I’m a beginner, I’m in Japanese 2 in my school if that matters. I’m not even n5, though I’m starting to try to somewhat read the n5 Japanese graded reader books, from what I’ve read, I need to learn/don’t fully understand everything. Though I can still understand generally if I learn the vocabulary I believe.
2 comments
The faster you can get to asking and understanding a question about a word or grammatical concept, the better. It takes a while but as a long term goal, aim to be able to read a dictionary entry in Japanese for a Japanese word. Once you get there, a lot of other things become easier. So include some vocab study for abstract words like literally meaning, intent, action, subject, object, verb, tense, etc. You don’t need to clog your vocab up with them all at once, but try to trickle it in as you pick up the usual vocab for shoe and yellow and umbrella. Again not a quick thing so it’ll take a while, just a long term goal to keep in the back of the mind. So consider periodically looking up your usual vocab in a J2J dictionary and look up a few of the words used there.
Vocabulary will have the best chance of sticking if you pick a subject you’re already interested in. Look for reading/video related to any hobbies or interests you might have. N5 graded readers are a good starting point though. You’re likely to be reading with a dictionary in the other hand for awhile. That’s where I’m at – doesn’t seem to be a way around it