otengam wrote:

ohayou minna san.

*Shudder*

It's not pessimism to think that 20 seconds a day is not much exposure to the language, nor is it pessimism to think that exchanging beginner's phrases with another beginner is not going to improve your Japanese at all. That's realism.

You need a native speaker to do a proper language exchange with, and a substantial amount of time to do it in, so you should consider conversations on Skype or something.

Pessimism is thinking that you'll fail at learning Japanese... Realism is recognizing that learning takes time and effort.

Oi!

When Debbie Downer met Maurice Meanie they got together and worked really hard to produce objectionable children who one day learned how to turn on a computer and object to normal healthy people living their lives.

The rest of us have to appreciate this fact, not take it personally, bear in mind that whenever you have an idea someone will always object to it, either because it is a good idea or a bad idea, only time will tell, and most of all we must KEEP DOING WHAT WE WERE DOING if we believed in it at all in the first place.

Encouragement is good - it encourages us.

Discouragement is another thing entirely. How you respond to it will determine your success.