My 2 Year Journey – A Progress Update

Hey guys!

I thought I would post a second update after 2 years of Japanese! I will keep this sorta-general because I feel like I have nothing to share except I am on the LONG road to…. understanding Japanese kinda… Haha!!

You can read my previous post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/p1vv1z/my_1_year_journey_a_progress_update/). I think my views on Japanese have sort of changed somewhat, while at the same time staying the same. Anyways, I always enjoyed reading people’s progress posts and I think it’s nice to share my own progress because it helped me understand what to expect when I first tackled Japanese.

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What I have done since last year:

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* I decided to no longer dedicate long periods of time to Anki. I have a huge backlog of cards and I just do 10 a day. I am VERY lenient on them, to the point where I question if I really am using Anki properly, as I basically pass everything except words I find somewhat important. I do 10 new a day and if I “sorta get” the idea of the word (even without the pronunciation) I just pass it. My main motivation is reading. I know this impacts my other areas of Japanese, but I just hate flash cards… but they are good for me, so I still do em. FWIW I have something like 5000 mined + 2000 I threw out from the core 2k + I did 1800-2k kanji or whatever from Kanji Damage. I have no idea what my actual vocab number is. I read a ton, so my actual vocab is unknown. I also suck at speaking and readings. Whatever.

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* I listen to a lot of Japanese music. My favorite thing is reading along with the Lyrics (I sub to Youtube Plus, so I get Youtube Music; recently they imported or started using a new Lyric service that has a TON of song lyrics now). I just try to understand what the song is generally about. Some songs are really easy to understand, while others can get quite difficult for me. Having 2 sources of information (audio AND visual) helps me a TON. Still a ways to go on this. I can sometimes open up unknown songs and just instantly understand most of the song. There are other times where I listen to songs over and over, and I still don’t understand it entirely (even with lyrics). I think it’s just dependent on how much vocab I know-know (like REALLY understand) and also context, along with how “deep” the song goes. Again, sometimes I understand stuff because I have seen the idiom or phrase before and sometimes I just take a guess or am completely wrong. As I read more and see stuff more, I find it just gets easier. I have a huge Jpop and Jrock list. If you have any recommendations, please let me know.

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* I love youtube for stuff. A lot of the time it’s things that are TOTALLY outside of my “wheelhouse” but I still enjoy watching it, even if I understand very little. It’s mostly the nouns that screw me up, but it’s just because I focus on Chuuni stuff lol. Heres a few things I enjoy watching (some have little to no speaking, some have a lot). Lots of stuff is food related, hahaha!

1. [Kimagure Cook](https://www.youtube.com/c/%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AD%E3%81%93) \- Dude basically just catches and cuts up fish and makes sushi and meals. I don’t understand how this is SO popular lol, but I love it. I think it’s very “Japanese” in terms of what the target audience is. Like, this would never fly in North America (cutting up live fish would kinda gross out people). Dude is awesome and I learn a lot about cutting up fish from him. Also his $$$ mystery fish boxes are super fun to watch. He knows his shit.
2. [Okayu ch](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvaTdHTWBGv3MKj3KVqJVCw). – Gotta have my favorite V tuber here (also love [Korone](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChAnqc_AY5_I3Px5dig3X1Q)) as they are super easy to follow along with. Kinda entertaining to watch in the background. I sometimes just watch a bit every now and then.
3. Any of the random “we go to a Ojisan udon shop and film” type videos. Duno why I love it but I do.
4. Jrock and Jpop music videos. Love the stuff by [Zutomayo](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcd-GOvl9DdyPVHQxy58bOw) cuz its so weird.
5. Also random cooking videos (for example [Party Kitchen](https://www.youtube.com/c/partykitchen_jpn)), oishisou!

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* Reading. Okay so I am still hooked on Visual Novels, particularly action packed chuuni ones. I will admit that they can be annoyingly difficult with the amount of crazy words they have, but I just LOVE sword fights and magic and Shinto themes and such!! Heres the ones I read since I last posted. Note I have been SUPER busy the past 6 months and will likely be reading less going forward :/ but thankfully my reading speed is higher and the “headache” is much lower now. Still need to be butt buddies with my dictionary, but eh, thats the nature of the beast!

