For the most part, Japanese is a difficult subject. Especially with how we learn, but with the progress I've personally made I think the struggle has been worth it 💪.

I'm not going to lie in that sometimes Japanese is the bane of my existence 💀, but when I realise I've improved or am able to keep up with conversations that I wouldn't have been able to before it makes me happier I did choose to do the subject.

The way we learn is a lot harder since we have to do a lot more taxing work compared to other classes. We have vocab, kanji, grammar, and essays to do every week. And now in year 12 there are also mock exams. But Sawaki Sensei is right in that it does help when done properly. We've all really improved a lot over time.

I think the majority of us at some point have thought about dropping it as a subject. I have for sure, multiple times 😭. But the people in our class start to become the reason we start to enjoy class, we all support each other really well, and understand that it is a hard subject and we have our moments where it's just too much.

Sawaki sensei recognises that too but he's kinda 😰. I'm not really sure what I can say that could make this better, especially since the main advice would be to try and stick through it. Dropping it this early would be like running away without knowing everything (which is very bad 😡). So rather than dropping it now, I think it would be better for you to recognise why you want to drop the subject, see if there's any way you could get help or fix the problem. And then maybe after a term, see if you still want to drop the subject.

In the end, Japanese will be worth the pain you go through in my opinion. You'll be able to survive in Japan for one and that's a skill not everyone has. But we also meet really great people through this, and it may be mild trauma bonding but that's okay.

I really hope you reconsider it, its quite fun when you understand it and find things you enjoy in the subject. But in the end, if you still don't like it, it may just not be the right time or place for you and that's okay.

Even if you do leave, there will be people here who will be here to support you so don't be afraid with any decision you make 😭🫶

However, as the subject got harder and harder, and the general responsibilities of life got more and more when I got older, finding that same spark for language learning has been so much more difficult. Many days, choosing to pick up the pencil and write my essay felt like such a chore, and to be honest, the majority of year 11, I did practically the bare minimum to scrape by in the class (not reccommended but stuff happens yk). I really did consider dropping the subject at the end of last year just because I was completely doubting myself and my abilities.

But obviously I didn't, as I'm clearly sitting here writing on this padlet. The thing that has really helped was trying to put the fun back into the learning. Finding new ways, alternative ways that make me genuinely want to use the language again. I've tried all those things you see online, watching childrens movies or TV shows you know off by heart but changing the audio to Japanese, labelling things in my room in the language, or even going back to things I used to do when I was in primary school and motivated like keeping a simple daily journal with the most basic Japanese sentences like "today was good, I was happy."

Japanese doesn't need to be this huge, daunting subject like I always made it out to be, it's like any other subject, yes with a huge workload, but there are always people there to help you and things like missing an essay or finishing last in a Kanji test are not, and will never be the end of the world. You can always catch up on an essay, you can always practice Kanji. But something you can't do so easily is find that love for the language, because when that's genuinely gone, then it's gone. Studying Japanese will be difficult and hard at times, definitely, but it doesn't have to be constantly stressful or anxiety inducing. Sometimes it really is just a subject, same as any other, and with the right base of support from your friends or peers, finding that love for learning it wont be so difficult either.

sorry for the long message lmao

and yes, at first japanese was hard, learning hiragana and katakana. however after coming to macrob thanks to sawaki and mori sensei’s guidance, and through many years of experience, sawaki sensei was able to make organised outlines and plan for the subject that will help us prepare for sacs and exams.

especially for yr11/12, sawaki’s requirements (homework) is to follow his plan which includes writing weekly essays, weekly tango and kanji tests and kaiwa practice.

these preparations sawaki has done is made for all macrob students to safely pass vce. and it has shown through past japanese results

japanese is not a subject you can only study for alone, it is collaborative and with the help of your classmates, sawaki sensei and previous graduates, japanese is an enjoyable and fun subject to do.

this is just based on my experience. if you do decide to stop japanese. its alright if you don’t want to do it for vce/ib, you can always study it again in the future.

best of luck on your decisions.

Macrob because you don't just get to learn content, but we are put in scenarios where we have to learn to collaborate or like be organised or manage your time properly.

Personally, one of my turning points of really ensuring that i try my best in this subject was finding that one aspect of Japanese that I'm passionate about. Manga and anime aren't really my thing but I love the traditional cultural aspects. So like imagining i'll get to travel to japan is honestly one of my motivations rn.

It definitely will be hard but please just know that there's so many positives to it and what you'll gain from this subject is so worth it. The jap class will become really close over the year and going into yr 12 as well and its really special just looking back and being like omg we were actually able to do all that. good luck<33