Japanese

This section contains the notes I've written while attempting to learn Japanese. Each page is essentially a copy of my handwritten notes, so it may be a bit messy at times.

Note that although I am currently self-studying, I am not starting from zero. I have attended three semesters of Japanese language courses at university, so even though I do not know much it is still better than nothing.

My study plan is as follows:

Goals

Main goal: enrich myself and be able to enjoy Japanese media (music, shows, books, games, etc.)

Other goals:

• Pass the JLPT N5 exam

• Pass the JLPT N4 exam

• Pass the JLPT N3 exam

• Read a book in Japanese

• Watch a full season of a show in Japanese without subtitles

• Finish a video game with the language set to Japanese

• Have a normal conversation with a native Japanese speaker

Milestones

• Learn Hiragana

• Learn Katakana

• Learn to spell my own name

• Finish Genki I

• Finish Genki II

• Read a book

• Finish a game

• Listen to and understand one album

• Learn 10 kanji

• Learn 50 kanji

• Learn 100 kanji

• Learn 250 kanji

• Learn 500 kanji

• Learn 1,000 kanji

• Learn 2,000 kanji

Study Plan

Basic Outline

• Study/practice a minimum of 1 hour per day

• Use Anki to practice vocabulary every day

• Use Discord to practice with other learners

• Go through the Genki textbooks to learn a decent amount of elementary Japanese; use the "Kanji Look and Learn" companion books to learn some kanji

• After finishing Genki, search for other textbooks that teach more advanced Japanese

• Also after finishing Genki, attempt to start reading easy books/manga

Genki

While going through the Genki textbooks, this will be my process for each lesson:

1. Check out the new vocabulary for the lesson

2. Read and take notes on the grammar sections

3. Do the practice exercises presented in the lesson

4. Go through the reading and writing section for the lesson (located in the back of the book)

5. Complete the exercises in the Genki workbook for the lesson

6. Go through the corresponding Kanji Look and Learn lesson

7. Complete the corresponding Kanji Look and Learn workbook exercises

8. Type lesson notes into this wiki

You'll notice that I didn't mention anything about creating flashcards from the vocabulary presented in Genki. This is because I use a pre-made Anki deck containing all of the Genki I and II vocabulary. A link to the deck is listed in the resources section.

Resources

• Genki textbooks

• Anki (for flashcards)

  • Tutorial

  • Genki Decks

• ichi.moe (for translating sentences)

• Jisho.org - Japanese dictionary

• List of Discord servers

• Rikaichamp Firefox extension (for translating)