Source
r/LearnJapanese•
Joshument

Struggling with consistency and motivation, would like a few specific pointers

Studying

Hi! Sorry if this question feels a little copy-pasted from other posts on this subreddit, but I'm struggling to apply it to my own scenarios.

I've been learning Japanese for a while now, but my progress is pretty much non-existent due to consistency issues. I will have some periods of time where I am super motivated and will go through tons of flash cards in Anki or the like, but eventually I end up missing a day, which causes me to miss another day, etc... until I pretty much forget everything I tried to learn in that brief spark of motivation. I see a lot of posts talking about doing thinks you like to enjoy, listening/reading practice, etc... but even then, I'm not really sure how I can use those to drill in new vocabulary for me, and in regards to listening, I'm not sure if I'm at a proper level to keep up with Japanese speech, which sort of discourages me.

I do have an end goal; I'd like to be able to use Japanese social media, games, websites, etc... as well as speak to Japanese people in general (probably online too, I would like to visit Japan and use it there too but that's probably a long ways away lol). I'm sure this probably helps, but getting myself up to go and do things like reviews and practicing I always find myself struggling to continue, which makes me a little disappointed because I would like to become fluent in the language, I just can't seem to find the commitment. If anyone has any sort of help I would greatly appreciate it :)

Posted Feb 8, 2023, 6:53 AM UTC

218
leu34•

will go through tons of flash cards in Anki

This might cause some tiredness/unwillingness to do or even think about doing the same the next day, and the next,... So I think you will have to find an amount that you are able and willing to do each day. So the trick is, I think, to do less than you could do in such a phase of gushing motivation, to always spare some of that motivation for the next day(s).

11
JoshumentOP•

This seems like a solid piece of advice, thank you ^^

2
Apprehensive-Text818•

Depending on your level, you could try reading content you mostly understand (graded content)...I tend to suggest otherwise, but I think if you can read a bit of content you mostly understand, it can work to give you a bit of motivation.

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"I see a lot of posts talking about doing thinks you like to enjoy, listening/reading practice, etc."

Correct.....a lot of people usually strive to be able to listen/read content they enjoy as it usually gives them the motivation to move forward and just keep at it...but I would say it mostly depends on your level....when I was starting to learn, right after learning kana I was already reading content I enjoyed........but it was not easy.......as basically over 99% of the words I did not know.....but I was ok with that...because my end goal was to understand content I enjoyed....no pain no gain sort of speak....

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"but even then, I'm not really sure how I can use those to drill in new vocabulary for me"

not sure I'm understanding this correctly, but you could (and again depends on your level), add every word (or at least enough for you to understand the overall picture) to anki you do not understand and just review those...

At the end of the day, anki is important.....but if you feel it's not working well for you another thing you could do is read, read, read....without using anki,..,..and learn as you find the words repeated in context....this is usually more recommended to andvanced learners of the language....but since people can get through content a lot faster just looking up words they don't know and moving along, it might work as motivation to get entirely through reading content you enjoy much faster since you are not using anki for that content.....maybe use prebuilt anki decks on the side to sort of memorize words a bit faster.....but as others have stated, in moderation...don't try spending 3 hours doing anki....as that could just be boring.....and off putting...

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I dont know...just some ideas..hope it helps :)

3
JoshumentOP•

Thank you!! I'm currently just going through an N5 vocab prebuilt Anki deck to catch up on all the stuff that I've forgotten, I'll probably do the same with grammar, and maybe make my own Anki deck for things I read in the wild. Once I'm more comfortable I'll try finding things to listen to :)

might also try starting Wanikani again, I always have the choice to slow down individual things if it gets too much for me, so I think I'll be ok. For the future I'll start looking at more Japanese content to use as a motivator for "oh, I know more than before!", I Appreciate the help!

2
Apprehensive-Text818•

N5...well, in that case...scratch everything I just said lol...

