I am just finishing Genki 1 with my italki teacher. It’s been about a year of me learning Japanese. It looks like my first year of progress will only be genki 1 + 300 kanji + 1000 or so words. My learning rate hasn’t been steady at all. I’ve gone from 1-4 lessons a week, 5-100 words a week, 0-40 kanji a week. I switched learning methods, teachers, books and websites.
My teacher has been very helpful at getting me to say basic sentences but it’s annoying my vocabulary is limited. Unfortunately due to raising energy bills and food prices I have to reduce or stop my Japanese lessons to maintain the quality of life I want.
I know if I had steady motivation and all the free time I could learn like 5000 words in a year but life happens. I don’t know how I would learn to speak on my own though. Also I don’t plan to spend more than a few hours a day on Japanese for a while.
I plan to travel to Japan mid 2025 and want to be able to have basic conversations with the natives so do you think it is possible for me?
2 comments
Without consistency? Almost certainly not. It’s not a race, to be sure, but you’ll take a hell of a lot longer without consistent practice. A few hours a day sounds great, on the condition you keep it up.
What kind of conversation are you looking to have?
If you’re a tourist doing basic tourist thing – you could probably do it in 3-6 months. This
includes greetings, introducing yourself, asking directions, talking about your favorite food or movie.
Unless you plan to study or work in Japan, I wouldn’t worry about it. You could practice shadowing, reading aloud, and maybe find a Japanese discord if you have free time.