Learning Japanese: What's my Problem?

"It's just a matter of putting in more time..."

Indeed it is. To learn a language like Japanese, that does not contain much in the way of overlapping vocabulary with English, it takes a bit longer. How much longer? As Steve states in the following video, it's really up to the motivation of the learner.

This is one of the best videos that I have seen with respect to advice on learning Japanese. Steve gets right to the point - it's going to be harder in some ways but not impossible. While learning the three different writing systems in Japanese is more challenging than that of other languages, one of the great things about Japanese is that there are no gendered nouns and no plurals. The formal aspects of the language can be a bit strange for a native English speaker but as Steve states, Japanese is a very "forgiving" language. In the 22 years that I've been exposed to Japanese, I have to fully agree with everything Steve says in his video.

Yet, I have been trying to learn this language for the past 18 years using a number of different materials and methods. I have learned quite a bit of the basics but I have failed to develop any fluency beyond this. I'm surrounded by this language every day in my home. I have absolutely no shortage of resources to delve into which would assist in learning. So, what is my problem?

It all goes back to Steve's first point - the motivation of the learner. My motivation to learn Japanese waxes and wanes tremendously. When I travel to Japan and am immersed in the language and the society, my motivation goes way up. After I return home to Canada, that same motivation drops precipitously as the day to day worries and activities of life take over. I also get easily bored - there's always some new shining thing that catches my interest, further depleting whatever motivation I might have had.

I need to think a bit more about this. God knows, there are lots of things in my life to motivate me to keep learning Japanese consistently - first and foremost is that my wife and children use the language at home all the time. I also travel to Japan (obviously haven't been there in a while due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and have relatives there that can't speak English. I may even retire to Japan - or at least spend a good chunk of any given year there once I am no longer in the workforce.

So what is killing off my motivation? I'm not totally sure...