Regardless of when you started learning or how long you’ve been practicing your target language, or any other skill for that matter, there will always be moments of frustration and hopelessness. Everyone out there who has achieved great and awe-inspiring levels in their field have stumbled along the way and have had moments of self doubt. If they say they haven’t I would make a firm wager this is not the case. The hardest lesson and the biggest first step is to hit that road block and get over it, and if you really want to progress, work out how that road block got there and how you’ll get over the next one.
What’s stopping you?
I have spent the majority of my life calling myself an “optimistic pessimist”. I have always had high set goals and big dreams but have often beaten myself up when I haven’t reached the target. For language learning the process is gradual and it truly is a struggle that there won’t be a clear goal in sight. Many people want to achieve fluency or maybe a working proficiency but I would argue that this isn’t something you can truly fathom until you’ve reached that point. You may hear someone speaking fluently and think “that’s how I want to sound” but I assure you the goalposts will not be where you think they are. Even with the best methods and plans there will come times where you come across a block of text and don’t know where to start, or you’ll try speaking with someone and just hear sounds rather than the words you’ve practiced for so long. At points like this self reflection and demoralization are habitual and for some people they are an indominable opponent. Don’t get me wrong, I have not reached my goal and I too am aware that the target will always get higher and higher. As I write this I too am in a low point, hence the inspiration, but I have enough experience with stumbling to at least help you out of the pit.
Resolution
“Start with why”
– Simon Sinek
This quote has resonated with me a lot recently and I feel like it is a great place to start in regards to getting back to a place of progress. If you don’t have a reason for why you’d like to learn something then, as you would expect, when times get hard you would reasonably decide against continuing. Think to yourself why do you want to learn the language, what made you start, what can you achieve if you succeed, and in time you will most likely realize that all these things are still true. It is very easy to get lost in a language as you study and have a passion turn into a chore, maybe even to a level where you start to develop anxieties about learning but if you can focus what made you love it in the first place it is the first step to getting back on the horse.
The most important thing to help keep you going is ensure that the process is fun. As much as possible try to ensure that you reflect on the little moments where you see a phrase and understand it instantly. I truly believe these are the purest moments in the journey to fluency, where you get a spark of effortless clarity towards something and surprise yourself a little. Take that energy and think that that moment is a culmination of your hard work so far and that not just anyone can do what you can do, whether you’re N5 or N1, can read novels or just know a few kanji! I’m sure we all had that moment at the start of the journey where we wrote hiragana in front of a friend and they thought we were sorcerers. Every step of progress like that will amaze someone who hasn’t made it to your level so keep going. Just by taking one more step at any stage you will make more progress.
Even with this the task is still daunting and that’s okay. Don’t just stare at the peak of the mountain and sprint headlong towards it. In almost all cases, stopping and evaluating what you’re going to do is beneficial to your success. Look up the mountain and think “where along the way will I rest?”, “What tools do you need to get there?”, “Who can help you get there?” If you can break down the grand goal in to smaller achievable tasks then things will become more manageable.
Lets take it back to games
I wouldn’t be doing myself any justice if I didn’t bring this back to the reason we’re all here. As much as games are great for adding levity to your study they can also have other advantages in helping you break up your target. The brilliant thing about games is that they are a smaller world than our own and they have far less to take in. If you’re struggling with goals to set yourself then turn to a game you love (psst… suggestions in the library) and use that as your goal instead. Rather than trying to understand more vast content like novels or the news, start by trying to understand all the vocab on one menu screen. It will be a smaller selection of vocabulary but learn it, take pride in it and then think about the next step. Try reading a character description or a note you’ve found in game. If the game you are playing seems above your level that’s fine, you can either choose to push through and with enough persistence you will succeed or if you are still struggling to overcome the overwhelming feelings then move on to a game that is more digestible and try again.
In Conclusion
In essence this is a love letter to my past selves that have wanted to give up. I am glad I continue to study Japanese and I know that one day I will be to a level comparable to the people I aspire to. My only hope is that I can encourage more people to stick with it when they’re feeling down and help them get to where they want to be. The only way you truly give up is if you never get going again. You’re doing okay.
Games & Kanji 