I started learning Japanese (for real) on the 7th of January this year of 2026. I knew next to no vocabulary, and my only advantage was knowing the kana. Specifically hiragana, which i learned as a party trick like 2 years ago.
Since then, I’ve done study that can be called “unorthodox” compared to my peers. I haven’t been enjoying media as much as them, which manifests a bit on my strengths and weaknesses; but what matters to me is the steady pace I grow at. I feel like doing a ton of study doesn’t help me as much as it would to just do every day (Even though I feel like I do HEAVY study every day, lol). Ever since starting Jan 7th, I have never took a day off on study. I have missed my Bunpro streak for a single, unfortunate day, sadly (2nd day of my trial – i thought it was just a fun thing but i realized later it was my trial. Whoops!), but I haven’t missed it since (on a 45 day streak ATM).
I just completed N4 Grammar the other day, and I started N3. Concurrently, I’m more or less halfway done with N4 Vocab too. Before Bunpro, I had 2k cards done on a vocab deck I found online, which more or less overlap.
As a ~120 day anniversary, I decided to take the N4 mock exam. Here are the results, with a few points i’d like to discuss:
- I had audio AND time troubles to take the listening test since I took it at college (unwise decision). I ended up not only missing a few minutes, but at the final stretch of questions, I had less time remaining than enough to listen to all the questions (had to just guess)! Either way, even if I took it at a better opportunity, I think I’d have scored at most a 60%. I’m not very great with listening.
- Something is fishy with my timer for grammar. I swear I wasn’t that fast. But I remember that I too took it on college break, so I swapped between my phone and computer mid-way.
If you’re starting out in Japanese, I’d recommend based on my experience to just do something everyday. That’s the most important part 
I would too recommend you to not skip media. I do it for time reasons, not because I have something against it. I myself learned English through nothing but media for well over a decade.
BTW, here’s the anki calendar, to show my consistency.
