Are you burning for 500?

Are you burning for half way?

Are you burning for 3/4?

Are you burning for 2042?

3007?

What keeps that fire alive?

What motivates you to get up 1 or 2 hours earlier in the morning, to review one last time before falling asleep?

Give us your thoughts.

バーニング！

I'm going for the Core 6K now, and the JLPT2 grammar, and see where I'll get.
My motivation is hmm... can't remember it anymore, but whenever I feel demotivated I just listen to some japanese songs, and the fire will be on soon
Other than that, I've realized a long time ago that every second invested in japanese learning is a total waste of time for me, because there is a high probability (if not total certanity) that I'll never get any return from it, neither fiancially, nor spiritually, nor intelectually, ect. I will probably regret it not learning something more useful instead of japanese, like programming, or physics, ect. Guess I'm just an idiot

>Japanese songs

Works for me too.

I suspect I have some sort of attention deficit disorder - If I begin working on something, I'll do it to the end, but the most difficult part is actually beginning something (I just screw around on forums and facebook, saying "I'll get to anki" as hours pass). However, the moment I turn on my music bam, I'm able to do reviews and add new cards!

Quote:What keeps that fire alive?

Caffeinated soft drinks. Also Coffee

I've never been big on coffee but I might start taking up that habit. I can't seem to wake up the mornings at all.

If you view 漢字 learning as a collection game (think Pokemon), I don't think it's possible to fail. Got to catch 'em all you know. Except there are alot more 漢字 than Pokemon, which adds a lot more replay value

I don't think "burning" will do it, necessarily. I burned "out"! Studied, burned, burned out, came back, burned out again, and still haven't gone past 1500.

What i can say is, build the study into your routine, so it's automatic, so that not learning is stranger than learning. The only success i ever had was when it became automatic to study 20 characters over breakfast...

Just keep up on your reviews and you´ll be fine.

As for motivation... If you want to do it, then do it. That´s about all there is to it.

I'm burning for 12.5k vocab which means I'll have learned 10K in one year Burning to pass N1 in December. Burning to start next year with ~15K vocab. Just started my 3rd year of learning this month and I'm burning to finish it cos I'll be leagues beyond where I am now.

I'm just all fired up.

mezbup Wrote:I'm burning for 12.5k vocab which means I'll have learned 10K in one year Burning to pass N1 in December. Burning to start next year with ~15K vocab. Just started my 3rd year of learning this month and I'm burning to finish it cos I'll be leagues beyond where I am now.

I'm just all fired up.

Yes!!!

I'm fired up for just knowing a lot of japanese. But I know I won't stop learning anytime soon

Ha!

Great replies from all of you!

I'm fairly new here, but I can tell you - you're a great community - passionate, interesting, fun, determined, smart and very innovative...

And I'm definitively burning. Right now for 1026 - 傘. Well, actually 1025, because 1026 I already know.

Cheers truando!

LaLoche Wrote:I don't think "burning" will do it, necessarily. I burned "out"! Studied, burned, burned out, came back, burned out again, and still haven't gone past 1500.

What i can say is, build the study into your routine, so it's automatic, so that not learning is stranger than learning. The only success i ever had was when it became automatic to study 20 characters over breakfast...

LOL!i have the amount of kanji im studying on my live messenger and at some point i had the message"gotta catch'em all" xD. ps:don't watch pokemon anymore though,thats for kids
So,what keeps the fire alive?listening to japanese styff,watching japanese TV,realising that i hae downloaded all those books but can't start yet because im not done with kanji,not understanding all the kanji a japanese girl writes to me on skype,and of course the tons of cool stories on this site,nobody is gonna burn if they make the ride fun.

I don't think about it (routine momentum, you know, a lesson of this, a rewiew of that, an episode of this, a song of that), but when I think about it, I close my eyes, and it's like I'm in a huge black hallway, and I see this light in the far side, and I want to reach for it. I just aim for this light (if you've seen Mind Game (2004), you'll see what I mean). One of my greatest fears is that the light will be gone someday, but I don't think about it, and try to go as quick as I can.

Great metaphor, EratiK.

The light won't go away, you've run too far already for it to just vanish.

You probably meant "common". Anyway, I had the English light for more than ten years now, so I'm not too worried. The intermediary level lapse is the longest one, but by then I would know how to read, which for me means it is as good as done. Reading is something I can't stop doing.

phantombk201 Wrote:understanding all the kanji a japanese girl writes to me on skype,and of course the tons of cool stories on this site,nobody is gonna burn if they make the ride fun.

How do you go about finding conversation partners for Skype? Do you just use sites like http://www.conversationexchange.com/ or what?

thecite Wrote:

phantombk201 Wrote:understanding all the kanji a japanese girl writes to me on skype,and of course the tons of cool stories on this site,nobody is gonna burn if they make the ride fun.

How do you go about finding conversation partners for Skype? Do you just use sites like http://www.conversationexchange.com/ or what?

well no,i just searched for girls in japan on skype and added more than 200 girls or something,then waited for somebody to respond,after 3 days i started to get desperate....but then one of them answered...lol.Now i help her a bit with her english and she helps me a bit with japanese.i guess you just have to do that and wait to see if you're lucky,i don't know about that site or any other way though,so maybe other stuff work better than this.

truando Wrote:What motivates you to get up 1 or 2 hours earlier in the morning, to review one last time before falling asleep?

1. Being placed in a class a little above my ability, and having to work my arse off to keep up.

2. Wanting to have conversations with Japanese friends without needing them to revert to English because I don't understand something they've said.

3. Being surrounded by signage that I can generally comprehend, but whose details are a little fuzzy for me.

4. The embarrassment of having a form placed in front of me by a salesperson and blanking on the 書き方 for my town, and being advised to 'just write it in hiragana'. Ugh.

5. The temperamental air conditioner. Nothing like 35C and no flow-through air to make you feeling like you're burning... or melting... whatever.

Raschaverak Wrote:Other than that, I've realized a long time ago that every second invested in japanese learning is a total waste of time for me, because there is a high probability (if not total certanity) that I'll never get any return from it, neither fiancially, nor spiritually, nor intelectually, ect. I will probably regret it not learning something more useful instead of japanese, like programming, or physics, ect. Guess I'm just an idiot

Bzzzzt wrong.
Every effort has its reward. You may not be aware when or how you'll get it, and it may even pass unnoticed to you as something unrelated, but no effort is wasted. I live by that and I've noticed it's true, if your efforts are significant. Learning Japanese is a huge effort, so significant rewards will be achieved for sure.
Even just the discipline and good habits of study may be enough reward. But you never know when it'll come handy... I have a friend who learned Japanese as a hobby in a place where it seemed absurd to learn it, and it has helped him a lot in unexpected ways, even financially.

FooSoft Wrote:Except there are alot more 漢字 than Pokemon

...For now

I'm burning now for 1000! I'm at like 950 or something... gotta finish it off!

I am burning for the fact that even when everything goes to hell and beleive me it does, I can always feel warm under the blanket that is kanji studying because Its the one thing I kick ass In and so, thats what keeps me burning. I don't know what I'd do without this site. Well, I am off to drown my missery in kanji.

wulfgar Wrote:I am burning for the fact that even when everything goes to hell and beleive me it does, I can always feel warm under the blanket that is kanji studying because Its the one thing I kick ass In and so, thats what keeps me burning. I don't know what I'd do without this site. Well, I am off to drown my missery in kanji.

Pretty much anyone can kick any kind of ass-- not just kanji ass.