Feeling demotivated with Japanese

Not that bad of an idea actually. I would also like to join a sports league.

@Remun I very much appreciate this! I think along with my last semester of language school Ill take a break for a bit and just enjoy like you said.

I hardly watch or read anything anymore. Its all been grammar books and other workbook pages to help study for the JLPT. Its been tough. Ill start with freely watching anime like I used to and try and find soccer channels to listen to online since I’m a big fan.

Do you sentence mine or have any recommendations for a good slice-of-life dramad slice-of-lias you’ve watched?

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Since on the spirit of the break. I don’t sentence mine much but whenever I do it’s the most common word or two in the show. Sentence mining might make your workload greater than it usually is. But if you are gonna do it, do it lightly.

ひなまつりis a funny slice of life. 坂本君ですが.Apothecary diaries is a great slice of life with great drama but the vocabulary sure is hard.
Not anime, but as a really well made thriller is alice in borderland.

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On the subject of speaking practice, what helped me a lot with English (not my native language) and now in Japanese is to play act sentences that i like from shows or book out loud (as if you would practice a theater scene) and exaggerating emotion.

Having bases and opening as conversation starters helps a lot with confidence in the ensuing exchange. And its fun ! Fun is the most important part of practice, as your brain naturally make more connections in memory when you’re having fun also it get less tiring.

Also lowering fear of the ridicule help a lot with freezing.

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Have you tried the ward office? When I lived in Yokohama, the ward offices had classes that focused on conversation. They would interview you to assess your level of speaking, then put people into groups accordingly. They were very helpful and I enjoyed them. Each group had a Japanese teacher. Tokyo wards would maybe have the same.

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So many great things have been said so far, so I am afraid I will repeat myself, but I felt the need to also share my thoughts.

If that makes you feel just a little bit better, you are certainly not the only one who is feeling or felt demotivated with Japanese. I can can tell you for certain that I have been learning Japanese on and off for the past 4-5 years, and I am around N3, but I felt quite a few times demotivated. Japanese is not my first foreign language (I am not even a native English speaker), but it gave me lot of hardships and trouble…

That being said, I agree with those who are telling you, that you should go back to the more “fun” stuff. I believe, especially if you are at the rock bottom in terms of motivation, that you should find small things that keep you going. I think consistency is key in learning a language, but what you learn can be anything really. The important part is just to do something in Japanese. If that means not cramming Japanese grammar, that is totally fine. As long as you do something else.

I think that you have the big advantage of living in Japan, and you should make the most out of it. For my part, I was in Japan for an exchange year in 2023-24, and I can’t stress enough how much easier it is to learn a language (Japanese) when you are constantly surrounded by native speakers. I think you just need to try to speak to people, whether it is in school, to your girlfriend, or even to people with whom you interact in every day life (in shops, restaurants etc…). It doesn’t matter if you don’t have perfect grammar, and if you make a lot of mistakes… What matters is that you constantly try to speak and you try to get your point across, even if that means that you will end up using some English words mixed with Japanese. It certainly made me very confident speaking in (somewhat broken) Japanese, and what was my biggest weakness became one of my main strengths (for the better or for the worst).

I also think watching Japanese TV, or just the news is a great way to learn Japanese (especially to hear the pronunciation and familiarzing yourself with spoken Japanese, as people pointed out before). Also Netflix in Japan has way more anime than anywhere else, and Language Reactor is a great chrome extension that I use. It will give you the ふりがな reading of kanjis and the English definitions of Japanese words, even if there is not English subtitles to the show. You can even use for Japanese youtube videos. Additionally, there are great podcasts available online (on Spotify for instance) which you can understand more or less easily.

I hope that will eventually find the spark you need to reignite your passion for learning Japanese! :smile:

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