I’m currently doing Wanikani and Bunpro along with watching Japanese YouTube and maybe 15 minutes or so of Japanese podcasts per day.
My goal is to become fluent in Japan so I can eventually work and communicate with ease about any topic similarly to my native language (not interested in writing at all so completely neglecting this area).
What does your study look like? Do you go to a Japanese language school and how is it? What’s your goal with japanese?
depending on what job you want to do here, you might eventually be confronted with having to write things. granted you could try typing it out, but there are many times when you’ll get a document and have to fill it out in Japanese. If you reconsider learning to write, you can try kakimashou. Many others here, myself included, have stated how learning to write pairs really nicely with being able to remember kanji long term. It also adds another anchor to the words you learn so it can help with recall as well.
WK and Bunpro for kanji and grammar and adding the occasional vocab I find out in the world.
I write down every new kanji I learn with its reading and with vocab, I will write an example sentence. As the drunk gnome says, writing might not be your focus but it’s super useful.
I watch lots of Netflix and run it alongside Migaku so I can mine relevant vocab.
I’m currently reading through the manga ざつ旅 and I read lots of old elementary textbooks my school have laying around.
I’ve recently changed my studying and I take grammar I’m struggling with and talk to myself using that grammar while I’m at home cooking. (I also listen to いろいろな日本語 after my solo ramblings)
Bunpro for grammar and vocab.
Wanikani for vocabulary and learning kanjis.
I also use the app “Kanji” to learn how to write kanjis, as I found out it helps to memorize them and to distinguish between them when they are very similar (there are sometimes details you struggle to see until you had to write them multiple times, so it also helps for reading).
I am also doing passive listening and reading very small texts at the moment. I do not have the level to really understand what they are saying, the idea being mostly to get accustomed to the everyday or more formal language.
There is one thing I am struggling with, and I do not have solution yet: verb conjugation. I am struggling a lot to understand how to conjugate (generally between the sound “doubling” with っ, and a no doubling sound. Sorry do not remember the real name for that).
if you’re conjugating counters (一個、一匹、十分 etc) then 1,6,8,10 usually get the つ (from memory, 3 usually gets a ")
just regular Kanji, the main purpose of the っ and 連濁 (はー＞ば・ぱ）is to make it easier to say when speaking.
This is by no means a catch all or even an official explanation, but usually I would consider if it gets added when the next sound starts with the K,T,S, or H rows. These use either the throat or teeth more than the lips and often require a bit more effort on the part of the speaker to pronounce clearly. So often you’ll see the little っ when these sounds follow a vowel sound paired with a consonant from one of those rows. 格好、一冊、切手、出発、切符 etc. I know most people hate hearing this, but the more you encounter it, the more you’ll get a feel for when it should be used. If you feel like a word is just a little too clunky to say without it, try adding it and see what feels more natural. 90% (complete donkey pull of a number, but most of the time regardless) the less clunky way will be the correct way.
Currently I’m using WK for kanji and bunpro for grammar, with the 1.5k kaishi deck for vocab.
I do my WK and bunpro reviews in the morning at around 10-11, and do my anki in the early afternoon a few hours after lunch, then I do the 30-odd reviews that I have on wk or bunpro at around 9pm when I’m not already completely spent. I’m watching a bit of anime when I can (mainly slice of life, like love live!) but most of my immersion comes from 実況プレイ on niconico. I use that site specifically because for me I find its too easy to go back to content in a language im proficient in, instead of immersing in japanese, when I’m on youtube. I mostly watch gameplays of visual novels / jrpgs , those are very dense in text so you usually have a native reading a lot of stuff to you, interspersed with bits of regular casual speech. I’m not good enough to understand even half of it, but there will be a few times while you watch that type of video where you catch on a construct you’ve just learned, or a new word you reviewed that day on anki, which is very rewarding. You start to pick out kanji too more often if you study on wanikani, and a pretty good thing about niconico is that even if there’s that classic dead air that fills gameplay videos you still have a lot of comments scrolling by in which you can pick out a few kanji you might know. It’s by no means the perfect way to immerse in japanese I think, since there might be a bit too much internet slang/colloquialism depending on the creator you’re watching (and be aware, on niconico especially there is a lot of voicedroid content, that is pretty accessible to natives i’d wager, but as a learner it’s so hard to understand, as a pro though those videos usually have captioning).
