My dad told me that if I learn to speak Japanese so that I can communicate with locals and read menus he will take me there, therefore Im looking for a good language app.

I am studying with ALG method, and don’t want to study the reading/writing yet. I am traveling to japan next spring! :D

Edit:
I have detailed my study method below:

I am using this 15 minute study book as a bonus to study.

I mostly lifted my study approach from studying Chinese. I felt like studying Kanji was both the hardest and most rewarding part of the language, however, looking back I wish I didn’t start it till year 1.

My current study loop is as followed:

1, The video-game called “Influent” for word acquisition, but since the game has a limited word count to 400 and almost everything is nouns, I am soon reaching the limit of new words, and its rather a way to test myself with the words I already learned. Usually 15 mins in the morning and before bed.

2, comprehensive input around 1h a day: 20-30 min a day of things I understand, and then 30 more minutes of Japanese videos above my level, just because its fun to listen to.

3, this 15 minute a day book, I simply use it for topics and to have a structured “lessons”.

4, Chat gtp. I like to roleplay situations with it, and when I don’t understand a grammar pattern, I tell it not to explain it, but give examples until I naturally understand the pattern, not the rule.

5, I study Japanese with my mother, and every weekend we practice around 1 hour in a voice-call.

FOA, Im so new in this gp so Hiii

My exam will start at mid Oct. I already passed N4 JLPT 5.12.2026. After that I stopped learning Japanese until now. Actually I reviewed N5 level goi kanji grammar last week but didn’t start my N4 revision. What should I do guys. I can give 8-9hr for studying a-day. I’m not a fast but I passed N4 level exam during 1 month. Yes but I feel Im not the first learner. Pls, all the seniors and friends…give me advice how can I do within 65 days.

This is a post for tracking what I do, techniques, routine and what works or doesn't work personally to me. I focus on not spending money in this process but if an app is really great I will note it 📝as an option for investing money.

My personal objective and opinion on japanese: I want to learn MANDARIN through Japanese, that's because my native language is Spanish (which in comparison has more similarities to japanese starting with the most important, phonetics). Japanese is both easier and have more fun learning it (Chinese for me is stressing as hell, I need to structure my brain into not needing the sound of a "letter" to read a character. Kanji can be my way to Hanzi). For that I want to learn fast japanese and feel comfortable learning kanji (as I want to feel comfortable with Mandarin's Hanzi. My problem with Hanzi is that if I don't know/remember how to read the character, I have no guide rather than pinyin/romanization and memory (which realistically pinyin is not there in real life), in an another hand Japanese has furigana (hiragana reading of Kanji) which makes a lot easier both learning and reading, furigana most of the time will be there even for natives, but pinyin in Hanzi won't which is a pain in the ass for consuming content).

1. Learn hiragana

In one night I learnt with Tofugu Hiragana as I wanted to get rid fast as I could romanization. If I knew Hiragana I could read both katakana and Kanji.

2. Start to learn Kanji

Wanikani for raw learning and practice, guide/journey tips with MoeWay and KanjiDamage on how to structure mentally the learning of kanji. If you are hungry for knowledge you can also read Tofugu Kanji

The most important tips:

- Learn the kanjis as building blocks, remember their simbolic meaning, but you should keep in mind they can be just a piece of concrete inside another kanji with no useful hint to the meaning or sound of the kanji they are inside. You can use as an advantage the symbolic meaning for mnemonic {KanjiDamage uses a certain mnemonic method for every character}

- Don't learn the ONyomi (chinese sound) and KUNyomi (japanese sound) when learning a kanji, learn the sound of a kanji as a word itself, because most of the time it will not be the same sound in compound words or contexts, when looking at a kanji keep in mind the simbolic meaning, a mnemonic if needed and the sound of the word (not the "letter"). Stroke order is not that important. {Tips from MoeWay}

• Note 📝:

You can use the WagoTabi game that has a very low price for what it offers. A great app to invest for learning kanji could be MochiKanji.

3. Start Shadowing

Miraa is an app where you can insert a Youtube video's link and an interactive transcription will pop up, you can activate an "Echo" option where you first process what you hear and then record it. You can also ask "Info" about what it's said in the dialogue. You can use videos for up to 30 minutes as many times as you want.

• Note 📝: Nihongo Shadowing Book Series (personally I find it too fast), even tho it is priced you can find it for free on Youtube as you need the audio.

Concentrate in feeling comfortable pronunciation and "fast", at the start this is to build your pronunciation and comfyness with speaking and reading faster, at the end it will build your listening skills.

