Just feel discouraged after 8 months

Japanese Language
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Hi there,

Probably there’s already similar topics on this subject but anyway, i wanna talk about my case.

I started learning Japanese in April 2025. Starting with Hiragana, then using, using Wanikani to start learning kanjis and vocabulary, and later, starting to learn conjugations with verbs and adjectives using this ( Japanese Conjugation Practice ) to practice conjugation.

By now, except with some vocabulary i can spot now on animes, that’s all i can do in practice.

I started to try reading or listening japanese contents, trying japanese versions of wikipedia pages for example etc. turns out, it’s impossible to spot a-ny-thing… i also started an exercise : spotting kanjis for example on video subtitles or a wikipedia page, starting to search on Wanikani the kanji, the meaning, to understand what it means.

but then i forget the meaning or the pronunciation in the 2-to-5 seconds after writing it, so i have to go back on Wanikani, look for it again. That is absolutely not productive.

Even watching videos on japanese sentence learning doesn’t help. Let’s take an example : Nihon Dekita with Sayaka, a japanese youtuber women who made some tutorial videos about how to say “me”, “you” to say “hello” or some situations like booking a hotel. the informations are passing through my head lol.

By the way i am taking notes. got tons of it. but i don’t see progress after these past 8 months. there is so much to remind !

yes i get good scores on Wanikani reviews but turns out, that doesn’t reflect real practice, and by the way, the kanjis/vocabulary i currently have on the review tests, they’re not even the most common or never what i see when i try practice.

i don’t know what to do, feel like giving up but i don’t want to.. but come on ! specially when seeing peoples balsting through this language is even more discouraging. I guess they’ve worked hard as well.. but hey great news ! so did i !

do i have bad methods ?! i don’t know.

maybe someone will have a good clue for me.

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i think you’re doing great! if you can recognize anything after 8 months of from-zero self-study, that’s awesome, keep at it.

one advantage of taking an organized class if that’s available to you is that you’ll learn stuff in such a way that producing and consuming basic-basic stuff is prioritized.

that’s one of the problems with self-study, videos, WK, things of that nature: there’s sooooooo much to learn before age-appropriate native content starts to feel comfy that it’s hard to see the progress reflected back to you.

reading between the lines of your post, it sounds to me like you’re reaching pretty far above your level. that will definitely push you towards growth but it also will discourage you—at least that’s how it is for me.

i’d suggest to try some “for beginners” content, be that a class, a textbook, or a graded reader. you don’t have to make that the only thing you do for Japanese, but whenever you need a win, it’ll be there.

and then, try and remember what got you excited to start! connect with what made it fun or exciting for you. it’s gonna be a long journey one way or another, so finding ways to let that excitement recharge is important

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That’s true. i started from scratch and yes, i am currently self-studying. I’m more used to self learning. Group learning like school class, is not for me lol.

But i really thought that in 8 months i could be able to recognize more than that. but i will take what you say. Thanks !

what beginners content you suggest ? do you have references ?

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See this site:

Does grammar, kanji, JLPT mock tests, etc.

I’ve done the 14 day trial period and it’s very structured. I like it.

Pricey but I’ll be signing up for lifetime in the new year.

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i taught myself pronunciation and kana as a kid and then kinda floundered for a while—i tried RTK and duolingo and didn’t really make progress.

the class i took in grad school (japanese basically unrelated to my studies) followed the Genki series; it’s great.

the tadoku graded readers are also great; with some WK levels under your belt and a basic grasp of grammar, you could probably knock level 0 out of the park—for me that was a huge confidence boost after trying to read Kimetsu no Yaiba and having to look up every fifth word

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Based on what you’ve said, looks like some structured learning will help you quite a bit.

For my own learning, I like to get a feel of the language first- the sounds, the melody, the pitch and the -pronunciation. For this purpose, I’m using Pimsleur for Japanese. I’ve finished level 1 last week, and have started level 2 now. I can already start speaking basic sentences and phrases and can pick out certain words from Japanese content, but right now, immersion is not a focus, just a bonus.

I also just joined WK and am planning to be consistent. My kanji study won’t interfere with Pimsleur at all because it’s visual based, while Pimsleur is mostly audio. I learned Hiragana with Tofugu’s excellent guide, and will be starting with their Katakana guide in a few days.

