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.
Thanks for the advice. I'll keep all this in mind. You're pretty much self-taught then aren't you? Makes me feel as though your achievements are a result of much more hard work than mine lol. Good job dude.
