Overcoming Challenges in Learning Japanese

Learning Japanese is hard, and I won’t lie.

Every day, when I do my DuoLingo lessons, I follow a rule: I ignore all messages on my iPhone and dive straight into my Japanese practice as if on autopilot. I often do this until my brain feels fried!

I’ve been at it for over a year. While my Japanese has improved, it hasn’t progressed as much as I’d like. If I’m honest, I should probably take classes, but traditional learning methods just don’t suit me.

Challenges with the Writing System

Despite my progress in speaking Japanese without translating from English, I still struggle with memorizing Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. It feels like learning three different alphabets, but ten times more challenging!

Regardless, my morning routine remains the same: I jump into my lessons right after I wake up, resolutely ignoring messages as I go.

Past Lessons and Realizations

From my experience learning Dutch over 30 years ago, I learned that translating a language in your head isn’t the quickest way to fluency. I was able to speak and write Dutch in about 12 months, thanks to excellent teachers and my determination to learn as quickly as possible.

With Japanese, my necessity to learn the language isn’t pressing; I can get by with simply saying “hai” in various tones. This one word can convey agreement, acknowledgment, and assurance, which significantly eases my daily interactions.

However, when it comes to placing orders in a bar or asking about items in a store, I find that I often don’t need extensive vocabulary to be understood. Yet, I realize that having longer conversations is still out of my reach.

Expanding Vocabulary Through Media

To tackle this challenge, I recently started watching Japanese YouTube videos on topics that interest me. While it’s still early, I hope this strategy will help expand my vocabulary. I’ve heard from others that immersing oneself in the language through media can be effective, so I’m giving it a try!

#JapaneseLearning #LanguageJourney #DuoLingo #Kanji #Hiragana #Katakana #LanguageLearning #Fluency #YouTubeLearning #ProgressNotPerfection