Japanese is my second language, and it is starting to look like Japan is in my future. Sorry, South Korea. Therefore, most of my time is spent on Japanese studies. After one year of Japanese, I developed more effective ways to study. These methods are time-efficient and produce faster results than other methods for me. I will now present my study methods that hopefully helps those who wish to know how to learn Japanese.

How to Learn Japanese with Flexibility

First of all, I have a confession. This study method does not work without consistency. Everything does not have to be touched daily. However, a day without practicing Japanese period will delay the progress. I know this because there were periods in 2019 where I lost motivation and went months without studying. When I finally got back in the groove, I had to revisit old lessons to catch up. My goal for 2020 is to remain consistent.

There are five major categories that I focus on with Japanese: reading, writing, speaking, listening, and vocabulary. If I feel confident, I spend 30 minutes on each one every weekday. If I need improvement in a category or two, I might spend time on that one than others I excel at. Weekends are usually spent on reviewing lessons learned during that week. If I have time, I might fit a conversation or two with language exchange partners on HelloTalk.

Speaking of which, an old study habit I had was setting a schedule and arranging time for certain activities. For example, study a new lesson every morning at 4 AM. Although I still wake up at 4 AM, I do any activity, except watching TV to avoid disturbing my roommate‘s sleep.

Flexibility makes learning Japanese more enjoyable, and I don’t risk losing motivation. Each category I mentioned has different activities. Therefore, I don’t have to stick to one activity in order to improve or advance in one category. For instance, I don’t need to practice reading solely from manga or novels. Actually, each activity can touch on more than one category, which is why I’m separating this post by activity instead of category. Being flexible with your studies is a fun and easy way of how to learn Japanese.

Japanese Pod 101

This section contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure here.

Japanese Pod 101 is my primary resource for learning Japanese. Thanks to Premium PLUS, I learn several things in Japanese with the lessons, weekly assignments, and native Japanese teacher. Read my review of Japanese Pod 101 here.

I started out studying two lessons every morning before work and sending grammar homework to my teacher. The progress has increased because of flexibility. I now listen to several lessons on my podcast at work and during commutes. When I finally have time to sit down and take in the lessons, it gets easier to understand. I download the lesson notes on my phone via Podcasts. I follow up by adding the vocabulary words to flashcards on the Japanese dictionary by renzo, Inc. Unfortunately, I don’t use flashcards on J. Pod 101 much, since you have to use the browser. It’s kind of inconvenient for someone on-the-go like myself.

Grammar is very important in Japanese, per my teacher. Therefore, I send homework assignments to her for feedback. Once I have the corrections, I send an audio recording of the sentences. I say the sentences without looking at the paper. She usually responds with her recording, so I can hear how it sounds naturally.

I also ask my teacher questions related to my goals, assignments, grammar points, suggested pathways, etc. For example, if I am preparing for an interview that will be conducted in Japanese, she will practice with me by asking common interview questions and allowing me to answer. Things like this take a lot of back-and-forth with revisions and re-recordings until it’s satisfactory.

Additionally, you will notice later that I learn new grammar points from my other activities. In those cases, I want to understand and apply those grammar points in my speech. Therefore, I search for them on Japanese Pod’s Grammar Bank and study the associated lessons. Then I turn it into my usual homework assignment to my teacher.

If you want a tour of Japanese Pod 101, feel free to watch my Youtube video!

HelloTalk

HelloTalk is my secondary resource for learning Japanese. It is very helpful to practice with language exchange partners. I normally record something in Japanese and ask others to respond to me with either a recording or text. Either option gives me the opportunity to practice my listening comprehension and reading skills.

Throughout the week, I schedule times to speak with people via phone to practice conversational skills. It’s really fun, especially if both of us are beginners. I used to talk to numerous people, but it became too overwhelming. I now only talk for about 30 minutes with four people every week.

Do you see that crown next to my name in the pic above? That crown signifies membership with HelloTalk. People without a crown next to their name have the free version of HelloTalk. In addition to ads, the free version includes limited translations and no option to voice or video chat. Therefore, when Japanese people with the free version of HelloTalk message me, I provide handicaps by using as much Japanese as possible. I sometimes have to use Google Translate for help, but I make it work.

I learn a lot of new words and grammar points from my language exchange partners, so I save them in flashcard decks on the dictionary app. I also make notes on the flashcard with the sentences used by my partners, so I’ll understand how to use it.

