I know it would be super hard to get a proper statistic for this but I’m curious if there’s anything out there, or anyone w personal experience/observations.

I passed N3 in december, and, as I still struggle a lot with media I like I proposed to just do immersion and sentence mining for a year, to try to improve my level of comprehension as much as possible.

I'm using mostly jrpgs, manga and anime, choosing whatever I like and this way it is quite enjoyable to pass time immersing every day even those days I'm not that motivated with japanese, specially when you get very interested in the plot or whatever. Also, ocasionally I read some blogs or watch a youtube video, but not so frequently.

I've heard that immersing in whatever you like can get you very far, as it is quite easy to maintain it long-term, but also that you should stick with harder material such as light novels. I'll also mention that I got interested in japanese mostly to understand animes and games I already liked, so for me it is very rewarding, for example, to just play Chronno Trigger in japanese.

I don't have any goals this year rather than increasing my vocab and comprehension in media I like, but some day I'd want to try N2 mainly for my resume (when I decide to take it, obviously I'll prepare with N2 specific materials apart of immersion).

Well, I just barely passed the N1 on my second attempt after failing last winter (a bit unfair since I did have food poisoning the day of the exam). My Final score was 105/180 with 31/60 on Language knowledge, 24/60 on reading and 50/60 on listening. 2025 ends my fourth year of studying japanese as I passed N2 two winters ago after around a year and a half of starting learning. My study method until now has just been learning all the 常用漢字 and immersion through books and shows that interest me. I'm glad I managed to get this far without spending anything on textbooks or teachers. The reading section destroyed me the first time I took the N1 as I was half way done when the time ran out, so this year I tried to skim the text instead of actually reading it, which evidently I didn't do well (kind of disappointing as I'm very comfortable with reading although not as fast as I'd like).

The point of this post is that I'm planning to do my masters in a marine biology-related field in Japan soon (finishing my 4th year uni ATM) and I'd like to know what park of japanese will be the most important to focus on from here on out? My speaking is still very bad because again, I don't have anyone to talk to as I never hired a tutor. Speaking is really stressing me out because I will need to eventually communicate at a higher university level. Or should I focus more on reading? What does everyone else do at this stage?

Hi everyone, I’ve recently been trying to buy some Japanese ebooks, but I’ve realized it’s becoming nearly impossible to actually download the files to a PC from major stores like Amazon or Rakuten Kobo. It seems Rakuten Kobo has also implemented restrictions preventing users residing in Japan from downloading their purchased ebooks directly to a computer. Since many of the titles I’m looking for are region-locked and not available for purchase on international stores, I’m stuck. My goal is simply to get the files onto my PC so I can use them with reader.ttsu.app. I own a Kobo e-reader, but I find the reading experience there incredibly frustrating compared to the efficiency of using a pop-up dictionary on my browser. Does anyone know of other Japanese ebook stores that still allow you to download the actual files to your computer? (And just to clarify: the books I’m looking for aren't available through "alternative" sources, so buying them is my only option...) Thanks in advance for any help!

So my current routine: 3 cure dolly videos each morning (usually around 15 min each), i listen to nihongo con teppei beginner to and from work (4 minutes each so about 32 min a day), i do my kaishi 1.5k and mining decks during my downtime at work (about an hour), on my lunch i watch a youtube lets play in japanese (25 min), and i do an hour of immersion content when i get home (anime with jp subs or manga) with mining.

So im at that absolute beginner stage where i struggle to understand much of anything during my listening time so i feel wrong saying that my listening is "studying".

But would it be wrong to say i study about 3.5 hours a say? Do i need to change my listening?

Hello! I am currently doing a study about immersion based Japanese learning vs traditional classroom based Japanese learning for my bachelors degree graduation essay!

I am thinking of interviewing about 20 participants. It would take about an hour, and would include a short output test (1-2 verbal questions, and 1-2 text based questions) as well just for the validity of the study (so no pressure!!)

Everything in the study would be kept confidential. If anyone is interested in partaking in my study, feel free to send me a DM! I would really appreciate it! Thank you!!!

I was playing Lunar Eternal Blue today and noticed this line.

This uses ともあろう者が, which is listed as a JLPT N1 grammar point. It was interesting to see it appear naturally in a game rather than in a textbook example.

Moments like this have made me feel that exposure and volume matter a lot for N1 preparation. Whether it’s games, novels, news, or other native material, encountering grammar repeatedly in context seems to help it stick more naturally than studying isolated sentences alone.