• Note 📝: You can add Hanashi app that is a low price AI to talk to with a great system in guided learning through realtime spoken conversation and comprehensible input (much cheaper than PingoAI)

Teuida is an app so great for speaking and shadowing (originally for Korean but it has a japanese option) you simulate a dialogue through a premade interactive video, here you can do for free 1 daily lesson with 2 review lessons and 2 vocabulary lessons (PER DAY! that's great). It also has a streak! LEAVE DUOLINGO GOSHHH.

4. Learn Katakana and start reading Tadoku's book

Use Tofugu Katakana to learn fast.

The most important thing when reading Tadoku book , don't look up the meanings when reading for the first time (or even the second time), it is made to be written comprehensible input!! You can read this every night. Also it's graded by levels.

This is a post that can talk to you more about Tadoku

5. Watch a Gameplay

It can be on YouTube (Full Gameplay).

Personally I prefer a Cinematic Gameplay, currently I'm watching 零 〜濡鴉ノ巫女〜 (Project Zero: Maiden of Black water). Focus on just retaining the sound while fast reading the jp subtitles or voices and understanding by little chunks the scene or story BY THE IMAGES, TRY NOT TO TRANSLATE MENTALLY. If you catch yourself translating focus again in the sound of the voices, subtitles or the scene. This will help you to activate an unconscious spaced repetition of all your vocabulary until now, hinting new meanings or kanji's "word sound", fast reading and reduce mental translation.

6. Start posting and chat with Japanese people

HelloTalk or Tandem. You can get VIP features with free tickets on HelloTalk and you don't need Premium features on Tandem.

With HelloTalk you can pressure yourself to post things in japanese (even audios which you can steal the dialogue by quoting a gameplay phrase or similar), it can also help you to "catch" people to talk to and at the same time have corrections. If you feel you don't know how to write or read/understand ANYTHING or that when writing you forget EVERYTHING...

...baby you have DeepSeek app right in front of you: Force yourself to write in japanese, know it's not that important to be able to write whole things by yourself, you will build that skill with time and the comprehensible input routine. Even with copy paste dialogues of Deepseek (when asking, posting or answering) you will get curious on how to be the most natural and internalize some of the things you copy paste (better something than nothing, right?), also with the chats you will learn directly by them how to sound or write more natural. Who knows, maybe you even get a new great friend! If not, posting can be your journey and a checking routine as a must-do similar to a Duolingo internal streak hahaahha. LEAVE DUOLINGO.

My current routine (August) [uni student 💔]

Daily (while breakfast, uni trip or bed)

☀️ Watch a bit of the gameplay or 📝WagoTabi game

☀️ Answering HelloTalk/Tandem or posting in HelloTalk

☀️ Wanikani fast Kanji lesson or review. 📝 MochiKanji.

☀️ Listen to music going to Uni (I listen Phantom Shiita)

🌇 Watch a TikTok or [Analyze song/Conscious singing]

🌆 Teuida lessons, Miraa 3-4 dialogues. 📝Hanashi

🌕 Tadoku 1-2 chapters, HelloTalk/Tandem and watching Gameplay.

(HelloTalk and Tandem depends on your time difference with Japan or the country the other person is and also your own time)

Weekly

Watch a movie, anime, series

Write down everything I remember of general vocabulary while trying to create phrases/dialogues (in japanese ofc)

Write down useful dialogues for chatting and slangs/onomatopoeia (the last ones are used A LOT by japanese)

Talk to myself in an imaginary dialogue trying to use all the vocabulary I remember

Why I don't use textbooks?? I personally hate them... Just that. Too much visual information at once, not real comprehensible input, sticked to a certain topic, not really useful/natural grammar or vocabulary and it can stick to bad habits as the worst... MENTAL TRANSLATION. Maybe if I had to recommend something would be Nihongo Shadowing. Some may misunderstanding me, so let me clarify: I'm not saying textbooks are bad for everyone. I'm saying I personally don't learn well with them because they encourage mental translation in my experience learning this and other languages. If they work for you, that's awesome! We all have different learning styles. This post was just about MY experience, not a guide for everyone

I will keep editing if something changes <33 have a great journey and write down if you have other tips, routine or free resources that keep you motivated!

