Recently, I am in low motivation.
How can I do to avoid this?
How can I do to avoid this?
2015-12-18, 1:20 pm
I came out of a long slump about a month ago. During that time I could only muster up the will to do my baseline reviews in Anki.
What got me back on the horse was fresh material. Constantly going over the same old cards was making my reviews even harder to get through. It felt counterintuitive to add more cards into the mix, but the new cards ended up livening up the experience. It seems that slumps breed slumps, and success breeds success.
To get back on the horse, I would suggest putting new material into your studies. Look for different content, or maybe try out a new approach/system entirely.
Once you're back in the swing of things, I think it's critical to discover your comfort zone for how much studying you're willing to do sustainably.
Before my slump, I'd add 15 - 20 cards to Anki a few days in a row and then have to stop the flow of new cards so I wouldn't get overwhelmed. Since getting out of my slump I've been adding a much smaller amount of new cards everyday. Each week, I increase my new card count by one. I'll stop once I'm just before my upper limit.
It has been said many times before, but a long constant effort is much better than short bursts.
What got me back on the horse was fresh material. Constantly going over the same old cards was making my reviews even harder to get through. It felt counterintuitive to add more cards into the mix, but the new cards ended up livening up the experience. It seems that slumps breed slumps, and success breeds success.
To get back on the horse, I would suggest putting new material into your studies. Look for different content, or maybe try out a new approach/system entirely.
Once you're back in the swing of things, I think it's critical to discover your comfort zone for how much studying you're willing to do sustainably.
Before my slump, I'd add 15 - 20 cards to Anki a few days in a row and then have to stop the flow of new cards so I wouldn't get overwhelmed. Since getting out of my slump I've been adding a much smaller amount of new cards everyday. Each week, I increase my new card count by one. I'll stop once I'm just before my upper limit.
It has been said many times before, but a long constant effort is much better than short bursts.
2015-12-18, 6:03 pm
For me, going back to the thing which made me want to learn Japanese in the first place helps. Or just take a break and do something fun in Japanese. 
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2015-12-19, 8:29 pm
That depends on your current level of proficiency and comprehension, as well as your goals and what you've been doing lately. That being said...
I personally don't see a reason for low motivation when it comes to enjoy the language. Just go read stuff if you're more interested in at the moment. I've been reading graded readers because I've just finished Genki 1 and 2. If I get tired of that, I can go ahead and read something like NHK's easy news or Yotsubato. I don't like to count anime as "study" time because at my current level, it's not easy to pick up that much stuff naturally or follow conversations, but I'll most definitely do that more often once I get to n3-n2 level.
In other words, I feel the higher your level of profiency in a language, the more you can do a whole bunch of stuff you enjoy and learn that way. Hence, why I'm craming like a madman now - I just want to have fun asap. I want freedom.
I personally don't see a reason for low motivation when it comes to enjoy the language. Just go read stuff if you're more interested in at the moment. I've been reading graded readers because I've just finished Genki 1 and 2. If I get tired of that, I can go ahead and read something like NHK's easy news or Yotsubato. I don't like to count anime as "study" time because at my current level, it's not easy to pick up that much stuff naturally or follow conversations, but I'll most definitely do that more often once I get to n3-n2 level.
In other words, I feel the higher your level of profiency in a language, the more you can do a whole bunch of stuff you enjoy and learn that way. Hence, why I'm craming like a madman now - I just want to have fun asap. I want freedom.
2015-12-21, 9:38 am
(2015-12-18, 2:59 am)fxlle Wrote: Recently, I am in low motivation.
How can I do to avoid this?
It's simple. Don't depend on motivation. Motivation is unreliable. Focus on creating an habit of studying. It's not that hard, you choose a place and a hour of the day (the earlier, the best) and do this every day.
Start slow, like just 10 minutes a day and when you start to get used to the routine increase the time a little bit until you feel like you are studying enough to reach you objectives. If you start to work for more than 20 or 30 minutes, remember to break your study sections and to take some minutes away from the computer.
If you want to learn more about learning techniques, I suggest you take a look on a course on Coursera.org called Learning How to Learn.