Post by Jembru on Sept 20, 2014 1:50:28 GMT
While activity has quietened down for a while, I thought I'd start a thread for sharing inspirational thoughts. Those little sparks that encourage us through those darker times when we feel our progress has hit a wall.
I'm far more optimistic about my Japanese these days. Since I broke my silence and started forcing myself to join in with conversations, I have started to see that, slow though it might be, I really am getting more and more comfortable in Japanese all the time.
That's not to say I don't feel down sometimes. Like recently, I came to realise that I don't know a single person who speaks fluent Japanese as a second language and didn't spend at least some time studying the language in Japan itself. This is not and will never be an option for me. I have too many emotional and financial ties to England now. Parent funded gap-years are a thing of the past. So I had to face the depressing thought that while I can and will continue to improve my key skills in Japanese, I will probably never be more than 'conversational'. That is, able to converse with other Japanese speakers, but forever using foreign sounding expressions, forever having to stop and say 'sorry, what does ***** mean?'
Rather than get depressed about that, like I may have done in the past, I decided to be more positive. Sure, I could think 'It's not fair, I bet I could speak fluent Japanese if I could study abroad', but instead I can think 'I can express myself effectively in Japanese, and I didn't even need a teacher or classroom to keep me on task, I did it all though my own hard work and self-discipline!'
With that motivational thought, I'd like to share with you now.. all of you, however you've studied, some of the motivational quotes that have spurred me on. Lets all look back and appreciate how far we've come, and try not to worry too much about how hard the road ahead might be!
From Zane in a guest-post he did for 'Fluent in Three months':
From Benny Lewis, the usual author of 'fluent in three months':
From Hikosaemon
From Giles Murray, author of '13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese'
From Comical Reina (this is a translation from Japanese and to get across what she was trying to say I've had to reword it a little. For those who can follow Japanese, the quote starts at 0:19 here >youtu.be/5QcSTQ7AhBE The whole video is worth a watch actually. She's talking about learning English, but makes a lot of good points that apply to learners of any language.)
By Charlemagne
There are more I could share, but I think I'll keep coming back and adding these as I come across them. I hope they inspire you as much as they have inspired me. Lets all stay positive and remember that even though we might not have reached our goals yet, we're all much closer than we were when we first started out and that is definitely worth the effort!
What advice or words of encouragement have you come across? Please feel free to share and keep all our spirits up!
I'm far more optimistic about my Japanese these days. Since I broke my silence and started forcing myself to join in with conversations, I have started to see that, slow though it might be, I really am getting more and more comfortable in Japanese all the time.
That's not to say I don't feel down sometimes. Like recently, I came to realise that I don't know a single person who speaks fluent Japanese as a second language and didn't spend at least some time studying the language in Japan itself. This is not and will never be an option for me. I have too many emotional and financial ties to England now. Parent funded gap-years are a thing of the past. So I had to face the depressing thought that while I can and will continue to improve my key skills in Japanese, I will probably never be more than 'conversational'. That is, able to converse with other Japanese speakers, but forever using foreign sounding expressions, forever having to stop and say 'sorry, what does ***** mean?'
Rather than get depressed about that, like I may have done in the past, I decided to be more positive. Sure, I could think 'It's not fair, I bet I could speak fluent Japanese if I could study abroad', but instead I can think 'I can express myself effectively in Japanese, and I didn't even need a teacher or classroom to keep me on task, I did it all though my own hard work and self-discipline!'
With that motivational thought, I'd like to share with you now.. all of you, however you've studied, some of the motivational quotes that have spurred me on. Lets all look back and appreciate how far we've come, and try not to worry too much about how hard the road ahead might be!
From Zane in a guest-post he did for 'Fluent in Three months':
Thinking in a new language is a decision you can make. If you know even a few dozen key grammar words you can begin to think in your target language... ...the key to thinking fluently is your frame of mind. You can choose to become frustrated, succumbing to perfection paralysis, or you can choose to see each unknown word as one more key piece in the fluency puzzle. One day you will wake up from a dream and not even register that it was not in your native language.
From Benny Lewis, the usual author of 'fluent in three months':
With languages I find that people who know tons are usually “almost ready” to use it. They’ll be stuck in that “some day” feedback loop forever. The “best” language learners, who can quote all the research papers, have access to all the course material and can tell you words for the most obscure vocabulary, tend to be the worst speakers when compared to more active users of a language. They keep second guessing themselves or thinking too much... ...You can’t start from perfect, so why keep waiting until you reach perfection before applying what you know? Don’t let perfectionism paralyse you when you are capable of speaking “imperfectly” but adequately right now.
From Hikosaemon
Your brain is like a muscle...You have to force yourself <to use Japanese> like you force yourself to do exercise. Watching an English TV show, or talking in English, or having an English conversation is like getting off a treadmill and having a bowl of ice cream. It's counter-productive. So you have to force yourself. No matter how tired you are or how boring it is at times. You have to force yourself to keep watching the Japanese TV, keep speaking the Japanese, even though it's tiring, and your brain gets exhausted.
But again, it's like building up muscles. The more you do it the easier it gets. A time will come when it just clicks, and your brain starts going round in Japanese. As soon as that happens, everything gets exponentially easier.
But again, it's like building up muscles. The more you do it the easier it gets. A time will come when it just clicks, and your brain starts going round in Japanese. As soon as that happens, everything gets exponentially easier.
From Giles Murray, author of '13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese'
Ease, intimacy, and informality are essential to a successful human relationship. So with language. At the very beginning of your studies it may be beneficial to see Japanese as some evil, bullying taskmaster. But for a successful long-term liaison with the language you must learn to be casually intimate. Students who proceed with the master-slave paradigm will only work themselves to death. Students who flirt and dally with Japanese in a lover-like relationship, shall live happily ever after!
From Comical Reina (this is a translation from Japanese and to get across what she was trying to say I've had to reword it a little. For those who can follow Japanese, the quote starts at 0:19 here >youtu.be/5QcSTQ7AhBE The whole video is worth a watch actually. She's talking about learning English, but makes a lot of good points that apply to learners of any language.)
I'm often asked by people how best to memorise vocabulary but you know what... You shouldn't memorise vocabulary. Memorisation, drilling words, just leads you to forget them. Learning words through drilling isn't effective. Instead, you have to absorb words, so that you fully appreciate their meaning. Let yourselves fully acquire the words [in context], okay!
By Charlemagne
To have a second language is to possess a second soul.
There are more I could share, but I think I'll keep coming back and adding these as I come across them. I hope they inspire you as much as they have inspired me. Lets all stay positive and remember that even though we might not have reached our goals yet, we're all much closer than we were when we first started out and that is definitely worth the effort!
What advice or words of encouragement have you come across? Please feel free to share and keep all our spirits up!
