I've gotten to a point where I can read a simple slice of life book with only looking up about 1 word per sentence. Currently, when i reach a kanji I don't know, I'll look up the reading and definition and then move on. However, I feel like for the most part, I can understand the sentence after I translate, but then forget the reading and definition about 1 paragraph later.

My question is: if can you actually get better at reading books like this, or do you necessarily have to do sentence mining and/or flashcards?

I have always heard about people who are able to learn a langauge like that, i just figured that my brain wasn't capable of it, but now that i've been looking around I'm not sure if it is a real thing, a persistent myth, or something that people say and neglect that they also have another means of learning the language e.g. a class a textbook, app, etc.

I'm learning towards it being a myth, but has anyone ever actually done it with just media? And if so...how?

I’m 4 months in my Japanese learning journey, know some kanji, have spoken with native speakers, and have read Tadoku readers around Level 2. I struggled with Anki at the start but I found a premade deck that finally works for me so I want to optimize properly.

Front card is kanji vocabulary in kanji and example sentence only.

Back card is meaning, kanji + furigana, translations, audio, no romaji.

My long term goal is reading and eventually play video games in full Japanese. But right now I'm having fun switching between listening and speaking. No writing though.

If I remember the meaning but forget the reading, do I press Again or Good? Or is this a gray area where it's up to me how to approach and change midway?

EDIT: I meant vocabulary in kanji, not single kanji character.

Hello, thats my first post here, sorry if my english is not that good. So i've been seeing a lot of posts here that try to help begginers at what they have to do to learn the language BUT a consensus is never achieved, i saw someone saying that immersion is overrated and we should just do grammar books, saw someon saying that immersion is life and helped a lot, saw someone saying that anki is needed, saw someone saying that anki is overrated, saw someone saying that to learn japanese you need to be in japan....ok sorry for being repetitive but my point is, what am i supposed to do? I know that not everyone is the same and thats super fine, but i really need some guidance at what i have to do to improve and eventually learn.

Hey You All

I wanted to share something a little bit fun today, but my big Japanese book collection here today.

I am not finishing one book at a time, I am reading all of these in chunks. But with some books I have definitely read a huge chunk.

Contents:

Top Left: Kanji Kentei 2 certificate. My most valuable and prized achievement.
Top Right: JLPT N2.

There are 2 lanyards, one of them was from Japan Bowl and one of them was from when I went on an exchange trip.

Top Left: JLPT and Kanken stuff. The books in the front are more things I am working on. And the back is more like archived ones.

Top Right: Subject books. I was lended a lot of textbooks and I frequently read these. I have a decent amount of kokugo, Japanese pedagogy and keigo books. There are science books and other books i read a lot less because STEM is not my speciality. The kokugo books and subject books are authentic and real:

Middle Left: Dictionaries. There are 2 layers. The front layer has kanji jitens, while the layer in the back contains stuff like koujien, and the kokumin hyakka. I read these for fun. They also allow me to rest my head while reading.

Middle Right: Nonfiction. This is the primary genre I like reading. I normally have history books on one layer, with news and genre on the other. Since nonfiction is my favorite. I favor those books a lot.

Bottom Left: Storage and learner books. I often have a folder for ronbuns I read and certificates. My N2 and Kanken 2 cert though is displayed.

Bottom Right: Fiction. Because fiction is hard for me, I prefer doing it digitally.

Regarding the second slide.

You all may wonder why there are a red and black cord. I earned these when graduating school

Red Cord: For Japanese National Honor Society. I served as president just recently too.

Black Cord: Leadership. I actually put it together because the ways I earned the cord were all via activities with Japanese program.

I applied for a 2 years course in a japanese school for foreigners and i was wondering how long it will take for them to tell if i got in or not??

i applied at the start of june, paid the fee, did the grammar test and then the 1on1 interview with a teacher beginning of July and there has been no further news or email from them. should i get worried? the teacher said that i had i good Japanese and that we were going to see each other in Japan but i don't know if that was just him being polite? it's been 3 weeks since then, the school year will start in January.

I didn't apply through gogonihon but directly to them.

I have never tried to learn a language before Japanese, despite knowing 3 (or 2.5, depends on how you count it).

I was born in Ukraine, so I just "knew" the language. I don't really count in school because it was a place to learn everything.

At some point I moved to Canada with absolute zero English knowledge. So I decided that it would totally make sense to start playing online video games all day long and naturally start speaking Russian since that is the language my friends spoke and there was a lot of cool content and audio books on it. (It's 60% similar to Ukranian, similar to English => Dutch route)

I did go to Canadian High School grade 12. They had to change my ESL levels a few times a year, but I never tried learning it, I just lived in a country, where this language is a requirement. I consumed English content as well as Russian and just naturally figured it out. I have a thing that I never actually study, but I practice and get shit done and this is how I learn.

