Introduction
From December until January I will be living in Japan with relatives and I have the chance this semester to have more leisure time until the exams season starts.
To use this chance I compiled a plan for a study sprint from October 8th 2025 until January 12th 2026 trying to make the most out of the freetime, impress my relatives and conquer the intermediate plateau. This study log will document this sprint and hopefully give you some ideas for your own study approach. This study log will mainly be a simple log book, so it will probably be not as entertaining or pretty as those of others. Nevertheless, you are cordially invited and encouraged to read and leave comments.
Outline:
Current stats:
- Wanikani level 36
- Quartett I chapter 5
- Bunpro completed until and including N2 set
- Vocabulary amount is appr. 5000 (4017 from Wanikani, around 1000 from speaking with friends and previous times in Japan)
- Reading level is enough to solve N2 exam texts
- Listening level is enough to solve N3 listening tasks comfortably
- Writing level is around low N3 according to AI assessment
- Speaking level is mid N3 according to Japanese teacher
Goals until January 10th:
- Reach wanikani level 45
- Finish Quartet I and Quartet II
- Expand vocabulary amount to 6500 (+1000 from 9 Wanikani levels and +500 from immersion)
- Reading level is enough to pass N1 exam tasks three times consecutively.
- Listening level is enough to solve three N2 listening tasks three times consecutively.
- Writing level is approaching high N3 level and has less particle mistakes.
- Speaking level is mid N2 level according to independent Japanese teacher.
- Reading speed increase of 25% between week 2 and week 14
Strategy:
Absorption Stage:
During the first two months until I go to Japan the goal is to improve reading skills as much as possible. My idea is that all four language skills need two kinds of knowledge:
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General knowledge about the language
- This means grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary and a feel for what is a natural sentence. Ultimately, this is what makes your brain think in Japanese
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Skill specific knowledge about the language
- This is everything that cannot transfer to other skills. Things like two readings of a word, where to set commas in a text, how to listen to someone speaking fast or with different intonation, length of a spoken word, pitch accent are all specific to either reading, writing, listening or speaking.
I want to chose one skill to focus on to improve my general knowledge as much as possible and, thus, also improve the three other language skills indirectly. Reading is by far the best choice, because it allows you to take your own pace, you cannot develop bad habits such as in writing or speaking, as you will only read (hopefully) correct Japanese and because there is a lot of content for all colors of the Japanese language.
Production Stage:
Once I am in Japan the oportunity to produce Japanese are plentiful. In order to exploit this rare opportunity the time there will be used to solidify the knowledge previously acquired in the absorption stage and test what is possible.
Of course there will be absorption and production to a certain degree throughout the whole three months to not neglect any skill.
Timeplan:
October 8th - November 1st: Absorption at home
- Daily reading of around 1.5h on an e-reader (10.5h/week)
- Daily 20 minutes passive listening (2.4 h/week)
- Daily wanikani level 36-38 (appr. 3h/week)
- Weekly Language Exchange to work on Quartett tasks together (1h/week)
- Weekly Japanese lesson to work on listening and reading (1h/week)
- Weekly text (from the Quartett writing section), corrected by a native (3h/week, appr. 700characters)
- Weekly one grammar intensive study session (2h/week)
Quartett 1 will be finished mainly through the language exchange and using the text task to write the weekly text. Estimated workload: appr. 23 hours/week
JLPT mock results October
N3:
- Vocab 92%
- Listening 86%
- Reading & Grammar 67%
N2:
- Vocab, Grammar, Reading part: 77%
- Listening part: 71%
November 2nd - December 6th: Absorption at home
- Same as from October 8th
- Quartett II start and finish chapter 7, 8 and 9
- Wanikani level 38-41
JLPT mock results November
December 7th - January 10th: Production in Japan
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Daily reading of around 0.5h on an e-reader (3.5h/week)
-
Daily wanikani level 41-45 (appr. 3h per week)
-
Daily Speaking practice with natives
- Language Cafe/Exchange five times a week to work on speed and build confidence (5h/week)
- Japanese lesson two times a week to improve pronounciation and correct gramar (2h/week)
-
Daily diary entry in Japanese (appr. 5h/week)
-
Quartett II start and finish chapter 10 and 11 (Done seperately, appr. 3 h/week extra)
JLPT mock results end of challenge
Total estimated workload: 22h/week
And with that - let the study begin!
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