I've been studying again for seven to eight months now. Just went back to Skritter and to hand journaling to work on my writing, which I realized completely sucks, and was actually in some cases hampering my ability to understand certain characters correctly.

I could view this as a setback...but I don't. I enjoy what I've learned of Japanese, and I continue to enjoy practicing it. (I was entertaining my girlfriend by writing Japanese on the frosted glass this morning. I just hope that no Japanese speakers come walking by and interpret 助けてくれ！！ as a reason to call the cops.)

I think there's way too much emphasis placed on acquisition speed in some online circles. So long as you enjoy studying and practicing, keep it up. This is meant to be fun, not some sort of drudgery. If you feel like your learning isn't fun, change your routine until you re-discover the joy again.

Last edited by gaiaslastlaugh (2013 January 10, 4:58 pm)

thurd wrote:

This is nothing to write home about. Get back to us when you're several years in and still can't understand half of what's out there. You'll understand frustration only when, after spending years, tons of your time and efforts but yet the only good word to describe your ability will be: beginner.

1 year... please

this

Keep in mind too that a year really isn't that long to be studying a language like Japanese. Students who study Japanese in college, after a year, are barely at  the intermediate level.

Last edited by hershoreline (2013 January 11, 9:05 am)

Laughable. I don't think you can even be nominated for that award unless you've taken two years of college-level Japanese only to find out you can't even read a children's book. Or that after another two years you still get more out of the Portuguese subtitles of the anime than the Japanese dialogue, even though you've never actually studied Portuguese in your life.

What I've learned from this forum is that, the so called "advanced" or "fluent/native-level" of Japanese learners is: they failed so many times before they started to notice improvement and eventually reaching their goals.

I've been learning for 3 years+ and I still suck at speaking. My grammar is lacking at times, my writing needs a lot of work, I still mess up basic readings (due to forgetting how to read it in the right context), forgot basic vocabulary at times and still won't call myself fluent even after accomplishing this:

http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=10863

My advice to you is, just make sure you do something everyday(no need to be a hare like I was. I burned out a lot (due to do doing too many Anki reps and immersing like mad). Just keep working everyday and you will eventually be able to accomplish your goals. May take 1-2 years, make take 3-5+ years. I don't have an answer myself as I keep learning and my goals keep changing.

Just make sure you enjoy the journey, because you will be looking back and saying to yourself "It was all worth it!"

Last edited by ta12121 (2013 January 10, 7:07 pm)

Nevermind romance languages (I can read entire novels with little to no issue), try being able to read Dutch* better than Japanese. Or realizing that speaking Swedish* comes easier than speaking Japanese. It's silly.

*1 year+ of Japanese (all theoretical, really; I only count that year as studying to remind myself of how lazy I can be), no study of Dutch what so ever cause Dutch is scary.
4+ years of Japanese but no speaking practice, versus informal non-intensive short-term study yeaaars ago.

Zarxrax wrote:

Hahahaha.

I'm about 10 years in. I would probably classify myself as intermediate level for the past 6-7 or so. I even have a degree in Japanese language, and I still can barely function in it.

I've been using SRS daily for years now, I took classes, I have penpals, I watch a small but respectable amount of media and read a bit. My progress is slow, but measurable. I'm getting there

Slow and steady as she goes.......will eventually win the race......

I can't top mushi's nomination but I think I could put myself forward for a certificate of commendation for having started learning Japanese in 1977 and not yet passing N2.

Fine print: no contact with said language between 1980 and 2007.  Finished two years of university study in 1980 to discover that I could not read anything that was not class materials that were specifically targeted at our class.  Gave it away to earn living in my profession.  Now seriously tempted to spend the same amount of time learning Dutch in order to compare the two learning experiences.

Chiller is in there ahead of me, but I started studying Japanese as a school kid in 1980 and came back after a gap of 30 years .... a handful of greetings and surprising number of kana survived the long break, but that was about all.  Still trying to get the RTK kanji down, but suspect there is a fair component of Avoiding Picking Up Genki to the laggardly pace of the last few months (I read the last chapters of Genki II first, and thus killed off any suspense about what was going to happen with Mary and Takeshi.  So don't cheat on the ending, folks.  Gotta walk before you can run ....)

Thanks for the great replies. I feel better now reading everyone's different experiences. (And, LOL, Mushi!)

I took Spanish for 3 years in high school (ahem, over 40 years ago). I had a wonderful teacher. I still remember some of it. I can watch some Spanish shows or listen to native speakers IRL and follow the gist of the conversation.

I hope to be at least that good in Japanese at some point in the future.

Last edited by Altaira (2013 January 11, 10:41 am)

Thurd, that is a good read! Thanks for the link.

Learning a foreign language is as much about learning how to learn a foreign language as it is about the language itself. I studied Japanese for 5 years in college, and I did pass JLPT N2 at that time. However, I fully believe I passed due to a fluke. My level was barely past beginner level at that point. RTK allowed me to excel in certain areas that people at my level usually didn't excel in so I tended to test well even with a lower level.

Then I took a year or two off. Then I came back to Japanese, and I started to progress really fast due to having figured out what worked for me over those 5 years. I had to learn a lot about myself and my own learning style before I could start making significant progress.

Studying a little bit everyday even if it's for a short time is the most important lesson I learned over the years. Small amounts of effort really do snowball over time even if it's difficult to see changes week to week.