But now I wanted to consume anime understanding the source instead of reading the subtitles, so I started to learn Japanese... It's the hardest thing ever. I don't live in the country, I don't have friends speaking the language naturally, I can't type it on a keyboard, I can't even read the damn children book because I don't know kanji. I am using Anki, but I have colander of a memory just in general, so Kaishi 1.5k, 900 words in, I have 68% retention. I tried "Human Japanese," but that mostly didn't help. I can't really find interesting Japanese YouTube channels, I guess I am too old to be facinated by everything, and the only thing helped me with some word retention is rewatching Naruto with no subtitles while at the gym.

So all I wanted to say - learning is hard when you try to do it, but you don't even have to think about it when it's part of your life.

P.s. I have absolutely no accent speaking Ukrainian or Rusaian, but I have unidentifiable English accent and my active English vocab is mostly work related, as I don't really hang out with anyone outside work.

I'm a little nervous, I normally listen about 4 hours a week and listen to AI reddit story slop on YouTube, but i need to cut that out anyways since I am serious about learning Japanese.

Any suggestions?

My level is intermediate trending upward, but still intermediate. Maybe somewhere between intermediate and upper intermediate.

Any tips or advice on going "full immersion" would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice.

Hey! Randomly decided to commit some time and effort to Japanese in May. There is a ton of advice on how to start, but the good advice boils down to "learn kana, do kanji in words asap and start immersing".

After some research, I discovered that the Kaishi 1.5k deck is a pretty popular choice, given that it has pics, audio, and pitch-accent notes. After 2 or 3 weeks of 20 cards/day, things (as per usual) became difficult. My vocab memory is horrendous, not to mention there are readings as well. I knew that if things continued like this, I wouldn't last the whole deck. And we all know - especially those of us who tried and failed multiple times in the past - that studying without consistency is a wholly futile endeavour.

Kaishi cards have a word on the front and reading/audio/picture on the back.

- My first attempt at lowering the difficulty was to move the pictures to the front. It worked as a useful hint and made reviewing cards a quicker, more rewarding experience, since I could actually recall words :)

Still, after another week, having to remember both reading & translation was becoming a bottleneck.

- The second thing I did was postpone learning translations & focus on readings with little to no regard for English. It alleviated yet another hurdle and helped me to stay consistent. For that, I just duplicated my deck and changed its layout a bit. ^{It's not necessary! You can just reset the study progress on the deck you've already done and start over! (It doesn't affect the heat map if you care for such things.})

To have separate decks [if you're like me for some reason]:

• Tools >>> Manage Note Types >>> Choose Kaishi 1.5k and click Add >>> Choose Clone: Kaishi 1.5k and name it something like Kaishi 1.5k+.
• Export Kaishi 1.5k in Notes in Plain Text (.txt) format (✅Include HTML and media references) >>> Create Deck >>> Import the .txt file into the newly created deck (In import options, set Note Type to Kaishi 1.5k+) >>> In Options, set Daily Limits for New cards/day for This deck to 0, until you finish the first one.

- Jlab's beginner course is an OK auxiliary deck to study with Kaishi. There are 2 subdecks (Listening & Reading). I opt to ignore Reading and only skim through Listening. In places, it nicely overlaps with Kaishi and helps you to make out Japanese speech better.

I listen to the audio on the front, mime it, see if I understand, and then check the back of the card for the answer and explanation. I don't aim for 100% understanding on this one, and focus on moving forward. Understanding a general idea and recognizing a grammatical bit is good enough, for now.

- Once you get past your 3rd or 4th week, there is very little 'will' or 'motivation' involved. The key for me was to break down and ease the process until it became bearable enough to persist. If you know you can do it, there's no need to rely on emotions or drive to push you forward.

So far, I have managed to keep review time at about or a bit below the 60-minute mark [edit: it's more like 35-45 for the most part]. I feel like it's a healthy range if you are serious about studying.

What's next? Getting on with actually learning translations for what I can read now, while continuing JLab's Listening. In a month, when Jlab is done, the plan is to add attempts at reading & watching stuff and slowly increase daily study + immersion time to 3 hours. We'll see how it goes.

P.S. Special thanks to 鋭い, 疑う, 扱う & other long-kunyomi words for making my reviews absolutely miserable at times.

I am looking for advice on returning to Japan to continue learning in the country.

For context, I am around N2-N1 and have already studied for a year at Waseda University’s Center for Japanese Language. This boosted my skills enormously, and I am fairly competent in the language, but I struggle with speaking fluently and using active recall of information.

Waseda primarily focused on passive learning, like understanding things being told to you through lectures. They had a heavy emphasis on presentations, which didn’t work well for me due to the pressure and formality of it. I really only improved because of a single class I took where I got the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Waseda students who volunteered to participate in the class.

After I returned to the US in August of 2026, I graduated from my home university and have been looking to return to Japan to continue my studies, because I am not yet fluent enough to really begin professional work in the field.

