I started studying japanese early May of 2025. Disclosure: I have studied it for 2 semesters at college, 10 years ago, but barely remembered the kana. 2025 I re-learned the kana... And started studying kanji from day 1 (I had never studied more than 100 kanjis in the past). I started following the Minna no Nihongo book. Did the entire 25 lessons from May to December. In the early months (Jun/Jul) I also played Wagotabi at my phone. Ago I started playing Monster Hunter Stories, and played around 29 hours of it. Just in November I got better at reading, and could read the ミラーさん novel (that is a graded reader for who finished the first Minna no Nihongo book). December I tried reading some mangas, but the only one that I have success and also loved was よつばと. I ended up reading the first 3 volumes. I also tried to read an child's book of かぐや姫. It was really hard, but I did it with a dictionary. I also watched some eps of Doraemon, in Japanese, no subtitles. I can't understand everything, but I feel I can generally follow the story nicely. During 2025 I also studied all N5 kanjis, and about 30% of N4 kanjis. My Anki deck has 3.000+ cards.... Generally sentences with adjectives, verbs and vocabulary in context, using kanji (even ones I didn't even studied how to write).
Next Steps: In 2026 I intended to reach N4 level. And I want be able to read some easy novels. I study an average of about 1h/day, Sunday to Sunday. Can't do more than that.
I'm about N3 and I don't think I'll be able to survive an episode of doraemon without Japanese subtitles lol. Lots of input is good, but I think it's only effective when you can get something out of those inputs.
Wish you the best in N4
Sure I can't understand much of what is said, but still it's super gratifying finding the word I just studied in an episode kkk Also, It's hard to explain, but I'm having an easier time watching Doraemon than reading the manga. People say the manga is supposed to be easy, but not for me. I'm reading Yotsuba and can't read Doraemon 😅 hard to explain. (Also, Yotsuba story is more interesting to me... It makes me laugh)
I've not read any Doraemon manga but maybe I should start haha
It's not that fun to me... I find out I'm not a big fan of the series. Yotsubato, on the other hand, I just bought the entire collection kkk
Sorry random question, why do you keep typing kkk..?
My guess is that OP is Brazilian. kkk is similar to a lol or a hehehe or haha or wwww (in Japanaese) or something like that.
Oh interesting, I hadn't heard of that before!
Google translate may translate kkk to lol (from Portuguese to English), you should give it a try.
It's a Brazilian thing. They do that to show they're laughing, but it's not very well regarded in Brazil. A lot of people use it, but, according to my boyfriend (who's Brazilian, born and raised), 'only stupid people laugh kkk. the smart ones use hUAHARUHRUHRAh or HUEHEUHEHUEH or even ASÒKÀOSKÀOSKAS`K'
I have no idea whether he's joking, but since we met, he always used HUAHUAHUA and HUEHUEHUE.
He’s not joking, a lot of people don’t like kkkk but it’s still widespread. I’ve only used it sarcastically.
Your boyfriend is right to some extent. While "kkk" may be used as regular "lol" in Brazil by people in general, it has always been by far the preferred form used by normie women. Tbh with you, it took me a while to start using it. Back in the day I would favor "huhauhauhauah" (the most popular back then) and other variants with more letters in between (hauhsuahusha, heuaheuhaushuah). That one sounded more teenager like to me and was somewhat of a nerd thing in contrast to the casual girly/normie one. There was a time people would probably judge you if you laughed "kkk" or "kkkkkk", like "what is this? did you became an aunt or something?". But eventually it pretty much turned into standard throughout the years/decades and nowadays (it's been a while now) I dropped "huahauhau" and only use "kkk" (hahaha), "kkkk" (hahahaha), "kkkkkkk" (hahahahahaha) or even "kk" (haha) - I think you got it.
If you stop and think, it was the smartphone boom that gave immense traction to "kkk" as it is more convenient to type on the phone - just type one letter many times - compared to choosing 3 or 4 letters to type randomly many times. On a computer keyboard the effort was pretty much the same.
You will here some people saying "I am Brazilian and I've never heard that". This will only mean that the person has a very limited social bubble and has no clue about what's going on outside of it.
Bro what? As a brazilian I literally have never heard of "kkkk" not being well regarded... literally all my friends and family members laugh with kkk, it's not a big deal. I think the whole "huehuehue" is like kind of an old meme of "huehue BR" and honestly I have never seen anyone actually using it in text messages.
