I work fulltime and when I am free I don’t feel like to study Japanese… I just want to chill and do more fun things. When I was on school I had the time and energy for these things. But now I don’t feel it. Other than reading easy japanese manga’s or listen to music or watch some videos. I don’t really feel like opening my study book anymore. I am N4 level. And feel stuck.
Anyone can relate or has tips?
30 comments
Lol welcome to being an adult, this is how it will be for the rest of your life
You just have to force yourself. There’s really no other way. Find reasons why you want to improve your Japanese, focus on those, and make yourself open that book.
Yes lots of people who have lived here for 5, 10, 15 years and can barely string together a sentence. You’ll be in good (or rather, bad) company.
It’s the same with exercise or learning a new skill. You just have to do it. You are not going to find motivation but you can create momentum and you can form a habit.
Set a goal of studying a set amount of time each day and try to hit that goal! Good luck
Small amounts
Ignore the people who treat you badly for not doing more or who try to equate it to your chances of certain success or failure when it’s really about their insecurities half the time. Comparison is the thief of joy – for bullies and victims alike
Treat yourself kindly. While consistency of practice is important, so is recovery from the process and very bad days – which you will have. I have days where I do little to nothing just to recover and learn from a better place in the future
I.e if you force yourself to study while you’re hungry, you’ll be doing Japanese to get to lunch rather than understand Japanese
Spend time among those who will help you and treat you kindly about your studies. The ones who have the optimism you need to keep going
I’m convinced my Japanese is terrible, my Japanese teacher is insistent I’m not and so we meet somewhere in the middle where I’m not letting my negativity hold myself back. I’m not as far ahead as I think I should be (Often as a result of other people) but I admit I’m moving forward
When you are doing a poo, open the Anki app on your phone and take 15 minutes to flash kanji while letting the poo come out naturally with no force. If you do this every time you go to the toilet, you can get an hours worth of kanji study in every day. If you don’t poo that much, just sit down when you’re weeing and nobody will ask why it took you so long.
I suggest cutting back on work to save yourself some energy lol, dont get caught.
Never bothered to learn either other than hiragana katakana.
The rest just keep reading visual novels with help of MTL.
At some point passed N2, and able to do daily conversation just fine.
Part of it probably because I actually read the novels instead of silently reading it.
But then that’s basically one of best way to learn language, via exposure.
Though doesn’t mean that I can read most of the kanji, usually it ended up with I know what this mean, but idk how to read it hahaha.
Find a way to study that doesn’t feel like studying – live the life.
Don’t study. Go and talk to people. You I’ll learn naturally that way. Not everyone learns through text books.
Welcome to the Hub crowd.
I try to mix them up. If I want to learn Japanese and chill I just read a LN. At N4 a LN is too much but reading manga should work. It’s not as chill as watching tiktoks but it’s still 100 times better than textbook studying
yeah, welcome.
It doesn’t really matter how you study too much, just make it regular. I think the hardest part is starting, just commit to starting.
You have to build the habit. Try and do ten mins a day at first, then add to it. You have to make yourself do something everyday somehow.
I’ve met people who have been here 10+ years that are still around your level. Even just 15 minutes a day over that time would have been over 750 hours of study, assuming one doesn’t study every single day. Add those hours to the synergistic effect of just being immersed in Japanese and there isn’t much of an excuse IMO to not be at least N2. Everyone has 15 minutes. Set a timer and do it. Eventually it becomes a habit.
Either that or just be honest with yourself and be content with not wanting to speak Japanese. Both are completely fine but you’ll never get the most out of Japan without fluency.
Cracking open a J textbook these days seems to cause instant drowsiness. The only way I could do that in the past was if I set some concrete, if arbitrary, goal such as applying for a proficiency test of some kind. Having a deadline helped my motivation. But having said that, I haven’t sat for an exam in years.
I also had a phase when I have no motivation to study. I focused on other hobbies for the meantime.
