A family of Textfuguers. I’m jealous. ;)

I wouldn’t worry too much about the passion list. I got stuck on it for a bit because all of the things I’m passionate about seem to only have loan words associated with them, so they were all katakana, and all basically English. I worked really hard to find an interest of mine that wasn’t loan word centric, and even then I had to work to find enough non-loan words that weren’t a stretch. When it was all said, and done I didn’t get much out of the list.

I”ve heard others on Textfugu say the same about their lists. However, I’ve heard some say that their lists really were a great tool. I think that’s a reasonable sign that your mileage will vary on the list. If you’re having a hard time finding good words that you’ll actually want to use, and that aren’t loan words, then your list will likely be not that useful. If you’re not having any problems, then it’ll likely be a good thing.

I do agree with the idea that you should get experience looking things up, and the list is a good introduction to that world, but if you’re stalling because of it then you need to move on. You’ll have plenty of other chances to look things up. :)

Not all of us are lucky enough to be human beings purely made of Kanji. As such we may need extra motivation from time to time. ;)

I haven’t been very active on the forum (mostly because I’m shy) but I’m halfway through season 3. I’m feeling the heat with kanji (the readings and pronunciations are going to be the end of me!) but I’m definitely not ready to give up anytime soon. It’s been quite a ride trying to juggle work, studying and a 6 month old puppy, but I think it’s going smoothly so far.

@Wasif Asif – Naw you got it all wrong. When I first started I thought everyone, on the board, was hyper experienced compared to me as well. It turns out most of us are only a little beyond you. Even the few of us who are way more experienced than you aren’t sharks compared to your goldfish because we aren’t out to eat you. We’re all here to support each other. Any additional size we have only helps you.

Learning Japanese is a super big long road, so it’s normal to feel tiny, but if you decide you’re in it for the long haul, then you have nothing to worry about.

Allow me to add my encouragement (“for great motivation of heart”), too!

Here’s how I like to think about learning Japanese (and anything else, really): if you want to become an expert at it, then first you need to become really good at Japanese. But before that, you need to become good. Before that, you need to become okay. Before that, not bad. Before that, pretty bad. Before that, downright awful. And before that, you need to know nothing at all about Japanese.

Basically, if you want to become an expert, you have to hit every stage of skill between knowing nothing and knowing tons of stuff. You can’t go to bed knowing 10 words, and wake up knowing 1000. You have to sit down and learn each and every word, each and every kanji, each and every grammar construct.

So if you’re “downright awful” at Japanese right now, then good! You’re exactly where you need to be: it’s the first step after knowing nothing. So congratulate yourself for knowing very little Japanese! Because that’s more than nothing!

Yesterday you knew nothing, but today you know hiragana. And tomorrow you will know more. You’re right on track.

Thanks, @Mena! It actually originated from some thoughts about heaven (context: I’m a Christian) and how although I believe that I will eventually experience an eternity of joy and perfection, my existence only (cf. infinity) began 24 years ago, and a necessary, unavoidable lead-up to that eternity is a finite period spent in an imperfect world and body. What’s more, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be: being mortal at first is part of God’s design for us. So even though things will one day be infinitely better, it is both good and right for me to spend the first 24+ years of my existence here on Earth.

With some reflection, I realized that this was also true for my Japanese studies: although I may experience more time (assuming a long, healthy life) as a fluent speaker of Japanese than not, there is a necessary amount of work that precedes it. And for each intermediate stage, a necessary amount of work before it, too. So since these steps are all necessary, to be at any stage is the right thing to do to get to the next one. Therefore, being terrible at Japanese is a good thing because it necessarily precedes being fluent.

I think we may generalize this view for anything that we anticipate (becoming fluent in Japanese, going to heaven, getting married, the release of the PS3 game The Last of Us, etc.). It’s easier to be patient for such things when we can be content with everything that comes before it. It’s also a healthy perspective because it helps us to not be disappointed if, due to circumstances beyond our control, that thing never comes to pass (well, except maybe with heaven, which would be more than a little disappointing).

I have thoughts a-plenty on this topic, but I think that’s enough philosophy for now. Though I hope this gives everyone a great motivation of heart!