Title says it all... I've been teaching myself Japanese for a little over a year now, but for the past two weeks I've done no kanji at all (I have 400ish of RTK1 left). I still listen to Japanese music/immersion but its not the same ):

The point is I no longer feel an incentive to continue. It's not like I don't want to its just that I've lost that flame for the language I once had. This has coincided with the release of Skyrim, but I'm taking a break from that too now.

Anyone else experience this? What can I do?

Personally, my language study revolves mostly around meeting language partners and communicating in the language. It's much harder to get tired of meeting people.

Remind yourself why you decided to learn Japanese, and find a way to make your learning fun. You could also set small goals for yourself and try and achieve them in a certain time frame.

Its funny because the same thing happened to me. What i did was start learning grammar either with tai kim or understanding basic Japanese grammar. I still did kanji reviews and i added about 1 new kanji a day. I also started learning new vocab with the kanji I know and started putting them into sentences.

I could help you get reinvigorated in your studies! I almost quick myself after a year or so due to personal reasons, but I overcame and now I have a popular site where I help people everyday. There's a lot of chance in life, and you definitely don't want to miss an opportunity you'd regret later on. I heard Alexandre's story of happening to take a class by chance and loving it.

Kanji are very intriguing. You'll never be totally competent in them in a way similar to not knowing all the words in your native language. The language itself, though, is by far the most fun foreign language to speak in my opinion.

I've been able to find a lot of people with your feeling in the past two years, and a lot of it I would say would be frustration that learning is just taking to long.

Hope you continue your studies of 日本語！　頑張ってくださいね。

if it's coincided with the release of skyrim, that's probably the cause.

I often lose interest in Japanese when i'm really into doing something else for a while. then, if i stop doing that other thing, and start doing japanese again, my interest picks up again after a little while.

Find something to watch or read that you can get really into, speak to people in Japanese, or give yourself a 2 week challenge to up your skills in one area as much as you can usually helps for me... gl

I'm into japanese tv shows and music so it'll probably never happen to me.

maybe look into other japanese things cause in the end... playing a game is a waste of time (is that too mean?)... or at least play a japanese one....

well techinically learning japanese should be like playing a fun game too... according to AJATT. just sayin'

I prescribe to you one Japanese girlfriend.

I totally know where he's coming from.

Back when i started learning japanese,
in 2000 maybe, i had so many ups and downs with it.

I started , then left it, then started and left it...
No cool technology like now...
But in the back of my mind I always had a dream
of working in Japan , etc.

I achieved my dream of studying in Japan, of working in Japan with real japanese people. In fact I still work with them up to this day (super anal people them japanese).

And after 12 years with it.. I still have on and off periods.
Just like when you are dating someone,
learning japanese is a lot like a relationship.
At first, it's all magical and glamorous , but there comes a point when you get desensitized to it.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people have either reached this level, or will eventually.
It's just a part of you, it's how your brain works.

Working in Japan was a huge eye opener for me.
One thing is visiting japan, another one is working in japan as a foreigner, and another one is working there as a Japanese (long live the leader type of work)....

I realized it's not for me, but I totally fulfilled my dream and i'm satisfied with it.
Now I work at a japanese company in america with schedules that protect me and don't try to kill me, and i'm learning a lot,
but still it's crazy how they think.

You will go through a lot of periods in your learning and i'm sure it will be different for everyone.
But if it's really for you, no matter when you leave it, you will eventually return to it
(like that boyfriend/girlfriend you broke up with but after a couple of weeks you start thinking of again)

zutto nihongo to rabu rabu de iraremasu you ni

AlexandreC Wrote:Personally, my language study revolves mostly around meeting language partners and communicating in the language. It's much harder to get tired of meeting people.

Have to agree with that one but for me I'm in love with Japanese media. Games,manga,animes,shows. Lately I've branched off to dramas and news/talk-shows/comedy.

This actually happened to me recently, I was wondering what the problem since I've been learning Japanese for 2 years+ now. I learned that I needed to reformat my decks and do them at a certain pace. I worked out my srs problem and now I'm back but at a much slower pace and yet, I'm actually feeling I'm going to get far with this.

I recommend you found out original what motivated you and try to rekindle the flame. It's harder for some people, than others but it can be done. Personally for me, I just watch stuff I couldn't understand in the beginning phases and re-watch them. It shows me how far I've gotten and will get.

lardycake Wrote:I prescribe to you one Japanese girlfriend.

Language exchange?

There have been many times when I thought about dropping my Japanese studies, but after a while I realized that "wow, I actually really like Japan and Japanese culture". You could say that it's a vital part of me now, I couldn't stop learning Japanese even if I wanted to.

You should try and find the reason why you started learning in the first place, and use it to push you ahead.

