if I can explain the concept to someone else. It works especially on lower levels. If you “kinda know, but not really” and are playing it by ear, I’d say go and review that.

20. I felt that way after I obsessed for 2 years on ONLY textbooks hours a day. But I balanced myself out by just going back to learn what I missed and kinda just embracing that the redundancy would be inevitable but reinforce some stuff that was already learned. It’s not for everyone but that’s how I got around that.

21. >I have started learning on and off 2 years ago with different apps(human japanese, pimsleur, kanjii, Duolingo,) and watching free lessons on YouTube. Now that I’m looking to get more serious about it, I find that nothing seems to be of an appropriate level for me. Either I have skipped learning the basics for X thing and don’t understand what the lesson is talking about or I just already know what is there and am tired of re-learning about the same stuff again and again. Anyone in the same boat?

    Get a textbook and just skip what you already know, and learn what you don’t. If you know everything in it, go to the next level. 🙂

22. doesn’t really matter, you’ll wind up spending about the same amount of time regardless how you study. Anything you learn even if it was basics, relearning it would be useful and reinforce the information at your stage.