Anyways, you can use kkkkk no problem and if something is really funny, use kakakkaa or both with caps lock
You’re on the r/LearnJapanese subreddit, and Reddit in general. If you think about the types of demographics that entails, things start to make more sense lol.
Some other Brazilians may say hahhahhahhahhahh is stupid and a waste of time typing. 😅
Got to say I tried Doraemon and found it sooooo boring. Yotsuba I like, stories have a bit more character. Shinchan is good as well - I need a little bit of spice in my reads to keep engaged at low level stuff.
Watching is always easier than reading, when watching you can hear how things are said, there's a lot of visual queues to assist you, it all helps build a context. When reading you just have less assists.
When you watch, the story is moving even if you don't understand a thing, which may give the impression that you are evolving in the story On the other hand, when reading, it has to be a conscious effort to read everything quickly and skip the balloons over and over again... when you don't know the language and watch something, it's pretty much the same as just "lookin at the pictures" from the manga and trying to find out what's going on.
You can understand 95% of every dbz film without knowing a word of what they are saying, because there's pretty much nothing going on there other then people beating each other up... "being able to follow the story" can be decieving. I think that's might be (partially) what happened with him when he said he could follow doraemon
Doraemon is a bit older, and slang changes quickly. It is a lot harder than Yotuba (have a look at their ratings on learnnatively.com if you haven't seen that is really helpful! congrats on your great year!!
Didn't know the site.... Thanks for the reference
About their ratings, I just checked, and the site says Doraemon is easier (L16) than Yotsubato (L17). I disagree with that kkk
ah, the level 16 one might be an easy selection made for first graders. The original series is level 20 here: https://learnnatively.com/series/b487e17305/
I agree Doraemon is harder.
it takes a bit of practice to get used to the site and it's volunteer run, but it's great
Hell yeah! Also yeah, the first Manga of any series expect a lot of dict lookups. It gets easier. Tho I will say the last 2 volumes kinda ramp up the difficulty imo.
Lots of input is good and you’ll definitely get something out of it.
I just gave my N3 and i still feel like I’ve not learned enough. Unless I immerse myself efficiently with Japanese materials , I don’t think i can be confident without subtitles 🥲
PLUS: I also take jlpt n5 test in December... Still didn't get the result.
Me too, still waiting , good luck!
It'll be around end of January at the earliest!
Can I ask why exactly you took N5 test. I hear many people do that, but isnt N5 a level still to much a complete beginner to have any impact on your job qualifications? Or did you just take it for reassuring your progress?
I just took to measure my study. I didn't have to do that.
Wait. Is that a fellow fountain pen user?
You got me.
Dare I ask... the price? Most of mine are sub 40
This is a FPR $90 pen. It's not that expensive. The favorite one I have is a Japanese flex Pilot one, but I find it worse for kanji.
I have a E95. Think I need to dust her off.
I also love using my fountain pens for writing in Japanese and Chinese.
I will be honest... I'm using them... but I actually prefer just using my Kuru Toga mechanical pencil.
I don't like mechanical pencils to write, I'm always breaking the mines
I hate them too. But you should try a japanese one. I love the ones from Kuru Toga... the turn the point at each kanji line, keep it always sharp, and don't break.
I must be doing something wrong because mine keeps it always dull and when I rotate it it goes back to dull side, maybe i've just worn it out lol
Lol the only thing I use to study is my phone 🫠
Get the Kindle app.. 😅🤣
Are you using the kindle app and not the physical kindle?
Are you buying books from the US store? Japan store? Somewhere else? I haven't been able to integrate the kindle into my study routine? It would be nice to hear more? When did you start using it? What has worked? What hasn't. Thanks.
I use a physical kindle a Japanese account. But I also buy some physical books I find in Japanese book store here in Brazil.
Hi. I'm with you except with the plan for N3. Now, I'm reading Kiki and きまぐれロボット (which is still hard for me and I've been on and off on this for several years now). I still feel Kiki quite difficult tho. I bought many games in japanese but so far have only started playing Dragon Quest XI many years ago and still haven't finished it.
I started Kiki too, but find it too difficult and put on a Pause. I will try again in 3 months or so. I've started Dragon Quest XI during the holidays. I'm getting a lot of learning from it. Still I think it's harder than Monster Hunter Stories, but that been said, I have never played any dragon Quest game before, and I'm a Die Hard Monster Hunter fan (so I know a lot about the lore).