Once I’ve finished with all Pimsleur levels, I will start working on textbooks like Genki and close out any grammar gaps. Once I finish 2-3 textbooks, I’ll start moving on to more immersion

You don’t have to use Pimsleur, but I highly recommend a structured audio based program to build a good foundation. All the best, you got this!

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Keep in mind how good you were at your native language when you’d been learning it for 8 months.

Language learning takes time. And if you’re taking a top-down approach, studying kanji and vocabulary and grammar rules, it’s going to take you some times to see results on the ground.

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Now is the time to decide to stop or keep going… give it serious thought! :thinking:

Since you have been going self study for 8 months and posting this…seems like the clouds obscuring mt fuji have finally cleared and you see the steep upside down sheer rockface you have to climb :mount_fuji: LOL

I’m not saying to give up, but take some time and really give some thought to what you want to do with the language long term and make sure your long term goals align with what you want to do… don’t rush this just give it serious thought…

since you have been at it 8 months, don’t see you giving up that easily :wink: find something new to motivate you, do some graded readers, abbc (bookclubs), other things that might peak your interest…the challenge with doing anything new is when things get stagnant or you plateau which happens a lot with japanese (the intermediate wall is real!!!) is finding the will to continue.

It may also help you if you have a regular speaking partner/japanese friend/group/etc… it can be nerve wracking in the beginning but it may help build confidence and if you have a question about something you can save them up and ask your tutor/friend. I used to recommend italki but this past year it’s gone all AI and they have really ruined the experience IMO (the whole point is to interact with a native speaker of the language not a stupid AI that hallucinates) you can certainly try italki if you like … …there are others cafetalk (which I haven’t tried yet)… but having a regular thing, even if it’s 30 min a week may help.

It’s also ok to take a short break a week or two to mentally reset (just NEVER stop doing srs reviews / lessons ok to stop but never stop doing reviews) sometimes all you need is a little break.

Have to find the right thing that interests you and use that as a motivator… be it reading, television, movies, travel, sports, could be anything… just have to find the right thing. If it wears off after 6 months look for something else.

If you’re only goal is something really simple to watch anime w/o subtitles, my personal rec is to stop while you are ahead…the time you will have to put into learning isn’t worth it… you need something more than just this as your only goal IMO. So many people do this and then quit after 3-6 months because it’s hard… :roll_eyes:

One thing to also remember to do is to look back on what you were doing 6 months or a year ago…even if you cannot see progress, you usually will see night and day differences in what you were doing then vs now…

Good luck … and know that others have done it on their own and so can you … :flexed_biceps:

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Reminds of Churchill’s famous quote:
“If you’re going through hell, keep going”

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yup… if you are serious… keep going…:flexed_biceps:
if this was a whim… get out while you still can… :rofl:

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For me, there’s this one game I play very much and know pretty much the ins and outs of it. So one day, I thought, “Why don’t I just turn the UI into Japanese?”

What I found was that there were a lot of words and kanji I didn’t know, but because I played the game for so long, I was able to see unknown words and immediately go “Ah, that’s the word for gold.” And it would stick because of how frequently I’d encounter it in the game.

Doesn’t have to be a game… Could be anything you’re super familiar with. Turn it all into Japanese. Yes, you’ll find that there’s a lot you don’t know, but there will be a lot of things you actually do know, and that’s the rewarding part.

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I don’t know what your goal is in learning Japanese, but after 8 months, you’re still mostly at a surface level. Making mistakes actually makes things easier to remember

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It is important to remember that IT IS JAPANESE you are learning. If you were learning an European language you would already be reading books and understanding most phrases in movies.

My estimate after been learning Japanese for about 10 years is that I could have learned about 4 European languages in the time I spent learning Japanese. I know this because I speak 4 European languages already.

Simply put, Japanese is a massive language when it comes to how much there is to learn and there is no shortcut. So it is important to keep in mind the challenge you are attempting.

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That’s not unusual for new words. That’s where SRS helps to extend that interval first to 1 minute, then 10 minutes, to 1 day, a week, and eventually to get it to stick.

WK is adamantly opposed to letting you SRS kanji&words you might want to learn “ahead of schedule”, so you’ll need a better system.
JPDB, Anki, pick anything, and make a small deck specifically with sentences and words that will motivate you to keep going. Don’t add so much at once that daily reviews start to be overwhelming.