Not the OP, but thank you for this! Having something with the WK kanji is going to be so helpful for me. I wish they had an android app, but this’ll certainly work.
I’m just here for the anime and manga, so I only focus on input. Output is just for when I feel like it would be fun today.
My “study plan” had been bunpro (vocab and grammar, finished N4 recently) for about the last year, with as much manga as I can get my hands on to read, which are plenty. Now that easy manga and anime are in my comfort zone, I’ll add wanikani (waiting for the sale). I hope to be able to read furigana-free materials by the end of next year (with a reasonable amount of look-ups).
I use anki for vocabulary and bunpro for grammar.
I do my vocab on anki religiously every day but sometimes I skip the bunpro part (I do it 3-4 times a week) as right now I need to increase my vocabulary
every morning I go through the failed vocabs (around 60) then I review the vocab in the queue (around 200) then I learn the new words of the day (20). Before bed I review failed vocab + new words (so around 80)
I don’t have much time of immersion, sometimes I watch anime with japanese subs on stremio, sometimes I scroll mindlessly on intagram reels and get immersion from japanese videos (made by natives)
when I’ll catch up with my vocab and grammar I’ll fully dedicate my time to immersion.
I study 3 hours per day and more than that will make me lose my mind
I use Bunpro for grammar (I’ve finished adding all the grammar points, so just reviews now), and Anki for everything else (vocab, proper nouns, writing). I’ve been playing through STEINS;GATE and mining sentences for all the words I don’t know. I’ve also been working through the Shin Kanzen Master Choukai book and watching stuff with a focus on improving my listening comprehension, because that’s my far most neglected and weakest point, and I feel like it needs a lot of work in the next three months before the JLPT. I was reading LNs before too but I put that on hold to work on my listening. I also read a lot of the Tensei Jingo columns in Asahi Shinbun, as well as the occasional editorial. I also listen to podcasts on my commute but I’m not really sure how much that accomplishes.
(post deleted by author)
Bunpro for grammar, Satori reader for kanji (with kanji study dictionary), reading and listening comprehension, and especially vocab - both production and recognition, also writing with how I go about reviews.
I used to use WaniKani but i dropped it after i discovered satori reader, i seriously recommend you try it out, bc memorizing words and kanji is SO much easier when you learn them in regard to stories that you read, also the immersion is great.
I plan to also cover speaking after I increase my vocabulary base.
Wow cool to see so many of us on a similar track!
Perhaps another question for the thread: regarding your current routine, what’s great about it and where do you think you could improve?
I’ve hit my limit on SRS apps, at this point I think it’s best to just dive into more native content:
Bunpro for grammar
WK for Kanji
Kitsune for vocab
Duolingo for fun extra practice
Read at least 1 article on Satori Reader
During work I’ve got youtube playlists on repeat
Writing emails to a friend in japan
Friday anime night with friends (eng subtitles, which I try to ignore. Sometimes I can’t!)
If video games have the option I’ll switch them over to japanese, but I’m still not at the level to play something like Persona, let alone Metaphor, at a decent pace at my current ability.
I like the routine and I’ve been pushing myself for 3 years now. SRS is great because it gives you micro goals to aim towards and feel accomplished (reach WK level X by a certain date, learn all N2 grammar points by then, learn all original 150 pokemon names by the end of the year, etc)
I’m super shy in person, and going to meetups is something I should do more. Made some amazing friends, but with social anxiety speaking english with new people is hard enough, let alone Japanese!