Aha. I bought a yotsuba box set a very long time ago given the recommendation here but I didn't pick it up until recently. I read like the first book or a couple of chapters and somehow dropped it cause I thought the story wasn't for me even though I like crayon shinchan but recently picked it up again on book 2 and found it actually good. Pretty funny and easy to read. I think this is basically my level but I was spending time on harder materials and finding books to read and honestly didn't really go anywhere.
Dragon Quest XI is my first dragon quest game too. Never played JRPG or RPG before even. But the progress is extremely slow for me. Gaming for me is extremely slow cause I usually put it like my last priority and only play when I exhaust the list of things to do but it rarely happens. So games take stupidly long for me to finish. Like 5 years for Last of Us, also Horizon zero dawn. I also have Monster Hunter games too not sure which ones (4 and something) but haven't started. I'll wait until I finish DQ first.
Is it MH stories on your Switch ? I recently watched a video from Game Gengo and it was one of the recommended games to immers yourself. What would be your take on it ? I would really love learning while gaming !
Yes, it's on Switch. I love the game. But I'm a Monster Hunter fan... have played lots of other Monster Hunter Main line games. Monster Hunter Stories is completely different game, but in the same lore. It's cool.
Love this series. Can’t wait for 3!
And is it easy enough to follow in Japanese ? I am averaging the N4 level. I am also a MH fan since the Ps2 era but never tried the stories entries :)
Wow! In your case I think you will love! And I would say it's the easier game I found to follow untill know. And I think you are more advance than me in japanese.
Good job! I'm currently at the same level, the problem is I started around two years ago… Your determination is really impressive! I'm trying to do my anki decks everyday, but I rarely finish all cards (probably because I enabled FSRS). Also, I'm playing a game in Japanese too, sometimes it's such a huge pain to translate stylistically coloured speech, e.g. of a king :)
Yes! I try to live with been ok not understand everything! when I can understand something, it's a great feeling.
頑張ってね
I had to use Yomitan to check, because it was the first time I saw the 頑 kanji for がんばって xD
Awesome progress!!!
I also am totally jealous of your handwriting, I don't really need to learn it myself but I can barely write ア and イ lol (which is where I gave up on my handwriting textbook)
I also don't need to learn. But I think it's the right way to learn the language, so I force myself. I don't really use it daily.
Yay, I love your setup! I can also recommend the Chibi Maruko-Chan anime, and the todai app because you can filter JLPT levels and also take mock exams! がんばれ！
I will check Chibi Maruko-chan! Let's hope I find it hehe
Miller-san brings back memories lol
It brings me back memories form 15 years ago! kkk
Hey man, where do you watch Doraemon? I love that show 😍
Can't say nor deny about that xD
What do you mean? 😂
Maybe check your local streaming services, or buy DVDs xD
Think he means he’s watching on piracy websites lol
Not going to mention any sites because I don’t want them taken down but if you look up online for Doraemon episodes you will definitely find something to suit your needs
I think we're studying the same materials. I'm using Genki I and II, but everything else seems to be the same: Doraemon, Yotsubato, and so on. I'm so glad to see someone else sharing their progress.
And I think Genki I and II has the same content as the first Minna no Nihongo book too
Good luck with your studies, I started around 2025 March and just passed NAT Test N4, almost same kind of studying style like you too.
Maybe you invested more time.. I don't think I could pass n4 yet hehe but I'm reading some n4 material.
Absolute beginner at japanese here. Im starting off with Hiragana. Is there some tool out their that given pronunciations of japanese words in roman characters and then their meaning in English? Want to expand my vocabulary so that I can atleast start understanding what people are saying. I am currently using duo lingo but my progress there is absolute dogsjit
Look up Anki, a spaced repetition program that uses flashcards. Japanese like a breeze (JLABs) premade Anki deck to help you learn basic grammar and vocabulary. YouTube Japanese pod 101 1 hour hiragana and 1 hour katakana. This should help you get started.
+1 for that! I forgot to mention, because I never used Anki premade decks. But I think this would be the best alternative.
Hi so I am on ankidroid. Im browsing through multiple decks which one should be beneficial for absolute beginner
Jlabs. It’ll teach you basic vocab and grammar. If it wasn’t for that deck I probably would not have continued my studies as far as I have.
