掲示板 Forums - Learning rate feels excessively slow

I am not good at learning languages in general, but compared to many others I've seen, my learning speed is incredibly slow. In 4 months, I've reached around 85% N6 vocab, around 400 words. That's excluding time for kanas, because I have already studied and learned them over a course of 2 years. I've also skipped going over kanji, because that seems way beyond me now. Currently, I'm around 10 grammar lessons in for japanese basics - and I haven't learned a new lesson for weeks because of the current vocab getting me stuck. I've currently stalled my learning to focus on getting down already learned vocab, but I'm estimating it'll take more than a week to get to a level where my revisions are down to the low double digits. (at the beginning my pace was good - 10 vocab/day, with daily revision hovering around 30. Now it's 130 with no new vocab)

I try to study regularly, and I study on my daily commute to work - around an hour.

Does anyone have any tips to make my studying at least a little faster?

Might not be what you're looking for, but I feel like you're hurrying a bit too much (except the kana learning, that seems alright). And this comes from somebody who doesn't struggle as much with languages... Because, well... Japanese has some quite dense stuff, like kanji, as you said.

I'd recommend you to take it easy and apply what you already know to develop a better reaction speed (like talking to others or yourself), so you don't work your brain too much on it and you can get new stuff in. Or you can also take a rest for a while, so your mind comes back more refreshed.

To be honest, both things are what I usually do when I feel stuck, and it helps me a lot, and I hope it helps you too

Do you have much study materials or Japanese content in your life outside of Renshuu? The general difficulty of Japanese has already been mentioned, but one of the reasons it's so difficult is because it's more-or-less a language isolate; studying, say, European languages is comparitively easier because they rely on similar rules and similar-sounding vocabulary that naturally draw connections to each other, whereas everything that isn't a loanword in Japanese is pretty much going to be completely new to you and have nothing to make mental connections to in order to be memorable.

So it's only natural that progress (especially at the start!) is slow. It becomes less of a slog as your foundation grows, but at the beginning you really have to fight uphill to remember anything that doesn't have any additional context, because your brain will just discard any information it doesn't think is relevant. It's good that you're going through Japanese Basics, because the vocab & grammar lessons are designed to reinforce each other, but do you have any other outside sources you can use to help hammer in what you're learning and prevent your brain from dumping out what you just studied?

Since you're holding off on kanji, audio lessons would probably benefit you most if you just need to hear the concepts explained in a different way, or there are lots of beginner lessons on Youtube. And I don't necessarily recommend it as a source of USEFUL or ACCURATE vocabulary, but if that's where you're struggling, something like the Drops app might help, because it's very easy to build a habit with and keeps you laser-focused on 15-20 words at a time until you master them.

Or if you aren't interested in adding more educational content, if you enjoy anime/drama/games/etc. you can use those to build your context for what you're studying, too. What I do is I have a folder on my computer full of Japanese subtitles and game scripts and books that I'm already familiar with in English, and when I get frustrated with vocab I'm not progressing with, I search for the word in those. I'll find a memorable piece of dialogue that I recognize from the English version, and look up that moment in Japanese to hear it used in context to build a mental connection between the vocabulary and something I enjoy. (I also add those bits of dialogue as private sentences in Renshuu to save and review later.)

I know it's frustrating, but you'll get there! You definitely aren't alone. Personally it took me weeks to remember just some stock tourist phrases at the start, before I found some lessons that were effective for me and I figured out how to make them more memorable to myself. It gets easier, but it does take lots of trial and error to figure out the methods that work right for you.

I keep saying this, but that's bc I heard it as advice to study Chinese, but it applies to any other language. Watch Peppa Pig. It's spefically designed for three year olds so the content shows what's being discussed a lot. (Unlike adult series where they chat a lot with no context). You can watch the shows in any language you are comfortable in first and than the Japanese version and it has lots of usefull words. ペッパピッグ it's called in Japanese.

Also one other thing I bump into a lot with Japanese. It overemphasises on official words a lot. The proficiency tests are spefically designed to participate in a job or school environment, so all the language learning tools are too.

If you are familiar in making your own schedules/lessons make one from one peppa pig show for instance. (The Englsish one, cause that's a lot easier.) Than watch the Japanese version of that show several times in a week while you learn that list of words. You'll find it will come so much more natural. And you'll gain some confidence, that will help you when it gets hard.

We're not really designed to pick up loose words in writing. I would also recommend you start using vectors that imply a lot of listening. And besides that just keep repeating. And relax. Your brain does not work well under stress and language is one of the first thngs to drop under pressure. (Hence why trauma victims often talk incoherent or very little. And that's in the language they have spoken all their lives. Imagine what it will do with a foreign language.)

I literally learn with some stupid English show on the background and sometimes I'm just half in it and sometimes a really go sit for it. The funny thing is at some point your brain just clicks and when someone mentions a word in English you suddenly hear yourself think the Japanese counterpart. It just happens. But be patient and cool with yourself.

What helps me a lot with words that are hard to remember is to write a mnemonic. The crazier the better it will stick. And some words just take two years (like the word for swimming, it just would not stay in my mind) and others just hit straight away. Like あい (love)).

But whatever you do. Don't give up. And one thing that has always baffled me about learning is the power of breaks. Sometimes to not learn for two days has had more effect than all the three weeks of jamming befor that. (I think the combo is especially helpfull.) So give your brain time to process. And remember, your most comfortable language also did not stick in a week or two. It takes an average of vife to seven years to understand words, context, sentence building and verbs for anyone. It's just funny sounding sylables when we start out with weird pictures attached to them. And you did not get those weird pictures untill the age of six for your first language.

A couple thoughts for what it's worth:

1. I would hold off on the grammar for now and focus on starting kanji. Until you've formed a solid foundation of some kanji and vocab, it seems pointlessly difficult to me. Also, vocab is only so useful if you don't know the kanji in the term.

2. Take it slow and don't feel bad about it! I'm a new mom that works full time and my reality is that I get 10-30 min daily. And instead of focusing on maximizing that time, I go at a pace that feels good for me. I maxed my daily review terms at 40 and 5 to learn (some days I choose only to review). That way I don't get overwhelmed by the amount of review terms, which was my problem with Wani Kani. My life circumstances limit my studying time so I chose to make that time more meaningful and fun so that I stay interested and invested in the long run.

3. I also would suggest some sort of immersion whether anime or a learning podcast/YouTube channel (of which there are many). Even if you don't understand much (or anything), it helps your brain piece things together. Being able to recognize a kanji or vocab term feels good!