[Columbine]

I think the OP is just asking how other people find the experience of learning a difficult language.

For me it's all about what I call the "click points". You grind and grind at the language, trying to learn it and then, sometimes without you even noticing it, something 'Clicks' and ~finally~ there's a bit of the language that suddenly makes internal sense and you don't have to go through the rigmarole of conscious thought to use it. Probably because it's so difficult, that just makes it all the more rewarding. I don't know. For me it's certainly like banging my head against a brick wall, but every now and then the wall seems to vanish and I can move onto... the next brick wall. Certainly I think that to become fluent and literate in Japanese (luck aside) takes more stubborn determination, patience and passion than it would to say, become fluent and literate in French.