Hi guys, pardon me for my crappy English, it will take me some times to reply to your answers.
**Background:** Been learning Japanese for **3 years** since 10th grade (*self-study after finished N4, have delayed learning for nearly a year to study for my uni entrance exam*), just finished my N3 test (haven’t got the results but I think I can mark 130 – 140/180). Interested in learning language. Now I have tons of free time on August and September. Will go to uni on October.
**Goals:**
\- *Short term (til the end of this year)*: **N2 certificate (150/180 or higher)** on this year’s December test, can **speak with a slow/nearly medium speed** & **understand daily conversations.**
\- *Long term (til the end of next year)*: being able to **speak with medium speed**, can **communicate with native speakers about more topics** (can related a lil bit to social issues and stuff)
**Reality:**
*Reading*: depend on the topic, sometimes get confused when finding subjects and verbs, but I think I can do it kinda good since I know many kanji compared to what N3 required (jouyou kanji only, ofc)
*Writing*: rarely practice since JLPT doesn’t require it. Can chat with native speakers about daily stuff but still struggle as hell. -> weak point
*Listening*: pretty bad. Whenever I come across any material that doesn’t designed for beginner (pre n3-ish) I get lost quickly. Though I did 聴解 on the July test pretty well (have no idea how I did that kinda effortlessly), many times when I do n3 listening exam on yt I can barely catch what they say. Especially when native speakers start talking to me I get panic af and have to ask them to repeat many times. -> weak af
*Speaking*: can barely speak. Still trying to translate stuff on my head before put it into words. Get panic after partners finished their sentence and it my turn to reply. -> weak point
**How I studied:**
\- Learn **grammars** from textbook (Mimikara Oboeru)
\- Learn **vocabs and phrases** though textbook, news, youtube, podcast and other social media platforms (twitter, line, facebook, etc.). Use Anki to memorize.
\- **Reading**: news + Shinkanzen N3 + twitter etc.
\- **Listening**: youtube (channels like Sambon Juku) + podcast (Akane sensei – 日本語の聴解のためのPodcast)
\- **Speaking**: I have to study for exam and JLPT N3 certificate only so I stop practicing for like a year, now I’ve created Hello Talk to practice again.
I feel like I’ve stopped progress for months til now. Though I do love learning Japanese, I started to feel overwhelmed and not productive anymore, **especially with Anki whenever I have to study words that have tons of meanings and usages**. ***If I keep learning like how I used to do, pretty sure I will have nothing but a certificate and wack skills that even below pre-intermediate level.***
**Questions:**
*1/ Are my goals realistic?*
*2/ When studying words with many meanings and its synonyms, how to learn them and differentiate them at the same time?*
*3/ How to study grammars (especially grammar that has similar usage and meaning to another one) without exhaust yourself?*
*4/ How should I practice listening and speaking to achieve my goals?*
Or how to improve overall? I know I’m asking a lot since I’m desperated after seeing no progress after a long time, so if you guys just answer a single question I still be very grateful for it.
Thank you very much. Have a nice day.