ぁりがとございまつ. Wrote all hiragana for this on my own just after a day. Encouraging me to continue further.
Hey! I wanted to encourage you to keep going, you can master really hiragana and katakana in about a week I think.
Closely enough, thank you is written in this way: ありがと「う」ございま「す」
Have a good day!
Ah thanks for the correction.
Duolingo is usually really bad for learning Japanese. That been said, I think it's kind ok for learning the kana. I would strongly suggest you to try Wagotabi instead of Duolingo. It's a Japanese learning game. If you are a beginner it will get hard really fast, and you will probably leave the game. But I'm sure you will leave the game knowing the kana and right pronunciation.
Wagotabi is very good and engaging. Although duolingo didnt help me on its own but using whatever I have learnt in past on duo helped a bit with wagotabi.
Amazing, I've been doing the same too. Have you tried the renshuu app? Has grammar explanations and usage notes, I use it sometimes to remember some grammar points and explanations from some words like adverbs
This is great, keep going 👏
Where did you get 705 episodes of Doraemon on Plex? The website where I was getting weekly episodes with japanese subtitles got shut down recently.
Where do you get Doraemon?
1 hour a day is pretty good just studying casually. You could break it down to different things each day. Just one question. How was a children's book those books are less than 20 pages, harder than reading Yatsubato? 3 volumes of it no less?
the game look cool. what is that game?
Monster Hunter Stories
Could you learn using the Minna No Nihongo book by yourself? I have the book at home but I was kinda afraid I could not do it alone
I am doing exactly that. But I suggest you have the support book too. The one with the translation and vocabulary explanation.
AYYYY good job m8. hope to share my progress next year just like you. trying to get 30% N3 vocab and all N3 grammar
Yotsuba my beloved when learning Japanese
Monster Hunter Stories spotted
Color me jealous AND inspired at the same time! 今年一緒に頑張ろう！
Let's do that together!
Appreciate u)
That's a LOT of progress in a short time, congrats!!
Thank you so much... I really hope to keep improving.... But it seems so hard...
A friend of mine told me that it is completely normal to feel stale at a lot of times, but don't let these discourage you, progress is progress, even if it's slow sometimes! Make it fun, not a chore :')
I just started my progress, almost two weeks and I got almost 100% of the kana, can't wait to start grinding Anki and learn some new kanjis, it seems very fun and I hope i don't change opinion during the grind haha
My initial goal is to understand some simple mangas like Yotsuba, Chiikawa, Nichijou and be able to tell what are the names of the songs I listen to, yeah, i listen to A LOT of vocaloid songs and don't have any idea what their titles are haha. It's fun be able to recognize part of stuff i encounter, even if i can't understand it.
Good luck on your jorney, cheers!
This genuinely makes me happy, I’m pumped for you kinda the same boat looking to take N4 exam in July!
Well done! Did you memorise all the vocab from minna no nihongo per chapter or how did you go about it?
I make all the exercises, and created an Anki card for each sentence (from examples and exercises). So I've studied and memorized all vocab that apears in examples or exercises.
Interesting! At the moment I’m just old school cramming the vocab of each chapter before starting the exercises… Felt most time efficient, but maybe it isn’t. Keep forgetting vocab from earlier chapters when it comes by again and so I’m constantly flicking between pages trying to find where the word or phrase listed.
I never go back to old chapters, because Anki gives me a solid way of memorizing it.
keep pushing buddy….even i’m studying n4 as well
I know around 1600 kanjis till now. I dont know to read all, but I started Japanese as a joke. 6 months later, i wasnt focused on vocabulary and speaking, but i can speak all elementary stuff. I have pretty good accent from listening radio, podcasts etc.. no problem in reading katakana and hiragana. But im little slow with katakana to be honest. Problem with slow kanji learning is because i have to translate from english to my native language and make my own stories. But guess what, im so happy with knowing al those kanjis meanings and it motivates me when I recognaize lots of them. Next step is vocab, reading and output. I plan that somewhere from end of February. Looking forward. Good luck to everyone
English is not my native language either. And to be honest, I NEVER translate to native language. Using second language to learn third is best. Helps you too access it directly without rellaing on translation. Helps to think directly at the third language.