Pushing yourself is uncomfortable, but dang I can’t argue with results.
Blockquote regarding your current routine, what’s great about it and where do you think you could improve?
I haven’t posted yet but here’s my “routine”
Currently working through N2 + Hopefully N1 grammar before december (goal is 4/5 grammar points a day at most)
Recently finished up Wanikani but that was also a part of my daily schedule.
15 - 30 minutes of listening to 朝日新聞ラジオ - ニュースの現場から on Spotify while traveling to / from work.
Some random amount of speaking to myself talking about whatever as I try and refine my pronunciation and spoken phrasing since It’s something I care about. Maybe 20 minutes a day.
I also generally aim for 30 - 60 minutes of reading a day.
SRS I don’t inherently dislike, and I really enjoyed WK and also Bunpro, but Anki is just not for me, even though it is extremely useful. I’ll probably dig back into it when I am closer to finishing up Bunpro but I don’t like managing multiple SRS at the same time.
Really my schedule is focused less around studying / reviewing vocab / grammar as much as it is just interacting with the language more and getting to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I’ll look up words as I read if I feel they’re important, or if I hear something multiple times in a radio, but generally I’m not doing super heavy mining in any of my media. It works for me, even if it is slower (almost at 7 years of on and off study) but I passed N2 last year without study and I feel like I’ll probably be set to pass N1 this time around.
While I don’t like doing it, Anki would help improve my reading comprehension faster than my current routine. I’ll get there after bunpro is what i’m thinking.
I didn’t like Anki either. For me it was a usability and UI issue; I’m sure if I used it consistently for while I’d have no problem, but I tried it for a few months when I first started and got overwhelmed by the wealth of options.
I spent more time tinkering with my cards and decks than actually studying it seemed. It’s certainly a powerful tool!
Browser based apps like bunpro and kitsune seem to trim off a lot of the fat if you’re looking to bulk up on vocabulary for comprehensible input, but it sounds like you’re doing great in that regard.
At a point it seems better to trim down on dedicated SRS time and just dive into immersion.
I use Bunpro fill-in for grammar and vocab and Kanji Study for kanji. With Bunpro I’ve become pretty inconsistent about adding stuff since getting a new job and moving, but I still do my reviews to 0 everyday. I’m at about half-way through N4. On Kanji Study I’ve added all the N4 kanji and now I’m just quizing myself by writing them over and over whenever I feel like it. I’m hoping to finish N4 by December.
I feel like I’ve started transitioning the bulk of my time from using SRS to immersing more heavily. I’ve joined the newest bookclubs on Wanikani and a game club. I also watch anime with my partner. I don’t focus on listening at all, after engaging with Japanese content for 15 years, the words sounds decently clear to me. Reading is my struggle and where my focus is right now.
My long short-term goal is to play DQ10 comfortably. I’m a biiiiiig fan. I’m planning on playing this summer during my break, and right now I feel like I’ll make my goal. Dunno if I want to ever take the JLPT, right now I’m content just working on increasing my reading speed.
studying for december N1. my goal is to have fun and challenge myself to see if i can do it (background: i barely passed N2 back in 2021, literally by accident lol!). breezed through N3 a few months before N2.
so, now that i moved out of japan 3 years ago, i just want a nice challenge to keep my brain active and keep my japanese going strong. tbh, my daily study is disjointed; i study when i feel like it. usually that’s everyday, though, bc it’s fun 
and i use a mixture of JLPT textbooks, Bunpro, and podcasts. outside of that, i’ll read some manga or watch an anime for chill, passive practice.
if you want to communicate in japanese, i recommend a language school or even a private tutor so that you can start speaking as soon as possible. having private lessons really made the difference in my japanese knowledge and confidence! best of luck
Do you have any recommendations on Niconico? This comment piqued my interest and I made an account but am having a hard time locking into content that seems interesting or has an actual person speaking lol. Lots of AI voiceovers and whatnot.