Overload, anyone?

I'm just starting my 4th week of Japanese 201, and I already feel completely overwhelmed. The class is very fast-paced, and we're whipping through grammar and vocabulary like crazy. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, because it's not all that much faster than the 100-level classes I took last year, but for the last week or so, whenever I even think about Japanese, my whole brain just seems to go numb, and everything I've already learned just kind of fades away, and seems so inconsequencial compared to everything I still have left to learn. (Sorry about the terrible run-on sentence there.. And to think, I'm a native English speaker. )

Anyway, I'm not doing any real studying outside of the topics that we're currently on in class, so I usually wouldn't think I'm just trying to learn too much in too short of a time, but nonetheless, I feel like I'm drowning or something. The thing is, there's no way for me to just slow down for a while and wait until my brain catches up, since I'm already at the bare minimum of taking in new sentence structures, vocab, etc. that's required to keep pace with the class.

Has anybody else faced this sort of problem? If you have, what did you do to get past it? Any tips or advice anybody has would be very, very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

P.S.- I'm sorry if this has already been discussed in the past, but I did search through the forums to see if I could find anything on overload or burnout, and didn't find much.

1, Your brain might be tired. I used to sit and watch anime until say... 02:00 in the night, and i can tell you i was useless the other day.
2, Lack of concentration might cause it: Try to calm down, eat grapes, just get sacharoz or something in your system, drink a tea or coffee.
3, You might have other things in mind, forget them. Same for your problems, at least when you're learning.
4, You might be worrying that learning japanese takes away your time, and stops you from doing other stuff you should... well its true, but you didn't join the course for nothing.

All in all, when i can't study for some reason, i drink a tank as strong as hell, when it doesn't help i sleep, just set an alarm clock to like 30-60 minutes, that should be enough. When you did both and it doesn't help try to study while sitting, and not while in horizontal that makes you fall asleep. Fresh air might help too, physical exercises...

Thats all i can think of, if none helps it means you're at your limits, just have a nice long sleep and continue the other day.
Oh yeah, have motivation, if you decide to pawn the folks at the course it surely will work out, even if you're near death you'll probably be able to concentrate when your pride is in danger Tell me if none of this helps, i'll try to think of something else.

ranei said:

and everything I've already learned just kind of fades away, and seems so inconsequencial compared to everything I still have left to learn.

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This is normal when learning a language. One of the most frustrating things about learning a language is that there's never a clear line between knowing a language and not knowing it. This problem is bolstered by the fact that learning a language is not like learning to tie your shoes; it's a very long-term process. Actually, you are making great strides in the language and not even knowing it. I notice this myself; things I had so much trouble understanding not too long ago are now relatively simple to me. "Funny, I don't feel different", I say to myself.

One of the things I do that's helped me is self-practice. When I'm standing by myself waiting for something, for example, I almost subconsciously start having conversations with myself in Japanese, or start explaining random grammatical points to myself. It's good sentence construction practice, so you don't flounder as much when you're actually having a real conversation, and it helps you remember grammar.

Hi ranei!

Sounds like you're kind of struggling there. I struggle a lot as well, languages in general have never been my strong suit.

First of all, let me ask some basic questions. Is your study environment void of distractions? I had a couple of weeks recently where absolutely nothing was sinking in. My mother would quietly watch the news while I was studying because I liked being downstairs where it was brighter. I finally realized though that subconsciously I was listening to the TV and my Japanese wasn't really sinking in. Seems like a no-brainer but sometimes to really grasp something the mind needs dead silence.

Also, I find my retention is extremely high if I study new things the very night I learned them, or at the latest the following evening. That goes for vocabulary especially. If you leave them for a few days then come back, these concepts have left the short term memory and it's harder to get them into your long term memory. When I leave something for too long I can definitely tell vs. how quick my retention is when I've studied the very same or following day.

Also, I'm not sure what '201' entails for you but if you're learning lets say JLPT 3 level structures or below, its easy to group them together based on what their conjugation endings are. For example some structures require the negative 'a', some use the 'te' form, others just build on dictionary forms, etc. If they aren't already, try grouping them accordingly so that the sounds are similar and the verbs are all being conjugated in more or less the same way, instead of switching from one conjugation to another. Learn in groups, have the material you study work for you and help you remember other material.

Lastly, I find pictoral recall really helps. For example, when I think of the kanji 飲む, I picture a guy standing at a bar. This helps me remember it as the verb 'drink'. For more complicated compound words like 話し合う, I think of it in two ways. First is the verb to speak then the verb to fit. I literally picture words meeting, like little people bowing and shaking hands. Very silly! But, it makes it easy to remember the meaning, which is to discuss or talk about an issue, (hanashiau) and eventually you dispense with the silly pictograms in your head and just recall the meanings.

Hope that helps, good luck!

I've never taken formal classes, so i can't give very specific advice on how to handle the stress.

One thing that helped me was concentrating on sound and meaning separately, i used music because it sets a rhythm to the speech. I would download Japanese music and just listen very closely to the sound without bothering with the meaning, eventually the mind gets used to pace and how common sounds pair together.

Perhaps you could try this, then when you're studying you should pick up on things like sentence structure more smoothly, it should help you read Japanese more comfortably too. Good luck

There was a thread just like this last month, but I think you're welcome to make your own.
Anyone feel overloaded when learning? | Japan Forum

I think the best advice I can give you on this matter is to break the studying up. Don't try to do all your daily Japanese studying at once. Do 20-30 minutes then (if you have time) go do something fun and relaxing for half an hour, or (if you don't) do something that's not Japanese. Repeat that pattern 'til you're done studying Japanese for the day. This will give your brain time to cool down and sort things out before you go at it again.

When I study, I usually do about 40 minutes of kanji study, then an hour of reading, then more kanji, et cetera. I'm studying Japanese the whole time (it's practically all I study), but by keeping from focusing on one facet for too long, it's easier to avoid getting overloaded.

I'm sorry it took so long for me to reply to everyone.. Been a wee bit swamped with school work for a couple weeks now...

Derfel: I think lack of concentration is one of my biggest problems, because I've had a lot of things going on in other classes. Trying to forget as much as I can that anything but Japanese exists while I'm studying has helped a lot, and an energy drink before I start working hasn't hurt either.

EvilCowSlayer: I've started talking to myself in Japanese while I'm at work, and I think the funny looks I get are worth how much easier it is for me to toss together a sentence on the fly thanks to the extra practice.

bakaKanadajin: My studying area was very, very full of distractions until I read your post and realized what I was doing. I was studying either in front of the TV, which meant that I was watching CSI reruns more than I was studying, or at my computer desk, where I can't seem to resist the temptation of the internet. I've moved to a quieter area without anything to take my attention away from Japanese, and it's really seemed to help... I do try and study new words and phrases the same day I first come across them in class, and I use pictoral clues for kanji a lot, but I'd never thought about grouping sentence structures based on their conjugation endings. I'll definitely be trying that, since it sounds like a very effective way to study.

Petenshber: I'd never thought of using music just for the sound.. I listen to Japanese music all the time, but I think I focus way too much on trying to recognize particular words and phrases, to the point that I hardly hear a lot of the sounds. It seems like it would be very helpful as far as pronounciation goes, as long as I'm careful not to start singing instead of speaking!

JimmySeal: Thanks for the link to the other thread! I don't know how I managed to miss it.. I'll definitely look through it and see what tips are there. I usually do try and cram all of my Japanese studying into on big chunk, but I think I'll try breaking it up with other classes and see how that helps..

Thank you everybody for your replies! They've helped a ton!

Burn the tv, throw it out, blow it up, tv hasn't done anyone any good well probably you disagree but still, you're better off with the internet, that way you only watch what you truly want, and not whats on tv. anything you do while watching leaves a bitter aftertaste in my opinion, the food you made ain't that tasty, the stuff you studied didn't get into your brain, let alone remain there, the information you're trying to get from any given website just goes over your head. Yeah, you all probably think im nuts, but just give it a try, just try to live without a tv, you'll soon realize that you don't miss it a bit... well that is if you have internet... but thinking about it, the members of an online forum probably have internet.

I totally know what you mean about the tv. I try and watch it as little as possible, but with any subject but Japanese, I can't concentrate without background noise, and music makes me want to sing along, so on goes the tv. But there really are more and more television shows being put online, so sooner or later maybe I'll be able to avoid the tv altogether. Stupid brain-rotting box.

take some time to do something that has absolutly nothing to do with the subject you are feeling overwhelmed with. philosophy or math problems for me but if thats not your thing read a fictions novel, watch a movie, go fishing or something. Absolutely no thinking about the subject in question.