I‘m a quitter. Not on all fronts, but in Japanese. Start-stop-start-stop…
I read many threads here, an it depresses me to see people full of energy and highly motivated, who post in, say 2017, about how things are going great, only to stop shortly after posting, never to return, staying at level 8, level 12, level 21 - whatever it is, forever.
I do not know their story, and maybe they’re doing better now than they ever did, but:
I want to finish this. All burned.
So for my own sake, and maybe for some looking for advice, I will post here regularly and write how I‘m doing.
My rules are:
do WK and iKnow every single day
never question the why
never question my intelligence
never question my age
never care about speed or progress
do this for one year, then re-evaluate
For the record:
I started WK on December 15th, 2018
and today, on April 15, 2019, I am on level 16.
I started WK 11 months ago, but ended up spending 133 days on level 8 during this past fall because I struggled to keep up with Japanese studies when I started the semester at a new school. This semester I am doing much better with keeping up with my reviews every day and I’m really glad I am. Like you, I am motivated to not be someone who gives up before level 60 ! I think you are right that consistency and not being too judgmental of yourself is important for success.
I think two other factors that you didn’t mention your post are setting goals and enjoying yourself. Last summer I started trying to read Aria with the book club here but could not devote enough time to it to keep up and so being able to read the entire thing is my goal now. I also make sure that I remember to have fun because that puts you in a better mindset for learning.
I feel you. At the end it all boils down to showing up and sticking to the original plan. When things get hard it’s easy to find something else, some other brilliant method discovered in some forum, praised by other people as the holy grail, when all you have to do is keep going.
Heyyy I started back in Nov/18 (almost december I think?) so we are pretty close. I’ll be looking out for your progress too.
I guess my 2 cents would be to enjoy it if you can, and have something to look forward too. Like a trip to japan or a book you really want to read in japanese.
I started in January and just hit level 13. Yeah, sometimes it’s crazy how many items can build up. Between commuting, work, choreography, bodybuilding, making time for myself (games, movies, etc), and friends, it doesn’t always leave a lot of time. I just try to do it on my commute and pepper it in at lunch and at night. My advice is to keep yourself immersed in Japanese pop culture, even a little. Watch shows like Terrace House on Netflix with the Japanese subtitles on. It’s reinforced so many kanji I’ve already learnt on WK and put it in a very natural conversational setting.
I already started with Terrace House. Really great, indeed!