So I’ve finally went and decided to throw down the gloves and actually start studying in line with the JLPT again. I’m quite impatient, but I know better than to try to speedrun a language. But I’m making this to hold myself more accountable, as is the common theme with these.
So what are my goals?
Tango- it takes more than just 2. Vocabulary is my biggest sore spot when listening, reading or anything else. Sadly there are no great ways to learn it except through osmosis, which is quite slow so I will resort to using Bunpro’s N3-N1 vocabulary lists, as well as Renshuu’s vocabulary lists. Sure I will get a lot of duplicates, but different settings and more reinforcement. The catch is if a vocab reaches over 1 month before next review, I’m going to backlog it. This is to prevent overload and to help me focus on continuously learning new words instead of retreading 昼食 for the 19th time, despite mastering it 2 years ago. I will aim for 30 words a day, subject to change depending on familiarity with the words. (20 new words and 10 iffy words are okay, but 30 totally new words is overkill.)
Grammar- Easy enough, Bunpro has a great amount of grammar. I plan on doing 3 new grammar points a day except on weekends. I will reset the N3 grammar and reset any N2 grammar I have completed in order to get a fresh start. any ones I’ve already mastered (or feel like I have a very strong grasp on and use daily anyway, のに, ところ, 等) I will go ahead and skip. I will also use Kadokawa’s learning grammar from manga N2. Though they seem to enjoy using vocabulary from N2 and above very regularly, so it will be more of a challenge.
Kanji I’m already familiar with all of the N2 kanji, however I will be using Kanji in context to review until I know for sure I have mastered most if not all of the readings that I may encounter for N2. I will cover 10-20 kanji a day with sentences and vocab related to the kanji. Note: Words learned from the kanji will take precedent over today’s new words. so if I learn 17 words from kanji, I will only study 13 new words.
Reading I plan on playing many video games in my spare time- they are all in Japanese anyway, only difference is I’ll actually stop to smell the sentences. Plus I plan to continue reading some light novels and manga I have already purchased. I will not intensively read, instead opting for extensive reading. This is for reading speed and fluency more than for explicit study, that’s what the vocab lists are for.
When do I expect to finish? My goal is December 2026 to pass with a decent score. But as with kidney stones, a pass is a pass. I’ll keep this updated (hopefully) with things I’ve studied, starting from today. I’ll try to post what kanji I’ve studied and a couple of words I’ve studied. This is quite intensive so I may take days off, but as they say “gannbattene.”
Thanks for reading!