As I have written before, there are three major obstacles to navigate when you embark on your journey to become fluent in Japanese. I’ve discussed how to handle fear and pain. The last obstacle is boredom.
At first glance, boredom might not seem like a major language-learning obstacle. And in fact, boredom is the simplest obstacle to avoid. All you need to do to avoid boredom is to avoid engaging with boring content. That’s it. So as long as you avoid reading boring things and instead read interesting content you are golden.
Sure, avoiding boredom may seem easy enough, but it’s all too easy to downplay the risks of reading boring content or to unwittingly slip into reading something boring. After all, isn’t Duolingo’s gamified learning program fun even if the sentences you read are not inherently interesting? And it sure feels good to crush chapters in a textbook.
But at the end of the day, boring content is still just that—boring. We often default into reading boring things because boring content is often wrapped up with programs that give us measurable progress and a comfortable or easy-to-use format. But just because it’s easy to fire up a language app or enroll in a class, doesn’t mean those are the best ways to become fluent. In fact, they’re more likely to slow you down or prevent you from reaching your fluency goals.
The reason? Boredom. Reading boring content will slowly poison your Japanese language learning habit. And after enough doses, your habit will die.
Boring content is poisonous because it undermines your core motivation for learning Japanese in the first place. The reason you are learning Japanese is because you want to engage with interesting content created by and for native speakers. But reading nothing but boring content will cause you to forget that Japanese content is interesting and fun. As you repeatedly engage with boring content, the driving force behind your Japanese language learning habit will erode. Eventually, all you’ll have left is external motivation to keep you going, and this is not enough to sustain your habit to fluency.
It’s easy to miss the destructive force boring content has on your language learning motivation because the effect is gradual. This is also what makes reading boring content so dangerous—by the time you realize you’re bored with your studies, it’s already too late to course correct because your language habit is no longer sparking joy. And death by boredom is a real heartbreaker because if boredom kills your Japanese study habit, it will only be after you’ve made some serious progress and have sustained the habit for a good period of time.
You’ll know your intrinsic motivation for learning is gone if you’re more excited about completing a level, maintaining your streak, or earning that next badge than actually doing the work itself. And don’t kid yourself—if the content is boring it’s definitely work. If you get to this point, it’s only a matter of time before a late night or a busy week at work or school shatters your steady habit of studying Japanese.
Take it from me, because I’ve been there. And I can tell you from experience that there are only so many sentences of 皆の日本語 or げんき you can take, only so many days of Duolingo Japanese before you’ll stop learning altogether.
Don’t let boredom stop you from reaching your goals. If you’ve overcome your comprehension FOMO and are sustaining a challenging (but not overwhelming) language-learning routine, you’re well on your way. Take the last step and stop reading boring things altogether. Open up your manga app, pick the most popular title, and start reading the good stuff. 頑張れ!