Is there any way to force myself to like Japanese?

8 comments

1. I’m not that qualified to offer advice, since I’ve never actually been to Japan myself, but if you really make an effort to understand and connect with Japanese people using the language, they would be overjoyed. Connect via common interests, find things to talk about. That’s what helped me when using the language.

2. Just remember that no one speaks anything but Japanese here. You are training for a life-or-death mission. Let that be your motivation. (In my case, I like literature and that motivated me. Try to find something that motivates you and is fun.)

3. Find an anime with an interesting premise and start watching it. Anime pulls in tons of people to begin learning Japanese.

   I was one of the few people that first came to Japan without ever seeing anime, but once I started watching it, my Japanese learning sped up substantially.

   If you’re okay with blood, I recommend Attack on Titan. If you’re not okay with blood but are okay with death, Death Note. If you want something just happier or more lighthearted and have played video games, My Uncle From Another World or Campfire Cooking in Another World or Sword Art Online.

   頑張って

4. Playing games in Japanese made it a lot of fun for me, although you’ll have to push through learning most of all of the basics before you can really break into it. I started by replaying some Pokémon games in Japanese, where the dialogue (typically) isn’t too long and the battles are turn-based, both giving you time to read and also making reading practically necessary (unlike action-based games where you fight without needing to read anything lol)

5. Find some Japanese music, books, video games, or television programs you like? Maybe it’s a series and some entries were never translated. I mean that’s what drove many of us.

6. A lot of suggestions already and I’m sure they are well meaning but I think there is a core problem of expectations here.

   What exactly do you mean by “not be a social outcast” while you are in Japan? Do you want to be able to navigate your local area by yourself? Do you want to be able to have a simple conversation? A complex conversation? Speak it near natively? Those are all vastly different goals with the last one being likely impossible with your timeframe and resources.

   You mentioned you have learned another language to a high intermediate level, is that your goal with Japanese? What language was that? I don’t want to be overly negative but if it was another SVO (Subject Verb Object word order) language, especially one that shares a lot of loanwords such as English to French, your experience is going to be vastly different and unfortunately quite a bit more difficult with Japanese.

   I mention that because the resources you have listed appear to be all flashcard systems, but the grammar with Japanese is vastly different, probably just about as different a language can be from English. I realize that you can drill grammar with flashcard and SRS, but you really are going to want a dedicated text to introduce the concepts to you like IMABI, Tae Kim, etc.

   As for motivation, it’s hard to say not knowing you as a person. I can only suggest to narrow down what made you interested in the first language you learned. Was it the challenge? The novelty? Something else? Is there any way you can replicate that?

7. Try to find a language buddy. Nothing is more motivating for me than competing with each other, learning together and crying together. I have some for every language I learn. They are random people from the internet (sadly no one I know enjoys language learning..), but some became good friends I enjoy talking to, not all are natives. Most of them are native in another language I’m learning.. quite helpful:)

8. Watch Ghibli, anime, travel japan and explore Japanese culture in person. You’ll like it