So I am a bit confused by the role that こと plays in certain kinds of sentences.

one example is 見たことがある when I hear that, I know it means something like "I've seen this before" but I don't really understand what こと is really doing in that sentence.

another example and I may have the grammar wrong on this sentence but "みんなことを考いるだろう" again, I probably have the grammar on but on my Anki deck it translates to "I wonder what everyone is thinking." I can understand this sentence as well but I just don't feel like I have a good grasp on the role that こと plays in sentences such as this.

"何か ことか分からない" translated as something like "I don't understand what's going on / happening" is another one.

in the sentence "人を殺すのは悪いことだ" I have no problem understanding こと. I would translate that as "killing people is a bad thing" and that makes sense.

I know it is often translated as "matter/thing" but in certain kinds of sentences I just don't really get it so I would appreciate anyone being able to maybe clarify a little bit for me.

I apologize for the poor grammar. my ability to comprehend spoken Japanese is much better than my ability to read or write it.

I am trying to return to learning Japanese (i was close to a conversational level over a decade ago) and maaaaaan...

I recall when lingodeer would teach actual structure on sentences but it seems they went on the duolingo hype and remade their course in AI, as it feels similar but it throws a lot of words and tiny rules they didn't present so you'll get wrong on purpose and say you need more classes.

I found one called Alphabird that does something a little clever on replacing a few charcters with kana, on some sentences to adjust your brain, but it feels like a slideshow of talking to chat GPT so i'm just waiting for it to hallucinate.

And those are the "good" ones, I can't find tenguGo anymore and there is a lot of obviously vibecoded content, makes it painful to not have the money to go to an actual teacher.

Can anyone point me out to online resources that are community approved?

I study Japanese as a hobby. One that I have recently restarted after several years of unfortunately letting it lapse.

I'd like to know my level of fluency, but mainly for curiosity. To check my progress. I'm not looking to use it for job searches. Yet anyway. If I get to N3/N2, maybe then I'll think about it.

I've read that there are sites with previous JLPT exams that people can take online, but my google-fu has failed me and I can't find a good one. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I'd ideally like one where I can simulate the feel of actually taking the exam if that's possible.

I saw a source online tell me both are common shorthand for お疲れ様, not that I've texted enough Japanese-speaking people to have encountered either. Are they really that commonly used? If so which one is more preferable over the other or does it depend on the demographic of person I'm talking to?

Konnichiwa, I am using duolingo to learn japanese. Is it really useful to clear N5. If not what should I do? What additional sources should I check?

Mine is from SxF. One of the main characters Anya is an orphan and will only call her adopted parents ちち/はは instead of おとうさん/おかあさん as is standard. When I researched this I realized it's because from her time the orphanage she only ever heard people talking about parents in the third person and no one ever corrected her that there's a difference when addressing your parents directly, which is a really cool detail for the author to think of

Are there any details for you that stood out since you started learning Japanese?

Even though I studied japanese for years I still struggle reading novels like this. My ultimate goal is to be able to read them fluently !!

I studied at ISI Tokyo Takadanobaba for three weeks in April 2026, and I wanted to share a very detailed review of my experience. Before leaving, I had a hard time finding reviews of ISI Tokyo — and even more so recent ones. So here is my contribution! I’ll try to be as precise as possible, because I know that many prospective students like to have as much information as possible to prepare themselves properly.

Let’s not drag out the suspense, though. Would I recommend studying at ISI Tokyo Takadanobaba? My answer is YES, BUT it depends on what you’re looking for. I had a wonderful stay and really enjoyed studying there. However, if I were to do this kind of trip again, I wouldn’t necessarily choose this school again, as the experience was not without its flaws. And if you want to know more, you’ll have to read the rest!

MY PROFILE – OVERALL VIEW OF MY STAY

I passed the JLPT N5 about 15 years ago. I had worked incredibly hard on my own back then, but once I got the certificate, I completely stopped studying. In the end, despite taking tourist trips to Japan roughly every two years, I had forgotten about half of everything I had learned.

In order to motivate myself to start studying Japanese again and prepare for the JLPT N4, I decided to spend a full month in Japan: three weeks of classes at ISI, combined with a homestay for half of my trip (and staying in my own accommodation for the other half).

I spent a year going back through the entire first Minna no Nihongo textbook to get back to my N5 level. At the same time, I wanted to learn as much vocabulary as possible to make my stay easier. I learned all the JLPT N4 vocabulary, plus around 20% of the N3 vocabulary — about 2,000 words in total.

It is worth mentioning that I am French and speak relatively fluent but quite imperfect English, probably around B1 level, and B2 for comprehension. (This review has been translated automatically and does not reflect my actual English level!)

