Levelling Up: My next steps to be truly at Intermediate Japanese

Japanese
#1

Almost 2 years ago, I created a thread for “Finished N5, what’s next?”

link to that here:

Finished N5 Grammar - what's next?

But I’ve passed N4 last year and am working towards Intermediate/N3. I feel like among my skills (kanji, grammar, speaking, writing, listening), kanji is my best while listening and speaking are my worst. So my plan is to improve my listening so that at least it is at the same level as my official N4/working on N3. Getting a 31/60 score on listening on N4 is a pass but is not satisfactory to me. To be fair, a Japanese teacher told me last week that the listening section of the JLPT is not regular speech AND is designed to trick you. In any case, I would like to get to the point of understanding conversations better.
Timeline: by June - see improvements while in Hokkaido; by the end of the year - based on tv shows/movies I can watch

The plan:

  1. Continue with WaniKani reviews BUT also add daily reviews using the Self-Study Quiz set to quiz me on the audio of vocabulary only, for Burned Items only and for the level I selected. (btw, this Self-Study Quiz is a user script that you have to install and is not a feature of WK. More here: [Userscript] Self-Study Quiz - API And Third-Party Apps - WaniKani Community)
  2. Continue with BunPro reviews but no new lessons for about a month and a half while I spend more time on everything else on this list. Restart lessons after my vacation.
  3. Just subscribed to Comprehensible Input Japanese and plan to go through their Intermediate videos without subtitles. Possibly with speed slowed down. Maybe watch more difficult Beginner videos but in normal speed. EDIT: Just realized I’ve been watching the Intermediate videos at Normal speed. Will continue to do so. As for other (youtube) videos that are just too fast, I will slow them down to 0.75x.
  4. Continue with weekly online class with my sensei but after completing Quartet 1 Lesson 3, just spend the time chatting with her. Restart lessons after my vacation and concurrent with lessons in BunPro as well as Tokini Andy’s Quartet 1 videos.
  5. Whenever I feel like it, continue reading Yotsuba To online as I am now finding I can understand what I’m reading. I no longer wait for いろいろな日本語’s comprehensible videos as they are slow in coming and I’m several chapters ahead now.

I was considering getting another sensei on italki but after doing a trial with 2 (who were great), I still think I need more listening time which I can do via videos and CIJ’s website. With CIJ, I feel like I can focus on the level I want and see progress clearly. There are 510 Intermediate level videos (free and for members only) for a total of 125 hours. Let’s see how much I can watch this year.

以上です。I wanted to write it down to make it clear in my head what my plan is. I would love to look back on this by the end of the year and see how much progress I’ve done. Taking N3 at the end of the year is not the plan yet. It will depend on what I feel when registration opens. I may use these practice Listening videos then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lasKN-LsJwQ&list=WL&index=31

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#2

Good luck! I am on a similar stage in my Japanese journey and have decided to slow down and “take a break”. I am getting a bit tired/frustrated learning vocab on Bunpro, but I found that I can finally start enjoying what i have learned by watching anime and reading, so I am planning to let those activities lead the way for a bit.

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#3

頑張ってね。I just finish watching Hotspot (with English Subtitles). I may rewatch an episode or two with Japanese subtitles… or without.

#4

I’m in a similar situation. Passed N4 but my listening score was dreadful, aiming for N3 this December.

Two things have been helping my listening:

  • listening to podcasts while walking my dog or driving. Sometimes I zone out and think about other stuff but that’s fine, just the constant exposure is meaningful. My favorites for intermediate are Akane-teki Nihongo Podcast and the Bite Size Japanese Podcast.
  • watching “level appropriate” shows. I found this site learnnatively.com that rates content by difficulty level and started low and have been working my way up. I loved Pokemon Concierge, which is on Netflix with Japanese audio and subtitles. There’s also a browser extension called ManabiDojo that lets you add Japanese subtitles to Crunchyroll. Every time I start a new show the first episode or two is very difficult but then it gets easier.
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#5

Hello. I am studying for july n4 but my listening is high, because I listen daily to spotify podcast on my commute to work and back home. I also do actively listen to youtube videos (without subtitles). And I found it helpful to do listening parts of jlpt one month before exam.

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#6

overall update:

  • continuing daily reviews of WK and BP. Vocab reviews on BP (of words I added to Reviews before) isn’t going great as I’m not remembering the words when they come up in reviews again. :frowning:
  • managed to do a week+ of WK Self Study Quiz-Audio only
  • managed to watch more than an hour daily for a week+ of CIJ intermediate videos
  • as suggested by rwmleach, started Pokemon Concierge on Netflix without subtitles but after 3 short episodes, had to switch the subtitles on and rewatch from the beginning because I’m not familiar with Pokemon characters. I was not understanding most of what was being said and on top of that there were character names being dropped. with subtitles on, they still speak too fast that I have to rewind several times. Will continue when I have the time.
  • borrowed FolkTales for Japanese Language Learners and listen to the audio, review vocab and listen to the audio again. Will continue as the urge arises.

Had to call a restaurant in Northern Hokkaido to make a reservation and it’s the very first time I’ve encountered an AI responding to me instead of a human. It’s a loooong story but bottom line is, eventually I couldn’t understand a thing it said on top of the fact that I still haven’t made a reservation (it wants a Japanese phone number, ugh!)

My break right now included reading 2 non-fiction English books. Based on my borrowing history at the library, I hadn’t read a book just for the sake of enjoying the story for a whole year! I’ve been studying Japanese for a solid 2 years, I wanted a break. So watching more Japanese shows or listening to more Japanese stuff hasn’t really been prioritized.

And then! And then! One thing led to another and I discovered Riichi mahjong via Mahjong Soul. I already know Taiwanese mahjong and Riichi is just a bit harder because of the conditions that have to be met for one to Ron. All I can say is, ayayayayay. That’s why I only got in a week+ of Self Study Quiz and CIJ videos. hahahahaha

My conclusion:

  • I need to grind - go back to Burned WK items and practice listening more via the SSQ and playing back sentences I’ve created (once I’ve created them, ugh)
  • I need to spend a lot of time watching shows or videos in Japanese on top of all the stuff I “have” to do that’s not related to learning Japanese and on top of watching shows I enjoy watching with my husband
    SO. Not feeling very encouraged right now. But I did say I was on a break until after I get back from vacation so I will try to enjoy this break and not feel too guilty about it.
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#7

Used the Kaijugation today and yesterday for simple (not causative or passive) conjugation practice. I am slow. Still within the timer deadline but I still have to pause and think especially for て form (which is N5! :frowning_face:) That’s with me SEEING the kanji of the verb and having enough time to conjugate. So just imagine me hearing a conjugated sentence… if I even heard everything, I’d have to parse out the た (want to) or the potential form plus the な (negative) and/or the past tense. My brain has to pause and process and replay and process.
To get to the point where this becomes second nature to me, I’d have to say it often and hear it often.
On the plus side, I am now on Chapter 15 of Yotsuba and thoroughly enjoying it and able to understand 90-95% of it since Chapter 8 or 9.

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