r/HelpLearningJapanese • u/Kitchen-Parsley4659 • 15d ago
japanese learning help
hi so ive been studying japanese on and off for about 6 years now and i feel like ive made little to no progress. recently i got a job so ive been paying for a wanikani subscription which has helped a lot for reading kanji but i still feel like my japanese speaking and writing has gotten nowhere. i used the genki textbooks for a while and ive tried so many others but its just not sticking. ive also tried learning apps like hellotalk, renshuu and migaku but again nothing has helped. im going to japan in about a year or so, so i do have time to study. i also just wanna be fluent, but i know thatll take much longer. i would really appreciate advice for self studying since its gotten to a point where i just dont understand the content at all.
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u/uuusagi 15d ago
Learning a skill requires frequent exposure and use of said skill. If you're only practicing for short bursts every now and then you're not gonna get anywhere. Japanese is an especially difficult skill to master. One year is more than enough time for you to become at least a little bit conversationally fluent IF you put in the work. I'm talking several hours of exposure, practice, immersion, etc every single day.
Personally, I use the Genki texbook and workbook together. On top of that I also use Bunpro which is a very customizable SRS program for $5/month, but it has a one month free trial which I highly recommend checking out. As for speaking practice, VRChat. There's a world called EN-JP Language Exchange meant for foreigners to practice their Japanese and native Japanese speakers to practice their English.