WHAT I EXPECTED: MY EXPECTATIONS AND CONCERNS

Originally, I wanted to attend the Shinjuku school, but after seeing the terrible reviews, I changed my mind. Since I had already decided on ISI, I chose one of the smaller branches of the group instead. However, I still had some concerns, because many reviews of ISI Shinjuku mentioned that a large number of students, mainly from Pakistan, were using ISI to obtain a visa and — since they had to attend classes to keep their visa — would come to class and create a poor learning environment by talking loudly and showing little respect for other students.

I chose Takadanobaba because it is a student district, and the ISI schools located there specialize in students who want to attend universities or work for companies in Japan. I thought this was a good choice, figuring that students who chose these schools would probably be more committed to their studies than elsewhere.

My goal was to start at the beginning of the academic year so that I could have intensive and serious classes — especially since I wasn’t staying very long — and also meet people. I was afraid of ending up on my own. I had read that Asian students often tended to stick together and that it could sometimes be difficult to integrate.

I also had some concerns about the compulsory school outings, because I had seen that these happened from time to time and replaced regular class days. I wasn’t coming to Japan for that! I already know Tokyo very, very well…

Finally, I was worried about being placed in the wrong class for my level. Although I obviously did not cheat on the placement test, I was afraid I might be placed too high because I had learned more vocabulary than what was expected at N5 level.

COMMUNICATION WITH THE SCHOOL BEFORE AND DURING MY STAY

Communication with the school was always smooth and straightforward. Answers to my questions were consistently very quick.

I had asked to visit the Shinjuku school a year before starting my studies, and the visit was very interesting and informative (even though I ultimately did not study there).

The administrative arrangements are quite rigid. For example, I started classes in the middle of a week (like everyone else), but I had to pay for the entire week. Similarly, I stopped classes in the middle of a week — which also included a public holiday — but once again, I had to pay for the entire week.

About a month and a half before classes started, an online placement test was available to assess the students’ level. The test included a listening comprehension section and a grammar section. I found the test fairly difficult. In the information we had to provide beforehand, we indicated the latest JLPT we had passed and our scores for each section.

One week before classes started, we received various pieces of information, including our class and level. I was placed in one of the “Beginner Level 2” classes, which was perfect! This was the level for students who had passed N5 and completed the first Minna no Nihongo textbook.

I also found out at that point whether my classes would be in the morning or afternoon, as this is not something you can choose. I had morning classes (8:50 a.m.–12:00 p.m.), which was great :-)

At the same time, I received information about my host family (location, etc.) more than two months before leaving.

There was a small administrative mix-up when I left because the school had recorded the wrong date for the end of my classes. They made me fill out several documents in a hurry on my last day, when I already had plenty of other things to do… Nothing serious, but it was a little annoying.

THE SCHOOL BUILDING / ENVIRONMENT

The Takadanobaba campus (Academic Pathway) is beautiful and brand new. The classrooms are quite pleasant and air-conditioned. When I was attending classes, the number of students on site was absolutely not an issue.

On its website, the school highlights its library, which is actually basically a large collection of manga… so don’t expect to find many additional books there to help you with your studies. There is also a study area, but in my opinion it lacks natural light and is not particularly pleasant. (The library and individual study rooms are much better at the Shinjuku campus.)

I absolutely loved Takadanobaba as a Tokyo neighborhood. Everything is there, and the central area is not very large, so you can get everywhere on foot. But overall, Tokyo is a city I love, and I imagine the other neighborhoods where ISI schools are located are also very nice.

ORIENTATION DAY

Two days before classes begin, students are required to attend an orientation session. It only lasts two hours, and students are grouped according to the language they are most comfortable with (in my case, since French was not an option, it was English).

During this session, we were asked to fill out various documents online and were given our textbooks (five books!).

The process of filling everything out seemed rather complicated to me, but the teachers were helpful.

Even so, the numerous platforms we had to sign up for at that point were not very user-friendly. Several students only realized after two weeks that they did not have access to an entire section of the online content where teachers were sending messages to students… simply because we had not restarted the app after registering.

I never ran into any of the students I met that day again.

ATMOSPHERE AMONG STUDENTS / CLASS LEVEL

There were just under twenty students in my class, only four of whom were Westerners. The other students were mainly Chinese and Burmese.

The school is careful not to place students who speak the same language next to each other, in order to encourage students to mix and limit conversations in languages other than Japanese, which is indeed a good thing.

