Appreciate the insight. I know I keep seeing not to judge yourself compared with others’ progress but it just seems so often that after a year, I really should be a lot further than I am now. I was a pretty slow start, though, especially on here. I didn’t break the first 3 levels for over a couple months, and spent over a month at level 10. But I just got to level 12, making it my fastest level growth ever at only 10 days since I hit level 11.
At level 10 I also took the deep recommended dive into grammar. It held me up for quite some time but it’s finally all starting to come together for me. Halfway through Genki 1 and Japanese the Manga Way (truly amazing book, best I’ve seen so far). But it’s now also been 13-14 months since I signed up on here and I can’t help but feel it’ll take ages to hit 60. It’s definitely fun, but I’m also doing this to try to get a job so right now I’m struggling with the idea of being a hobo for a few years till I can pass the JLPT N1 lol (not really but … mooching off parents isn’t the most ideal thing around).
Thus concludes my unwarranted life story of Japanese struggles lol. Will def look into the Satori Reader. And you perfectly described how it now feels to be able to read the opening dialogues in Genki without help, whereas they were like “THIS is beginner level!?” Just a month or so ago