Basically, I was scrolling through the messages and just thought that if you were like me, you would have something to answer! As the days are passing, I hope that your Japanese level is advancing as well! So if you may, I would like to hear your progress or anything cool about Japan!
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It’s going pretty well. I feel like I am starting to cap off on listening and reading comprehension (obviously I don’t know everything, or understand everything, but what I can learn outside of exposure is getting smaller and smaller).
Speaking wise I am really having a hard time getting my Japanese to sound correct. People ask me big questions so while I know the words, I can’t construct them in a way that makes and not sound like I am just mashing ideas together. Not sure how to resolve this but this is year 5 or 7 (wasn’t super serious those first two years) of learning Japanese, so I still have quite a bit of time to figure things out I guess.
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I can pick up just about anything and enjoy reading it, however I can struggle to remember kanji and that is a bit discouraging. I haven’t sampled the upper limits of N1 though, since nothing I’m interested in is that high.
Also I still consider my vocabulary to be pretty low, so it’s quite annoying, even if I can read everything, I still need to search up things often.
I’ve naturally picked up my grammar to the point where I can get by most sentences without feeling like searching it up, but there’s occasional times where I get a bit confused. Oddly enough, it’s the part of my Japanese skill that frustrates me the least.
I think I’m in a good spot, but I need some serious refining.
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It’s going well. My main struggle is conjugated verbs, and pretty much all day things grammatical.
I know a lot of words and can figure out a lot of kanji, but often still can’t understand what is being said. I’m really feeling the lack of proper education. I never picked up a single Japanese textbook. Watched about 40 5-10 min video about grammar when I started and picked up the rest as I went.
Once I stop being lazy and grind grammar I’ll move faster.
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I finally got into a daily cycle with WK after years of on and off study so I’d say that, while I’m still just getting started, its going well. I also finally bought Genki I after a bit of procrastinating so whenever it gets here I’ll finally dig deep into the grammar side of things.
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I feel like I’m plateauing mostly in terms of vocab. I don’t know how to effectively cram more words into my head.
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swimmingly
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The video from this Cure Dolly playlist between lesson 7 and lesson 8 was a game changer for me: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg9uYxuZf8x_A-vcqqyOFZu06WlhnypWj
I haven’t come across any easier way to explain it and to remember it, I really recommend watching this video (and the whole playlist actually, but you can also just cherry pick what’s interesting for you)
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Pretty well! I’m taking the N1 this summer and prepping for that that, but also trying to remember to not be too hard on myself. I think the main thing I need to do at this point is just expand my vocabulary. Life’s pretty hectic right now so rather than doing too much explicit studying I’m trying to just do extensive reading and watch Youtube. Trying to focus on fun and enjoyment rather than putting deadlines or expectations on myself.
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Meh. I am putting in the hours and have improved my listening and understanding when compared to last year but not sure if I will make my goal of being upper intermediate in terms of listening and speaking by next July. We will see (I am always extra hard on myself when it comes to learning so not sure if this clouds my perception).
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Good, but when I stop actively studying, it doesn’t seem to progress.
- A few years with the basics
- Around 2 years with Wanikani and Core 10k (and other studying stuff)
- A few years of lightly reading
- 1 year of intensive reading
- Now trying listening, perhaps another 1 year
A big part for me is balancing studying and rest, as well as schedule and flexibility, so that I don’t burn out. My studying isn’t balanced, it seems. Indeed, I don’t have an immediate goal of speaking or communicating.
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I’m pretty stagnant with learning
Send help
I get to go to kagawa soon. That’s going to be fun
saaaaaaaaaaaame. Like I get REALLY comfortable with my abilities(inabilities) and never really extend myself if I am not doing something like WK or Renshuu on the side that puts me to task to remember or learn something.
EDIT: I’m really good about input so I never lose my Japanese, but I gain a lot less than if I did more intentional studing.
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4200+ hrs (lowballing) deep and heading towards year two of studying japanese (6 weeks to go). No idea how many words I know, SRS’d about 10k, but then we have alot of words that I’ve checked out in the wild (anything from 25-100 daily). Comfortably at 15k probably but don’t know really, and fluctuates.
Grammar wise I’ve finally catched up, fairly comfortable with N5-N2, and vast majority of N1.
Right now I don’t really know how it’s going, it’s progress I guess. Don’t really go as hard as I used to, used to do 12-16hr days the first year, but cooled off a bit and currently doing 6-7hrs per day.
3 hrs of listening, 2 hrs of japanese drama or the like with japanese subs, 1.5ish hrs of SRS.
Don’t have any real issues with reading. It’s probably the listening, going far too fast. To remedy that I’ve started listening to podcasts that has transcripts, will see if I’ll have any luck with that. Ought to improve if I read the script, and listen a few times. But we’ll see.
I’ve improved quite a bit in 23 months, considering I didn’t know a single hiragana before then or more than a couple of words at best. The problem is that you quickly get accustomed to your progress and it’ll make you feel like you are not really improving. Doesn’t matter that much in my case though since I’m enjoying the journey, and don’t really mind how long it’ll take. One day I will reach native level surely. doubt 
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That’s… quite a lot of time, even 16h per day? What is the reason you spend so much time on it if I may ask, any certain goal like learning Japanese for a new job or something like that?
I spend around 2 to 3 hours per day on it, the max I can handle with a fulltime job and family and that already feels like a huge amount of time to me…
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I wish I knew. Just have an obsession with it that I can’t really explain. Power of autism I guess.
Sounds weird, but it feels like I have no choice, it just ended up this way.
Edit: I do not recommend 16hr days for an extended time either. Probably lost a bit of my mind along the way.
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I cant imagine doing 6-7 hours a day let alone 12-16!
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I kind of know what you mean, though less extreme. I started WK on feb 22th last year and it kind of became an obsession. Waking up, looking anxiously at the time if I didn’t miss my first review batch of the day, doing reviews and lessons as soon as they were available without exception.
It was mostly the fear of slacking off or even quitting if I would give myself some rest I think…
Glad to read you now spend a more reasonable amount of time on it, 7 hours per day is still a lot. As long as you’re having fun and not have the weird feeling you can’t stop, like I had since I started with WK.
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I feel you, I’ve been on-off with japanese for a couple of years (had to take a longer breaker due to life reasons recently) and came back end of last year, but I often fall into this ‘comfort zone’ of just keeping up with my daily, comfortable methods (WK, anki). I’m always too tired or out of time to pick up grammar or more challenging resources, tell myself I’ll leave it for another day and just don’t do it. It’s tough sometimes
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WOW!!! I go hard but damn this is like a machine 
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