To be honest im so bored by english after all these years. I think im saturated with it. Btw heisig is full of words I actually see first time, like archaic. And it has many mistakes in translations. There are multiple kanjis with similar delicate meanings, and llm + native language help me understand it better and memorise better. Always read few sentences with usage examples. How do you practice output? I also practice 1-1:30h mainichi. Plus listening to the radio
My output practice is not that good. I was keeping a journal on langcorrect.com, but I stopped. Mainly I try to pronounce all sentences from my sentences anki deck. I feel I'm more concerned with getting to n4 grammar and vocabulary first, so I can read a little more. Also, listen was the hardest part of the jlpt n5 test for me. Still didn't get the result tho.
I see.. do you have an actual plan with passing jlpt levels? Or is it kind of validation for you?
I don't need it for anything. It's just for validation. Kind of a Goal. It forces me to be in track with the plan. My goal with japanese is just been able to watch animes, read books and mangas, playing games. Output is a less necessary. But I know it's important too. My dream is been able to read Murakami or other real authors in Japanese :)
I know at the beginning we all feel like we know stuff. Once you start to read native content, suddenly it turns out you know nothing all the time. Feeling lost all the time, so keep that in mind that things go south pretty quick unfortunately...
Words can have many different meanings too. Knowing 1 meaning is useless if you don't know the correct meaning for the sentence you encounter. And if you don't know how to read the Kanji either, or recognize the conjugation, then it means you don't really know.
You could for example see a sentence with 行います and claim I know the Kanji and the meaning. ikimasu right? Well thats wrong. The problem is, at that moment you didn't even know you were wrong. You whitenoised it and then you only know about it later down the road, and then you realize that our previous knowledge was really surface level at best.
I get that feeling all the time. This language is just that difficult ...
I scored 80% on a mock N1 test the other day, and this still feels true.
Well, less often than at the beginning, but I still see a good number of sentences in any given media that make me feel this way.
I think you misunderstood me. I get what are you saying. Ive said that i know all meanings from the isolated kanji (at least one of them from heiseg). I feel that almost every other kanji has 3,4 different usages, meanings nuances. I dont let myself be carried away. But recognising lot kanjis in regular japanese text feels nice, as motivation. It is a long road... 😄 And good thing is that i dont panick but embrace the difficulty, and i really love japan and its culture. My Slavic languages background give me some kind of confidence because my language grammar is lot lot more difficult. Japanese is not but it has tons of other rules. I mean there is lot i dont know i dont know, but i got a really good grasp of feeling what it is like from grammar kanji to pronounciation etc.
Btw thanks for trying to unmotivate me 😄
I don't think you really know 1600 kanji, if you knew 1600 kanji you wouldn't have too much trouble reading. Knowing 1600 kanji means you can recognize 1600 kanji while reading when combined with others, meaning you know how they're pronounced on each pairing, what the entire word means, etc.
I think what you know is how to recognize them in isolation while doing flashcards with some degree of certainty and maybe remember what it kind of means.
Bro, maybe i cant read 徒, but damn when i see this lil motherlfucker in japanese text i grasp what it does represent. Al least few cases with different meanings
But you just said "I don't know how to read at all".
Ive said i cant read all kanjis that i covered but i can read fine portion through words. But, i feel you are little bit salty
These are your words...
Maybe there's a disparity between what you mean and what you're trying to say, given that you mention English isn't your native language.
To be honest, yes. Im too lazy to type, try to short sentences. But im sure i would say i dont know how to read a single one kanji if that was my initial thought. I guess others understood me, maybe. But, as native, you are right. I wont argue on that. My point is, we should help, and motivate each other here, correct, suggest stuff, whichever the level one is. Sorry for not expressing myself clearly enough
If u/SignificantBottle562 was japanese he wouldn't been trying to critique your English, and would just say something like: 英語が上手だね！ kkkk
I wasn't criticizing it though.
I was just trying to make a joke xD
Anyway, lets share your relationship with japanese. Whats your status? Whats the most difficult thing being english?
I just recently restarted studying Japanese lol, between N4 and N3 if I had to guess. Regarding your second question I wouldn't know because I'm from South America, as a Spanish speaker it's probably the same as most westerners, vocabulary, grammar and kanji (so... the whole thing).
