Studying Your Passion
“The passion, the competitiveness, the swinging for the fences, it adds up.” - Donny Deutsch
One thing that sets TextFugu apart from the rest is our “passion” (and puns, apparently) to keep you studying Japanese. If you quit for any reason at all (unless you find that you just really hate the Japanese language), then we’ve failed. In the end, it’s motivation that gets people to keep doing what they’re doing, which makes it a big part of our focus.
I’m almost 99.9% certain that learning Japanese isn’t your “passion.” In fact, it’s nearly impossible to truly be passionate about something you’re just starting to learn. Nope, Japanese is just a hobby (at the moment), but we’ll slowly cultivate it into something you’re passionate about. Since Japanese isn’t your passion, we will want to tap into something you are passionate about. What do you love to do more than anything? Maybe it’s snowboarding, maybe it’s building miniature battle-ships and testing them out in bathtubs, maybe it’s competitive eating. Only you will know that. Now, if you can’t think of something that you’re passionate about, that’s okay. Keep reading and we’ll get to you.
As you go through TextFugu, there will be lessons that incorporate the things you are passionate about. This may include vocabulary learning, grammar practice, and more. This chapter is a “prep” step to get you ready, so don’t skip it!
Boo. Sad face. I don’t have a passion. #
It’s not uncommon for someone not to have something they’re passionate about. In fact, the younger you are, the less likely you are to have something like this… something you could do 12 hours a day and not get bored (video games and tv don’t count!). There are a number of ways to figure out what you’re passionate about, though most of them aren’t really short term. In the meantime with TextFugu, though, you can just use things “you really, really like.” If you don’t have a “passion” in life yet, then this should work (almost) as well. That being said, though, here are some tips on finding something you can be passionate about in life. Totally unrelated to Japanese, but I wholeheartedly agree that if you don’t have something like this in your life, you’re missing out. Life isn’t that long, you know.
- Your “passion” doesn’t necessarily have to be something you’re good at. It doesn’t even have to be something you’ve done before. The main thing is that you love doing it. Once you find this thing, you’ll know. Love at first sight.
- Try a lot of different things. They can (and maybe should) be totally random. There’s no shame in jumping from one thing to the next in order to find the thing you love. As soon as you’re doing something you love, it’ll click. Stick with it for a little while longer, and it could become your passion!
- In order to find a hidden passion that you didn’t know existed, think: What do I love doing in my spare time? What skills come naturally without much effort? What things energize you (versus drain your energy)? Are you an “expert” in anything? If you were shopping on Amazon, what section would you go to first? What do you value most in life? What do you want to achieve in this lifetime?
My main advice to you is that you shouldn’t rush it. Now, don’t confuse this with taking your time, because you shouldn’t do that either. Go out and live a bit. Try new things, and if you don’t like what you’re doing try something else. Savor each new moment, and you’re bound to narrow it down, and finally find what you’re passionate about.
Step 1: What Are You Passionate About? #
The first step is to figure out what you’re passionate about. If you already have something, then that’s great. If you don’t, pick something you really, really like. The goal here is to use this thing to help keep you motivated by injecting it into other things that could be considered boring otherwise. Once you’ve figured out what you want to choose, move on to step 2.
Step 2: The Top 20 Vocab #
Download this worksheet and fill the following out:
- Your Passion (or the thing you really like, if you don’t have one). For the sake of this exercise and the point of this exercise, “Japanese” shouldn’t count as your passion, even if it really is. If that’s the case, then picking something else won’t hurt you, and will only help.
- Come up with twenty vocabulary words associated with this thing (for example, if you chose baseball, you might write down “baseball glove, dugout,” etc). You can include a mix of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, though it’s probably best to get a little heavy on the noun side of things.
- You do not need to fill out the “In Japanese” and “reading” sections (yet). That’s coming soon. It’s important that you figure out 20 vocabulary words associated with this subject. If you can’t figure out 20 things right away, try moving a step out and include more “secondary” objects as well. For example, in the case of “baseball” I might pick vocab like “hot dogs” or “fans.”
Step 3: Looking Up The Vocab #
Now that you have twenty vocab words associated with your chosen passion, it’s time to look them up in Japanese. Thanks to the internet, looking up Japanese has never been easier. For most of our looking up, we’ll be using Jisho.org (jisho means dictionary in Japanese, makes sense, right?). There are a couple of things to know about Jisho, though, before we get started.
Common Words Only: When searching for something, 99% of the time you’ll want to make sure this box is checked, otherwise you’ll be getting hundreds of somewhat related (but totally weird) results.
Kana As Romaji (only for a little while). By checking this box, all the kana will show up as romaji instead of hiragana. I would prefer if you wrote everything in hiragana, though, so only check this box if you’re a clown. Otherwise, don’t check it.
Multiple Common Words: If there are multiple common words, and you can’t tell which one is better, there are a couple of steps you can take to figure out which one you should use. First of all, make sure the English translation is what you’re looking for (there will often be similar words that don’t fit, and you’ll be able to tell which one these are right away). This will help you narrow things down to 1-3 words. If there are still multiple words to choose from, copy and paste each one into a Google search and see what you get. Look for the number of results.
In theory, the word that has the most results is the word that is the most common. Go with that one and you should be fine. After you’ve gone through and filled out the Japanese translation for all of your passion vocabulary, move on to the last step.
Step 4: Creating A Study List #
Now you have to actually learn these words, and there’s no better way to do it other than Smart.fm. You’ve already used a list using this site to study hiragana, but you haven’t created one of your own yet. It’s pretty straight-forward, and involves you putting in the English / Japanese word, and choosing the best definition. Of course, choose the definitions you’re using on your worksheet, but also try to choose ones that have audio and practice sentences that you can use. This way, you can be sure to learn the correct pronunciation of all your very special vocabulary words.
To create a list you’ll need to first sign in and then click the “Create a Goal” button on your homepage. Be sure to tag it with a “textfugu” tag so I can find it and say “hello!”
Chapter Content:
Before You Move On:
- Figure out what your “passion” is going to be (remember, you’re going to be stuck with it for a while!)
- Fill out the vocab worksheet with your passion, English vocab, the Japanese, and the reading.
- Create a study list for your vocab on Smart.fm.