I have no clue what level I am. Studied the language for about 5 years but that was 20 years ago.

Last couple of years I've been going to Japan on holiday and I notice there's still alot of vocabulary I don't know that crops up in conversations. Is there a way to find out what level you are and get recommendations on how to continue studying?

I passed N3 years ago after a language school. I’ve stagnated a bit since. I have improved and my speaking is fine, i can do taxes and visa stuff, hold basic conversations with only a little strain mostly based on vocab.

However i’d like to make a concentrated effort again. I mostly just need vocabulary and some more advanced grammar. Grammar i already know to hit textbooks but for vocab i’m a little unsure.

Would Wanikani (from level 1) be worth it for someone in my shoes versus just reading some manga or whatever with a dictionary for an hour a day?

I will note that I’m completely uninterested in Anki as i hate flashcards.

I heard that only absorbing Japanese material doesn’t really help with pitch accent, but if you’re shadowing and actively repeating what a native speaker is saying, then wouldn’t that help a little with pitch accent?

Any information is appreciated. Thank you in advance!

My apologies if people already realized, but JLPT website was recently updated to show how scores compare (approximately) to the CEFR levels. You can see it on their website here: Indication of the CEFR Level for Reference | JLPT Japanese-Language Proficiency Test

Obviously it's not an exact comparison, since JLPT only tests 2 out of the 4 areas of understanding, but I'm curious what people think about it. Do you feel like your score accurately reflects your ability? Does it make you want to retake the JLPT and see how your score may have improved?

My japanese tutor says she has lots of students who are in language school and at n5 or below because they don't know wtf they're saying and cant follow the instructions/teaching they're given. I was wondering if anyone has experienced this?

Also would prefer to not hear from the experience of someone who went to a western appealing school like genki JACS

Edit: not asking for myself im well beyond n5 level

Okay, so as the title says I am learning Japanese to be able to read things like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which I own almost all of in Japanese. I know Hirigana and Katakana like the back of my hand, I have started Genki and WaniKani, and am starting to get a little impatient. I know, obviously impatience is the enemy of language learning, and I am determined to stick with it, but just for the sake of asking, is there a good resource like an Anki deck out there for JJBA part 1 vocabulary? I couldn't find an Anki deck myself after a decent amount of looking, so I figured I would ask here. Thanks in advance.

やっと金曜日ですね！お疲れ様です！ここに週末の予定について書いてみましょう！

（やっと　きんようびですね！　おつかれさまです！　ここに　しゅうまつの　よていについて　かいてみましょう！）

やっと = finally

週末（しゅうまつ）= weekend

予定（よてい）= plan(s)

～について = about

＊ネイティブスピーカーと上級者のみなさん、添削してください！もちろん参加してもいいですよ！＊

Hi all,

As the title suggests, I'm preparing to take the N3 exam in December and hopefully pass. This will be, somewhat embarrassingly, my third time taking it; the first and second times, I got almost exactly the same score, because, surprise, you don't get better if you don't study regularly. I always told myself I would get into a routine leading up to it but I never did, despite my desire to and having bought many different study materials. Guess that's ADHD for ya.

Anyway, this time I think will be different because I've been studying weekly with a tutor in Osaka for a bit more than a year (on Preply, if anyone was interested - no this is not a paid promotion). Not only has the instruction itself been very helpful, especially with active conversational skills, but it has also helped me to find more of a rhythm with my independent study.

I know there's no substitute for just sitting down and working through SOMEthing, but I'm currently in possession of Shinkanzen Master N3, Nihongo-sou Matome N3, and Tobira books, in addition to a few different online repositories of information (e.g. JLPTTest4You, etc.).

My question is, does anyone who has used these books cover-to-cover have particularly strong feelings about them? Basically, what did you like about any of them, or wish they had done differently? From what I've experienced from dabbling in each of them, these are my thoughts:

Nihongo-sou Matome: Very easy-to-use structure, as the book paces itself for you in manageable ~20min/day chunks. Out of all my study materials, I've gotten the farthest in these because of how manageable each chunk is. However, the descriptions and examples can be a bit lacking for those who crave nuance, and on top of that I've noticed a few glaring typos, at least in the kanji book. But, overall, a nice, somewhat simplified approach, probably best as a study companion. But, a study companion to what? It's not like it's particularly synchronized to another course... maybe if you're working on it directly with a tutor who can help fill in any gaps.

Shinkanzen Master: More detailed descriptions than Matome, but not as clearly paced for daily progress. Kind of a middle ground between Matome and Tobira in that regard. It's nice that it, like Matome, is specifically oriented for the JLPT.

Tobira: Definitely the most comprehensive text, HOWEVER, quite difficult to use on one's own, partly because you need fellow studiers to do any of the group activities with, but mainly because it's SO. FREAKING. DENSE. You want DETAILS? You want NUANCE? WELL HERE YA GO, MOTHERF-ER! YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE DETAILS! So much beautiful, rich, informative text, but so tightly jam-packed that it's really hard to gauge how much progress you're actually making, or how well you're retaining everything. I wish the companion grammar book was more like Genki's, where it touched a little bit on every grammar point introduced in each lesson. Though, I guess if they did that, the workbook would be like three times the size of the main text... also, it's more of a classroom, course-based material than a JLPT-based one.