More or less, yes. But i find it melodic and it is spoken fast. Maybe that can be a little advantage. Offtopic Being from latin america, what is the chance you drink yerba mate?😄
Hahahah. God, i musnt type like this. Contextual understanding 😂 Good job man! So, are you a native spanish speaker?
How do you practice verbs and vocab? I have the feeling I can’t absorbe the words I learn from the book.
https://preview.redd.it/qzff9nfyfccg1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=21adcd8bf5607e187ec2744e4feced9300870983
This is an example of card from my sentences deck. I tag the lesson I got the sentence.
That’s a really good idea :0 don’t you get bored of anki sometimes ?
Sure I get... But I don't care... 30 minutes a day... Sunday to Sunday... Just like brushing my teeth.
if i may ask? how are your Anki settings, like how many cards a day?
20 new cards a day by deck... but I NEVER use premade decks.... and I always add sentences from exercices that I just did, or from sentences I find interesting from games or books. So there is never 20 new vocab words a day... its 20 new sentences, but 3 or 4 sentences for each new vocabulary... and usually adding new grammar points or verb forms.
Thx!
Not OP, I'm doing Anki 45~ minutes a day, every day. I don't get bored of it, if anything I get frustrated and sometimes dread doing it because how hard it is, how often I just see kanjikanji and have no clue what it means, how even when I finally get it (because I'm getting it spammed) next day I won't remember. Even when I finally get some words right a day or two in a row and it gets pushed 3~4 days instead of just 1 it shows up again and I still don't get it lol.
I don't know if it will help. But I never use premade decks on mine. I study outside anki, from books, and I make my own Anki cards, from content I have studied. For me Anki is a way to keep revisiting content I studied outside.
I'm doing the same thing, I mine words from what I read, you'll encounter the same thing later on. You recently took the N5 which includes a bit under 100 kanji, N4 is about 200 + N5 kanji, pretty sure you only start suffering through the kanjikanji word spam when going to N3. I believe you do encounter some for N4 but it's very common words/concepts that get used all the time. Many being what you could call the obvious combos, with this I mean stuff like 夜ご飯, 昨日, etc. The deeper you go the less common words you're learning get, kanji get more complex, you start seeing more kanji variety and... it's just frustrating as fuck.
I will keep doing it, but sometimes while I'm in the middle of it I just want it to end because of how frustrating it is to get, every single day, 7~8 words I just can't remember. I know it's part of the process and that I will (hopefully) eventually learn them. But my review count isn't going down meaning I'm still not ready to do more new cards per day.
I don't think it's right. I think N5 is arround 200 kanjis... and N4 add another 400. Pretty sure of that. I'm really anxious to get to N3 (during 2027 maybe), so I can start learning more directly from content.
The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) requires a progressive number of kanji per level, roughly: N5 (100), N4 (300), N3 (650), N2 (1,000), and N1 (2,000+), though official lists aren't published, these figures guide learners to cover basic daily life (N5/N4) through complex, academic, and business Japanese (N2/N1) using common Jōyō Kanji.
That's what I got from Google, sounds about right from what I can remember myself.
Well... I have already 216 card on Anki of kanjis that I know how to write and read in different context. So I'm probably more into N4 than I thought.
Yeah if you've been reading stuff in Japanese and whatnot you're probably learning stuff that's beyond N5.
https://preview.redd.it/w82jbyyjfccg1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=5bf47e1a7af4b95170e7a45aa0247df4fac43372
One of my Anki decks is just about verbs... And there is another one about adjectives. I don't have a vocabulary deck. My biggest deck is composed of sentences. For each new word I add at least 3 or 4 sentences (and add others on the go) . I use chat gpt to help me come up with sentences sometimes, but usually I add ALL sentences from exercises of the Minna No Nihongo book to my sentences deck.
Judging by the picture honestly I feel like you overdoing it a bit for n4, like I’ve passed it with almost zero of actual study and just lots of comprehension. But it’s cool if it works for you, just don’t forget to have some fun while studying :)
I need to study to pass it... Not a single chance of passing n4 exam without lots of studying 😅
Yeah, I agree. N4 is just Genki 1 I believe? He could probably take N4 now and pass.
How do you habe so little kanji with 3000 cards? I'm at 4500 cards and I know about 1600 kanji. I got 100% of n5 n4 and N3, and I'm partway through n2 and n1(not really doing an order). Are you learning vocab seperate from kanji??