1. [白昼夢の青写真](https://vndb.org/v26987) \- Hakuchuumu no Aojashin – Had a lot of backlash for the J->E translation. Only read the J version. A real emotional read. Some really deep themes that made me rethink what it means to be alive. Really really enjoyed this. Was not a fan of Case 2; I thought it was kinda lame. Otherwise, solid read.
2. [相州戦神館學園 八命陣](https://vndb.org/v12455) \- Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen: Hachimyoujin – My first Chuuni experience. Oh man, this bad boy was a headache to read, but it was super cool. I think the most difficult part was me trying to understand it all, as the… uh… the plot twists were very confusing for me (I think you would understand what I mean if you read it, as some themes made me go “huh” a few times and never made sense till the end, so I was second guessing myself the entire time). Do not recommend as an early read looool! But I read it so I could work my way up to KKK. Super fun! Loved how crazy shit got, especially with the Shinto themes (I LOVE SHINTO THEMES!)
3. [Dies irae \~Acta est Fabula\~](https://vndb.org/v548) \- I picked this guy up after completing Senshinkan. Yeah, I coulda read it in English but I read it in Japanese because I wanted to work my way up to KKK. OMG this was both awesome and SO PAINFUL to read, particularly with Mercurius and Reinhard. I feel like the difficulty is they both talk in insane monologues, but most of the main plot points are from their long winded speeches. Not gonna lie, I got lost so many times from their interactions. However, the rest of the book was super fun. The fights were sick! I loved Shirou and Erii, Wilhelm, Elenore and Lisa. I do not suggest this for an early read. Honestly I would like to read this again once I feel much more confident in my Japanese as Reinhard and Mercurius were so freaking cool! I think I would like Mercurius the most if I could understand him easier, hahaha!
4. [神咒神威神楽](https://vndb.org/v5844) \- Kajiri Kamui Kagura – Would you believe I honestly find this easier to read than Dies? I think its because the plot is more straightforward and there is no crazy Reinhard/Mercurius poetic shit going on. The fights are SO SICK and the setting is just… (chef kiss). Really big fan of all the characters. Seriously. Every single character is fucking SICK, especially the bad guys. Holy crap. You need to read Dies first tho. Still in the middle of this one but I honestly can’t put this down once it gets going. I love how sassy Niko and Teirei are, and I love Ryuumei!! Ryuusui and Habiki are hilarious, and I obviously love Keishirou!! Oh, and Shiori and Soujirou are also amazing! You know what, I love em all… and particularly I adore the Tenma. Holy shit. Saying anything more would ruin this lol!!! (Sukuna is also freaking awesome and who could forget Rokujou, lmfao!)

I find visual novels amazing because the text + the audio sometimes is all I need to understand what’s going on. Yeah, there are parts where I am reading the dictionary a ton, but as you get further along, you can just understand what’s being said due to the times you have looked something up, or just the context. I guess my tip is, read what you enjoy and you will get better. I am still NOWHERE near where I want to be in my Japanese, but I am getting there I guess.

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Still lots to learn. My speaking is garbo, I don’t ever speak lol (not even once, other than to myself like a crazy person). Listening is pretty shitty unless it’s everyday stuff. I might get a tutor eventually so I can just practice it. Honestly, I don’t really care. I just want to read my Chuuni shit. Being able to watch Anime raw one day would be nice (I can watch with Japanese subs but without em I suck).

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Not sure if this helps you on your own journey but I have really enjoyed mine! I love reading and I find it hilarious as I used to hate reading! I am not sure what I am going to read after KKK… maybe go and read something easy-peasy where I can just throw the dictionary away and read. Still, I feel like I will need a dictionary for a LONG time. Also, it should be noted that I suck at reading lots of other stuff. I feel like I am super specialized in what I read right now (and even than I get lost). Eventually I would like to expand my skills into other genres and areas (like newspapers and stuff).

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I guess I can look forward to my year 3 and onward posts! Japanese is defiantly a part of me now. I just love it for the intellectual stimulation I get. Learning about the culture and the history is honestly the best part. Lots of cool themes are tied to really old traditions that are completely foreign to me and I really love being able to understand it more and more. One day when I go back to Japan I will make a point to visit the older/less traveled areas and see the old countryside. Still have a dream of renting a road bike and riding the country sides, going from ryokan to ryokan or something and eating at local ojisan ramen joints. Sigh… seems like the current “Japanese tourist thing” rules right now suck tho XD

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Thanks for reading (if you did)! 🙂 Good luck on your Japanese journey, whatever it is!