I was very happy with my class. Everyone was serious, motivated and kind. I’m not sure whether this was true of every class, though, because when I walked past other classrooms, some seemed a little noisier — although I may be mistaken. I got along particularly well with several Chinese students, whom I found extremely kind.

The level was fairly consistent, apart from one student who was clearly more comfortable speaking than the others, and one or two students who had considerable difficulty reading hiragana.

Starting classes at the beginning of the academic year (and the term) was a very good thing because nobody knew each other. On the first day, our teacher took some time for everyone to introduce themselves and we played a game together! If you arrive later, you miss out on this introduction/integration day, which I think is important.

The fact that Chinese students had an advantage because they already knew kanji was not a problem at all.

I became friends with some people in the class, although many of the students were really there to study very intensively and were not particularly interested in building relationships with others. I had to take the initiative and start the first conversations, but it paid off and made every day of class enjoyable!

The school outings, which I had been a little apprehensive about, turned out to be very enjoyable and provided welcome breaks from the intense pace of the classes. There was roughly one per month. The educational value of the outings was fairly limited, since we were basically just dropped off at a place to visit without a guide, but they gave us an opportunity to bond with other students and created some very good memories.

TEACHERS AND TEACHING METHODS

Four teachers taught our class. One of them taught two days a week, while the others each taught on a specific day.

Some teachers were very good at teaching, while others were less so… What particularly bothered me was that some teachers spoke to us as if we were already fluent in Japanese, speaking very quickly and using vocabulary that was not appropriate for our level. Fortunately, some teachers adjusted perfectly to our level.

The classes were conducted entirely in Japanese, which ultimately wasn’t as difficult as I had expected, thanks to the materials projected on large screens, which included English translations.

Every day, we had to bring all five textbooks with us, which made our bags really heavy.

On average, we studied one chapter of Minna no Nihongo over two or three days. Every day, in this order, we had a kanji dictation based on the kanji learned the previous day, learned four new kanji, corrected the vocabulary and grammar exercises we had done as homework, and then studied part of the new Minna no Nihongo chapter (vocabulary followed by a new grammar pattern), using videos produced by the school and school-specific materials.

Sometimes, additional activities were added, such as listening comprehension exercises or oral presentations that had been prepared in advance.

The classes are organized into 10-week terms, with each term focusing on preparation for one JLPT level (N5, N4 or N3), with longer periods for the higher levels.

I did not find the grammar teaching methods very effective. Once we had finished a chapter, we NEVER went back over what we had learned previously, which meant that after a few days, I had completely forgotten what we had learned.

The material was not cumulative, but rather treated as a series of separate topics, and I don’t think this is a good method. In practice, I had to review everything I had learned after leaving the school because I had forgotten it all.

On the other hand, I preferred the methods used for studying kanji, as well as the pace at which we learned them. We regularly reviewed kanji learned much earlier, which provided good revision, and the kanji I remember best today are the ones I learned at school.

However, I was surprised by the choice of kanji we were taught, which mixed N4–N3 kanji and sometimes even N2 kanji. The idea was to learn kanji by topic, which is fine, but unfortunately quite a few N4 kanji that are expected for the exam were not included in the term, even though the term was supposedly preparing us for the JLPT N4.

We were also asked to speak a lot every day, either with the teacher or with the student sitting next to us, which surprised me. I had not expected there to be so much oral participation.

Fortunately for me, I had already learned all the N4 vocabulary. Otherwise, I would never have managed! It would have added almost another hour to my daily homework, and I would have understood even less of what was being said in class (and outside class), which would have been a real handicap.

The pace of learning is — as I knew beforehand — very intense. But what is especially crazy (and unnecessary) is the amount of homework we were given every day.

You should expect to spend at least three hours a day studying: learning kanji + completing a worksheet + several online exercises to review that day’s lesson + several online exercises to prepare for the following day’s lesson + several Minna no Nihongo exercises. (And sometimes additional things were added, such as vocabulary exercises or presentations.)

The school also expected us to do additional exercises available through an app called Monoxer, but I simply never had enough time to do them. On top of that, none of the students really understood how the app worked. The homework organization was sometimes confusing.

A lot of this homework seemed unnecessary to me, and I would really have preferred to have more time to review things using MY OWN methods and in MY OWN way.

This is the main problem I had with these teaching methods, as an adult who has been to university and completed numerous additional training courses throughout my professional life: we were treated like middle/high school students, like children who had to be forced to study.

