What are the best ways to learn Japanese with ADHD?

17 comments

1. [Do what Torahime did, but with Japanese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crcCJgFlv7Y).

2. build it into your life! follow japanese speakers on social media, find japanese music you really like, anything that will help you learn without having to do a scheduled study session, or that will motivate you to do that study session and be consistent about it.

   i have ADHD too and the way i study is by having a variety of options (youtube, reading a book or article, talking to a friend, music, etc) that i can choose from to study with based on how i’m feeling, rather than being strict with what i have to do and putting myself off. this is more advanced though, so as a beginner being a fan of something in japanese was incredibly useful. i loved japanese music so i forced myself to learn japanese so that i could understand my favourite singer’s songs and livestreams and tv shows.

   when it comes to studying with ADHD i think the most important thing is working with it rather than against it. choose the right materials in order to take advantage of hyperfocus or make it easier when you’re struggling to even start.

3. Im using manga for it. And chatgpt for grammar questions

4. Duolingo’s gamification works pretty well with me. Right now, I have a 1+ year streak, for example. Other apps like Lingvist for flashcards also have this feature.

   You can always use reminders in your smartphone to remember to study. Actually, you should just block time on your calendar and have a fixed time every day (or any frequency you can manage) to study. You MUST create a routine. Then, use the reminders just to remind you of the study time.

   Having a routine is EXTREMELY important.

5. Fellow ADHDer here! What kept me going for 2+ years: Gamify the shit out of it.

   Find apps that you like using – whether its duolingo, or lingodeer, or bunpro, or whatever for grammar, and all of the any learning games like japanese dungeon and stuff like that. Go for structured paths like wanikani even if it costs money. Make it part of your free time or night time chill out so its fun and relaxing, and you actually *want* to do it every night.

   For vocab, I tried anki several times and kept getting burned out and frustrated by it, YMMV. What worked for me was a simpler flashcard system (quizlet) and keeping vocab lists to 20-50 words at a time so that I actually felt like i was learning.

6. I also have ADD and what helped me was deciding on the amount of hours a week I wanted to study and then not stressing too much if I put those hours in early in the day or later in the evening, and I set up how much time exactly I wanted to spend on certain areas (SRS, grammar, immersion etc). Setting my phone to Japanese also helped me a lot just engaging with it without even having to think about it or going out of my way to do it. It’s different for everyone but I do relate with feeling like I can’t remember what I’ve just learned and my only solution to that was just doing a lot of repetition even if that meant reading one chapter 10 times before moving on.

7. Hey man I’ve got ADHD myself and I’m currently learning Japanese. I’m about a week in and have a pretty good understanding of Hiragana I have a few more characters to memorize. This is the first language I am trying to learn properly (fluent in reading, writing, and speaking) but not my first language outside of my native tongue (English). The way I motivate myself is I think of why I want to do something and where that will lead me. Not just Japanese but everything dude! When I was in the Army before my first deployment I’d do 6-12 miles ruck marches (basically a backpack that weighted like 35-80ish lbs) while listening to some type of Arabic media. Later on I found out how many dialects of Arabic there are but it still helped way more than not but doing it is dreadful. I had aspirations of going into special operations and that requires you learn a second language depending on what group you are assigned to and thinking about being apart of that community would give me goosebumps. I ended up getting injured on my second deployment and never went to selection but I still use that method today man. When I was working on a project I needed to expand some of my disciplines of math and physics. Doing math homework that is not mandatory by a school or yields no degree but the end result of the project fueled me to keep pushing through it. Associate what you need to learn with what you love. This was also common in the military usually adult themed but it helped 18 year old kids memorize hundreds of acronyms (If any 11b or other combat mos sees this PRSCC knows what this means). Find your reason why you want to learn and envision what life looks like when you do. I apologize for the tomb there but I do hope it helps from one ADHD person to another. I feel I should add I do not take any medication for mine. Not because I don’t believe it would help but I had a substance problem after I got medically retired so amphetamines are a no-go for me. However, it correlates into learning Japanese as well. You can apply this to anything you want in life but you and I were dealt a debuff in life haha.

8. While it’s hard for us to build a routine, it certainly pays off in the long term.

   I have Anki and Bunpro on Autostart – whenever I start my pc both pops up. Thats a reminder for me to do it and I won’t close both until I did it. Maybe something like [https://github.com/zjosua/Pokemanki/releases/tag/v1.3.4](https://github.com/zjosua/Pokemanki/releases/tag/v1.3.4) motivates you, but for me it’s more distracting.

   I also tweaked Anki a bit. For me, it took longer than Anki anticipated to really “learn” a card, ending in so many leeches I get mad for forgetting so much. My leech amount dropped significantly by adding a few more learning steps. I do 5m, 15m, 1d, 3d, 5d and a greater graduating interval (5) since my brain just randomly throws out things I learned yesterday.

   Try to make your progress visible. For Anki, Review Heatmap keeps me going since almost 280 days. Using a desk calendar or a simple sheet of paper where you fill in a box for each day learned also works. After a few days you probably won’t loose the streak and the longer you go, the more (positive!) pressure it adds.

   Listen to the same music. I use a track from [https://www.youtube.com/@GreenredProductions](https://www.youtube.com/@GreenredProductions) I exclusively listen to when studying. It helps to get into the mood since that music is just linked to “I now sit down and learn.”

   Also set you small, reachable goals. It’s easy to say “I want to get to N1 in a year!” but rather unreachable for most. Something like “by the end of the month I want to finish Chapter X of my book” or “I listen to [comprehensible Japanese](https://www.youtube.com/@cijapanese) once a day”

   If you from the hyperactive type, maybe add some exercise while doing reviews or immerse.

