I've tried to learn Japanese multiple times over the years, usually stopping after a few days or weeks and never getting past the basic kana. This time has been better, as I've been using free Super Duolingo trials to get all of hiragana and most of katakana down (just need to finish short consonant and long vowels for katakana).
I should also mention that I haven't done any writing practice at all. I'm left handed with terrible handwriting, and just trying to write あ over and over was awful. I don't have any desire to learn how to write, but I know it's a great way to help learn in general.
So now I'm ready to move on to the next step, and Renshuu has the next steps clearly listed in my lesson plan. But for some reason I can't bring myself to start with as much enthusiasm as I was with kana. Maybe because it was much easier since I had tried multiple times and had some of the kana still kicking around in my brain.
I've looked at Tae Kim's guide a little, and own the first Genki textbook from ages ago. But it's just such a huge step in my mind that I kind of freeze looking at it.
Not sure if I'm looking for advice or just to hear from others who might have been in the same situation, appreciate any replies!
You may be looking too far ahead. The next step after learning kana is simply to use them. Learn some two-kana words. Play some shiritori. Sing-along with your favorite karaoke reading the kana lyrics.
Just as babies go through a babbling phase before they start to use words, Japanese language learners need to become comfortable with the sounds of the syllabary before they can make much progress.
You are not alone bro! Happened to me too. But this time it was different, it was with Kanji. I was so stuck up I thought on moving when I will get them to 100% mastery. But different answers changed my perspective over time. We all can't be prefect, so I thought to merge them and keep on reviewing. That way it was easy and it will also help me improve daily with me not forgetting more often. You know kana is difficult even for the common people, which indicated you hit a milestone (as you completed it) but there is still way to go ! =) It often happens, after mastering hiragana and katakana, looking at the grammar and kanji you feel like depressed thinking HOW?! will I do it & the motivation goes. You feel like if you don't write you feel bad like breaking a rule, but you are not. You are not giving a test with limited time or someone forcing you. You can do it ON YOUR OWN WAY. You have all the time in your world . Know how to utilize smartly, work smarter not harder - they say. You should not commit to a whole book suddenly, take small steps then just do more research about it. You are not doing anything wrong, that is why we call it learning. We fail and we fail again and again that is the part of it. So don't worry, take your time, do research and be optimistic !
It looks intimidating when you start out. Starting on kana, and not even getting to speaking of kanji yet!
I've had this experience, and I'm sure everyone who has ever started learning it has been through this rite of passage. It's only the first bit.
But I didn't do any handwriting. I just focused on my reading ability, and typing. Renshuu has the ability to practice this, but I started off mostly outside of Renshuu. I used Tofugu's practice tool, which fortunately also worked offline. They have a whole section dedicated to kana mnemonics, which over time I was able to get over for a bit and was typing with pretty good speed. Alternatively, I had played a video game series, Learn Japanese to Survive, which also covers hiragana, katakana, and some kanji. In its context, it was a fun way to learn. And now, it's easy.
I haven't worried about handwriting for a while, keeping that for a bit of a side activity some time. It's faster to type, and mostly it's about reading and comprehension once you get to learning grammar. Grammar gets to be a bit sophisticated, and that will be the more challenging part.
Alternatively, I had played a video game series, Learn Japanese to Survive, which also covers hiragana, katakana, and some kanji. In its context, it was a fun way to learn. And now, it's easy.
I actually own those! Totally forgot about it until you brought it up, I'll have to give them a spin :)
I should also mention that I haven't done any writing practice at all. I'm left handed with terrible handwriting, and just trying to write あ over and over was awful. I don't have any desire to learn how to write, but I know it's a great way to help learn in general.
You don't have to write, especially if you don't want to. That's the fastest way to get burned out. I can't write anything other than kana and N5 kanji from memory. Probably not even all of N5. I just don't enjoy writing and don't need it for anything. Hasn't been a problem for the things I actually want to do: read manga / light novels, watch native content, write poetry and stories (keyboard), etc.
You can just come back and learn how to write later (if at all).
By the way, I haven't read a Japanese textbook in my life... everyone learns differently. There IS an optimal way to learn, but if you don't enjoy it, you won't get very far.
I think it's also important to figure out why you're leaning Japanese. It can be difficult to stay motivated without clear goals.
@Icepick87 Oh, I remember playing that game ("Learn Japanese to Survive"), it was quite fun, I'd also recommend it.
By two-kana words, I mean simple words with only two characters. Fun words that are easy to remember, like あか, いく, うそ, えび, and おに.
I understand not wanting to practice writing. My own handwriting is pretty cringe in English, never mind Japanese. But understand that reading and writing are fundamentally intertwined at the motor level. You don’t really know how to see something until you have mastered the finger movements that can recreate it.
The same can be said for listening and speaking, actually. You don’t hear what other people are saying accurately until you have mastered the speech muscles that allow you to mimic it.
You don't have to worry about writing Kana to remember it if you don't want (I can barely write it well either) you can remember it from reading. Like Tofugu graded readers or something else if you want. I've also heard of a game called Wagotobi (idk if I spelled that right). From what I've seen of it it looks like it'd be helpful.
1) Always start small and keep it small. 2) You don't need to memorize everything perfectly before moving on 3) Start with the fun or easy thing and keep the hard/boring stuff for later 4) There is no perfect or optimal methods. They all have some kind of downside that you will realize later.
Or even simpler than that, struggle without drowning. Study a bit everyday but not at the cost of being overwhelm today or in a week. If you try something and in a week or a month later, you start to lose your motivation, it's not worth it. Especially at the beginning. Later, it's still a problem but... you can cheat a bit. Right now, tho, you just need to not give up. You already manage to prove yourself that you were able to learn the kana! So you just need to the same with word, kanji or grammar. Even it means just "struggling without drowning". As long as you don't give up, you will find better methods to learn later and change your way to learn.
There are tons of things that I did not do at the beginning and still don't but that didn't prevent me to make some progress. Like not writing for a long time. It didn't prevent me to learn japanese. And now that I know more japanese, I have more time to practice writing and I'm doing it because I find it useful to remember kanji. Before it didn't matter that much but right now, past a 1000 kanjis, I'm willing to try anything that can help me... But still not at the cost of being overwhelm =p
Also for that part
"I've looked at Tae Kim's guide a little, and own the first Genki textbook from ages ago. But it's just such a huge step in my mind that I kind of freeze looking at it."
Then don't take that step. And don't study grammar at all (for now). Instead learn some basic sentences from native speaker until you get used to japanese. And later come back to grammar if you need to. When you already know some basic japanese sentences, it far easier to understand most of those grammar explanations. It's fine to learn that in that order too. Just don't think too much when you learn those.
Like これはおいしいい -> That's delicious これはからい -> That's spicy
Just notice the pattern (これは -> that's) and the rough meaning even if you don't understand the grammar behind. It's enough for now.
