I've been studdying japanese for over 2 years intensely, probably around 3 hours a day. Some months ago I've reached level 60 in WaniKani and since then I feel completely lost. I don't know how to progress in my studying path, I'm just watching videos/ movies in jp with japanese subtitles and can understand 85-95% of them, when I try to push myself to read, I procrastinate HOURS before doing so for then read maybe 5 pages and be shocked to see how slow does it feels. (The book I'd actually like to read if I didnt find it that boring is 君の膵臓を食べたい)
About Anki: I tried and gave up, too boring for my way of being, if I'd tried to still stick to it I'd have gave up on japanese 2 years ago probably lol
I've also been to Japan twice for some months and had the chance to talk with locals + have many friends on LINE I could have the chance to speak to if setting a day and time.
I know I'm doing so because I'd like to live in Japan, the thing is I'm now 18 and thinking about the fact I'll go to university in an another country next year and living in Japan feels such a far away thing of my life that it feels hard to focus on it.
I feel quite lost, so my question is: has it happened to you as well to feel disoriented after such a long time? how did you still made progress after ending using wanikani?
any idea would be helpful to clarify my mind, thanks in advance!
by dxariannj
12 comments
You need to find stuff that’s more fun to read. Get some manga or visual novels. Books are clearly not doing it for you.
Is Wanikani paid?
I’ve never used wanikani and don’t see how it’s much different than Anki, but as others have said, find the stuff you are interested in.
What do you like to watch/read in English? Try to do it in Japanese now. It’s going to be hard reaching a really high level of Japanese without books but you can still get fluent by just talking with people and watching stuff. Maybe shadowing can help?
Also, キミスイ is one of my fav Japanese books. Might be hard for a first read tho, especially because of the author’s style and the way they set the scene.
IMO what you need to focus on is either finding a new goal, or find new ways to really challenge yourself. In order to get out of this slump you need to find a new long term goal and a few short term goals along the way. Find things you’re interested in and aim for 100% understanding. Learn some niche words that aren’t common in every day language. Or you can instead slow down on your studies and focus more on maintaining your language while still learning some new words here and there.
There are countless layers to learning a language so pick a different layer while reaping the benefits of your hard work and time well spent.
Orient your life towards using it more. Sounds like you’re pining for more of those opportunities. Tertiary degrees in Japanese can be one way. Attending a university with a Japan exchange program is another.
In the meantime, you can try to set some new learning goals for yourself. Could be something that’s more fulfilling than clearing a learning app, like using iTalki to practice speaking with native speakers, or getting into one of the larger Japanese trends and making Japanese friends through that (concerts, etc).
What worked for me was being oriented towards living and working in Japan, as I was heavily interested in their tech and parts of their culture from an early age.
It sounds like you lost your reason for studying quite a while ago.
While good, WaniKani is meant to be a supplementary tool to HELP your reading. If you’re not reading it’s borderline useless. You’re filling your head with words you won’t use and kanji you won’t see.
Unless of course you’re writing, posting online, speaking or living daily life in the language then those words are also useful, but it sounds like your not doing those things either.
I love reading books. I’m personally only under halfway through WaniKani and I’ve already read a book, halfway through another one and I’ve read countless manga volumes.
Figure out what clicks for you and stick with it. Read manga, play video games, write a diary, talk with people online. Anything that challenges you in the language that you enjoy, do it.
Anki, also, is a tool to SUPPORT your studies and activities using the language. It’s not using the language
It’s like looking at a bunch of science formulas, no explanations of how they were derived and not doing any experiments/science
lol I’ve been on wanikani for almost 2 years and still not past level 20
I finished Wanikani a couple months ago too but I was thoroughly sick of it by the end. I’ve since started using Migaku for anime on Netflix and the Final Fantasy pixel remasters and its some of the most fun I’ve had language learning for a long time.
The time put into Wanikani has made retaining the words I put into Migaku easier but its the images and audio it automatically captures that makes it really stick.
My suggestions:
1. Start more advanced textbooks. Assuming you finished genki 1+2 or equivalent, try to do tobira (their intermediate textbook).
2. If you already completed tobira, try to do the JLPT. I felt like JLPT was nice because it gave my learning good structure and a concrete immediate goal. I passed JLPT n4 immediately after finishing tobira (with almost no jlpt specific studying) and then I moved to JLPT n3 textbook to take the n3 the following year and then the N2 the year after that.
3. Try reading books or playing video games that interest you and match your level. E.g if you are around n3-n2 level I recommend “another code: recollection” or the “famicom detective” series. For books, at the same level I really enjoy otsuichi’s zoo (a collection of short horror stories). At lower levels I recommend books like the graded readers series
Play games. On YouTube find genre you like. On steam set your language and find something you like. Check if there is voice and subtitles. Many games have some perks in Disco Elysium you can switch languages by pressing L.
I think immersion helps best. Just try to slowly implement it into your daily life.
That’s why I changed my system language to japanese (it’s more effective than you think because many websites/apps look at your region) and started reading japanese articles while commuting.
If you like games, you can also adjust the language and play it. That way you can stay motivated to practice a bit longer 🙂
Why are you studying Japanese? You didn’t talk about anything you want to do in Japanese at all, or sound excited that you know a lot of Kanji to be able to read now, which is a big achievement. It sounds like you enjoyed studying more than you enjoy using the language… In which case your only option is to find a new way to study.