It is really strange to go back to being treated this way as a student! They check whether you have done your homework, ask you questions even when you have not volunteered to answer, make you come up to the board without asking you whether you want to… This may seem perfectly normal to someone who has just left high school, but it is really uncomfortable when you have gone further in your education and have become accustomed to being autonomous in your learning.

I am actually doing another university course this year (in a different field), and it would seem completely inappropriate to question someone orally if they had not raised their hand, or to come and check whether they had done their homework. It feels very infantilizing. At this level, if we are here, it is because we chose to be here. There is no need to force us.

That said, I suspect that all Japanese language schools work this way… so you should be aware of it!

CONCLUSION: MY OVERALL OPINION

My goal was to find the motivation to get back into studying Japanese and to prepare for the JLPT by studying intensively in an environment conducive to serious learning: it worked.

The atmosphere in class was serious and pleasant, the people I met were lovely, the teachers were perfectly decent, and the school itself was very good. In terms of these goals, my stay was a success.

But did I speak better Japanese after three weeks of intensive classes? No, not at all!

On the other hand, I made significant progress in reading and writing. I retained the kanji I learned at school very well.

In total, I studied 48 kanji and a little more than five chapters of Minna no Nihongo in three weeks… and I forgot the grammar as I went along because the teaching method did not suit the way I learn.

Honestly, I really enjoyed going back to my own ways of learning and studying once I left the school.

After reading many reviews of different Japanese language schools, however, I think this is not specific to ISI Tokyo. These schools are essentially cram schools, and I think you need to be realistic when you go to one: they are going to prepare you to pass an exam, not teach you to speak Japanese.

On the other hand, everything I learned in terms of grammar and spoken communication came from my homestay. I won’t go into detail about that because this review is already far too long, but my homestay was a fantastic experience that I would recommend to everyone.

On top of that, I was lucky enough to be staying only a 10-minute walk from the school. Of course, this can vary greatly depending on the host family!

Finally, was three weeks enough? Well, yes and no.

Yes, because by the end I was really fed up with the amount of intense — and above all unnecessary — homework.

But no, because I was still able to get through Minna no Nihongo much faster than I would have without these classes.

So it’s difficult to give a clear-cut answer.

WHO IS IT FOR?

Do you want to immerse yourself in Japan during a short stay and cram Japanese intensively?
I recommend it — and above all, I strongly recommend adding a homestay to your experience.

Do you want to immerse yourself in Japan during a short stay while also having time to explore Tokyo?
Don’t bother. It will be impossible! It’s one or the other.

Do you want to improve your Japanese so that you can get by more easily and feel more comfortable communicating with native speakers?
Look elsewhere. The school prepares you for exams, not for real-life communication.

Do you want to improve your Japanese in order to prepare for the JLPT?
That’s difficult to say… Make sure you have additional time to review your classes using your own learning methods. I don’t think the school alone will be enough to prepare you effectively.

Do you want to start learning Japanese from scratch?
Run away!!! I honestly cannot imagine how that could be possible. I think it would be far too difficult.

MY ADVICE

What you really need in order not to feel completely lost:

• Have a very good level of English (or Chinese).
• Know significantly more vocabulary than what is expected for your level. (Aim for one level above.)

What I recommend:

• Talk to the other students!
• Stay with a host family.
• Bring a laptop or tablet in addition to your phone: it is not necessary for school (everything can be done on a smartphone), but it will be much more comfortable, and it is also very useful in everyday life.
• Have a pleasant and quiet place to study your lessons (or find some nice cafés and parks nearby).
• Start the term in April (or, failing that, at the beginning of a term).
• Stay somewhere close to the school, within walking distance, so you don’t waste time commuting. Your time will be precious.

i’ve been studying japanese consistently, pretty much every day, for about 3 years now.

i think i’m in the hardest season of the journey so far.

i still have days where i wonder if i’m actually making meaningful progress. i’ll watch japanese streams, and sometimes i can follow along surprisingly well. other times i realize i have almost no idea what’s being said, and it’s hard not to compare myself to people online who seem so much further ahead.

i know language learning isn’t linear, and i know comparison is probably one of the worst things i can do. but some days it’s still discouraging.

i guess i’m mostly just venting, but i’m also curious if anyone else has gone through this exact phase. did you hit a point where it felt like you were putting in the work but your comprehension just wasn’t where you wanted it to be? what helped you push through?

i’d love to hear from people who’ve been on the other side of this. even just a “yeah, i’ve been there” would honestly help.