Watch this video before you give up learning Japanese.

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]So many people start learning Japanese thinking, "Yeah, I'm going to study so hard. I'll be fluent in no time. Then I can talk to Japanese people and watch anime with no subs." Only to be severely disappointed when inevitably coming across their first of many challenges to come with language learning. When I first tried to study Japanese at like 14, I was [music] the exact same way.

[00:00:24]Somehow we believe that being a beginner or a noob is embarrassing because we're so conditioned to expect ourselves to be good at something right away. So when we're not, we think that we're just not good enough, not worthy enough, and we worry that someone else might make fun of us for being bad at something new.

[00:00:43]And for those that do manage to get started, learning Japanese can feel like a constant uphill battle where it feels like it only gets harder the more you learn. With every step you take, fluency seems to move further and further into the distance, and before you know it, you're all out of willpower to continue, and you give up. No more Japanese or shimai. In this video, I want to talk about why these things happen and the internal shifts you can make today to bring you back to your path towards fluency so that you can begin moving forward again, even when it feels impossible.

[00:01:20]The first thing I want you to do [music] is observe the way you talk to yourself when it comes to learning Japanese. What is the narrative like? Are you thinking encouraging thoughts to yourself like, "Okay, this grammar point is difficult, but I think I can do it." Acknowledging your milestones and being proud of yourself for achieving them. Or are you beating yourself up over your mistakes?

[00:01:43]Asking things like, "Why am I so stupid?

[00:01:46]I can never get this right." or are you complaining about how long it's taking you to improve? Because the way you talk to yourself is going to shape your learning journey so much more than you realize. Japanese isn't always [music] easy. In fact, it can at times be extremely difficult. But what makes a difference is how you interpret this. Do you take that as a reflection of you and your ability or as a reflection of Japanese as a language? Now, let me explain what I mean by that. Someone who makes it about themselves might complain about Japanese being too difficult for them. They think that they are the reason that learning Japanese is hard because either they believe that they are not smart or not capable enough. But that is so far from the truth. Japanese as a language is difficult. You finding it difficult doesn't mean that you will never master the language or become fluent. Anyone can learn Japanese if they wanted to, and you are not the exception to this. People often think there's some kind of special skill or reason that I was able to become fluent in Japanese within a relatively short time frame. I hear it all the time. You knew kanji, you're Chinese, you're bilingual, it's easier [music] for you.

[00:02:59]That's a whole other thing. But one thing I can assure you is if I had continued to tell myself that Japanese was too difficult for me to learn, I would not be here making this video for you today. [music] I am not special. I never grew up being the smart kid in school. I [music] wasn't the straight A kid. Maybe more like the B or B+ kid.

[00:03:20]Because the number one thing that determines whether you succeed in acquiring a new language is not smartness, it's your consistency. Are you able to interact with the language every day, no matter for how little time? When you come across something difficult, can you just acknowledge that it's difficult without feeling down about not understanding it right away?

[00:03:42]Can you allow yourself permission to progress and improve at your own pace?

[00:03:47]Can you be patient with yourself and trust that you have it in you to achieve your language learning goals? Another common phenomenon I feel like beginners and sometimes even more advanced learners often get discouraged at is when you've been learning and steadily progressing for a while, but you get to a point where you feel like whenever you learn something new, you start forgetting things that you've already learned. Almost like you're regressing in the language because now nothing makes sense. Everything is all jumbled in your head. you can't get a coherent sentence out and you're messing up things that you should have already mastered. It might feel discouraging, like you're regressing instead of improving. And sometimes it can feel tempting to just quit altogether. But I'm here to say this is actually a good place to be when you're learning a language. And it's a sign that you're actually improving. Let me explain why.

[00:04:40]A lot of people believe improvement in language learning is linear like this.

