Why
are you learning Japanese?
If you're learning Japanese, then you
have some kind of reason for doing so. Maybe you have some friends
that know the language, or you found an untranslated book that sounds
interesting, or perhaps you want to make your resumé look better.
Whatever your reasons are, they've motivated you to take the first
step in learning Japanese, so that's great. Unfortunately, not all
reasons for learning can keep that motivation going for a long period
of time.
Vague
goals won't keep you motivated.
If you started learning Japanese
because it would look good to an employer or because you think it'll
be useful sometime in the future, then your reasons for learning are
pretty vague. That's not to say that your reasons aren't good,
just that they have nothing concrete to aim for. With
no concrete goal, you have no direction, no focus, and no real use
for your budding language skills.
With these kinds of
goals, where would you start in learning Japanese? You'd probably
grab some mass produced program or CD set and begin studying along
with it. You'd do worksheets, take quizzes, maybe repeat cookie
cutter phrases. Exciting stuff. And if you completed those things,
would you have any idea where you stood in relation to your goal?
Probably not. You'd most likely just begin on the next program or
CD, if you didn't get bored and quit.
Think
about what has inspired you to learn Japanese. Now think about if
your reason(s) have a vague goal. Some examples are “learning a
second language would be useful,” “Japanese is important in
business,” “Japanese seems cool,” or “I like Japanese food.”
These reasons for learning
have no actual goal attached to them, so while they're perfectly
valid reasons to learn, they won't keep you motivated.
Immediate,
concrete goals are a must.
Goals that do
have a finish line, a point where you can declare the goal achieved,
are great for keeping you motivated.
For example, say that you really wanted to read Murakami's
1Q84
in the original Japanese. You might say, “Well that's a silly
reason to learn an entire language!” but a
reason like this actually provides direction, focus, and a use for
Japanese.
To elaborate, with this kind of goal you can immediately get the
book and hold it in front of you. You open it up and see hundreds
of unknown characters - now you know where to start. You learn
the hiragana and katakana. When next you pick up the book, you find
that there are still characters you don't know, plus you don't
understand the grammar, and we can't forget the vocabulary. So you
start studying them all, learning kanji, grammar, and vocabulary via
sentences in Anki. Each time you pick up the book, you can see
where you are lacking and improve.
Then, one day, you pick the book up and truly begin to read. You are
achieving your goal. As you continue to read, you find new words, new
grammar structures, and new kanji. You learn them all, because
they are part of reaching the end of your goal. Eventually, you
complete the book. Your goal is reached. Having a concrete goal
has provided you with focus and motivation.
Find
a use for Japanese to remain motivated.
So
what can you do if your reason for learning Japanese isn't already a
concrete goal? Find goals that suit your reasons and aim for them.
For the examples related to business, such as making your resumé
look better or giving you an edge in the workplace, you could set the
goal to read a financial text in Japanese. This would make the
situation nearly identical to if your goal was to read 1Q84,
but now you'd be learning business vocabulary and engaging in the
kind of Japanese that you ultimately want to learn.
Another
example for this scenario, you could aim to be able to watch the news
and read the newspaper in Japanese. Each day you could learn more and
more, until one day you don't have to look up anything. This would
build your knowledge of common phrases, major events in Japan,
important people, and business terms as well. And best of all,
it's a concrete goal that will keep you focused on achieving
something specific.
So
whatever your reason is for learning Japanese, you can find a goal
that is related to it that will create a concrete target for you.
Once you have a destination, you can start your journey to it. So if
you like Japanese food, aim to read a cookbook or watch and
understand a cooking show. If you think Japan is cool, find something
specific that is interesting and make that your goal. Feel free to
change your goal as your reasons for learning change, but always have
some destination in mind.
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Thanks for this. It's good to remind ourselves how far we've come. I was down on myself for my current level of progress, even though I've done a lot in a short time. But my speech is still slow and my listening is for shit, so I sometimes get frustrated that I'm not learning quickly enough.
ReplyDeleteThen a friend of mine saw my login screen, which is perfectly comrpehensible to me (このコンプーターのロックを解除するにはCTRL+ALT+DELを押してください), and she said, "That just looks like a bunch of squiggles to me."
We can get so focused on how long we have to go that we forget how far we've come. :)
Sometimes it's the little things that can mean the most. Keep at it!
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