   Lastly… take breaks. While I have a 280 day streak, I also have a week or two every so often where I just do “maintenance” reviews. Either adding no new cards or just do all the learning cards. On Bunpro you can freeze your streak in vacation mode for that if you go premium.

9. Without Wanikani for kanji and Bunpro for grammar, I would be so so lost. Both take the planning, deciding and remembering what to study out of the equation for me.

10. I have the same issue and also have ADHD. I am native Japanese speaker and learning English and Dutch now.For me, I can focus what I like or how I like to study.

    I found out that I like cooking, YouTube, Netflix, and drinking with random people.So what I did was watching YouTube videos that kids are trying various food in the world, cooking shows, Netflix with subtitles, and went drinking where I see a lot of English speakers are drinking. Thanks to my ADHD, I can watch the same shows thousands times if I really like it. I can repeat the same songs endlessly. So it helped me with repeating and remembering some phrases and sounds.

    My English isn’t perfect, but I can at least say what I want to say and communicate with people now. It took about two years to be able to have conversations (still with a lot of errors). Now it’s been 8 years. I still make mistakes, but I have no problem living abroad. I have never studied English in school, took a lesson, or studied at desk. I only did what I like to do “in English.” Otherwise I cannot keep doing it or even start doing it.

    No need to feel guilty even if you don’t know vocabulary in some areas. My English vocabulary of labour laws are much better than my Japanese vocabulary of labour laws and I had no idea anything about baseball when I had to translate baseball commentary.I still cannot spell “vocabulary” or “Feburualy” without looking up. You might have this kind of errors, but it’s better just to ignore these things and just do what you like. Otherwise I would feel so depressed.

    まわりを気にせず、たのしくやれたらいいですね。

11. Knowing next to nothing about learning Japanese (other than I’m learning hiragana and katakana rn through repetition) but having ADHD, I would advise leaning into the hyper focus if you have the time and if that is a part of your neurodivergence.

12. I try to follow a routine as best I can. Routine becomes habit, so when I go on that ADHD autopilot and just wander somewhere, there’s a better chance I head towards studying.

    I also try to put reminders front and center. It’s a strategy called “priming your environment”. Basically, you put the stuff you need to do close by and easily visible so you can’t ignore or forget it. For example:

    1. Leave your books on the kitchen table at night so you remember to study in the morning. Then when you wake up, STUDY first.

    2. If you study using the PC, make your homepage one of the study sites you use. When you turn on the PC, STUDY first.

    3. If you use phone apps, put all the study apps on the first screen you see after unlocking the phone. When you unlock the phone, STUDY first.

    4. Get rid of any and all distractions you can do without. Put away the games. Block fun websites (I have reddit double blocked, so I have to deliberately unblock it TWICE to use it.)

    5. I use apps and things that keep me engaged and don’t require a huge time investment. Things like Ringotan for kana and kanji and LingoDeer for grammar a great for that. Quick lessons, tests, and you grade out into higher levels.

    Remember, this didn’t fix all of my problems. It did get me to study more, though.

13. I have ADHD too and am taking the JLPT N2 this year.

    Get a study timer, sit at your desk with no distractions and intensely study for 30 mins, then walk out the room, use your phone, tap, listen to loud music etc for 5-10 minutes, then go back in to study mode for 30 mins. Rinse and repeat – this has been the best and only way for me

14. I tend to have a lot of resources that I use sporadically, but regularly. Lately, I’ve been using Bunpro, Lingq and watching anime without subs (or with Japanese Subs like on Animelon). But sometimes I’ll jump into Easy NHK, or use Yomichan w/Youtube. I also do tutoring.

    I’ve found that, even if I don’t have a rigorous study plan, as long as I engage with the language regularly, and make time to engage with it, I make tiny bits of progress. It’s actually creating a bit of a virtuous cycle: the more I engage, the easier it is to engage, so the more motivated I am to engage for longer periods, and the more I comprehend.

    And if you’re going to japan, you will have endless opportunities for that. Be observant, playful, and persistent, and you will make progress. It may not look like those flashy YouTubers, or some of the more dedicated learners on here, but as long as you persist, you’ll make progress. That’s what keeps me going.

15. Get a teacher so you have a schedule

16. big thing for me was to put the anki widget on the front page of my phone (android) so its the first thing I see when I open it. The widget has a big red number of how many cards you have left today. Makes it pretty easy to get through your flashcards, I just do 5 minutes at a time spaced throughout the day.

    I also prefer anki to something like duolingo where you have to keep a streak going because I will invariably fail after a week or two and get sad about it. But with Anki it doesn’t matter so much if you accidentally miss a day, you just have more cards the next day.

    the app doesn’t punish you by losing your steak, you just have to deal with the logical consequences: more cards, plus you’ll have forgotten some of the cards you should have done yesterday and have to relearn them all over. so missing one day is okay, but if you miss two days the cards will really pile up. i don’t think I’ve ever missed two days in a row.

    Also finding a study group online has turned learning into fun time with new friends :3 I always look forward to it

17. Resident of Japan and for years here couldn’t focus or really learn it. Sure, some things seeped in thru natural exposure but a lot falls out too.

    1) If you have not, consider getting official diagnosis and try to find a medical assist that works for you. I did and it has been a game-changer, not just for learning language buy handling life and work in general.

    2) Time-block. Try pomodoro. Make a log of your feeling and focus hourly and see what hours you are most “on.” Put tasks like learning that need high focus in those times.