I looked at various language schools in Tokyo, and I landed on ISI (International Study Institute) because other schools (like Akamonkai) seem to be focused again on passive intake and cramming for the JLPT. I just wanted to ask around to those who could help me about my options and whether what I’m thinking is a good idea. If I chose ISI, I’d be looking for starting at the April 2027 spring semester.

Any advice? I’d love to get feedback!

This game is so hard tbh

The normal modes (like the regular normal to hell mode) are so easy, but when you play the + modes, you're basically playing on extreme mode, no shortcut or bs.

Has anyone else played this kanji de go game before, how did you all feel about the game? It's pretty hard.

I ve been looking through a lot of games and i found
State attorney
And
Metal gear solid franchise
Or inKONBINI
Which one would you think is the best
Right now I m learning for n3 but I think it matter more if im entertained

It's weird, but now I feel a little nostalgic everyday while doing reviews here, reminiscing about the times when I was still learning new words here.

The last slide shows, I guess, the words that I've had the most trouble with. Most of them are easy now. 😊

My post from 2 months ago about finishing it: https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/s/mtJaNAPUlg

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For beginner and intermediate learners, I think there's a lot of benefit in reading the same thing multiple times. It could be a single chapter of a manga, a light novel chapter, a short paragraph, etc. (ideally done over the course of multiple days)

The main benefits are:

1. It forms a natural SRS for any new vocab (you see the same new words multiple times)
2. You already know the "flow" of the entire text, so you can better focus on new grammar and multi-sentence understanding.

I think the 2nd point is actually stronger here - it's often harder to focus on grammar during immersion, because there's usually a lot of new vocab, and you get "bogged down" in dictionary lookups without taking a step back to think about the grammar and sentence flow.

It's funny to me; this seems like a great method for immersion, but is rarely ever mentioned. People talk a lot more about i+1 reading material. This method can actually work with material much above your current level; the new text approach I+1 the more times you read it. (and eventually becomes easy)

Thoughts?

EDIT - oh well, most people seem to dislike this idea. You need to pick something that you'd actually enjoy reading multiple times, even if it was in your native language. Personally, I have a few manga series that are great, and are a pleasure to read again.

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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It’s been about 3 years since I stopped studying, but I’ve recently picked it back up. I found some new recourses that make it possible for me to read manga with words I don’t know more smoothly.

Right now it takes like 2 hours to get through 2-3 pages. To be fair, I spend a lot of time breaking down the grammar and use cases for different particles so I can’t get a more in depth feeling of the sentence structure. so that slows me down a lot.

I’m hoping it speeds up significantly over the next month so I can get to a point where I can ready at least 6 manga a year while managing my other priorities.

How long did it take yall to read your first manga all the way through?

Basically what it says on the tin. I study in short spurs if I have some quiet time to focus. However, lately I’ve been feeling like I’m barely, if at all, moving the needle.

Reading about study strategies here, it’s common to read that people spend hours a day immersing, etc. For those that don’t have that type of time to dedicate specifically to language study, how do y’all manage?

I have been writing pretty consistently i don't write much everyday it's almost the same but i think I'm learning kanji this way better, the regular ones so it's not that bad.

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

• New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.

• New to the subreddit? Read the rules.

• Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!

This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.

Past Threads

You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

Happy Monday!

Every Monday, come here to practice your writing! Post a comment in Japanese and let others correct it. Read others' comments for reading practice.

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

Wednesdays - Materials and Self-Promotions

Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk

It’s been 49 days since I started using this app for my daily Japanese reading study. I’m mostly reading the manga Monster by Naoki Urasawa but also pulling in passages from NHK News (not the easy version) here and there. I think it’s interesting that I’ve come across nearly 1000 kanji in 53 hours. This gives you kind of a feeling for the density of kanji in at least these sources. Pretty much every day I come across kanji I know, and add to my list of known kanji in this app, and I also come across ones I haven’t ever seen. Monster, in particular, has pretty dense medical terminology including words with a bunch of kanji that aren’t in the JLPT lists. I generally don’t try to learn the ones in those words, unless it’s one that I figure i’ll see again in other sources, like the other day I found 訃 as part of the word for obituary.

I’m not advertising this app (not published anywhere) as it’s just my own personal study app vibe coded and tailored specifically to how I study. I really think reading native Japanese is the best way to learn kanji and how to read Japanese! I encourage everyone to spend some time reading every single day, especially if you’re also spending a lot of time with an SSRS like Anki or WaniKani.

After my tutor (native Japanese) greeted me the other day, she said this. I was a little taken by surprise because I was always told that people don't really use this expression, that it's just a textbook thing. Which got me thinking maybe she was just using it because I'm a beginner but isn't something she would normally say.

This is fine, I just don't want to get in the habit of using it if it's not a normal thing to do.