While studying medicine I decided to give Japanese lessons a try. I studied hard for one year and I got N5 in a little less than 8 months.
After that I continued with the Genki books and moved to the N4-N3 class. I could not follow the new book (Tobira) and the classes seemed to cover topics that did not address everyday needs that I had, for example we were discussing vocabulary related to religion while no student knew how to describe tying shoes or preparing a french toast.
Things started to drift and eventually after 4 years in total I stopped attending that class. I always wanted to visit Japan and achieve N3, that was my goal from the start. I have not achieved either one.
I feel like a complete failure and I am terrified of picking up Japanese again knowing I failed at such a profound way in the past. I am unsure if I didn’t figure out how to use the new book, or the teacher-student fit was imperfect, or I didn’t try hard enough, or maybe i’m not good enough.
Where do I go from here?
If only I could continue with a book similar to Genki.
by pocket_mage