頑張って！

Take a break, stop for at least a month everything, even listening to J-music. Just forget Japanese. Then pick up again, and you'll be surprised, but not only you'll be interested again, your skills will be better then ever. Don't fear, you won't forget anything, I was there many times and this always works for me when I become fed up with something, Japanese or anything else.

Start another language, suddenly you're a beginner again and you'll want to crawl back to sweet sweet familiar Japanese.

IceCream Wrote:give yourself a 2 week challenge to up your skills in one area as much as you can usually helps for me... gl

That sounds like a really good idea! What sort of challenges have you set yourself before? Like, try and write a lang-8 entry each day for 2 weeks, or try and read x number of short articles a day for two weeks, that kind of thing?

I personally can't stop now, it's become a part of my daily life now. I think being able to show it to other people could be used as a motivator. I sometimes read on the subways or bus rides home and I get a lot of stares and sometimes conversations haha. Trust me, it might just be a phase but if it isn't, find the things that got you interested and slowly get back into Japanese. If your studying too much, lessen the amount and you will get more out of your studies in the long-term(I did this with my srs anki decks and I love my pace.)

there are times when i get really into it... and there are times when i get really out of it.

it's unfortunate that my current slump just so happened to be right before JLPT N2. heh.

what i usually do is try to find something in Japanese to interest me. it might take a while to find it but when i do, i really get into it again.

for me i was feeling kinda sad about it lately but then i watched an NMB48 live on Nico Nico, and there were some parts where everyone was balling up with laughter but i didn't get it all, and that just all of a sudden clicked with me and now i got my motivation back.

keep in mind i've been "down" for about 2 months now.

Well, it's not even a given that you should/really want to continue learning Japanese, even if you've poured time into it during the last year. What you do is up to you, and if you feel that you want to spend your time doing other things that's fine. Everyone gains and loses interest in different things throughout their lives. If you can see Japanese that way, that it really is something that you are free to quit or continue, instead of viewing it as something that you must do, then you can really decide whether or not it's worth your time and either way you choose, you can feel sure of that you really made a conscious decision.

I mean, this forum has, of course, a lot of people who like learning Japanese and have devoted a lot of their time to that activity, and most of us don't regret that. There are, however, lots of other equally satisfying things to do and unless you're living in Japan or going to live there, learning Japanese shouldn't be taken as a given IMO.

It's your choice, really.

Lot's of people are saying go back to what originally got you interested, but the opposite also works; explore knew things to do with your Japanese and remember that there are lot's of different ways of learning, and such a wide variety of things to learn, that if you're sick of something there's no need to stick with it. If you've had enough of RTK then just put it to one side and go learn something else. You can always finish it later or just learn the kanji some other way.

The original reason I started learning Japanese... probably the culture, right? But I think that finding out more about it, and actually talking with Japanese people etc. has clued me into Japanese culture in a way that I feel more familiar with its positives, as well as its negatives...

I'm at this point where I just really am sick of SRS. Not even RTK, that's fine. Reps just suck -_-

killazys Wrote:The original reason I started learning Japanese... probably the culture, right? But I think that finding out more about it, and actually talking with Japanese people etc. has clued me into Japanese culture in a way that I feel more familiar with its positives, as well as its negatives...

I'm at this point where I just really am sick of SRS. Not even RTK, that's fine. Reps just suck -_-

I've come down to the conclusion that SRS reps are best down in small amounts and adding at a slow pace. It's so you don't end up hating it because of the reps you may encounter, if you add too much.

find something new that interests you... and learn about it in Japanese. Japanese is a tool, not a goal.

Yeah, SRS can be pretty boring; you can take a break and just enjoy reading, writting listening, or whatever. Most of the times the need to SRS returns on its own. If it doesn't, no problem: there are always other ways...

It's drastic and possibly unfeasible for you, but consider taking a short trip to Japan. Nothing like rekindling one's passion for a language than visiting a country in which it is spoken!

Or, if you can't do that, then seek out the Japanese community nearby. Go to Japanese restaurants. Go to Kinokuniya and browse the Japanese language section. Put the formal study on hold for a bit and seek out the LIVING Japanese language. I find this always boosts my motivation.

SammyB Wrote:

IceCream Wrote:give yourself a 2 week challenge to up your skills in one area as much as you can usually helps for me... gl

That sounds like a really good idea! What sort of challenges have you set yourself before? Like, try and write a lang-8 entry each day for 2 weeks, or try and read x number of short articles a day for two weeks, that kind of thing?

Yeah, exactly like that!!! my last one, at the beginning of this month was to write a lang-8 entry almost every day for 2 weeks. I got the idea from seeing just how much more i did when the Read More or Die month was on than i generally do. Some time i'm gonna do a 2 week speaking challenge with "living Japanese" or on one of those exchange sites.

I think 2 weeks is a nice length of time too... it's just the right amount of time to get a lot done without getting bored, by which time i can switch to a different challenge.