Good work tho. I think this year you should try reading more. The best way to learn is through use. With a core deck I can learn at most 15 words a day, usually 5-10. With mining I've learned 50 in a day mining only words that "click".
FYI everyone says yotsuba is easy but it has a LOT of colloquialisms and the heavy lack of kanji makes it more difficult imo. I've read like 7 or 8 Manga series now and yotsuba still seems hard to me for that alone.
I highly reccomend ハピネス for a first Manga, deep adult story with brain dead grammar and vocab. I was able to read it fine at about 1600 vocab. Past that check out learnnaitively to find Manga within your level. A lot of shonen stuff should be totally readable for you by now.
One last thing, anytime you approach new media YOU WILL STRUGGLE. Don't wait to read until it's easy because it never will be. At your vocab everything N3 and below on learn naitively should be doable. Everytime I start a new Manga the first book is a slog until you get used to the common vocab and writing styles that author uses. Everytime you approach media new in any fashion you're likely to get bombarded with words for awhile, just push through.
What manga series did you find easier? Do they have furigana? By surprise, Yotsubato is easier to me than others that I tried. I think I watched lots of anime, and can understand some of the colloquialism.
Really it's just whatever you find interesting within your level. Here's my manga reading list. - is finished * is partially finished.
-Happiness L14 (N4)
*よつばと L17 (N4)
-Flying Witch L20 (N3)
-Dragon Ball L22 (N3)
*Dragon Ball Super L24(N3)
Chainsaw Man L23 (N3)
Sailor Moon L24 (N3)
*Demon Slayer L25 (N3)
*また、同じ夢を見ていた L25(N3)
Naruto L26 (N3)
-Blue Exorcist L26 (N3)
One Punch-Man L26 (N3)
One Piece L26 (N3)
Yu-Gi-Oh L26 (N3)
Promised Neverland L26 (N3)
Bleach L27 (N2)
Platina End L27 (N2)
*Attack on Titan L28 (N2)
Death Note L29 (N2)
Full Metal Alchemist L29 (N2)
I personally found hapiness and flying witch both easier than yotsuba. Of all of them Super and Demon slayer are the ones I felt the most I could just "read". I read most of the first demon slayer volume with a physical copy I got on christmas and understood like 95% of it. I did have a few entire pages I had to skip and come back to with a translator.
I think you likely have the vocab(and likely most japanese knowledge than me with how much actual study you've done). You just gotta bite the bullet at this point and push through the pain. You're def ready to read if I am. OCR/mokuro to scan your manga for easy look ups is a must for your first mangas tho imo.
I just bought ハピネス as you suggested. Flying Witch is also on my list. I saved your comment for latter reference! hehe
That been said: I think you are over estimating my lvl. My lvl is barelly 30% of n4. + some experience with anime and videogames. But I'm far from N3. I don't think I'm ready for Demon Slayer yet... but maybe I will keep it for the end of 2026. It is a serie that I love.
I prob couldn't pass the N3 either right now, My goal is n2 this year but I have a year to figure out the more "schoolwork" parts of the jlpt and hammer out my listening skills with a tutor.
But vocab count wise you're ready to start N3 manga. Manga grammar is pretty simple most of the time. You're first few will be a lot of googling tho tbh. N3 is where you're gonna start encountering a lot of "real Japanese". And for that it's best to just dive into the fire and eventually get used to it.
FYI if you wanna sample Manga, bilingualmanga.org has many different ones for free on there without having to go to piracy sites. Their scans quality is hit or miss but it's free.
My next goal is novels, I tried a few times and it's waaaay to much. Very overwhelming.
Just to update you. I started reading ハピネス. Just finished first volume. Thanks for the suggestion. Really cool and possible to read with a dictionary. BUT, to me, Yotsubato is still easier 😅 I find myself using a dictionary much more often when reading ハピネス
Most of my cards are sentence cards from the Minna No Nihongo book exercises. It has 25 lessons and it gives me about 90 sentence cards by lesson. It is about 2.200 cards. + I add 1 card for each verb I studied, 1 card for each adjective, 1 card for each kanji I larn (how to write it).
[Edit] I don't have 1 card for each vocabulary word... I have lots of them.l, using in different context, grammar, and verb forms.
