Out of curiosity, what methods do you intend to use? I imagine you have plenty of tricks up your sleeves from learning your other languages, which I’d love to know for myself 
I don’t have much to add to what has already been said but I just want to say “been there, done that”.
As mentioned
Despite having the N1, my speaking and, to a lesser extent, writing abilities were crap. The only reason writing was “better” is that I could just use a dictionary and google around to see the way people were saying things. It was really slow, but it worked. Sadly, that’s not an option when talking.
Now, about this part:
Well, if your goal is to be able to read, then definitely! By the time I got the N1, I could read books routinely and just watch random youtubers. That was a few years ago, and I have progressed a lot since then, but that just means that confort has improved. I rarely use a dictionary at all when reading and I don’t have to pause/rewind stuff anymore. I want to say that that was all thanks to immersion, but it wasn’t; I have to thanks WK (which I started after getting the N1) and floflo.moe for allowing me to consolidate my kanji and vocab knowledge, respectively.
That being said, my speaking and writing are still lagging far behind. They are definitely better than they used to be, but not as good as I’d like. Only improvements I have seen, unsurprisingly, come from practice. You still do not need a tutor for that, but you’ll need someone to talk/write to.
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Well, my learning strategy is currently divided into four major groups:
1- Grammar: I’m following Genki textbooks and workbooks, “The Handbook of Japanese Verbs”, “The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs” and " All about Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words" besides a Japanese grammar book focused on Portuguese speakers (here in Brazil we have the biggest number of Japanese people leaving outside Japan, so we have easy access to a huge amount of Japanese material, particularly in Sao Paulo, where I live);
2- Kanji: Wanikani for Japanese-English and Kamesame for English-Japanese + Kanji Study app for help with writing;
3- Vocabulary: Wanikani, the textbooks and some graded readers (my Japanese is still very basic);
4- Listening and speaking: I try to consume as much native material (anime, interviews, songs) as possible and I can talk to lots of friends who speak Japanese because they’re Japanese descendants.
That’s how I’m trying to manage it. I’m completely open to suggestions =)
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Hi Gabriel, it’s always nice to see another Brazilian engaged to learn Japanese.
For me it’s really hard to improve in Japanese without a tutor. I’m living in Japan for a while now, despite I still have very limited Japanese abilities I could notice some relevant improvement recently after I asked my Japanese teacher to practice casual conversation only, instead of using a textbook. Note that I still have and use textbooks, but most of the relevant improvement comes from the constant interaction with a human being.
Please check below some interesting material available for FREE 無料(my favorite word) on You Tube that inspired me to follow this path. I hope it will be useful for your as it was for me.
Benjiro - Beginner Japanese
How to Acquire any language NOT learn it!
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Thanks for your answer, Thiago!
Obrigado
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I thought it was a different kind of test planning to add this, but to be honest I have no idea haha.
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Absolutely! I’m taking N2 this December and have been studying alone for 3.5 years. I’ve never taken a Japanese course in school or been formally educated (I wish I was though…)
Living in Japan has definitely been an advantage though because I’m constantly surrounded by the language. If I had attempted this in Canada, I doubt I would have made it to N4.
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The only languages I learned with a tutor are French (in high school, which was ages ago) and Spanish (for one quarter in junior high, which was even longer ago). And, by “tutor”, I actually mean the teacher was giving the class.
I’m doing Japanese all on my own, apart from a couple apps and WaniKani. I think I’m doing alright, but I only just started to learn maybe last month.
I think, ultimately, it’s based on your own proficiency and confidence. I’m great with languages (as opposed to math, which I always royally sucked at), but somebody who’s less apt would have a harder time of it, I imagine.
(And ancient Egyptian?! I envy you! Egyptology is a fascination of mine.)
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