To begin with, I am studying Japanese for fun. Getting old and about to retire, besides doing my daily workout, I am also looking for ways to work out my brain. Learning a new language can definitely work out my memory and response. So as a new year resolution I started my Japanese learning on January 6.
Now 9 months in, I learnt about 8000 vocabularies and 2000+ unique kanjis. For months now, watching anime on Netflix and YouTube in Japanese daily.
I kind of enjoyed the process, so would like to share a few tips.
Anki
The most important tool for me is Anki, which I use as my dictionary. If possible, I import pre-made decks, but update them to my own card type. Except for Genki deck, all other decks I use the same card type, with the following fields: kanji, reading, related, meaning, sentence, and kana (not displayed). With these, it is easy to search up any kanji, meaning, or kana. And most cards are related to each other by meaning or reading. Especially I am now using Japanese to Japanese dictionaries, a new entry most likely have some relationship to existing entries.
Textbooks
I think textbook is the best way for most people to get started. I started with Genki 1&2. I do 1 lesson in 2 days, and after finishing Genki in less than 2 months, I was able to read easy Japanese news.
Then I studied Quartet 1&2. They are okay textbooks, but I think not as critical as Genki.
Graded Reader
After finishing Genki, I started intensive learning based on Satori Reader. At the beginning, it took me 2 or 3 days to finish a chapter. But towards the end, I could do more than 5 chapters per day. Satori is a great resource with native voice actors. I like it that you can easily move the cursor to the start of any sentence to play it from there. The grammar notes are also great. I can dump out the words I have learned and then import them into Anki. I graduated from Satori in about 4 months. Now for reading, I read native contents such as 東洋経済.
YouTube
After Satori Reader, I followed with フェルミ漫画大学 on YouTube. Their videos are like manga, showing all dialogues. Though they only have the auto generated captions, they are pretty accurate. For the main study materials, I like to be able to listen to them as well. So I get to work on 2 of the skills important to me. I also repeat after the speakers. Now I have done 60 episodes from this channel.
Multiple Inputs
I like to have several kinds of inputs at the same time, even from the beginning. Now I use フェルミ漫画大学 as main study material, I watch Netflix during meal times and work out, listen/watch various other YouTube channels such as NAKATA UNIVERSITY, listen to songs from anime when I am driving, or read 東洋経済 if I have a few moments.
Japanese to Japanese Dictionary
I began using JJ dictionary in late August. I noticed that my speaking capability improved quite a bit since then. I think that if you have to explain something in Japanese, naturally you will practice the speaking. I was not planning to work on the speaking part until next year. But now with the dictionary switch, I guess I started it earlier. People may have different opinions on when to switch dictionaries, I think it is better to have 6-7000 works so that new words and be explained with those known words.
As I am not following any set course to study Japanese, I am keep experimenting with different approaches. There are countless ways to learn a new language, try to find something fit yourself. And most importantly, have fun.