The challenge is that I need to switch my brain from English to Japanese to get into the flow—these two languages are just too different.

Secondly, I have been consuming tons of Japanese dramas and anime since I was a child.

Although I watched them with subtitles, I might still have built a sense of familiarity with Japanese.

Japanese

I am starting to learn Japanese.

I took a Japanese class when I was in college, but it was only for half a semester, and I only learned the Japanese syllabary.

Right now, I use Duolingo for learning basic vocabulary and building a daily routine.

The challenge is that I need to switch my brain from English to Japanese to get into the flow—these two languages are just too different.

I believe Japanese is more similar to Mandarin; when I try to learn Japanese, I don't need to reshape my brain, but with English, I need to be very concentrated to put myself in the right mindset.

I think this is caused by two reasons.

First, because of linguistic distance, Mandarin is much more similar to Japanese than English.

For example, I struggle with the pronunciation of English much more than Japanese.

Secondly, I have been consuming tons of Japanese dramas and anime since I was a child.

Although I watched them with subtitles, I might still have built a sense of familiarity with Japanese.