Short situations and dialogues are great material, I think. You can pretty much learn a short dialogue verbatim, and that will provide a mental anchoring point for all words, and if you want also for kanji, that are used in it. The more connections you build between words, the better you can retain the whole net.

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I was essentially in the same boat after about 7 months, except that I had picked up a couple textbooks and had begun to work through those slowly. The first year felt very slow for me except for the progress I made on WaniKani (but I had also read the first 100 or so entries of Remembering the Kanji by Heisig which helped when I started WK).

Depending on your age, I recommend starting on a textbook, either Japanese from Zero, Genki, Japanese for Busy People, or something free like a little Tae Kim.

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Hi, I can recommend some websites:

→ It is a free website where you can read Japanese picture books starting Level 0.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーー

→ This is a great Japanese Dictonary.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーー

→ Here you can read some Japanese Manga, witch is also a bit more manageable when books.

ーーーーーーーーーーー

I discovered WaniKani after finishing the first Minna No Nihongo Study Book. Japanese Gramma works quite different from the European Language families, so I recommend to look into that in more depth as well. I like the Videos from this Youtuber:

Right now I am Level 10 on WaniKani and halfway through the second Minna No Nihongo. I can easily read nativ Children Books but the Light Novel I am reading can take up to two hours for a page (Including the time to look up unknown Vocabulary and taking notes about it).

I hope this post can help you. :raising_hands:

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I laughed so hard at this, it’s true :rofl:

Anyway…

It’s normal to feel discouraged from time to time. Successful study means riding that scary wave of self-doubt to keep going to your next aha moment. Routine will win out over motivation every time.

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My suggestion, stick to a group of methods, don’t jump here and there, for example:

  1. Use 1 textbook: genki or minna no nihongo
  2. Wanikani (be patient)
  3. Keep watching Japanese show for listening (anime, Netflix, youtube).

Once stabilized and you have more consistency, you can explore more.

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Well how long do you study each day? Did you have a reason not to learn katakana? Was it a conscious decision not to use a textbook?
To me it sounds like you would benefit from setting measurable goals. This way you can keep track of your progress.
Make an anki deck and see how much vocabulary you know, work your way through a textbook or other grammar resource.
I also think its beneficial to track your study amounts. I study 2h a day, but if I weren’t tracking it I’d probably think it’d be double that.

Wish you good luck.

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If your focus has been on only WK and some conjugation practice, then you’ll definitely need to expand your grammar learning before you’ll be able to get very far. As has been said by others, a textbook like Genki might be a good option. I’ve taken a couple of classes, and felt they were less helpful than a good self-study resource. The upsides to a class are having a live teacher to answer questions and a group of other students to practice with. The downside is that they tend to cover frustratingly little in a semester.

If you want to pick up basic grammar fast, I’d recommend trying something free and self-paced, like Tae Kim or BunPro’s N5 grammar list. Either of those will get you through the grammar essentials quickly.

From there, try to find good beginner reading materials. Do NOT try to read Wikipedia pages; that will just demoralize you. Graded readers can be good, but the lower grades use very few kanji, so they won’t help you practice what you’re learning on WK. I’d recommend jumping into NHK Easy as soon as you feel that you’re starting to grasp the basic grammar. One of the great things about that site is that they tend to run multiple articles on a given event, so if you read every day, you’ll naturally reinforce the same vocabulary over a few days. For example, on December 8, there was an earthquake near Aomori Prefecture (青森県), and they ran related stories for a week or more, and then there were aftershocks, with yet more stories. On the first day, you may need to look up many of the words, but by day 2 or 3, you’ll find the articles are much easier, because you’ve been seeing the same words and phrases for days. It’s quite encouraging. They keep the grammar simple, and you should know 85% of the kanji by the time you clear WK level 20.

The other thing I’d recommend is to identify things you do or say every day and translate them into Japanese. You can use an online translator (e.g., Google works reasonably well for basic phrases/sentences) to check that you’re getting it right. Or find a forum to ask a native. Then say those things in Japanese every day, instead of in your native language, even if you’re only saying it to yourself. That will reinforce practical, everyday vocabulary, as opposed to only learning the (often less helpful) vocab that WK feeds you.

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