Learning Japanese: 2 Months In

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Hey everyone, it’s time for an update on the new addiction I wrote about recently: learning how to read, write, and speak Japanese. If you’d like to read a bit more into why I started in the first place, along with what I did to get started, check out that article here!

Let’s get into where I’m at after a little more than 2 months of studying every day. Sorry in advance for the length of the article, I have a lot to say! Make use of the headers to get to the sections that interest you.

行きましょう!

2-Month Progress Update

Wow, two months have flown by. That’s always the case with the holidays, isn’t it? For the FIThinking crew, hopefully that also means you’ve made some great progress on your goals that also feels like it flew by!

My Japanese learning and comprehension have accelerated a lot in those two months! From serious vocabulary increases to understanding grammar, here’s what I’ve done, how I did it, and what I plan on doing going forward.

How I Started Learning Japanese (日本語）

My friend Jarrad and I have been friends for over 10 years now and we both have a passion for Japanese culture. We challenged each other to learn Japanese to prepare for a visit to Japan in 2-3 years, attending the Japanese Final Fantasy FanFest in the process.

Diving In

I jumped headfirst into studying to build a foundation, just like I always do. To start learning Japanese I had to shift my mindset to match a child’s (thanks to my own 4 year old for helping me with this!). When I say this, I mean that I had to focus on learning the most basic aspects of any language: elementary-level grammar and vocabulary. Oh, and learning two entirely separate alphabets that are nothing like what we have in English: Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana (カタカナ).

I learned Hiragana and Katakana in about two weeks, after which I started to look into additional resources that could help me learn faster. This brings us to the next section: Japanese learning apps!

Learning Apps

There are a ton of apps that are focused on language learning. There are so many that it’s actually hard to find one that will work for you (hint: there won’t be just one). The burden of selection at its finest! Here are the apps I’ve used so far with my thoughts.

Duolingo

To gain my footing in the language I scooped up Duolingo. Duolingo is a very popular language-learning app available on both iOS, Android, and browsers. It was absolutely fantastic for learning Hiragana and Katakana, and I don’t think I could recommend a better way for someone to get these down pat. There’s also no need to pay for the subscription at this level, since this section has no limits on how many times you can make mistakes. Win!

Once you finish learning the alphabet, though, you start learning proper Japanese. Duolingo’s curriculum is extremely formal, resulting in sentences that sound unnatural in conversation. Here’s an example.

• “I’m David” (Formal Duolingo-style): 「私の名前はデビトです」
  • Literally: “My name is David”
• “I’m David” (Conversational style): 「デビトです」
  • Literally: “Am David”
  • English equivalent: “I’m David.”
    From an educational perspective, knowing the textbook language is important. Formal publications like newspapers or textbooks write like this, and it’s the correct way to talk to your seniors or people that “outrank” you socially. Conversation is typically much more casual, though, and that’s why I’ve found alternatives for the bulk of my learning.

Satori Reader

Satori Reader, available on iOS and Android, has stories and articles written in in Japanese that are aimed specifically at Japanese learners. Every sentence is read by a native speaker, and selecting sentences (or even words) pops the definition up with an ability to add them to a study deck for flash cards!

This one has a subscription tied to the later content, but that’s a ways down the road for me. I’ve enjoyed it here and there, but I’m focused more on other resources right now. I’ll be spending a lot more time in Satori Reader in the coming months!

WaniKani

WaniKani is a web app, and man is it amazing. It focuses on teaching you the fundamental Kanji, around 2,000 kanji and 6,000 vocabulary words, through SRS flashcards. There are 60 levels, and a monthly subscription (or lifetime purchase) is required to get past Level 3. For reference, I’m just starting Level 3 and I’ve been at it every day for about a month.

It starts off slow, but wow does it pick up after Level 1. There are so many to learn that it feels overwhelming, even starting Level 3, but as I’m staying consistent with the program it’s just working. Like with everything, consistency is key for the compound effect to work. And working, it is – according to WaniKani, I’ve learned 255 kanji already!

As a fun FYI, WaniKani typically has a sale on their lifetime access around Christmas time. Definitely worth looking at if you’re in the market (or have a loved one that is)!

Books

Wow. Grammar is an entirely different beast in Japanese. It starts off feeling like it will be fairly straightforward, but you’ll eventually hit a wall and think, “wait…what?” and feel like you’re starting over again.

Grammar could be learned through just reading and native content immersion. I want the formal education to fully understand what I’m reading, though. That’s where the Genki textbooks and workbooks come into play.

Genki (げんき) Revision 3, Levels 1 & 2

Genki is referred to by most of the Japanese-learning community as the best way to learn Japanese grammar. Having done a lot of research into alternatives, I think they’re probably right.
After watching all of TokiniAndy’s videos covering every section of Genki Level 1, I got the Genki Level 1 Workbook and started pushing through the activities.

What an amazing resource, guys.

The books cover the basics and spell them out clearly, while the workbook lets you apply the grammar in simple but challenging ways. Pairing this with TokiniAndy’s videos helped everything click. It’s awesome.

Jarrad, my partner in Japanese-learning crime, got me the Genki Level 2 textbook and workbook, which I’m crazy excited to get into in January. I spend about 15-20 minutes going through the workbook most mornings as I wait for my pre-workout supplement to kick in for my morning workout.

YouTube

YouTube is fantastic for pretty much everything. We all know that. But there are some really great resources for anyone learning Japanese, from beginner to advanced.

TokiniAndy

As mentioned before, ToKiniAndy is a must-have resource for learning Japanese. He goes through every section of the Genki textbooks, summarizing every lesson in a very digestible way. He also has entertaining videos talking about how he’s expanding his own vocabulary, and the differences between simple but challenging grammar concepts.

