What a lovely idea ! It´s a good way to have a look at what you have accomplished so far and stay motivated. I may not post every months but once in a while is funny !
PROGRESS PetiteChose #1
CURRENT WANIKANI LEVEL: 35
IN ONE MONTH I HOPE TO BE LEVEL : 37/38
THIS MONTH’S GOAL:
For this month, honestly, I intend to rest a little and slow down my studies as I just taken JLPT N3 and Christmas is coming soon.
But here some little goals for me :
-Play my Japanese games (they are visual novels with voice acting, so it´s easy to follow and to search for unknown words)
-Start a book (I have already downloaded 3 of them !)
-Keep doing some Italki lessons to keep up with grammar (though it won´t be every week because of Christmas ans so on)
RESOURCES:
For Vocabulary and Kanji : Wanikani (though, not enough for vocab)
For grammar : Somatome with an Italki teacher and Minna no Nihongo (though I kinda dropped this because it´s much more efficient Somatome with a teacher)
For reading : Shinkanzen Master. This book is very good. I felt that the level was a little more difficult than the JLPT so if you can finish it without trouble, you won´t have any trouble with JLPT. Some games, but I rarely have time for that
For listening and grammar and speaking : Italki and Asao. Both are good, though I much prefer my Italki teacher. She explains everything very clearly and all in Japanese so I can work on grammar while improving my listening skills. It´s very efficient because without ANY training for listening section for N3 I didn´t feel so lost. I just thought it was a bit difficult for me, but nothing impossible.
FAVE:
Italki teacher. It helped me so much. I could see a lot of progress in a short time, it´s the most efficient method for me. I just take grammar lesson with my teacher but because the lesson is in full japanese, I could train my listening skills and we always talk a bit at the beginning of the lesson so I can improve my speaking abilities as well (though it´s still very low compared to my other skills)
LEAST FAVE:
Minna no Nihongo. It used to be my favorite, but since I started Italki I don´t really need it anymore.
TRY NEW RESOURCE:
I want to start listening to more content. It´s hard to find some to my level though. I can´t listen to beginner stuff as it´s way too slow but native content is way too fast and difficult. I need to find something good in between. My visual novels aren´t so bad since the voice actors speak quite slowly and very clearly, but I would also like to listen to some Youtube videos as long as they aren´t too difficult and very entertaining…
Anki. I hated it before, but I need more vocab and JLPT focused vocab so… No choice I guess. But I definitely won´t start this month.
CURRENT JAPANESE WEAKNESS:
Speaking, obviously (hard for me to find a lot of natives to speak with). It is waaaay below the rest.
Vocab, I always lack vocab
Grammar : this point is improving but I don´t feel confident. Basically, I understand it well, but when I use it, it´s kinda terrible.
HOW I WILL IMPROVE ABOVE:
Good question ? For speaking well… Maybe I will take some japanese lesson on Italki for free talk. But if anyone has any recommendation, I take !
For grammar, I know it´s hard because I don´t get to use what I know a lot. So need to talk. I guess reading could help a lot as well because I would get exposition to grammar so I should try. Like instead of working on new grammar points, maybe read and focus on what I ALREADY know.
Vocab : I will make an Anki deck, as mentioned earlier, but I don´t intend to do that now. Maybe starting January or February (I need some rest)
TIP/ADVICE FOR LEARNING JAPANESE:
It honestly depends on your own goals. But in general, finding a good teacher (Italki, Asao, Preply,…) is very helpful. Expensive, but helpful. You always make progress and stay motivated. You just need someone who fits your needs and style.
Kanzen Master is so good for reading. I think will buy the grammar book as well, to try it out.
And last but not least : keep going. Language is about never giving up. It may take time but if you don´t give up you will success. So, when you feel you lack motivation please have a look at what you have accomplished. For example, you may find yourself able to read titles of videos, articles and so on or understanding some stuff in your games and animes. And you were not able to do that before, so it is improvement ! Because we always tend to see what is lacking and what we should do, so it is super important to look at your achievements as well