How do you keep motivation up living in a town with few...

[d4veg]

How do you keep motivation up living in a town with few or no Japanese.

Everyday you will be exposed to non-Japanese language. I'm just curious how you keep your studying and motivation up.

This is not the same as living in Japan but I've created this short list:

1) Studying with cue cards including images, sounds, example sentences (http://smart.fm/series/3318)
2) Talking on Skype with Japanese natives (http://www.language-exchanges.org)
3) Participating in forums
4) Watching and listening to Japanese news, movies, anime, drama, and of course JapanesePod101!
5) Watching Youtube videos (J Vloggers, etc)

Update:
6) Recording a daily journal and posting entries online (ex: http://www.lang-8.com)
7) Japanese Music (Karaoke as well? )

Am I missing anything else?

[mslozada]

Just have this goal,

" I want to live and work in Japan "

and it answers everything. God will find a way. Get it?

(Where there is a will, there is a way)

[thebermuda]

That just about covers it for what I do. I also have a Japanese 'journal' on lang-8 which helps a lot. And even though I'm not much of a poet, I find that I'm constantly making up haikus in Japanese.

I don't know anyone else who's studying Japanese, but I think consciously forcing yourself to think in the language helps too!

And also, about the, "God will find a way" comment... Well...what if someone doesn't believe in God?

[peachrules]

And also, about the, "God will find a way" comment... Well...what if someone doesn't believe in God?

Then, that's their problem.

[Javizy]

To the OP: it sounds like you're doing fine. Try checking out podcast in iTunes too. There's hundreds of hours of good audio exposure out there that you can listen to on the go.

It's a myth that you need to be in Japan to get good at Japanese. Look at all those 英会話 clowns that can barely introduce themselves after X number of years there. Motivation and consistent studying is much more a determining factor of fast progress, and it seems like you have plenty of that!

And also, about the, "God will find a way" comment... Well...what if someone doesn't believe in God?

Then, that's their problem.

I believe the non-ridiculously judgemental term is 'choice'. Japan may have a lot of social issues at the moment, but I wouldn't like to think that a hundred million or so people have a 'problem'.

[Jessi]

d4vegさん,

I agree with Javizy, it sounds like you're doing everything right. Something else I would add is keeping a journal in Japanese - write down what you did that day, things like that. If you want, you could even take it to Lang-8 and get native speaker feedback on it for free

[beginneratbest]

I see you have most of the media listed, but I didn't see music. I also listen to a lot of Japanese music. There is a wide variety, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find an artist you like. Also, I just wanted to agree that the journal thing is a great idea. I recently started one and not only is it fun, but it's challenging. Good luck!

[taikutsu]

I listen to Japanese almost all the time, even at work. Sometimes, when I'm bored, I'll practice writing kanji. When I'm at home, I listen to a Japanese radio station with an internet broadcast. None of this is "studying" per se, but it is remembering and using, which important for retention.