Today marks 5 years since I first decided to try and learn Japanese.
When I first started learning Japanese my hope/goal was to become fluent in 3 years.
This year I have been able to have more conversations in Japanese with friends and while travelling.
I have gotten much better at reading and have read 7 books in the last 7 months.
I can confidently say that I can watch tv shows/anime in Japanese for enjoyment (my original motivation for learning Japanese).
I've gotten better at searching and mining vocab and grammar points (something i struggled with for years)
Last year, I finally passed the JLPT N3 after saying i wanted to sign up for it for over 2 years.
I also plan to take and pass the N2 this upcoming July.
However, I am still nowhere near fluency.
I've also dealt with bouts of low or no motivation to study or improve on several occasions throughout these 5 years.
I have sometimes felt like maybe I wasn't capable of learning more than i already knew.
Still, I have never given up.
All this to say, I'm happy with the progress I have made and proud of myself for getting this far. I started from zero and can now say I'm at an intermediate level. I may not be progressing as fast as I originally wanted, but at the end of the day I'm still here. If you had asked me 5 years ago whether or not I would be taking the N2 in a few months I would have laughed out loud. For most of my life, I never thought id be able to learn the basics of Japanese let alone get this far in my studies. Yet here I am still moving forward.
by Joeiiguns