LogFAQs > #950601630

SpiritSephiroth posted...

Not yet. I'm hoping to take it soon. My teacher told me to skip the N5 and go straight to N4. My girlfriend says I can pass the N4 and start working towards N3.

You did the N1? Geez that's awesome. Hopefully you get to pass next time. How long did it take you to get there?

Yeah, I hope I can pass next time or even just be able to take it again, lol. I only failed by one point but looking at the total points possible it was kind of a shitty score. I was all ready to take it twice if necessary in 2020 but we all know what happened last year....

Anyway I started studying in I think summer of 2014. The very first thing I did was watch this guy named Nama-sensei's videos to learn hiragana and katakana. After that I ditched his videos because they weren't that great, but it was kind of a fun introduction.

After that I learned some basic grammar from a book called "Japanese the Manga Way" (sounds like a really gimmicky dumb book but it was an excellent grammar guide) as well as Tae Kim's guide. I supplemented it with some basic vocabulary using Anki then just jumped in and started trying to read stuff.

I started with easy manga with furigana and then eventually got up to visual novels in Japanese. I used a text hooking program to look up words I didn't know. Reading VNs in Japanese is my current method of continuing to improve, along with watching anime in Japanese.

I think consistency is key so it's good you're wanting to set aside a certain amount of time every day. I was very inconsistent with my studies, some days I'd read for 4 hours and then the next day 10 minutes or something. I only finished two VNs in 2020 so I'm trying to do more this year.