Getting back in the game

[Ccaesar]

Hey everyone
After having spent a few weeks not doing any learning at all, but watching a lot of youtube videos about motivation and studying techniques (which I for some reason find motivational despite rarely learning anything new) I want to get back into the game.

What would your advice be towards gradually getting back into the learning thus preventing an "overload" or "burnout of energy"?

I have read the thread on burnout, which is why I am stating that by burnout I mean a lack of energy when trying to accomplish something.

The text below might seem a little off topic, but I believe that telling what I intend to do might be valueable to the discussion of the question posted above.

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I am thinking of making a lot of smaller goals, and following the principle of kaizen (as far as I know it means just opening a language learning book for a few minutes a day will make you more luckily to automatically do it).

My goal is to use assimil Japanese with ease, because it worked when I did the Italian course, but after a few lessons I lose momentum, because it takes a while to get to the level where one can have a meaningful conversation (obviously Rome wasn't built in one day). So in order to hopefully pick up more I am doing the following. I shadow the past 5 lessons and then I listen twice to the current one, read it to understand it, listen to it while reading first the English and then the Japanese translation, and then I do a listen an repeat session once or twice.
That should
1) make sure I get the pronunciation right and collocations.
2) activate more vocab.

I am not focusing on learning to write neither hiragana, katakana or kanji in hand, mainly because I am not going to write anyhting by hand. However I want to be able to read and recognise them (which will make me capable of seeing whether or not I am typing something correctly. To achieve this I have been using quizlet for hiragana because it's userfriendly and easy. I was thinking of using anki for kanji, but I am not looking to learning radicals (since I think that's making the process more troublesome) I intend to learn them when they're used (I.e.　友達 (friend) instead of learning the two radicals individually and then having to learn vocab, why not do the both at once?


What are your opinions?

Any piece of advice is appreciated!

[zenmonkey]

Sticking to the idea of keeping it simple and avoiding burnout:

- add one thing.
- build flexibility into your task goals.
- use your current habits (train time, coffee, or whatever you already do consistently)
- keep material easily accessible.
- do, not just talk about doing.
- celebrate.

[rdearman]

I am thinking of making a lot of smaller goals, and following the principle of kaizen (as far as I know it means just opening a language learning book for a few minutes a day will make you more luckily to automatically do it).

Kaizen, also known as continuous improvement, is a long-term approach to work that systematically seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in order to improve efficiency and quality. So it isn't really related to goals, but rather to process improvement. I understand what you mean though, since it appears to me that you're really looking to create a habit. I believe you'd be better off at looking at habit formation systems rather than goals IMHO. I often recommend people watch this TED talk about habit formation.

[Ccaesar]

Hello guys and thank you very much for your replies I watch the video and I found it very insightful. Thank you!

[devilyoudont]

I was thinking of using anki for kanji, but I am not looking to learning radicals (since I think that's making the process more troublesome) I intend to learn them when they're used (I.e.　友達 (friend) instead of learning the two radicals individually and then having to learn vocab, why not do the both at once?

I think there might be some confusion about what radicals are... a radical is part of a kanji that is used to find the kanji in a paper dictionary. Sometimes the term is expanded to mean all the parts of a kanji.

Anyway, the reason to learn using a parts first method for kanji is:
- recognize highly similar kanji 老 vs 考
- use the various parts of the kanji to create a mnemonic device to help remember the form of the kanji

That said, you can learn kanji from context. I've heard good things about a textbook that teaches kanji this way, it is called the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course.

Also that BJ Fogg video is great @rdearman I do something fairly similar that I've sort of cobbled together myself out of my own experiences and what I've read, but I haven't added a "trigger" behavior as he suggests, so I will be looking to do that