If you want to learn Japanese, and I
mean really learn it, then you have to work at it every day. There's
no such thing as a rest day for Japanese, do it every day or don't do
it at all.
“What's going on?
What happened to that nice, friendly Tigoris who told me to be kind
to myself and take it easy? I don't like this new guy, he's MEAN!”
I'll admit that it sounds harsh, but
it's the truth. In order to make progress anywhere in life - be it
learning Japanese, getting a college degree, or losing weight - you
have to put in the effort and challenge yourself. That doesn't mean
putting yourself into Living Japanese boot camp, but it does mean
giving up two of those most treasured past-times: making excuses and
settling.
No
Excuses
“I worked twelve
hours today, I'm just too tired to do anything Japanese right now.
I'll make it up tomorrow.”
“I've got a big exam
this week, I should put my Japanese studies on hold until after
that's over.”
“I really need to
study Japanese, but my friends are going out tonight and I want to go
with them...skipping one night won't hurt.”
If these sound familiar, then you've
got trouble. Skipping one day of Japanese turns into two days, into
three days, and before you know it - WHAM! It's been an entire
week and your SRS is bursting with reviews and kanji just look like a
mass of squiggles. So what can you do?
Never miss a day!
It doesn't matter
how much work you've done or how tired you may be - if you want to
learn Japanese then you will sit down and study. It could only be for
five minutes, but make yourself show up to study. Every.
Single. Day.
If you study
every day, you're guaranteed success. It doesn't matter how much you
study or how you study – as long as you continue to access and use
Japanese on a daily basis, you'll keep moving forward. And the great
thing is, if you keep moving forward, you'll find yourself wanting to
go faster, to go to new places and to achieve new goals.
Simply by staying in contact with
learning Japanese, you'll find yourself striving for more!
Never
Settle
“Well, I can read the
kana, but I'm fine with not learning the kanji. Not even Japanese
people can understand them, so I don't need to!”
“I can read manga
with furigana now, and that's good enough. There aren't that many
manga without them, right?”
Settling is like quitting, only you
convince yourself that you're okay with it. You make great strides
and learn so much, but then you decide that you're “okay” with
only being half-literate or semi-fluent. Don't kid yourself.
Nobody wants to be “passable,” we all want to be amazing! We want
to be the best and the greatest! Mediocrity is no fun! Just look at all these exclamation
points!
I'm not saying that if you learn
Japanese, you need to be a master of the language and know every
rule, every nuance, and be perfect at everything.
What I AM saying is
that you should be honest with yourself about what you want. Do you
really want to continue stumbling around every time you speak
Japanese? Do you really want to only “kind of” understand what
you read? I doubt it.
Stop settling for mediocrity.
If you've learned
the kana, then start learning the kanji. If you can read manga with
furigana, then start reading manga without furigana – then go read
a novel. If you're good at talking about puppies in Japanese, then
expand your conversation topics to include kittens, or knitting. Keep
challenging yourself to learn and experience new things. Don't stop
until you're satisfied.
“Knitting?”
Yes, knitting.
Learn what interests you. So if you can knit up a storm and make a
sweater in half an hour, learn about knitting in Japanese. Read about
knitting in Japanese. Do something in Japanese every single
day and never settle to be mediocre.
So
break it down for me, Tigoris:
What's the key to learning Japanese?
The
key to learning Japanese is to spend as much time with it as
possible. To fill your life with Japanese and live it every single
day. Constantly challenge yourself with new things to learn and stop
making excuses for why you can't do something. You can do
anything.
If
you've got a busy schedule, wake up ten minutes earlier and squeeze
in some Anki reps. Take along a sheet with a few kanji and practice
writing them whenever you get a spare moment during the day. If you
ride the bus or train to work/school, bring some manga to read
or go to a Japanese news site on your phone. Find every single
gap in your day that you can and fill it with Japanese. If you do
that, then you will get to where you're going.
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