Losing the plot

People I need your help and I need it fast. Some of you/most of you are lucky enough to have one on one tuition with your sensei, when learning Japanese, who is constantly motivating and encouraging you. You are probably given both written and oral examinations and constantly monitored and you may even know several people studying along side you. Switch to me for a second here. I am just an ordinary guy with a healthy interest in Japanese culture and language and trying to learn to speak this nobel and often poetic tongue. My problem is I'm losing the will to study, I get no encouragement from anyone if anything they think its comical taht I study saying stuff like 'why dont you learn a sensible language like French, Spanish or German' ? 'you are wasting your time with that' etc. And to finish me off I'm teaching myself with Pimsleurs and the repetititive nature of these audio files and lack of real explanation as to why your saying certain particles etc is wearing me thin. My respect and admiration is still very much alive but I just cant come in anymore and subject myself to this anymore. I need another method of study I cant afford tuition and to be honest I would be hard pressed to find a teacher over here in N. Ireland never mind in my neighbourhood so I think an alternative to Pimsleurs might help and a more lively course where I'm not asking for 20 litres of gasoline every 2 seconds.

I need a pick me up guys.... :?

You need a study-buddy. Is there anyone in your area who wants to study Japanese? Even if both of cannot speak Japanese at all, it is a good idea. I have some ideas on how to make it successful.

Any possible partners in your area?

I had the same problem at you at one point (until I finally got hold of a Japanese person who I can ask questions to). Why don't you try and meet a Japanese person online, make friends with them, then eventually, buy an international calling card and call them up a couple of times a week and practice that way. It only costs like $5 an hour from Australia to call Japan with a calling card, I'm sure Northern Ireland would be just as cheap. When I was living in Japan I used the website Japan Today Classifieds › For Sale to find people for language exchange. I use to get so many responses I'm sure that someone would be willing to do some sort of exchange over email/telephone. Start off asking for an email pen pal, then when you get to know them see if they'll want to do telephone conversation.

If i were you i would keep with it. Im lucky, i do it at university but after looking at the course you dont really need uni to learn easily.

Just practice practice practice all the time.

What is your current ability, got any Japanese friends. If not get some. You will probally find they are wanting to know you just as much to help them with there English.

Anyone calling you silly for learning it is silly themselves. Think about it, you are probally learning the hardest thing anyone can learn. A language and Japanese at that. What happens when you can speak it at an intermediate or advanced level. Why is it more sensible to learn French or German. I can assure you that there is a higher percentage of Germans speaking English then there are Japanese. So for that reason Japanese would make more sence.

Also Japanese is so much more fun because it is such a differnt language. Everything in Europe is the same.

Best advice though would be to get yourself a Japanese friend.

Yeah you need a study buddy. I've been toying with the idea for a while of setting up a website to list people who are learning Japanese, the area they are in, the level they are at, and contact details so people can get in touch with each other. Having a study buddy in the same time zone as you would be useful, and if you have Skype on the computer and a microphone then you won't even need to be in the same town. Keep at it. I go through ups and downs.

Don't stick just to Pimsleur, just use it as one learning method. Get your pen and paper out, learn Hiragana, Katakana then move to Kanji, a fantastic motivational tool when you realise that just a couple of weeks work can allow you to read everything except Kanji and suddenly everything is looking up again, I know this happened to me.

Also try doing more than just listening to or reading vocabulary, get a book that explains some of the subtlieties of the language, pick up a book on particles and one on sentence structure for example. There is more to learn about the language that spoken words, and once you broaden your scope you'll find that if you can't be bothered with the CDs at the minute there is something else you can study with instead.

I feel like you sometimes Slider. When I get down I try to keep my reason for learning Japanese in mind to motivate myself. The fact that other people think I am mad is a motivation for me - it makes me feel like I can do something no-one else would even try - can you look at it that way?

I don't have a study buddy, but I try to immerse myself in the language as much as possible - I watch anime, listen to J-Pop, look at Japanese internet sites and talk Japanese to people even though they don't understand me! Sometimes I even write e-mails in Japanese, with an English translation!

BTW, why are you learning Japanese? I want to watch films without subtitles and play RPGs that don't come out in English!

buy yourself an easy manga or two and a good jap-eng dictionary. that's my advice.

Ben W Bell said:

Yeah you need a study buddy. I've been toying with the idea for a while of setting up a website to list people who are learning Japanese, the area they are in, the level they are at, and contact details so people can get in touch with each other. Having a study buddy in the same time zone as you would be useful, and if you have Skype on the computer and a microphone then you won't even need to be in the same town. Keep at it. I go through ups and downs.

Don't stick just to Pimsleur, just use it as one learning method. Get your pen and paper out, learn Hiragana, Katakana then move to Kanji, a fantastic motivational tool when you realise that just a couple of weeks work can allow you to read everything except Kanji and suddenly everything is looking up again, I know this happened to me.

Also try doing more than just listening to or reading vocabulary, get a book that explains some of the subtlieties of the language, pick up a book on particles and one on sentence structure for example. There is more to learn about the language that spoken words, and once you broaden your scope you'll find that if you can't be bothered with the CDs at the minute there is something else you can study with instead.

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Hey the idea of the website is bl**dy genius.....Im glad I posted now everyone's been really helpful and understanding.

Tsuyoiko said:

I watch anime, listen to J-Pop, look at Japanese internet sites and talk Japanese to people even though they don't understand me! Sometimes I even write e-mails in Japanese, with an English translation!

and play RPGs that don't come out in English!

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I do the e-mail thing also although it cracks everyone up. I love Japanese music especailly some of their rap stuff it works really well I think...