Selamat!

Sorry that it took me a while to get back to you. I must commend your commitment to learning Japanese even though you don’t get to use it in your everyday life. But as Stoic practitioners say, “The obstacle is the way.”

I am not actually learning Japanese anymore since I’m a father of two. I have also never tried out Duolingo, but I would imagine that it’s not very motivational because you just listen to recordings and maybe play some games. No interactive element, no incentive to really make the words sink in.

I would suggest pairing the studying of radicals Tofugu has an informative article on this. with something you like. Anime? Drama? J-Pop? The going may be slow, and it seems like a more haphazard way of acquiring Japanese compared to using Duolingo. But I think you will find it a more rejuvenating process.

Just to use an example from my life, yesterday I asked about the difference between the -ful and the -ous- suffixes. I got an answer immediately n the dopamine rush I received will motivate to learn more deeply about English haha

Hope this helps