How much Japanese should I know after 5 months?

19 comments

1. I had probably finished all of Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar by then and was moving on to 100 days of RTK.

2. With Japanese you get out what you put in! If you’re studying (speaking, writing, reading, listening) at a decent pace you might be part way through Genki I by now, able to read short stories meant for learners with use of a dictionary. Or you might be through Genki I and through a little chunk of Genki II if you study for a few hours a day. Or you could be studying a few basic kanji if you study 5-10 minutes a day. Depends on how you study/how much you study 🙂 If you are keeping up with it and feel motivated still, comparing yourself to other learners might only be detrimental so go at a pace that pushes you but doesn’t burn you out! 頑張ってね!

3. It depends how on hard and long you’re studying. It took me 3 weeks to fully recognize every word in hiragana and katakana. That was because I was watching sub anime, listening to Japanese music with lyrics, and I set my Instagram to Japanese. This is my third month and I only know a few kanji and some words

4. i think it’s more about how many hours you put in actively learning/ practicing. it took me about 10 hours total to be proficient in reading hiragana and katakana. I think after 5 months i could read simple sentences (introductions, likes and dislikes, basic time) and common kanji like 私 and simple names like 田中 (and numbers, fruits/vegetables, basic objects). I was ok with grammar, i was able to tailor sentences to talk about myself (i sentences) and one other person (you sentences) At this point i would put more focus on learning how to express emotions, time, and directions/places. since those expressions will progress you a lot in the language.

   If it isn’t for a class and you’re just learning on your own, pick a pace that’s comfortable for you but has you practice daily, even if it’s just reading one sentence. Good luck!

5. The Japanese-learning community especially is filled with people who will take any chance they get to brag about (and often even embellish) their progress. Everyone has different starting conditions, free time, and energy to dedicate to Japanese. Comparing yourself to others, while there are so many different variables at play, is moot.

   Do yourself a favor and try not to worry about it. Concentrate on enjoying the process instead.
   Just go at your own fast but comfortable pace. Keep it challenging and interesting without burning yourself out.

   As long as you’re genuinely doing your best, that’s actually all that matters.

6. Honestly mastering Japanese is going to take you many many years so dont focus on where you should be by when. Consistency is everything.

7. Japanese study is measured in hours, not months.

   When you have estimated your hours, you can compare it to the tables here:

   [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-Language_Proficiency_Test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-Language_Proficiency_Test)

   Note that these are just averages, and can vary greatly between students.

8. I knew basically only hiragana, katakana and super basic phrases 5 months in. I was making my way through wanikani’s free courses, learning the basic kanji

9. I feel the same. I lived in Japan and I need to learn as soon as possible to get a better life with my partner in Japan. No matter how much I could improve I feel is not fast enough or not good enough.
   I don’t know the “usual” learning after five months. My approach is proudness about any little improvement, because all of them are meaningful

10. Bro honestly just keep chipping away at it. I am at university for something else and I stop when too busy. I made the most progress when I just read my book on lunch breaks at work and added mnemosyne to my startup programs so I would run my flash cards before doing PC things. This gave a lot of previously learnt stuff time to sink in. So I wouldn’t look at a linear rate of progress as the correct model. You can “learn” 10 words a day but after a number of words it blurrs together.

11. You could use a Google-searched high school- or college-level syllabus as a point of reference, and compare it to your progress. Typically, they follow a textbook such as Genki.

    However, keep your use case’s context in mind as well. If you are studying for overall proficiency and have a goal/timeline in mind, it may be closer to a 1:1 comparison with a course syllabus. If your studies are more focused on speaking (e.g. basic phrases and spoken comprehension for a trip) rather than reading/writing, then that also weighs in and you may not need written/read proficiency.

    **IF** your goal is closer to keeping rough pace with a high school Japanese 1 course (or college 101), I’ll be blunt with you. At 5 months, with between 30 mins to 1.5 hr of studying per day, you should already be able to read and write all hiragana and katakana, know the most common and easy kanji, and form simple sentences.

12. Not much at all. After 6 months I tried to read a (maybe?) Simple manga (Yotsuba) and had a terrible break down when I couldnt read it at all. Then I was able to get a lot better from reading it but yeah.

13. All of it

14. All of it

15. You should at least know Konichiwa and numbers one through ten, id say

16. I took Japanese in high school and college, 5-6 years of it. I only remember the very basics. Barely remember most Kanji… I just watched a video
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf-ruwCgdtpCzuM7ODY5c9g

    learned more from that channel than I did in those 6 years….

17. Unless you have a particular aim (you need to pass a JLPT by x date for a job for instance) there can be no right answer to that question. The right pace is the pace you are happy with, but, you aren’t happy and that is OK too. You know what the problem is, you don’t feel confident with all the Kana, and that will hold you back elsewhere as well as being a blow to your confidence.

    So my recommendation is to stop thinking about your progress overall, and focus on this as a problem to solve. There are a couple of ways of learning the Kana, do some research and choose. Then make a plan, “I want to focus on hiragana for 1 week, then katakana for 1 week.” Hold yourself accountable for keeping to your pace for that time, minimise any other Japanese study, build in rest days if you need them. I am sure that if you attack the problem in a concerted way that you will make progress, and feel good about what you’ve achieved.

18. It really depends on how much time you have available to study.
    8 hours every day for 5 months is going to get different results to 20 minutes a day.

    The most important thing is that you’re enjoying the language learning process, and not pushing or pressuring yourself into giving up or burning out.

19. Honestly, it’s a long commitment and progress is going to be excruciatingly slow at times, try not to worry too much about where you “should” be at and just focus on being consistent and having fun. You’ll have moments where you realize you’ve learned a lot more than you realize.