my name is Flo and I’m a 35 yo man who’s been learning japanese quite unsuccessfully for… quite some time now. I’ve been learning japanese in and out and managed to pass my JLPT N5 a few years ago but I haven’t made much progress until then. My main hurdle is probably my lack in consistency : my study style is riding through burst of motivations, but it only got me so far.
My goal for 2024 is to finish the みんなの日本語 books and to get around the N4 level (not sure I’m going to try the exam though).
My main interest it to become a better speaker : my girlfriend is japanese and I went to see her family last summer and was really disappointed in my spoken japanese level. My goal is to be able to speak better to her family (which can speak a bit of my mother tongue) and also to her grandpa, who can only speak japanese. I will try to limit my study of kanji time and will focus more on grammar and spoken japanese. If you have any advices regarding study materials or sources I should use, I’m interested. It’s my second time on Wanikani and while I feel that it’s an excellent tool, I used to rely TOO heavily on Wanikani when I passed my N5 a few years ago and I felt (and still feel) that there’s a huge gap between my kanji knowledge and my ability to speak japanese.
Anyway, here’s my daily study plan :
At LEAST 20 minutes of みんなの日本語
Review of vocab or key sentences with Anki
Wanikani
Reading
Thank you for reading me, and please excuse my poor english.
I use RocketLanguages.com. I love it and it has conversation, vocabulary, grammar, culture, speaking practice, and some fun reinforcement activities. It is a paid site, but well worth it in my opinion. They usually have big discounts around holidays. The first three lessons are free so you can try it out. Modules 1aline with N5 and Module 2-3 alines with N4. There is a test for each level so you can see how you are doing.
Welcome back I just got some really good advice on here about chosing the ways you enjoy to study, and not forcing yourself to use resources that leave you bored, overwhelmed, or frustrated. So, personally, I’m cutting back on the SRS (other than Wanikani), and am going to focus more on reading and working though みんなの日本語. So basically, do you
It might make it easier and more focused if you’d start thinking about it like this - you have such an important personal real life goal - you want to be able to speak with specific people. Try to take a minute and break it down into specifics. You probably wanted to talk about specific things with your girlfriends grandpa, and couldn’t find the word or form the sentences.
However your daily study plan has close to none when it comes to speaking, and doesn’t reflect your needs.
Find a tutor either online or irl, and practice having conversations. Start making a recorded diary describing your day, the weather, your thoughts, your lunch, your job, your hobbies.
When you read things - read out-loud.
Listen to podcasts, watch tv and movies and streaming and such.
Mimic the dialogue you watch on tv, learn and recite a podcast transcript.
You can find a lot of resources here The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!
Build your study around your main goal, and it’s good to remember that most humans learn to speak before they learn to read, yes it’s helpful when you already have the skills as an adult but it is also what prevents many adults from jumping head first when it comes to speaking, the notion that you need to know enough words and grammar first.
And don’t be afraid to make mistakes and be silly - that’s the best way to learn.
がんばれ!
Thanks a lot for your comments and sorry for the late reply.
Update : I haven’t been updating this study log at all, but I’ve been using Niina Werronen’s notion template to keep track of my progress, and finally decided to publish it on the web to be more accountable of my progress.
I’m not sure if I will post anymore on this topic, but if anyone is interested, here’s the website : https://furo.super.site
I even try to write articles from time to time… My japanese is still baby level but it forces me to try to express my thoughts in japanese.
@2tea Sorry for the late reply, I’ve read your post long time ago and I’ve found it very insightful. Especially this part :
However your daily study plan has close to none when it comes to speaking, and doesn’t reflect your needs.
That’s very true. I didnt even think about it was making my plan. So now I try to speak in Japanese with my SO as much as possible. That’s a very convenient way to get instant feedback !
Thank you for taking the time to write this even though you moved to a different platform, really appreciate it. Glad to see you found what works for you and fine tuned your study plan and goals, it can really make a difference both endurance and results wise.
Good luck with the rest of your journey.
I just got some really good advice on here about chosing the ways you enjoy to study, and not forcing yourself to use resources that leave you bored, overwhelmed, or frustrated. So, personally, I’m cutting back on the SRS (other than Wanikani), and am going to focus more on reading and working though みんなの日本語. So basically, do you