It really depends on your goal. If you are aiming to pass a certain level of JLPT, then you do have to sit down and study. If its more on improving conversation skills, ask in your city hall if they have some Japanese classes done by volunteers.
15 minutes a day is better than nothing, in my opinion. You don’t have to study for hours everyday (unless you are on a timeline)
Having the same problem. Working as a scientist, I am totally mentally drained to study Japanese after work
Going to the gym is much easier, though.
Do you have a commute? Put Anki Core 2k/6k on your phone and drill flashcards on the train
At your level there really isn’t much of an excuse to not study; there are so many high quality resources and they aren’t much of a timesink
I listen to a 15 min podcast in Japanese on my morning commute. It’s the only time my brain can manage language learning
Duolingo.
I read the following regarding English acquisition, but I believe the same principle should apply to Japanese acquisition: aim for reading material that provides 2% unknown material, 98% known. At N4 level, that probably means reading at a young child’s level. But try amusing manga aimed at kids or quirky kids books. You’ll probably enjoy it! Probably 2% is impossible; you’ll encounter books with a lot of unknown material. But, the point is to learn something every day. If you are not accumulating this basic level of material, ask yourself, why? Was it a phrase that you thought you knew but actually don’t? Can you identify a simple kanji you see every day but remain reliant on furigana when it appears in a kids’ book? Answer the questions for yourself. We live in an age of machine translation. You can have all these questions answered instantaneously. Then, incrementally increase the level of material you are reading, revising as you go. Make small gains, every day, I say.
Go to smaller bars by yourself in the evening. Sit at the bar, not at a table. Engage in Japanese conversation with those around you. Immersing yourself into the language will help.
Don’t use a study book. Learn with something fun. Watch TV, movies. read books and manga. Its still educational. Hang out with Japanese people and practice your Japanese.
You dont have to study to learn.
100% this is what it’s like a to be an adult.
If you’re serious about getting down and doing something though (studying or otherwise), I recommend giving FocusMate a try. Basically a scheduled video call with a stranger. First minute you state your goal for the session, then you mute the session until the end while staying on camera. At the end, you briefly explain your progress. People use it for work, studying, cleaning, day-planning, journaling, mediation, exercise, etc. In my case, I have ADHD and executive dysfunction, and it’s been a lifesaver in terms of productivity- I actually start stuff now.
On the other hand though, don’t push yourself too hard. Everyone’s threshold is different, but make sure you keep some time to veg and decompress. You can’t be productive 100% of the time.
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If you like manga and anime, go for it. Better than watching American TV shows in English. Just make sure you’re watching shows or reading with only Japanese.
If you get completely lost without subtitles, turn them on, watch the scene, then turn them off and go back and rewatch the scene.
Same. I was super motivated and studied an hour every day at first. But being an English teacher, and banned from ever using Japanese ever… it felt pointless very quickly. 8 years in and the only chance I have to speak Japanese is with the lovely chatty lady at the 100 yen Lawson…
I’m nearing PR time, so I want to at least learn to speak more than I can. But I’m also cooking, swimming, reading… it’s tough to make the time. I keep saying I need to! But…
Well.
I’ll keep… trying to try… 😖
I just switched all my hobbies and interests to Japanese. Worked pretty well for me. I passed N1 without barely speaking any Japanese all through textbooks and manga. But I never could string any solid sentences together properly until I did all the stuff below.
Games —> Japanese games
US TV —> Anime/Variety Shows
US music —> still US music, fuck changing that. 60’s/70’s for life. JPOP kinda 🔥 tho ngl
US YouTube brain rot —> はじめしゃちょー、ヒカキン、ヒカル、エガチャンネル、きまぐれクック
American girls —> Japanese girls
American gym —> ルネサンス
Short and simple US documents —-> 100 pages Japanese documents, websites that take forever to load and usually never work
Porn —> JAV