Whaaat? I like bandwagoning. It makes me feel a false sense of inclusion with a group of people who clearly hate me. ゲフンゲフン…
Seriously, though, I’m trying to organize my life a bit so that not everything is a chaotic mess, which apparently has extended into my Japanese learning as well. Ironically, it’s always been the mst organized thing I’ve ever kept up with consistently, so maybe this is just unnecessary, but, eh, whatever.
I’ve organized it into a few parts:
My resources are what I use to learn Japanese. How do I learn new vocab? Where do I go for grammar explanations? What do I do to practice those skills? Stuff like that.
My plan is what I plan to do with the information I learn. Like, cool, I’m learning Japanese, now what? People call me a weeb and say I want to be Japanese while also mixing Japanese up with Chinese and/or Korean? Well, yes, but what else happens as a result? That stuff is here.
My progress is how far I’ve come in attaining my goals. What have I done to study in the past? Did it work? Et cetera.
My goal is a secret category dedicated to a secret little project I’m working on. (it’s Japanese-related, don’t worry.) I’ll announce it when it’s ready, but in the meantime, just obscure hints will pop up whenever I do something big in progressing it. I can already smell the scent of development hell…
Now, for the actual content:
My Resources
- WaniKani is a must for me. I could just make my own flashcards, but it’s so much more convenient to have them electronically and pre-made. I also like the team at Tofugu’s sense of humor, which is what led me here in the first place. Additionally, the Community section of WK has helped me learn the nuances of certain words, and helped me practice using real-life Japanese, not to mention correcting my mistakes. I use it for basically all of my writing practice.
- Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar is nearly perfect. It’s a handy tool for learning about Japanese grammar, and picking up some common vocab to boot. The problem is, The website is a bit confusing to get used to. I picked up a physical copy, and it’s my go-to source for anything grammar-related. I’d recommend getting the book, it’s so much easier to thumb through and find exactly what you need.
- Beastars is a manga that I really love (have you seen my location?). Rereading it in Japanese has proven very valuable, and I’ve learned words like 肉食動 that I wouldn’t have otherwise.Very useful for articulating my thoughts into casual Japanese, since my speech seems weirdly formal at the moment.
- Anime isn’t typically a very good study tool, I know, but I don’t really use it as one. When I’m watching, say, JoJo, I’ll be listening passively and separating various words and particles that I hear. I might look up a couple of words I hear as well, if I’m in a good mood. I’ve learned some interesting vocab this way as well, so it’s not useless, per se.
My Plan
My current plan is to reach an N4 level by September. This way, I know that I’ll be able to pass the test in December, which is a long-term goal of mine at the moment. I want to get WK Premium, but I know I’ll have to wait until I at least have a job. So setting level goals doesn’t really work. The best I can do is at least pass Level 10 by 2021, which may or may not be doable, depending on whether or not I wait out for another Lifetime sale. C’est la vie.
My Progress
I started learning Japanese in January of 2018. I started by brute forcing kana, but didn’t want to do that with a mountain of kanji. So, I distracted myself with grammar and culture, which led me to Tofugu, which led me to WaniKani. I never dreamed in a million years that I’d be any good at Japanese, but I’d like to think now that I’m not necessarily bad at it. I’ve never been the type to set my own goals; for example, “Pass the JLPT” is a goal set up by the Japanese government that I have just so happened to decide to try to pass. But, I went from “omae wa mou shindeiru haha i said it i’m so funny you may now laugh” to N5 in two years, so I’ll call it success so far.
My Goal
Introduced the project to the public. Yay! If only I knew how to form a website in a manner pleasing to the eye. Oh well, everyone needs a little キモい in their lives anyways.
That’s about it, really. I’ll add to it as time goes on, or leave updates in the comments. Hopefully this will help me become more organized, instead of just laying over and dying due to my own sheer incompetence, like most other things I do. A Beastars Book Club comes to mind…
Now, back to my 
. I greatly enjoy following people and see their progress. Good luck with your studies 
.
.