Do you ever have moments where your language just seems like an impossibly long, endless task?
This is a subjective problem:
I am starting to feel better about Japanese grammar, at least a little bit, but the writing system is seeming impossible right now. There are so many characters, so many readings and meanings, so many homonyms. It starts to feel overwhelming.
I can recognize about 230 characters, but that isn’t much help at this point. The goal of getting to around 2300, being able to identify them within many, many different words and meanings continues to scare me, as well as the cultural difference of expression. It’s just so different. I keep having to fend off the thoughts that creep into my head that are saying it is impossible, it’s too difficult, and you will never get there. I also keep having the fear that I will be a year later, having spent an hour a day studying, and still be just as lost as I am now because I am not actually learning.
We all know that a positive attitude is essential, and somewhat ironically, the main factor in improvement. Basically, I am asking for anyone who has had the same fight with self doubt, if any of this sounds familiar. And if you have had this, or had any eureka moments of success in the face of doubt, please share as well.
This is actually one of the reasons I want to keep pushing on with Japanese. I want to be able to look back at something that used to look impossible and successfully having climbed over that mountain.