Take as much time as you need. Don’t rush it. Enjoy it. Japanese takes time.
I am a linguist, professor and polyglot. I am certified as proficient in 6 languages. Yet I try to remain humble, so disclaimer: everything here is just my opinion based on my experience, and you are welcome to disagree.
Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is: results take time. In a world where everyone is boasting their achievements online, you may sometimes feel left behind. Don’t. You may feel incapable, insufficient, or even useless. You may even think you got nothing going on for you when it comes to your results. Lots of hard work, you say. It’s not worth it, you may think. Oh, but it is worth it. And you certainly can learn Japanese. But you have to do the work. Otherwise you are in for a big disappointment. Yet I say this in the most loving way possible.
Trees take time to grow, flowers take time to blossom and nine mothers can’t produce a baby in one month.
Progress is progress. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
And as long as you keep working hard on it, being consistent and putting serious effort and time into it, you will reap results. Luffy has been trying to become pirate king for the last twenty something years, and he is still growing.
Sure, life is not manga nor anime, and you will sometimes have to endure boredom, constraints, restrictions, lack of resources, lack of motivation, setbacks, failure, and defeat. You may not feel like you are making progress. Look closely. You actually might be advancing without noticing. Hiragana is hard. Katakana is hard. Kanji is hard. Grammar is hard. Vocabulary is hard. Slang is hard. Pitch accent is hard. Pronunciation is hard. Culture is hard. But the world is already filled with people who quit. You really want to do this?
I refuse to accept that most people will fail in learning Japanese. I try to think of it as, “they haven’t succeeded yet, but they will”. And you will.
ARE YOU GOING TO QUIT?
Sorry about this post in any case it doesn’t provide value for you in particular. I recently saw a post which prompted me to write this one. I’m just a teacher at heart and cannot stand it when people downplay someone else’s efforts. Everyone learns, and if you happen to learn faster, that doesn’t give you the right to mock or downplay or patronize others. Anyway. Good day!