Japanese Ammo with Misa

Misa is a Japanese woman with a channel focused on teaching from the perspective of a Japanese native. She’s funny, smart, and makes great videos that provide a ton of value on real-world Japanese.

That Japanese Man Yuta

Yuta is hilarious. He has interesting videos interviewing people in Japan while providing another perspective on the language from a native Japanese person’s perspective.

GameGengo

Man, this is the holy grail. GameGengo is a channel that covers SO MUCH content using video games as points of reference! For any self-proclaimed nerd, this guy is required viewing.

He covers all of the grammar, verbs, nouns, etc. from N5, N4, and N3 levels of the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) using video game clips as references. He also gives all of the same from the Genki textbooks.

Interested in supplementing your studies with video games? GameGengo has you covered – he has tier lists for both PC and Nintendo Switch with detailed explanations of each game and how they can help you. Seriously amazing.

Immersion Learning

This is my favorite kind of learning, and arguably the best way to learn any new language. Immersion means that you’re engaging with native Japanese content. That can be manga, anime, video games, live TV…anything that forces you to engage without the support of English subtitles. Here’s how I’ve begun my immersion learning.

Manga

We have an incredible Japanese shop in the Chicago suburbs, the only one that I’ve found in the area. It serves as a Japanese book/manga/anime store while also selling groceries and authentic Japanese food from restaurants. Having lived in Okinawa for two years (over 10 years ago), finding this was just…so good.

I finally made it to the shop and got a bunch of native content to sink my teeth into for the next 6 months to a year. Here’s a list of my haul and a photo to go along with it!

• Yotsubato! (よつばと!) – Volumes 1, 2, and 3
• Demon Slayer (鬼滅の刃) – Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4
• Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール) – Volumes 17, 18, and 19 (Start of Dragonball Z)
• One Punch Man (ワンパンマン) – Volume 1
• Genki 1 Rev. 3 (げんき) Workbook

Anime

I’ve been using NordVPN to access an amazing catalog of native Japanese anime with Japanese subtitles on Netflix. Just choose Japan as your VPN proxy, log into Netflix, and voila – a TON of great immersion content. My wife and I are watching Dr. Stone「ドクターストーン」before bed. Highly recommended show!

Video Games

Ah, we made it to my bread and butter. As a huge nerd that loves games, the entirety of my gaming time has moved to Japanese.

How, you ask? Well, let me just say that Nintendo Switch is pretty much a must for anyone looking to get into gaming in Japanese. It has an amazing game catalog in English and portability as selling points, yes – those are awesome.

The true value, though, comes from first-party Nintendo games: you can play them all in English or Japanese.

How To Play Switch Games in Japanese

Playing first-party Switch games in Japanese super easy and can be done in a couple of ways.

1. Go to your system settings and change your region to 日本語
2. Create a separate Nintendo account and select Japan as the region when going through the setup. Link this to your Switch and choose that account (I named mine JPN) when launching your games to play in full Japanese.

What I’m Playing to Learn Japanese

My go-to experience right now is Pokemon Violet, which I got for my youngest daughter who’s obsessed with Pokemon. Pretty nice perk to be able to play through in Japanese for my own studies on the side!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is also amazing, with a ton of slice-of-life dialog and useful vocabulary. Aside from these, I’ve used that Japanese account to download demos of several games that were extremely highly-rated by GameGengo on his Nintendo Switch Tier List, like Buddy Mission Bond 「バディミッションBOND」.

This is a challenge at first, requiring a lot of lookup using a dictionary app. I personally don’t play for more than an hour or so at a time right now. As you get used to it, though, things get more fluid and the process is a LOT of fun. If you do try this, I’d recommend making it through Genki 1 and being around N5 level.

Japanese Learning Progress: 2 Months In

All right, so how far along am I? Well, according to Duolingo I’ve learned 683 words. I’ve also been consistent with WaniKani, which has helped me learn an additional 255 kanji. So in total, I’m at over 900 (not over 9,000 unfortunately) words learned – not bad!

I’m able to piece together what I read as I look things up and my reading speed and comprehension are improving every day, but I’ve got so much further to go. 2023 will be a fun year for sure! Speaking of which…how will I continue learning Japanese in 2023?

Plan For 2023

Ah, my favorite part: locking in a plan for personal growth. I’ll be focusing on the process first and foremost. The goals are nice to shoot for, but I know that as long as I stay consistent I’ll get there eventually.

Here’s where I’d like to be, along with what I’ll be doing to try and get there.

1. Complete Genki 1 and Genki 2 (both Textbooks and Workbooks)
   • Daily focus on workbook studies, 15-20 minutes each day
2. Reach Level 40 in WaniKani
   • Daily focus on kanji studies, 30-60 minutes total each day
3. Finish my current manga haul
   • 3 volumes (1, 2, 3) of 「よつばと!」(Yotsubato!)
   • 3 volumes (17, 18, 19) of 「ドラゴンボール」(Dragonball)
   • 4 volumes (1, 2, 3, 4) of 「鬼滅の刃」(Demon Slayer)
   • 1 volume (1) of 「ワンパンマン」(One Punch Man)
   • 1 volume (1) of 「進撃の巨人」(Attack on Titan)
4. Finish 2 games in Japanese
   • Daily study and play to expand vocabulary
     • 「ポケットモンスターバイオレット」(Pokemon Violet)
     • 「クロノ・トリガー」(Chrono Trigger, my favorite game of all time)
5. Take and pass the N4 JLPT
   • Study, study, study. I’ll take practice tests for N5 and N4 and will take the test in December!
6. Take a solo trip to Japan for a week (my amazing wife’s idea!)
   • Research a good time to go and book the trip [using travel rewards]
   • Document the whole thing on video and make a vlog

Sound off in the comments if you have any thoughts or suggestions!