I have been studying Japanese for over 24 years but I have plateaued at the intermediate level. In the last ten years after passing the Japanese Language Proficiency test for level N2 I have barely cracked a book. I have done almost nothing to improve my understanding. I bought book after book. Purchased Light Novels and manga. I can now watch TV and understand much of what is happening but I can`t speak it very well. Why?
Several reasons come to mind. One is my job. I teach English and for eight to ten hours every day that`s all I speak. If anything my understanding of English has gone down and I no longer understand as much as I used to, especially when it comes to new words like `woke`. The needs of the students outweigh my ability to improve my vocabulary so I try and use the easiest way to explain things and simplified vocabulary to not cause confusion.
Two, I tend to only read English books or translated English manga. In the past I`d only read Japanese manga but after finding some sites with fan translated stuff I enjoy just delving into the stories and no longer worry about trying to understand everything. That said I still read Japanese books but not as often.
Three, life just gets in the way. There are always so many things vying for your attention and as I get older I find that I no longer have the energy nor the time to spend on Japanese. I used to go to about four lessons a week when I was really active in studying. Now I`m lucky if I get an hour a week to sit and focus on it. In addition the demands of a family outweigh any other commitment.
Fourth, using Japanese in Japan is not necessary. It makes life easier but even if you can`t speak it there will be enough people in public to help you get through most of the daily interactions that you will need to get through. In addition English is everywhere, even in the most rural areas.
So why is this important. I don`t want to have my life defined by what I didn`t do. In the future I expect my life to get even harder but if I don`t do something now nothing will change. Studying is fun and I want to improve my understanding of the language. The only way I`m going to get ahead in anything however is to have a better understanding than I do now. I must go forward.
Besides some of the best things in Japan are still locked behind the wall of Japanese.
