Motivation and combination of resources

Japanese
#1

Hello, everyone!
I recently started with Japanese and I have 2 simple questions.
How do you keep your motivation when it comes to Japanese and how do you combine and plan all learning resources?
I am using WaniKani for kanji, Bunpro for grammar and vocab and trying to listen podcasts as much as possible and read whenever I get the chance, but sometimes its so overwhelming that I am losing all my motivation and only one word comes to my brain “impossible”. I been having these waves of letting go and re-starting learning. I hope im not alone with these feelings and I wonder how do you guys deal with this.

Thanks!

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#2

Oh you are definitely not alone, I would think for most people motivation comes and goes in waves.
For example sometimes I cannot bring myself to do reviews for weeks.

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If you have a particular goal, it should help to focus on just that goal, and not spread yourself too thin. Is it to have a simple conversation? Is it to pass a test? Is it to listen to a specific show or read a specific manga? Regardless of which one it is, you can probably find a way to cut out whole areas of vocabulary that are not relevant at your stage, and decrease your load.

I think drops in motivation come from excessive stress, from treating learning as a job, and piling up more and more overtime and overdue “job” obligations. Why not step back and allow yourself to do only 5-15 minutes of reviews (job), and then do something enjoyable like playing a game in japanese, browse a manga or watch a video. Of course it’s more difficult in the beginning when most material feels overwhelming but… hang in there!

Incidentally the “turning learning into a job” aspect is my gripe with tools with a fixed path, like WK, Duo, you name it. “You have to do this specific lesson even if this topic is not part of your goals and interests” is an approach I don’t understand. Japanese is not a career, right, just let me pick and choose.

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#3

Casual has it right. Motivation won’t always be constant and the beginning can be pretty overwhelming at first. What you’ll eventually notice though is your own progress and that will become motivation in and of itself.

7 Likes
#4

Rather than motivation, which can come and go, my advice is to focus on establishing study habits :slight_smile:

If you just make it a habit to study a bit as soon as you wake up every morning, or on your journey to school/work/whatever, and focus on sticking to whatever time/situation you decide, you’ll soon make consistent progress, which can then continue for a long time and turn into a huge amount of learning over time :smiley:

15 Likes
#5

When I was studying for N5, I reread the genki textbook for two hour a week (1hour on Wednesday, and 1 hour on Sunday) the CD that came with it in my car stero that I listend to for 50 minutesx5 days a week on my commute. I did 20 minutes of lingo deer in bed before I went to sleep

This past year I’ve studied Nihongo Lessons (Japanese words with Japanese definitions) for 20 minutes a day, watched 1 episode of anime a week (Japanese Audio with Japanese subtitles) and I hung with Japanese friends for 4 hours a week.
I should watch more anime. maybe starting next week…

1 Like
#6

Doing reviews every day has just become a part of my life at this point. I’m starting to wonder what I’ll do with all this time once I’ve conquered Japanese. Just move onto SRS reviews for another language maybe? But yeah like bunnypro says, rather than motivation, if you just keep doing it it will become a part of you. Just like how going to the gym eventually becomes less of a chore or a hobby and part of your life. If you don’t go you feel weird.

However, I think enjoyable study alongside reviews is best. Recently I’ve started rewatching anime I like with Japanese subtitles and also reading books. I liked anime and reading books before I started studying Japanese so this is enough to keep me happy. But I’m also studying for N1 right now so if your Japanese level isn’t high enough maybe you won’t necessarily be able to do the things you want. In which case, just do your reviews in bits throughout the day so it doesn’t feel like studying.

E.g. It takes me roughly 20 seconds to do 5 reviews (shorter or longer depending on how new the item is). I do 10/20 reviews as soon as I wake up. I do another 20 or 30 on the toilet. Another 5 right before I leave my house. Another 5 right before I start my car. Another 10 or 20 when I arrive at work. 5 whilst waiting to cross the road. 5 whilst waiting in line. 5 as soon as I arrive home. 5 between sets at the gym. Basically I take random 20/30 second breaks throughout the day to do a few reviews. This way, at the end of the day I’ll have accumulated 200/300 completed reviews without really having to sit down at a computer and “study”.

I will say grammar reviews take longer than wanikani though so at some point you just have to power through and gain that self-discipline. People who go to the gym based on discipline rather than motivation inevitably end up sticking to it more. That said, finding motivation is nice. Please don’t give up! We’ve all taken those 3 month or 6 month breaks but eventually we always come back! You can do it! :grin:

If this is any motivation: speaking almost conservationally fluent Japanese has made my life 10000000x more enjoyable in Japan and I hope one day you can experience the same (:

2 Likes
#7

I think you are right, at some moments it feels like its a full time job but I get my mistake now. And also too much pressure from community like this is the right path or this path is right for you is making me confused and just overwhelmed with everything. But thanks, Japanese is not career and should be enjoyable!

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#8

Can’t wait for my first noticable progress!

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#9

Habit and discipline it is then! But first will need to rearrange goals in my mind haha :smiley:

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#10

Thank you so much, I will try to enjoy more and not pressure myself with all the stuff. I am trying to achieve all at once and that cannot work but I get it now and thanks for everything you wrote!
I hope that next time when I arrive in Japan, i will understand at least 33%! :smiley:

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#11

Thanks everyone for all advice and you made me feel better about learning Japanese but im glad im not alone that sometimes feels like this. Big thank you everyone!

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#12

Motivation comes and goes… making studying Japanese a daily habit is (hopefully) permenant.
I just try to do a bit every morning. A couple of minutes of Anki, read a few pages from a manga / light novel, a few reviews on Bunpro. If I do anything else after, I see it as an extra thing. No pressure.

To keep things fresh, from time to time, I experiment with different ideas to see if I like it or not. Eg Watching Japanese Youtubers, No subs on anime, shadowing etc… There are periods (eg 1 or two weeks in a month) where in the evenings, I would dedicate a few hours for extra study - eg to make more flashcards, to make notes on new grammar or vocab…

Though I think from time to time it is a good idea to “remember” or re-evaluate how the studying is going. Eg maybe for a while, I should focus more on learning new vocab as its difficult to understand a manga. Or lets watch Japanese dramas for a while as I haven’t watched anything for months lol.

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