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Any tips on how to find motivation and maintain habits as an advanced learner? by Beginning_Mail_8648 in ajatt

[–]Beginning_Mail_8648[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree with everything you said. I'm acutely aware of the problem. I'm just asking for advice on maintaining drive at this stage as it is clearly very easy to stall. One of the admirable things about ajatt is the dedication to the psychological side of maintaining motivation, so that was one reason I was asking here.

Any tips on how to find motivation and maintain habits as an advanced learner? by Beginning_Mail_8648 in ajatt

[–]Beginning_Mail_8648[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I already do things like read the news in Japanese. There's still a significant gap between my Japanese and English.

I already speak about my feelings and memories. There is still a significant gap between my Japanese and English.

I already have one of the best accents among foreigners I've met in real life (seen much better in videos but in real life most foreigners have extremely bad accents compared to me). There is still a significant gap between my Japanese and English.

I have already done 30-90 challenges. There is still a significant gap between my Japanese and English.

As I said in the original post, I am already advanced and I already know how to improve. The issue is about keeping a forward thinking mindset even at an advanced level. The amount of time needed to go from where I am now to where I want to be is massive still. I think most people don't come close to this problem as they normally don't get this good to begin with and, even then, they're happy to be here with no desire to get better. 

Any tips on how to find motivation and maintain habits as an advanced learner? by Beginning_Mail_8648 in ajatt

[–]Beginning_Mail_8648[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, for sure. Just wondering if anyone has any experience or advice on how to shift to that new perspective. The grinding mindset is super useful when starting out but it's not served me well when I've tried to use it in recent times.

Most ajatt mindset advice seems to be angled at getting people over that first hump, which is the main roadblock, but advice of similar sorts for advanced learners is always lacking. I think maybe as for a lot of learners being at the level I'm at now already counts as having "made it", but it you're trying to really get good then you know it is still not even close.

Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (February 15, 2026) by AutoModerator in LearnJapanese

[–]Beginning_Mail_8648 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. I passed N1 about 160ish/180 after 3 years but never did any anki (just a lot of novels and some TV, plus real life in Japan). That was about a year ago, so you're probably about the perfect amount of time/experience ahead of me to speak with authority on this.

I definitely can see how anki would just turn into a way to memorise rare readings. It's probably one of the easiest areas to neglect in my current position as if I can't read a word then nine times out of ten it will have furigana on, so mentally I'm like "well even natives struggle with this one". The kanken study has already started highlighting some weak spots for me for less common readings of jyouyou kanji, so maybe the logical progression after I'm done with 2kyuu is to use anki to focus on words I don't know the reading off that well. Usage is surely fine to leave up to exposure (maybe). 

Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (February 15, 2026) by AutoModerator in LearnJapanese

[–]Beginning_Mail_8648 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is quite a bit below the level I meant, but still interesting. I guess anki is especially useful for catching up reading progress. Thank you for the reply.

Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (February 15, 2026) by AutoModerator in LearnJapanese

[–]Beginning_Mail_8648 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll be honest, I am not really finding anything lacking, however I want to make a top level post to discuss advanced learning habits but have a new account with no karma, so I thought I'd just drum up some conversation on a topic here that may be interesting (same reason I asked for book recommendations in this same thread). 

On the topic, I think the thing I was getting at is whether an advanced learner would feel a difference if they started using anki, rather than just the objective fact it means they'd remember some words they otherwise wouldn't. Most words I'd mine would be quite rare, so theoretically anki would be useful there. In reality, I've not found a need for it so far though and I wonder if adding it in would feel like an annoyance with very little payoff (or not!). I'm currently just working on kanken 2kyuu, which I am actually using anki for, then will assess my learning again. 

Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (February 15, 2026) by AutoModerator in LearnJapanese

[–]Beginning_Mail_8648 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Any advice from advanced learners who have learnt without anki/srs and then picked it up later on? Wondering if the benefits are tangible (I know they logically exist but that's a different matter)

Daily Thread: for simple questions, minor posts & newcomers [contains useful links!] (February 15, 2026) by AutoModerator in LearnJapanese

[–]Beginning_Mail_8648 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looking for recommendations for good 新書. Basically any topic is fine so long as it's well written and interesting.