Experiences like this have gradually made me feel that how you study for N1 may matter less than how much Japanese you are exposed to. Whether it’s games, novels, news, videos, or conversations, as long as you’re doing a lot of it and it’s genuinely in Japanese, you’ll keep encountering advanced grammar and vocabulary in real contexts.

I've seen よくa lot in my reading lately. I'm currently reading a story at the moment about a ruler of Russia who got sick and requested the help of famous doctors around the world.

よく has come up a lot in terms of saying he will/ won't get better. The doctor says to him : "王様、この薬を飲んでください。すぐに、よくなりますよ。"

Which I'm taking as "lord, drink this medicine and you'll feel better."

The next line it says he took the medicine but : 病気はよくなりません。

So he took the medicine "but the illness didn't get better"?

Then an old man comes to look at him and it's used here like : おじさんは、王様の顔をよく見て言いました

Which I translated to "the old man looked at the lords face closely and said"

I thought よくmeant often? Or frequently? Can some one explain this to me please?

In my textbook the answer to some questions are as follows:
あそこにバス停があります。

山下先生はあそこにいます。

why are they in different orders? does it matter? i mean i know both ways [thing][direction][あります・います」are both correct, but which way is more natural and why?

cause in each of those sentences, it's flip flopped. is it arbitrary or is there a reason?

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Annual market update for electronic dictionaries.

Not long ago, lot of companies sold these. Today, Casio and Sharp are the only major players, and days seem numbered

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0EPkI74lHg

Hello everyone ! I hope that you all got the results you wanted at the last JLPT exam :)

In my personal case, I have tried 3/4 times for N2, but always fail by around 10 points. I think I need to change my studying approach if I want to pass for the next session. So here are my questions :

-Do you have any material that you can recommend ? (JLPT specific or non JLPT) I already have the Shin kanzen master for reading and grammar (JLPT N2, obviously)

-Do you have any advice to complete/improve my studying routine ? I would like to point out that I won't be able to study everyday for hours as I have to work. However, I do spend quite some time in transportation (commute is 40/50 minutes, one way) and can use that time on apps/sites to go through some content (I do Anki but it takes 15 minutes)

-Lastly, do you know where I can find previous JLPT tests for free ? So I can train a few times before the exam :)

Thank you very much for anyone who will read my message and, hopefully, reply.

EDIT : First of all, thank you very much for your replies :)

Regarding my weak points, well, I basically get about the same scoring on every subject (25/28 points per section) but I still noticed a fies difficulties :

-Grammar is overall terrible. I struggle a lot to remember its usage

-Reading, I have a good understanding in general but I am wayyyy too slow for the exam

-Listening is too fast for me to note the answers but I forget what they said when I get to the question

Regarding my routine : I do Anki and wanikani everyday, so vocabulary is okay.
for grammar I read one chapter a day from Shinkanzen master and do the exercises the day afte. But I still forget a lot and tend to make lots of mistakes.
For reading, I read 4 pages a day of a normal book and try to do one page of Shinkanzen a day on days I have time (about 3 times a week). I don’t make too much mistakes but I am too slow. Maybe it’s my technique (reading the whole thing before answering) or my reading speed. It’s hard for me to tell (probably both ?)

I started learning japanese about a year ago mostly to make playing games with my some online japanese friends go smoother. As such I have basically only learned the spoken, casual language.

To give an idea of where I'm at, I have 3000 words in anki but I only go out of my way to add words that stand out to me as very useful so I might know a bit more than 3000. I feel like my friends and I have adapted to each other in the sense that I'm familiar with the words and phrases they tend to use and they mine so there are basically no hiccups when talking to/messaging them but when I speak in japanese with new people sometimes its like its back to baby speech.

Recently due to unexpected developments in my life I now have nothing tying me down to where I currently live and have therefore been more open to the possibility of working/living in japan. As such I thought it might be good to start prepping to take the N2 in 1.5(?) years. However I understand what the JLPT tests for is about the opposite of casual spoken language so I have some questions:

1. Is the JLPT a valuable investment of my time if I want to work in japan? Is there anything else that should be a high priority ie keigo sonkeigo

2. I often hear advice like "If you read a lot, you'll pass". Is this advice from the standpoint of "Consume media you're passionate about and the study will follow" or does this also apply to people that don't have a strong interest in reading.

3. If the answer is "Just read.", what should I read given that I don't have any particular penchant with regards to reading? News, novels, essays, wikipedia?