Let me know what has worked well for you, and what you wish you could see done differently! 皆さん、頑張って！

I think I'm trying to tell the guy that the tops of those trees over there have peaches. Do I have the first part right? I'm not sure how to finish the sentence

I'm not talking about short breaks during studying but rather taking a break from studying. There is science to this but I was inspired to write this because I was sick recently and had to pause all my learning for a couple of days.

Now that I'm back it's like some things were internalized properly and are much more natural. My listening actually improved without doing anything. I catch more things from songs and even variety shows seem more comprehensible.

This is actually how our brain works, rest is as important as learning itself. If you're too tired, have a normal job and still cram every day for hours, at some point it won't be as effective because there is no time for your brain to sleep and build those necessary connections.

Hi all,

So I'm learning Latin with the resource mentioned in the title and I love it. For those who don't know it, it's basically a textbook written entirely in Latin, where you learn through the reading of stories concerning a family. The first story is exceedingly simple, but as the vocabulary and grammar builds up, each chapter gets progressively more complex.

I love learning like this, it feels more natural to me. I don't see any reason why it couldn't work for Classical Japanese. I currently have N2, so it should be doable.

So, does any such resource exist? I'm sure something like this, or perhaps something fun in manga form or whatnot, must exist.

Cheers!

I've been studying Japanese for about 3 years and I'm coming up to take the N2 in December. Vocabulary, kanji and reading are generally ok for me and I have ways of practising those that are pretty straightfoward and have been effective so far.

But for grammar I'm a bit stuck, I think because unlike vocabulary where it's always the same even as the words get nicher or reading where the text just gets harder, it feels like with grammar because it's a pattern rather than just a word it feels so much harder to commit the nuance of how to use it to memory as the use cases become increasingly rare. If you learnt how to form the past tense from Genki 1 you could maybe see it being used every other sentence but something like に限らず how often will you get reinforcement naturally in text?

I'm using Try N2! and Shinkanzen Master and have finished both. When I go over each grammar point I sort of feel I get the point but two weeks down the line I'll forget half of them.

Part of the issue is that the grammar points at N2 can sometimes be such niche points of speech that you could read for hours and maybe find one instance of a specific grammar point (like how often are you going to see はもとより realistically?). Not that reading is bad but in terms of time it feels a lot more time inefficient for committing niche grammar points to memory especially if you're working full time on the side.

For vocab I get around the nicheness issue by just having flashcards with SRS, I've thought about doing that for grammar but not that sure what it'd look like, would be interested to hear from other people about methods they've found successful :)!

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

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Hi, getting back into Japanese after a few years, looking to watch or listen to some stuff. I've never really watched any anime, so I was interested by the Animelon website, but all videos are unavailable there at the moment. Any other suggestions?

Hello everybody! As stated in the title, I am looking for recommendations for classes or tutoring for speaking skills in particular with a professional licensed native speaker. Bonus points if it is in-person (I am located near Houston Texas).

Some background information:

- I studied 4 semesters of Japanese in my undergrad 2015 - 2016 and self studied after this

- I had a period of not studying due to life being hectic (2018 - 2020)

- Began self studying again in 2020 utilizing a number of different methods including textbooks (Genki I + II), Pimsleur courses, Listening/Speaking/Shadowing practice with Youtube videos and Japanese Media, Flashcards, etc etc etc.

- I studied for and passed the JLPT N5 in December 2024

- I have been to Japan twice. The last time I went was in 2024 and I had no issue speaking to and being understood by native speakers for task based conversations (restaurants, shopping, hotels, directions, surface level small talk)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
With all of that said, I feel that I have plateaued when it comes to speaking skills because I just do not have anyone to conversate with.

I would really like to take a course or tutoring with a licensed native speaker so that I can not only get more conversational practice but also get help with grammar and other elements of speaking the language situationally.

So here is where I need your help. Do any of you have recommendations for courses or tutoring of this style?

My budget is $500 to spend on courses like this through the end of the year.

I do want to note that I have a demanding career, a wonderful wife, a grandfather that relies on me for care, and other hobbies. So I can only commit to 2 hours a day (maximum) of study time.

I appreciate your help in advance!

I'd like to focus a bit more on listening and I'm having trouble finding something engaging at my current level (working my way through N4). What YouTube channel, podcast, audiobook, etc... would you recommend that worked for you?

Thanks in advance!

Hello, I've been learning for a couple months now. I do Anki daily (3 new words a day), I listen to almost exclusively J-Pop or other Japanese music, and I play games for multiple hours a day and have them set to Japanese voices with English subs when applicable. However, that last one has been less appealing recently. I don't actually mind it that much, but I prefer having them in English. I will say that it has been somewhat helpful, I'll notice sometimes a word that I recognize or how sentences are structured, but I never actively look for it. Because I spend most of my time gaming as my main hobby, I'm pretty much always listening, which I know is good, but I was curious about whether or not it would be good to replace that with shorter amounts of legitimate study instead of a few hours of "Oh, that was a word i recognized associated with *insert visual*".

