I really struggle with keigo :(((( I can understand most of it, but being able to produce it on my own is another thing altogether.
Here are some suggestions:
This series of books: 日本語生中継、 聞いて覚える話し方
YouTube Videos like this:
Keigo can be hard, because you don’t really use or hear it all that much. Luckily, there’s not too much of it to remember, I think. I find it much more common to hear regular polite Japanese used instead, but there still might be situations where you have to use it. I know BunPro has a few lessons on Keigo!
I’ve been following the Nihongo no Mori lessons on YouTube (reference: - YouTube).
My problem with keigo is constantly being aware of when to use 謙譲語 and when to use 尊敬語 all the time, being aware of who the inside group and the outside group are.
The other thing is that in practice there’s things you don’t learn in the textbooks, like for example how some people use おられる instead of いらっしゃる or how some people would say いらした instead of いらっしゃった in spoken language.
Like most things, I need practice, but keigo is a hard thing to practice if you’re not in a Japanese working or school environment (which I’m not).
Besides struggling with a few leeches here on Wanikani, I think I’m still fairly early on in my studies where remembering how to properly apply all the grammar points and properly conjugate verbs learned in past lessons of Genki, while producing sentences for exercises in later lessons, is quite difficult still.
I want to power through Genki I + Genki II as well as Japanese the Manga Way so I can start getting as much reading (of native material) done as possible.
I have A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar but I think I’m not very good at absorbing overly complex explanations written in a more academic language so for me, I’ve used it quite rarely, even though it still definitely has it’s uses. Not that Genki’s explanations are much better. It takes a while for things to make sense and settle in my mind 
I guess because of all foreign languages I’ve learned (English, Spanish, French, Persian etc) all came with relative ease, for various reasons. I’m not at all used to drilling grammar 
While I’m eager to get my reading improved I know I also need to focus on listening and most importantly, speaking. Those are the next steps 
Thank you!!! I never thought of anime being spoken slower than dramas, and I never thought about watching/listening to the same thing 5+ times. Thank you for sharing, I currently use Satori Reader but I’ll utilise it differently after reading your advice. I appreciate it!! 
the Japanese part
pokes 
with a stick
screams
everything is bad
(seriously tho … listening?? do i have ears … is this japanese or are these people just making sounds)
So awesome, thank you!!! Everyone on these forums are so helpful 
I only stuggle with my girlfriend.
Too early to say. I expect conversation will take the longest to master, as it’s enough of a struggle for me in English (and I’m a native).
The way different okurigana often subtly but importantly changes the meanings of words.
this may be hyper-specific, but in all my years of studying, I struggle with pronunciation when jumping from ん to any R kana sound (らりるれろ). For example, the word 便利 (べんり) is my eternal enemy, I hate saying it 
I’m pretty sure I can’t say that word normally either! 
. The are a few words and names that have this issue in Norwegian as well; I’ve been fluent for years and still can’t say the NR sound.
Active production is hard for me. I feel like I need a resource that throws tons of sentences at me in English that I need to come up with the Japanese for. Broken down by something like JLPT level, perhaps. I’m too used to the sentences in the sources I learned from so they barely count.
Problem with this method is there’s too many ways the Japanese sentences could go, I guess …
what methods do other people use for practicing actual conversation?
I’d like to get a speaking partner later this year, when time/funds allow. Until then I’d just like to start putting what I’ve learned to use in a more general manner.
Everything.
Except pronunciation. I nail that part.
Speaking practice. I don’t know any native speakers that I can practice with, and practicing is the only way for this skill to actually improve. This results in the once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity where I have the chance to practice with a native almost useless, because I’m not used to situations where I can use my spoken Japanese, so I forget what I know. I’m aware of resources such as HelloTalk and Japanese-English discord groups, so I’ll probably have to settle with this. It’s not even that my neck of the woods has a shortage of Japanese people, but how many of them actually care to speak anything but English with me? Probably very few, I can only see myself chatting up the elderly Japanese people here, which, hell, doesn’t sound like a bad idea if the situation wills it. My family plans to vacation to Japan to celebrate my high school graduation, and by then I wish sustain a conversation with a native without breaking down (not a panic attack, just can’t get my words out). When you don’t train your mouth, your mouth fails you, although I’ve met other Japanese learners that are just naturals at speaking despite minimal practice. The thing is…I am taking a Japanese class in my school, taught by a Japanese woman, but the ethos of my class is that using Japanese shows too much passion, thus everybody just uses English and the teacher has given up on instilling a “use Japanese in the Japanese language class” mindset because of how far we are into the curriculum. If anyone wants to connect on Discord or the like to talk intermediate Japanese, let me know. I’d love to chat.
EDIT: Oh, and the counters. Why the hell can’t I just use 一つ、２つ、for general things, but nah, books, gyoza platters, poker chips, houses, and…cylindrical objects (???) have to have their own counters. I guess only a handful of them are super common, but still.
What do I struggle with most in Japanese?
yes
Listening. It doesn’t help that I can form a coherent sentance 10x faster than I can decipher one. People think I have higher fluency than I really have. It makes conversations tough.
Thanks to WK, I consider kanji my strength now. It’s easier for me to text my friends than to speak with them, haha.
Grammar!! When I think its は its が and when I think its を it’s で and I’m always mixing then up in all other ways possible 