Interesting. That might be why you've ended up with less kanji. I typically only mine from naitive materials. I misremembered how many kanjis I know, here's my kanji grid. Total vocab 4395. And i mine katakana words too, all vocab I don't know. Plus that total contains about 100 or so grammar cards from my grammar deck.
https://preview.redd.it/5llgbxvgrccg1.png?width=2539&format=png&auto=webp&s=27278a16180bc93dd5bb3a9b994cb3401ef791be
The mira san novel is actually for the ones that finished the second minna no nihongo book, i'm surprised that you could read it.
I think the second one is for the second book. The first one is for the first book. I just did the first book and can assure it works with the first book. There are 2 novels.
Great job. I also do approximately an hour a day due to having full-time job and other commitments. How well can you speak and carry a conversation? I have until May to study and I'm pretty much a beginner and I just want to focus on speaking for now so I can talk to locals
僕のスピーキングは不明だ。 kkkk My speaking ability is unknown, but probably trash. I never practice it more than ghoast reading my flashcards from Anki. I intend to practice more when I get to N3 or so... Maybe finding japanese friends. Similar to how I did in english.
What kind of tablet are you using?
This is an iPad... but I don't use for studing japanese... I was using it wo watch plex before sleeping.
I usually study japanese on my phone, but I'm planing on buying a Boox Go 7 Color for reading books and mangas. I have a Kindle, but it's old and slow, and I can't use Yomitan with it.
Trust me ebook is not a good choice for learning Japanese. If you need to look up a word - and you gonna need that 100%, make a note with it, etc - it’s just 10 time’s harder than with iPad. Highly recommend try reading on it first, then decide if you really need a separate device for that
I take it you're doing a complete self-study?
I was wondering how みんあの日本語 is, since you'd have to go back and forth between a translation. Does it use furigama in the japanese book?
It's also not entirely clear which books in the set are necessary and which are supplementary 😅
I've been doubting between this one and just a genki book, but I find it hard to choose.
I like this books, because I know for sure they work. I think it's the suggested book for teachers to use around the world. That been said, you may take some time to get the way of how the book works. For me it was easy, because I have used it in the past with a teached, at a class. Even this year I did it for 2 months (but I think it's to slow to learn in classes).
If you decide to go for the Minna no Nihongo books, I suggest to buy the supplementary book to. The is always one for translating each japanese book, and also add grammar notes. They have this supplementary one in differant languages.
https://preview.redd.it/3qmukp7zhdcg1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e54f860fc715aef7c9c9223bc0e300133f057742
How did you improve your japanese reading and pronunciation skills?
How did you improve your japanese reading and pronunciation skills?
My favorite Manga in the whole world.
Are you using any tools for looking up words from the Switch?
My phone... But I don't look too many words... I just look words that apear more frequently
can someone explain why doraemon a series to learn? Also can i have a list for OP's anki decks?
Doraemon is not a series to learn. I just think it's the first one I can barely follow. About my Anki decks... I make them myself, using the content I have studied. The way I do, they won't work for other people. I literally add all my exercises sentences to it. I add each new verb I study. Each new adjective. Each new kanji I practice writing... And I also add make up sentences that chat gpt helps me writing for words I fill I need to learn. I add them as I'm learning.
If you don’t mind, what kind of notebook is this to practice writing?
Nothing special actually... Bought it at a local paper shop.
Doraemon goated
Cool man, congrats for the discipline. 3000 words is a lot. Did you send every phrase and word from minna no nihongo to Anki? Where are you getting your phrases for the cards? Just curious here. I want to go back to study this year too. (starting next month probably)
I don't have 3.000 words! I have 3.000 cards... But most of them are sentences, and I have at least 3 sentences for each word... But it's also more than 1.000 words... Because usually there are different sentences on each card. Hard to know exactly 😅
I said words but I meant 3000 words/sentences lol, the best way to study languages is indeed by sentences. You have been consistently creating 10 cards per day, do you find it OK to memorize them all? I was in a similar pace back when I was studying and I found it a little wearying to create 10 per day and then have to memorize them all and do it again the next day.
I think it's ok for me... I don't think about memorizing the sentence.. I just have to memorize the words of it. And they usually appear on different sentences too.
Woaaah your kanji practice is incredible!!
By far the worst book to learn is minna no nihongo...
Not at all tbh
Maybe it is... But I can assure it works... At least for me. Also, all japanese teacher officially use this book (at least here).