Resuming Japanese Self-Study

[madmick]

Hello everyone,

Looking to restart my Japanese studies. My skills are at a moderate level—I can manage basic conversations and understand some written Japanese, but I've some more time to study and possibly level up.

Particularly interested in textbooks or curricula that are effective for self-study. I need something structured, ideally with supplemental workbooks, even if it means printing from online programs.

If you’ve had success with certain books, online courses or other materials, I’d appreciate any recommendations.

[adamu]

Get a job at a Japanese company where nobody speaks English. Worked for me.

I need something structured

Which course did you use to learn your native language? I disagree you need structure. Languages are not academic (except for literacy), they are instinct and messy communication, where exposure is the most beneficial aspect.

[RetireJapan]

AJATT is very effective.

[IloveJapan]

I found the Hiragana Times to be useful for basic and intermediate level. Very down to earth dialogues and passages with entertaining stories and skits.

Also, I don’t know if the Japan Times’s “An introduction to Modern Japanese” is still in print. That was useful when I first set out.

Learning Japanese is not only very self fulfilling, but also exposes you to more information about business, finance and investing.

[Cracaphat]

I've been using duolingo for French the past month, but also started using for Japanese two days ago. It's quite useful.The shock is, my French is better than my Japanese!!

[Righty]

Get a job at a Japanese company where nobody speaks English. Worked for me.

I need something structured

Which course did you use to learn your native language? I disagree you need structure. Languages are not academic (except for literacy), they are instinct and messy communication, where exposure is the most beneficial aspect.

It is interesting how people get good at speaking a foreign language. I know a Japanese person who speaks fluent English and Russian. Apparently he just went online and spoke often in those languages to native speakers of those languages. I think you've got to be in the environment to really improve.

[William]

I use daily "Anki" for my Japanese, Chinese and Greek studies.

I created all the cards myself, which is also part of my studies.

You don't become fluent with Anki — At some point, you always need practice, of course, and I know my Japanese won't improve until I join a Japanese company (I speak Japanese with my partner, so I'm reasonably good for all daily conversations). However, Anki helps you in improving your vocabulary.

[mitch]

I can second Anki or something similarly using spaced repetition as a helpful tool for language learning: vocabulary, characters, possibly grammar points.

A somewhat controversial topic among Japanese language learners, I've heard, but I personally found James Heisig's Remembering the Kanji book series to be helpful early on when learning to read and write. If, like me, you didn't come from a background of familiarity with Sino-Japanese characters, then sometimes learning them can be a challenging hurdle to overcome before reaching higher levels of proficiency. For a particular type of learner, the approach in this series can help to get over that hurdle.