Hi there. During my first 2 years of university I was taking Japanese 1 and Japanese 2 classes. I didn’t spend nearly enough time on the second year one, largely because I was switching in computer science so I had to focus on that. Now it’s been 2 years since I took JP 2 and have stopped practicing completely.
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I really want to restart my learning journey however – but I don’t think that doing Japanese 3 at my university will be the most beneficial choice? Should I just review everything from the beginning and start self-studying? I’m pretty lost on how to get back into my studies and I really regret ever stopping.
4 comments
> Should I just review everything from the beginning and start self-studying?
ok so there is some benefit to self-study and to classes and you have to figure out how you fit in
**Self Study**
* Way cheaper, instead of paying for college course, you just buy the textbook and study from that, most language learning apps that are actually good are free (assuming you have a working PC)
* Study whatever material you want
* Way faster if you are a motivated person
* No time wasted commuting to class, your classroom is your desk
**College**
* Meet people and make friends with classmates
* Get a college language credit (which you may or may not need!)
* If you aren’t that self-motivated, this motivates you to study
* Teacher can choose what material you study, which is some form of guidance so you don’t have to figure it all out yourself
There’s so many resources these days.
You can probably outpace a college course if you were dedicated enough just by following the genki study guides online and reviewing with the youtubers who have broken the books down.
The hardest part is actually holding yourself accountable when memorizing the vocabulary and doing the exercises.
You’ve done genki 1. That’s really easy to review and pick genki 2 up. Really if you know kana, then just get a new journal and get the grammar points down in genki 1. Get an anki deck for genki 1.
There actually isn’t a lot of content in genki 1 that’s easy to forget.
Genki 2 starts getting into the foundations of the more tricky grammar.
Give yourself a week or 2 to review then pick genki 2 back up.
Pace yourself. But if you don’t do a lesson for a while, at least make sure you’re reviewing vocabulary and practicing the grammar every day.
Or you’ll go too fast and get lost when trying to put the later lesson grammar exercises together.
Genki 2 was a two quarter book in my college. So like 4.5 to 5 months. With other stuff in the curriculum, such as speaking with exchange students, listening to audio recordings, doiny presentartions or skits in Japanese, and writing short reports.
After that we went in to some really outdated books while working to n3. N2 was even more obscure.
There are way better books out there these days than the now probably 40 year old books I used after genki.
If I were to go back and teach someone outside of Japan from high-school to early college age I’d probably do genki 1 and 2, then quartet. Going from nothing to n2.
Genki would be a lot of repetition and muscle memory. I actually think a year for genki 1 and 2 wasn’t a bad pace for a first time learner who is doing the workbooks and other curriculum. It gave time to do things outside of the book to be exposed to repetition.
I’d do it with emphasis on use of the grammar in conversation so they can start wrapping their head around using it in person and hearing it, with exercises to keep the written structure familiar.
Genki 2 in id incorporate a lot of assigned reports on scenes from Japanese dramas, passages from older novels (such as soseki and akutagawa) because they involve understanding the voice of the author, followed by some easy manga translating prefaced by vocabulary lessons that correspond with the manga.
Intentionally leaving out some Kanji for them to look up later themselves when encountered to develop that use of resources.
So they can muscle memory the vocabulary in the manga while mostly getting feedback on the grammar.
Maybe we’d translate the ghibli Mangas prior to watching the movies and having questions in Japanese for them to answer. So they could practice grammar points in response and while describing something.
Like yotsuba, then ojiisama to neko and onward. Mostly avoiding high fantasy or sci fi manga in preference for slice of life stuff that gets progressively more mature as far as character dialogue goes.
Then light novels like your name, weathering with you, and I had that same dream again when they’re late n3 through n2.
This probably would bring them to the end of quarter as well.
If they’re driven and doing their own studies I think that’s a pretty standard 2 year approach. Minus a lot of the listening and reading that’d be included on top of straight up conversation practice.
I think it was after genki 2 my professors really stopped using any English at all.
In Japanese language schools they have a lot of different resources than us colleges use. It’s a do or die kind of environment. I’ve sat in on a few, my family friend is a professor in Kansai, and they drop English really early.
Helped a student in the same position. You can get a tutor and review the previous material while keeping pace in class unless you’ve totally forgotten everything.
I self-studied up through half of Genki 1 (so I didn’t get as far as you), took a three year break, and started from scratch again about 8 months ago. I’ve caught up to somewhere around N4 in that time, though not all of my skills are equally strong, like they would be expected to be in a college class. It’s definitely possible to come back from a long break.
Part of getting back into it is a mindset shift.
I imagine that switching from college class style study to self-study could be a challenge, but I think you can do it. 🙂
Instead of thinking about where you could have been if you had never taken a break (“aw man, I would have already been in Japanese 3 if I hadn’t taken a break”), I think it would be more helpful to think of it like this: instead of starting from zero like most, you have a head start. Relearning something that you forgot is going to be way easier than learning something for the first time, so you’ll be able to go through the concepts in Genki 1 faster than the first time, and the concepts in Genki 2 won’t be quite as head scratching as they were the first time.
Switching to self learning is a different ball game. Most important thing to keep in mind is your goals and your motivation. What are your goals for learning Japanese? What motivates you? Really think about this!!!