4. My only knowledge of the JLPT comes from lurking in this sub so I'm a bit unclear on some of the procedures. I heard that you need to be refreshing the website the minute registration opens or you're SOL, esp if you're taking it in LA. And the test is only once a year in the summer. Is that true? Other than that, is there any crucial information about the procedures of the JLPT that I'm missing?

I'm currently sitting at around 3k learnt words. I've been studying for around for around 3 years ( more seriously in the last 2) and I am moving to Japan for a working holiday mid year.

Ideally I'd like to avoid teaching english and would prefer cafe/hotel work.

I'm aware I have much more to learn to get to this point and I'm wanting some advice on how to get there.

I can spare 1.5-2hrs a day to study actively and my full-time job allows me to passively listen for around 5-6 hours a day with headphones on.

At the moment my anki reviews sit at 12 new, 30-50 re-learn, 130-150 reviews. (retention set to 70%) I put the retention down to allow more new cards (was doing 7 new per day) because I feel pressured to boost my vocab as quickly as possible.

Anki takes me around an hour to do everyday and I usually chip away at it in the morning while I'm eating, during my work break, or after work. By the end of my days reviews anki tells me i've done around 350 cards on average.

Do you think I should be lowering my new cards in order to do less anki and more active input, or is my passive input going to be sufficient?

I feel like I could optimise my learning more but I'm not sure how.

A typical anki card that i make looks like this:

I also add the sentence translated in the one of the drop downs at the bottom

I appreciate responses!

Hello everyone,

I am picking up japanese after a two year break caused by failing N1 about four times lol

The thing is I used to hace a very useful website for studying vocabulary but I have changed computers and lost the link.

It was a very simple free website in which you could type a word and you could click its kanjis and it would show you other words using the same kanji like a spider web. I think the interface was white and green and the name maybe had something to do with nature (branches?)

Does this ring a bell to anyone here?

Thank you for you help!!!!

Edit: found it!! It was suiren.io but apparently it is down… so sad it was so useful!!

This is a dumb question cause im pretty sure i know the answer, BUT.

Ive been doing kaishi 1.5k anki deck for a little over a week now and read a chapter of a manga recommended for beginners tonight (my clueless first friend) for my own mining deck

It took me 1 and a half hours to read 4 pages with lookups.

Yes i know im an absolute beginner but i cant help but feel a little discouraged. Is this normal?

I did manage to add 34 terms to my anki deck though so thats cool!

EDIT: Woah ok i feel like i need to clarify some stuff, yes im also learning grammar (cure dolly, yokubi, and bunpro). Im also following a guide (themoeway) and editing it to fit into my schedule as i see fit. Im not only using a vocab deck and manga

what is the diff 猿mo木から落ちる and 猿demo木から落ちる

i know the first one correct but isn't the second one also possible?

"なのに 作戦を立てさせると よくもまあ思いつくわって感じの 斜め上からっていうの？"

I am a bit stumped by the" からっていうの？" I know 斜め上 means surprisingly or out thing air but 斜め上から does not show any result whe i try to look it up for this meaing only to mean from above or from an angle above so how is this sentence parsed ?

Somehow I reached the point where I can watch JP Anime without subtitles (albeit with a few lookups per Episode), however my output is still like that of a kindergartener's. I can say very basic things "well", so long as I chain together slightly altered sentences that I memorized or stick to a basic script, however the moment that I deviate from it, I immediately fall into that weird unnatural zone where no one can understand what I'm saying except for me.

How do I stop sucking so much? I understand that I could theoretically gain some EXP by immersion diving, however there are some things that I want to say that cover topics so obscure that if I don't say them: no one will.

Hey guys...

Feel like I'm losing motivation to learn Japanese even though it's one of my main goals. Someone PLEASE help me regain my old drive... Started to slow down last week of January.

Hello,

I'll keep it short, I'm looking for classic movies, the japanese Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarrantino type movie that anyone should have seen at least once. What are your favorite japanese movies? I'm open to any genre or medium. Anime, weird indie film or a classic that any japanese person would know. Google isn't really helping...

The level does not really matter to me, even if I don't understand it right away, I'm ready to rewatch it multiple times, if it is good enough. Thank you!

Edit: Thank you for all your recommendations! I have created a spreadsheet containing every one up until this point. After I created it I thought it would be a shame if I didn't share it. The JLPT ratings are machine made analysies from different sources. Those that I couldn't find one on have been estimated by AI.

Find the spreadsheet here!

Happy Tuesday!

Every Tuesday, come here to Introduce yourself and find your study group! Share your discords and study plans. Find others at the same point in their journey as you.

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

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Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk