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What Keeps You Motivated?

Lestat84

Future Expatriate
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So the question is in the title, how do you stay motivated to study Japanese. I really want to do it (unfortunately self study is my only option) but can never find the motivation to continue the work I begin when I finally do feel like studying. So what do you suggest I start with that will keep me motivated?
 
And what happens when you need motivation to continue the thing you started to give you motivation to study Japanese?

If you have no need for it and don't feel motivated to do it, perhaps it might be as well to not force yourself and instead put that time and energy toward something you have a greater need or passion for.
 
I agree, you either want to learn or you dont. For me, my motivation is simply wanting to learn Japanese. No further motivation is needed.
 
Reading is a great way to keep motivated. I simply don't read enough.
 
I really want to learn, I'm just a lazy person. I don't have any immediate need for it but I really want to learn it because I really like the language and culture in Japan.
 
Movies, anime and TV are another great way too. When I first started learning, I watched a lot of anime and Japanese movies. Even now, I have a subscription to a Japanese TV channel that I watch for at least an hour a day, just so that I dont forget.
Language is like a muscle: you dont use it, you lose it.
 
I watch a lot of anime too, I can only seem to pick up bits and pieces. I guess I'm the kind of person who learns best in a classroom. I am finding it tedious to memorize kana. That's probably why I keep starting and never going anywhere lol
 
All my actual "effort" I'm putting forth in learning Japanese is basically creating motivation. I bought quite a few games, got lots of manga, movies, audio, and have it on all the time. Now I have to learn Japanese, otherwise I'm kinda screwed. When I don't want to do work for school, I procrastinate with Japanese stuff instead of German or English things, and since I procrastinate a lot it's working out well
 
Does anyone find it hard/tedious to learn kana. I feel like I don't want study any Japanese until I have kana mastered, but I have no idea what to do except stare at them or write them. Neither are that effective for me. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can learn kana more effectively?
 

Staring at them and writing them will work if you do it enough.

Or you can use an SRS like Anki, or buy a book on Remembering the Kana.

But really, for Kana I recommend the staring at them and writing them approach, there's not that many of them and you'll soon feel like they're easy as cake if you just spend more time with them.
 
I think the best answer to this. What motivated you to pursue it in the first place? Is it the language itself, watching anime, listening to songs in Japanese, etc. Once you know that you just use that same thing to motivate yourself again.
 
First it was video games that motivated me but now I feel I've gotten too far to just quit, so I decided to keep dedicating three hours every day to japanese. This "forced study" may sound like a bothersome thing but I find it relaxing to brew some tea and then just rabble texts and also, once or twice a day, read and transcribe a new text from somewhere.
I have no overall deadline or expectations, I just keep going indefinitely. Three hours a day is manageable and doesn't interfere with my daily life really. I have been doing this for three years and I guess I would miss this daily routine if I abandoned it.
In fact, if I've been under a lot of stress it's actually relaxing to shut myself away and practice some japanese reading or play a video game.
 
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I think the dedication as the key to learn fast, and it keeps me motivated.
 
I myself find dedication a very useful way to keep me motivated.
 
To do something different than teaching English is a good motivation, and also to be able to be independent instead of just asking your Japanese friends to help you filling in things and going to the bank with you.
 
Zlarp said:
I myself find dedication a very useful way to keep me motivated.
Click to expand...

actually, I think it is a very philosophical question. What is dedication and what is motivation.

We are in the realm of Maslow and Buddha ****.

If you need lack the motivation to study Japanese, it mean there are others needs in the lower level of the hierarchy of needs and are yet to be fulfilled. Maybe you don't have a staple income, a good job, house over your head, enough sex, hot girlfrield, enough friends, attention and respect from people around you, etc, because all these must either be fulfilled, suppressed or ignored before you can sit down and dedicate yourself to study a language for recreation purpose.

What is dedication? May be the effort needed to fulfill one of the need in the hierarchy? And motivation powers the dedication.

Anyone here majored in psychology or into buddha/hindu life thing?

We also need to take into consideration microeconomics concepts such as marginal utility and diminishing return. In fact you know what the OP question is quite flawed, because everyone's utility function is different, hence allowing people's indifference curves to cross, allowing trade to take place. We have no idea what number of utils you would assign to Japanese compared to other activities you can do and that is different for everyone on this forum, in other words, what keeps them motivated will not necessarily work for you.
 
I think you make a good point sir. With the amount of school work I have to do and the sports I have to play I don't get much if any free time, especially being at a boarding school. A lot of the stuff I must get done has to come first. Japanese is fairly useless to me now, but I hope for it to become useful to me in the future. I don't need the criticism like, "well why learn Japanese then?". I am learning because I like the language and culture. So if anyone wants to call me out, I'm fully aware of what I'm saying so save your breath.
 
Lestat84 said:
I don't need the criticism like, "well why learn Japanese then?". I am learning because I like the language and culture. So if anyone wants to call me out, I'm fully aware of what I'm saying so save your breath.
Click to expand...

Get your panties out of your crack. Nobody criticized you or called you out.
 
no people are really critical on this site. i was just saying there was no need for it.
 
Where in this thread was anybody critical of you?
 
what i meant in my post was that i didn't need people telling me if i wasn't originally motivated then i shouldn't be learning japanese. i had gotten that response and i was simply saying i don't need it.
 
I can see losing motivation. I have been studying for a number of years and I am doing it for career reasons. I chose the career because I love languages, however there are always times that I don't feel like doing it. What I have noticed is even on those days that I didn't feel like doing my studies, once I got going about a hour or so, I changed my mind. Once in a groove, I can easily spend 6-8 hours on it, completely enjoying the process, sometimes even forgetting to eat.

I use to listen to music while studying. That worked quite well for beginner and intermediate levels, however once I moved on to reading, it was very distracting. You can give that a try if you like. I don't suppose there would be a problem with classical music, just music with lyrics.

With regards to this forum being antagonistic, I would have to agree. I have not seen many language forums this bad, but this one is more active than others.
 
Lestat84 said:
what i meant in my post was that i didn't need people telling me if i wasn't originally motivated then i shouldn't be learning japanese. i had gotten that response and i was simply saying i don't need it.
Click to expand...

Nobody said if you aren't motivated you shouldn't be learning Japanese. You need to work on reading what people say rather than what you think they said.
 
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