Streaming Sites

The streaming sites I use to watch Japanese media are Netflix, Viki, and Asian Crush. All three of them have the option to watch shows in Japanese subtitles.

Signal on Viki

Quote from Terrace House

Flashcard Deck for Terrace House

Kanji Practice from Terrace House

I listen to the first 1-5 minutes with no subtitles and then replay in both English and Japanese subtitles. The time depends on the difficulty level. Shows like Signal and Terrace House are 1 minute, because there’s a lot of N1 and N2-level grammar. Afterwards, it’s only Japanese subtitles. I use Jisho to draw kanji I don’t recognize. Then I add the vocabulary word associated with the kanji to my flashcard deck in renzo’s Japanese dictionary.* Every time the flashcard appears via the SRS method, I practice writing the kanji in my campus notebook. I read it as I write it.

*Note that I add the vocabulary word and not the kanji. Vocabulary words help me remember the meaning and reading of kanji more than anything else. Therefore, I study the vocabulary word rather than the individual kanji.

Once I study the flashcards for about 30 minutes, I replay the segment with and without subtitles to test my listening and reading comprehension. I practice speaking by picking out memorable quotes, including funny or violent ones from anime like Kakegurui. I write the quote and read it until it’s memorized. Then I send a recording to my teacher for feedback. Notice how I touch all five categories with this one activity? 😉

Kanji Wall

This section contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure here.

When it comes to recognizing individual kanji, I use my kanji wall from White Rabbit. It has all 2,136 joyo kanji. As I study vocabulary with SRS flashcards on renzo’s dictionary, I become confident about my ability to recognize and read certain kanji. In response, I highlight them on my kanji wall. During the week, I’ll read the highlighted kanji on the wall. If I get stuck, I have the readings below the wall. Kanji is an important way of how to learn Japanese. However, I don’t spend tremendous time on my kanji wall.

Japanese Manga and Novels

Remember my method with Japanese TV shows? The same method applies for books written in Japanese. The only thing I do in addition is pretend that I’m in a classroom and the teacher calls on me to read sentences. I read aloud a couple of times.

Thankfully, study time decreases as progress increases. For example, I used to only be able to do 2-3 sentences of this book in 30 minutes. Now I can do a whole page. This book is so far above my level that it’ll take me years to find out what Johan’s name is. 😩

Another Monster by Naoki Urasawa

You’ve heard of Monster, right? That’s my favorite anime. Watch it now.

Drama CDs

I have a few physical drama CDs, but I can only listen to them in my car. Most of the drama CDs I listen to are on Youtube. Thankfully, drama CDs like NEW GAME!! are easy to understand and transliterate. Others like あなたがお風呂のぼせる would require me to use either the Papago app or send a recording to my teacher for help.

I memorize quotes from drama CDs just as I do with TV shows. Also like TV shows, I add new vocabulary words. Drama CDs are cool to listen to at a desk job. 🙌🏾

Suzuki-kun

Suzuki-kun

I’m thankful that my teacher introduced me to this site. Suzuki-kun assists me with my pitch accents. If I’m not shadowing after a character on Japanese media, I have difficulty with pitch accents. Sometimes, I enter texts that I want to say and generate a female voice speaking. I practice speaking using this tool.

Japanese Songs

Last but not least, one of my favorite activities is practicing Japanese songs. Don’t expect me to sing for you yet.

ロマンティック上げるよ





When I first became learning Japanese songs, I was taken aback at how many advanced grammar points and vocabulary words I learned. It’s easy to understand for songs you really like, especially from anime!

Also, thanks to Apple Music, I can sing along with the lyrics!

Conclusion

As I mentioned previously, I do not fit all of these activities in one day nor a whole week. Thankfully, one activity can improve my writing, reading, listening, speaking, and vocabulary skills, so the others wouldn’t be necessary. For example, I spent this entire week watching Terrace House. I listen to Japanese Pod 101 and use HelloTalk daily, but those are the only two. In 2019, I learned that tackling too much in such little time causes stress, resulting in lack of motivation.

If you want easy and fun ways of how to learn Japanese, use my activities as examples. Find things you like to enjoy doing in English and switch to Japanese instead.

One thing I hope to add is playing Japanese video games. I have a few PS Vita games like Corpse Party, but I haven’t started learning Japanese from it yet.

Discussion

How do/did you learn Japanese? What are your thoughts on my study method? Do you have any opinion or tips to share with other readers? Share in the comments!

Thanks for reading! じゃ、また！