here’s my quick’n’dirty “10 steps to get you out of noob-land and into intermediate territory, so you can read real japanese for fun and learn without sitting down to study”.
these 10 steps are exactly that though, sitting down to study. they are not easy, but they are simple and they work. it’s a complete routine, proper curriculum for self-study from zero to intermediate. let’s go.
step 0:
go to memrise dot com and learn hiragana and katakana. don’t worry about any other course just yet - learn these two systems. when you can read hiragana fairly well (if you read this here, you probably can) , move on to step 1.
step 1:
do wk, every day, no slacking allowed. this is an ongoing thing and not the thing to finish before step 2. you do it simultaneously. learning japanese takes a while, so do not worry about speed. worry about work load. do small batches, give the system time to schedule all it’s slots. 2 weeks per level as beginner is a good pace. you can speed up later.
step 2:
grab one grammar program and stick to it. be it genki, minna no nihongo, tae kim, doesn’t matter. do it once from back to back, until you think you got it. don’t bother with “did i really remember/can i use grammar point X”. ignore. just read, maybe repeat for clarity, make notes when you don’t understand at all, move on. don’t bother with other alternatives just yet - we’ll get to that.
step 3:
get “a dictionary of (*) japanese grammar”. you exposed yourself to all kinds of basic grammar, this book is what you’re going to use from now on when doing extensive sessions - read on and you’ll understand what this means. it’s your bible, your reference for whatever grammar japanese throws at you. use it to understand, not to learn.
step 4:
get graded readers. whether they’re sorted by class or jlpt doesn’t matter, wk won’t follow such patterns anyway, and don’t worry. read. two ways to do this: extensive reading means no looking up anything. just reading, and if that means 10% comprehension, then so be it. intensive reading means looking a lot up (not stuff you think you understand from context). whether you understand or “understand” is not so important at the beginner stage.
step 5:
you got both an extensive and an intensive reading done, now it’s time to reflect. how often did you look up grammar points? if you looked up a lot of things you read once in your textbook, now’s the time to break it out and go directly to those chapters to do these lessons more thoroughly.
step 6:
start the next reader. do both extensive and intensive.
step 7:
grab textbook, do lessons for stuff you didn’t get.
step 8:
next reader, same routine. if at this point the same grammar still causes you headache, look around for other grammar resources. possible choices: genki, minna no nihongo, japanese for busy people, tae kim’s guide to japanese, imabi, japanese the manga way, making sense of japanese, michel thomas/japanesepod101 (both audio), assimil. all these cover a pretty wide spectrum and explain things differently. see if you can find samples or get them in a library, don’t buy blind.
step 9:
next reader, same routine
step 10:
the grammar resource of your choice is now your grammar guide during the study blocks.
this program is based on Stephen Krashen’s “comprehensible input theory” and does indeed work very well. it provides you with a proper order of things to do, the speed at which you do them is completely up to you. reading provides you with input, using graded readers makes sure you’re not going to jump into the cold water. extensive reading stimulates your brain to do pattern-finding, intensive reading is closer to what a class would call “homework” and acts as test. with slowly raising difficulty, your comprehension will be challenged, but not knocked out. things should always be a little bit too difficult. if you just keep going, you’ll arrive there naturally, no need to do any extra work outside this schedule.
at elementary school grade 3, you can then start on manga like よつばと, which will be pleasant, but still teach you new things. you’ll run into casual japanese now, which will probably new for you. don’t worry, just read. maybe look through the “beginner’s book club” threads here on the forums, yotsuba was on the menu once. the questions and answers there will help you.
you’re done. from here on, you don’t need graded readers anymore and your textbook can retire. only new manga and “a dictionary of (*) japanese grammar” are needed.
(*)
there’s 3 volumes. “a dictionary of beginner’s/intermediate/advanced japanese grammar”. you will want the first, maybe later on the second one. the third is nice if you’re ambitious, but that would be at a point that’s not in the scope of this newbie guide.
have fun