Staralfur1999

Don't dedicate all of your time to the rules. While it is of course very important, a good way to remember tenses is to listen to English natives speak and realise their habits. Perhaps watch a show and transcribe some of the speech, then take a look at what they said and see if you can spot some tenses. Re-watching the scene could help you with context too.

Flashcard programs without a shadow of a doubt. Ones that use spacial repetition. As well as writing down in a way you understand and constantly practicing. Practice when you're doing chores, or showering, or eating (although it may be hard to speak at the same time), practice with other people. Take a day where you actually ban yourself from speaking a language other than the one you're learning.

Ah, well, I just think being hard on ourselves comes naturally when we take on tasks like learning a language. Mainly because it's one of those things that you wish you could learn overnight, then get frustrated that it takes an almost endless amount of time (because language learning is a constant process, even when you're fluent). No worries, I hope it helps

Yeah, man, don't worry too much. One of the keys is not being hard on yourself, I think. Which was a problem I had. I would just constantly berate myself for not doing enough and the standards I was asking of myself where just insane. I'm not sure if you know about the flashcard program Anki. You probably do as it's pretty well-known. But it's perfect for casual studying because it uses spacial repetition. So if you want to just casually get back into learning, that's probably a pretty good gate-way if you don't already use it.

I gave up Japanese initially, then picked it back up again. It was a chore going through stuff I had done before but only vaguely remembered and it taught me a lesson about motivation. Even if you do a little bit each day, that's better than giving up. Because as soon as you go even a week without study, your brain starts leaking information. I think the first time I attempted Japanese, I kind of underestimated what a beast it can be. I was way too cocky about it; thought it would be a walk in the park due to the insane amount of free time I had. That was one of my mistakes too: expecting way too much from myself and blowing myself out with too much study each day.