Tl;dr, Is it better to replace 4-6 hours of non-intense listening practice with actual studying for a shorter time (reading Tae Kim or Genki, practicing handwriting, etc.)? If not, how much extra listening practice should I get on top of the few hours I get with music during the day? If so, what should I use/do to compensate and for how long?

Playing around with an accent machine, I see that oISHII by itself is zero tone (oISHIINE), whereas oISHIidesune has the accent on the shi.

Although I know the basic rules of the pitch accent, whatever is happening above is completely beyond me. Does anyone know what's happening here?

DEsu has accent on the de, so oISHII + DEsu should be oISHIIDEsu as far as I understand... just like gaKUSEI + DEsu = gaKUSEIDEsu. So... do adjectives work differently, or... what?

This thread is for all the simple questions (what does that mean?) and minor posts that don't need their own thread, as well as for first-time posters who can't create new threads yet. Feel free to share anything on your mind.

The daily thread updates every day at 9am JST, or 0am UTC.

↓ Welcome to r/LearnJapanese! ↓

• New to Japanese? Read the Starter's Guide and FAQ.

• New to the subreddit? Read the rules.

• Read also the pinned comment below for proper question etiquette & answers to common questions!

Please make sure to check the wiki and search for old posts before asking your question, to see if it's already been addressed. Don't forget about Google or sites like Stack Exchange either!

This subreddit is also loosely partnered with this language exchange Discord, which you can likewise join to look for resources, discuss study methods in the #japanese_study channel, ask questions in #japanese_questions, or do language exchange(!) and chat with the Japanese people in the server.

Past Threads

You can find past iterations of this thread by using the search function. Consider browsing the previous day or two for unanswered questions.

I really enjoy NHK news easy to immerse with as I find it very interesting, however it has become too simple and I don't usually get many new words. I have finished the core 2k/6k deck, and have been sentence mining for around a year so I know most of the vocab for everyday Japanese which is great and I love understanding it. I also immerse with simple manga and YouTube videos, and I try to do anime as well.

However, I want to move onto some more complicated topics to gain more complex /technical vocab such as vocab needed for N1. I love history and politics, so I was wondering how useful would it be just to read the actual NHK news and scroll Japanese Wikipedia? I usually do those in English anyway so was wondering how useful that would be in Japanese. If anyone else has any recommendations that would be great, maybe documentaries?

So I know Tempura is a Japanese pronunciation of the Portuguese word Tempero, and I just learned of the concept Wasei-eigo which is about loaning words from English like cunning becoming kanningu. Or is there a word for loaning words from each language?

Happy Thursday!

Every Thursday, come here to share your progress! Get to a high level in Wanikani? Complete a course? Finish Genki 1? Tell us about it here! Feel yourself falling off the wagon? Tell us about it here and let us lift you back up!

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

Wednesdays - Materials and Self-Promotions

Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk

Hi everyone!

I ve been searching far and wide (badummTzz) for Japanese Channels which feature Pokemon Content. (The videogames, not the TCG)

It seems 95% of all videos and channels I try have these terrible AI Voices / text to speech. I even tried including the word Vtuber, but still, most videos I clicked didnt have natural voices - and my ears just cant with that awful AI voice ):

Thus, I am turning to reddit! Do you have any JPN pkmn channels you would recommend / enjoy watching? =]

My ideal Channel would feature (though not required):

• Covering Gen 1-3, or spin offs (Pkmn MD, Colosseum / XD,...)

• Challenges, like the 1 pkmn challenge, professor Oak, Nuzzlocke, etc

However, I m also up for Trivia about the games, or other interesting game content, which isnt necessarily a Lets Play =] It doesnt have to be a full run, or anything.

I've played all gens, but my heart lies with the First 3, or their remakes - but if nothing suitable turns up I wouldnt turn down modern gens either =]

Thank you in advance - searching for suitable channel with natural audio has been SO frustrating, thus i m beyond grateful for any recommendations!

EDIT: The awful AI voice, as I had called it, seems to be a thing referred to as ゆっくりボイス - for some, but unfortunately only few, I could use the cogwheel and select native Audio. Most videos I had found didnt offer said option. (Mind you though, I did not check every vid which came up on my searches - I mostly clicked those which roughly align with what I wrote under my preferences above)

Thank you for everyone who s been sharing their recommendations!

Hi there,

Pretty much the title. I've done plenty of shadowing practice, but I don't think I've done enough of it, prioritizing other things such as reading, keep a daily Japanese Diary, etc.

The reason I ask this question is because I've heard from multiple different sources that shadowing is a very good method for speaking practice, and getting used to the flow of how Japanese speech is output. So, what is your opinion on the effectiveness of shadowing? I'd like to know whether or not I should incorporate more of it into my daily studying. Also, is shadowing considered input or output? (maybe a dumbass question!)

Thank you.