I have heard people do really enjoy wanikani but its not for everyone..you could give it another try...but at the end of the day, if it doesnt work for you, it doesnt work :)

After you have gone through your N5 vocab, maybe you want to give this book a chance...it has 20 stories...and I found the pace of the book to be pretty relaxed...stories for beginners with translations (meaning you wont have to look up vocab in a dictionary since they have a vocab list for every story...but i do suggest to add unknown words to anki) and a 5 question quiz at the end of each story...might work as a type of graded reading :).....everything that is in Japanese in that book also has English translation....so you will be sure to udnderstand everything with little problems 😁

Umm..other than that its just immersion to be honest....in small, moderate amounts...if you like manga, maybe only a couple of pages a day of a manga you may like..if youre a gamer, a game with story sprinkled in (not super heavy) and with a console you can just put to sleep in the middle of dialogue...for anything you read, try to ensure it has furigana (hiragana on top of kanji)to make stuff less challenging....there is a lot of enjoyable content out there with furigana so it shouldnt be a problem finding something you like 😁....I will suggest doing reading....not listening at the beginning...because in my experirnce listrning at the beginning to non graded content was very demotivating...

But above all else...take it easy, at your pace....learning a language is forever...so no need to rush

Hopefully any of this can help you out as well 😁

2
Chezni19•

  • Keep a schedule on paper

  • Make sure to study for X hours a day (I do 2 a day, it's kinda bare minimum if you want to make progress)

  • Adopt the stance that self-discipline is intrinsically valuable

  • Don't worry about it being "FUN". Fun is nice, I like to have fun too. Fun should be considered a bonus when it comes around, but not a requirement.

  • Get in a good habit, the first 10 days will be very very hard. The first 100 days will be a little hard. After that it's autopilot.

2
JoshumentOP•

Yeah discipline is hard for me :( I'll try my best though!!

1
dm_g•

Go to a library/bookstore and read the book "How to Change" by Milkman. It is full of information to address these issues. Oh, and "Atomic Habits" helps too.

2
JoshumentOP•

thank you for the suggestion! ^^

1
therapy0311•

Everyone has already given such good advice! I would like to add that it can help to be part of a smaller community. The LearnJapanese subreddit is a huge community and it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. But there are lots of smaller communities on Discord and even on Instagram. You could make new friends who are also studying Japanese and chatting with them on a day to day basis and sharing what you did that day can also give you a little motivation boost!

As for comprehensible input, try the NPO tadoku readers. They are free and a lot of them have audio!

2
JoshumentOP•

Thank you!! I've found a server or two to talk in that have a lot of learners and are relatively active. How useful would it be to lurk in a native Japanese community?

1
therapy0311•

Hmm I’m afraid I haven’t tried that so I’m not too sure. I think it might depend on the community? I do follow some native Japanese accounts on Instagram and find it fun because usually it comes with visuals and there is a translate button (not the best, but sometimes useful when ur short on time and just want the gist of things):)

1
Archangeloyz•

It seems like anki and other SRS programs/apps are the main catalyst for people losing motivation, as soon as a streak is broken it sends many people over the edge.

Are you able to explain why you end up missing a day? Is it lack of time or just a general unwillingness to do the cards? - If the latter, what causes it? Learning new cards takes too long? Low retention rates, answering cards takes too long?

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
gnsweetprince100•

I’m consistent but slow :(. Been doing Wanikani for over a year, and I do my flash cards daily but I find my memory is pretty bad for how a kanji sounds so I’m only level 16. Maybe just something simple like Wanikani spoon feeding reviews would suit you better.

1
JoshumentOP•

Nope :/ I've used Wanikani and I dropped it because of review creep at like level 5

2
faerily•

Set a limit to how many cards can be in the early stages of review so that you don’t overwhelm yourself and can accommodate when you have energy and when you don’t so that the sudden burst of energy still would never exceed your maximum and the lower days you know it’s fine to do the bare minimum. Some days it’s okay not to add in new cards and just exist. What’s important is just doing it.

1
JoshumentOP•

Thank you ^^ do you think it'd work out if I start higher and lower it when I figure out my pace or the opposite?

1
faerily•

I think either way would work you’d either a) find out it’s too many cards and be overwhelmed a little bit and know to lower it or b) find yourself bored and waiting for more to do or like it was too slow.

The start lower and increase it is more foolproof but there’s nothing wrong with doing it the other way :D

1