You don’t have to give every skill the same weight as you would be required to in college. Super eager to read manga or novels? You can focus on that and no one will require you to make sure your speaking and listening stays at the same level. Want to have conversations with native speakers or watch YouTube? No one is requiring you to make sure your kanji knowledge stays at the same pace. Want to stay rounded? That’s a good goal too!
I do highly suggest spending lots of time consuming “comprehensible input” (written, audio, or video depending on your goals), at least half of your time on input if you can make that work for you. Some of the input sources I link below you can even check out from day one, because they’re meant to be comprehensible even with little to zero knowledge of Japanese.
Here’s some resources that I used getting back into studying that may or may not be helpful for you depending on what you decide you want your goals to be. Check them out and see if they’re for you or not.
SELF STUDY MINDSET (advice I think about often):
“There’s too much choice!”
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/11pqm99/comment/jbzu8iw/
“The multi-armed bandit problem”
https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/zji3er/comment/izvdyoo/
“The Dip” (don’t read the book, just read the first review that rates the book as two stars, and summarizes the book for you)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/324748.The_Dip
MAKING HABITS:
I used some habit tracking apps heavily at first, but now that I’m in a groove I’ve been using them less and less. These are the ones I used:
Habitica (gamification, have to be careful it doesn’t become a distraction though)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.habitrpg.android.habitica
Loop habit tracker (no frills)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.isoron.uhabits
Some people love the pomodoro method for study sessions:
https://geekbot.com/blog/pomodoro-technique-ultimate-guide-with-examples-tools-and-tips/
INPUT:
input, YouTube:
/r/LearnJapanese/comments/xebcjc/comprehensible_input_listening_youtube_resources/
Plus two extra favorites not on that list: Japanese Immersion with Asami: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIciBLpZ6BP2XNYTFXb6eRQ
Peppa pig in Japanese (closer to Genki 2+ level):
with subtitles
https://youtube.com/@jappeppa8045
Without subtitles:
https://youtube.com/@PeppaPigJapaneseOfficial
input, Reading: https://tadoku.org/japanese/en/free-books-en/
https://yomujp.com/n5l/
https://watanoc.com/
/r/languagelearning/comments/fhleb9/we_made_a_manga_in_really_easy_japanese_that_is/
https://www.satorireader.com/
Input, Podcats:
For audio that’s too fast, I highly recommend slowing it down to .7 or .8 and working your way up to full speed (for podcasts you can do this on the Google Podcasts App). You can do this on YouTube too.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17P2dBQHnBnHcG3ua_24IO6sP9RDC-5b3WHV9Ri2N5qU/edit?usp=drivesdk
One more beginner podcast not on that list:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3oFmPwJy2QgsJFKoOVKQib?si=ej6CI48aSx-P6V5dzx-Y5Q
OUTPUT:
Hello Talk for corrections on writing and finding an exchange partner to voice call (Tandem is also an option, but I haven’t used it much) There’s a bit of an art to finding a consistent exchange partner, and results can vary, but if you can make it work, it’s really awesome!
Paid option: Sail App $15 a month for unlimited conversations with volunteers (if their schedules align with what your availability is)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.helte.android.sail
Shadowing (I used podcats at .5 speed for this, but there are other resources out there too). (What is shadowing? The first few minutes if this video explain: https://youtu.be/enARZ7BUqBU)
Google keyboard:
Voice typing has been a key component of doing written output quickly. It’s also a slight feedback on my accent, because if even Google keyboard can’t understand what I’m saying, I might be extending a long vowel wrong, or not putting in the っ in the right place.
STUDYING:
Studying Grammar:
Tokini Andy Grammer streams (this is the playlist for Genki 1. There’s one for Genki 2 as well)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA_RcUI8km1NMhiEebcbqdlcHv_2ngbO2
I binge watched these until I hit grammar I forgot, then did workbook stuff or tried making example sentences using that grammar and posted them for correction on Hello Talk
Online interactive Genki workbook with answers
https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/ (I eventually quit doing these cuz I got bored, but they are useful)
Bunpro:
https://bunpro.jp/
This website is great for looking up grammar that I come across in the wild, that I haven’t seen in Genki. It does have a paid flash card feature, but I haven’t tried that feature yet.
Studying Vocab:
Use a Spaced Repetition Software!! If you weren’t already aware of this concept, please look it up. If you are already aware of it you know how awesome it is! (Anki or jpdb.io)
I started off using the Tango N5 and Tango N4 decks on Anki, but I kept having to suspend cards I already knew. If I had to start over I would go straight to jpdb.io (this user explains the advantages of jpdb.io instead of Anki pretty well: “is jpdb.io better than Anki?” https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/10v3310/comment/j7f9qjv/)
Studying Kanji:
Kanji is my weakpoint (I spend most of my time listening and speaking), so not a lot of advice here. I did about 700 kanji using RTK 4 years ago, and got burned out. Now my strategy is just reading with furigana. Who knows how that will turn out long term. I’ve heard a lot of people like Wanikani, but it seems kinda all consuming to me, and has the tendency to push out time that would be better spent on comprehensible input. That’s a hot take though. 😅
Anyway!! Good luck, sorry this is so long, I believe in you!!