[00:04:46]So your ability improves exactly proportionately as you study more. But the reality is it actually looks more like this. [music] So you study, study, study and eventually you reach a point where you've mastered everything you've learned so far. Yay. It feels like you're on top of the world and you know so much. And then you move beyond this point and things no longer feel as easy as they might have been before. more difficult kanji, complicated grammar and conjugations, new answers, and suddenly everything you've learned before feels just like a walk in the park. You weren't even up to the real thing yet because this is now the real thing. So, you have to start taking what you learned and applying it to more difficult situations and all of a sudden you feel like you don't know how to use it like you used to despite having mastered it. The reason this happens is because as you're learning, your brain has to tear down everything you once knew in order to fit in the new things you learn. It needs to rebuild your knowledge now with the addition of new grammar and vocabulary you didn't know before. Sometimes this may take time and that's okay. I think it's important to be patient with yourself and understand that your brain is just trying to accommodate for new pieces of information that you're adding in. And if you notice, once you come out of the other side and finally grasp that new knowledge that you were struggling with, it reshapes your entire perspective and usage of the language because you now have a bigger picture view of it than before. Moving on, I want to talk a bit about embarrassment. Maybe you don't feel this [music] and that's great, but it's really common for people to feel embarrassed with themselves when learning a new language. Why? because we fear what others may think of us if we make [music] mistakes and possibly show that we're bad at something. Our society is built so heavily on instant gratification and quick dopamine hits that we feel almost ashamed when we're not as good at something as somebody else or we're not as good as we thought we were. But I'm here to tell you that embarrassment is the price you have to pay for growth. The first time I had ever spoken Japanese was with a private tutor after I had started studying for about 2 months. And the instant I got home, I just burst into tears. Mind you, I had never spoken a word of Japanese to anyone before this. If you asked me at the time how I thought that class went, I would have told you it went absolutely terribly. [music] I'd point out all the times I stuttered, made a mistake, or couldn't express myself the way I wanted to. But if you ask me now, I'd say that class went the best that it possibly could have at the time. My teacher was thoroughly impressed and thought I had been studying for a lot longer than I actually did. I gave it my best and I spoke to her mostly in sentences. The point is that we are always our own harshest critic and nobody scrutinizes our own actions like we do ourselves.

[00:07:50]So, as learners, it's beneficial to simply learn to recognize and acknowledge our own mistakes without blowing them up bigger than we need to.

[00:07:59]Because making mistakes isn't bad or wrong. It's actually a good thing and simply points to where we can improve for next [music] time. The next thing I want to advise yourself is don't compare yourself to others. It's true when they say comparison is the thief to [music] joy. When you see someone who is further ahead of you in their journey and you think, "Wow, they're so much better than me. If only I could speak as good as them, or why can't I speak as good as them?" This hurts your mental a lot more than you might realize. Tying back to what I said before, it's confirmation bias where you're seeking proof that you're not as good as somebody else or you're not good enough. Honestly, I've done this before as well. When you're comparing yourself to someone at a different point in their journey, you're only really seeing a part of the picture. What you see is the result and not the hard work, struggles, time, or money invested into getting to where they are. So instead of seeing someone else as competition and as a reflection of yourself, try to see them as a source of inspiration because they're showing you what is possible and achievable for yourself. That as a fellow non-native speaker, you can achieve this too. So consider that others achievements are not a reflection of your limitations, but rather a demonstration of potential for you. Instead of looking at them and thinking, "Why am I not as good as them?" Allow it to inspire you into thinking, "Wow, I'm going to become this good one day." [music] So, that's going to be it for this video. If you've been having thoughts of giving up learning Japanese, I hope this video was able to address some common frustrations that learners face. If you've genuinely given it some thought and decided that maybe this path isn't for you, then that's also a valid option. But if you're going to be making that decision, that should come from a place of clarity and not anger or frustration with your ability or progress. [music] I hope you found this video helpful, and if you did, be sure to leave a like, subscribe, and comment to see more future content like this. And I will see you on the next one. Goodbye.

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