Ever since I was young, I have always had an interest in Japan and Japanese culture and a desire to learn Japanese. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in Japan. I don’t remember what got me interested me in Japan originally. When I asked my parents where I could have picked up this fascination, they were also baffled. Although we have a love of travelling and while they found Japan interesting, it was never very high on the list of places to visit for them. While my impetus might be lost to time, my interest and now love of Japanese has certainly not dimmed.
Here is my story of failed attempts and the final, successful one to learn Japanese.
Background
Going to Japan: a failed start
My first attempt to learn Japanese was a failure. I was in high school in the US at the time and there was a Japanese club where you could stay after school and learn the language. My high school was partnered with a Japanese high school, which is why the school had offered language classes a couple of years prior as an elective part of the curriculum. Unfortunately, the teacher moved on and they were unable to find anyone to replace her, so they had to cancel those classes by the time I got there.
In theory in the club, we met on Wednesdays. On the first and third Wednesdays, we would learn Japanese – someone from the Department of Education would come to teach us. Alternate weeks we would meet to create and implement ideas to raise money for a summer study trip to Japan. The high school had an exchange programme where you went to Japan for 2 weeks, stayed with a host family and went to school there in June. We also hosted Japanese students in September.
In high school, I was a lot more of an overachiever than I am now. In terms of languages I had my official, daily Spanish classes and on the side I was trying to learn Japanese, Hindi and American Sign Language on top of taking the hardest classes I could find and doing more credits than necessary.
Suffice it to say, I did not have enough time to devote to Japanese. Combined with the Fukushima Disaster, which affected the high school we were supposed to be going to, I gave up learning Japanese. My life went in a different direction and Japanese was off the table.
Going to Japan: success!
Fast forward 10 years to 2021. The pandemic is in full swing and we are isolating at home. My relationship was breaking up, my grandfather died and life seemed to be doing a hard reset. Japan had still been in the back of my mind but there had been no opportunities to go there due to other obligations.
Sat at home, I realised that the opportunity would not suddenly appear; there would always be something to get in the way, so I had to make the opportunity. Queue many hours of internet research on ways to get to and stay in Japan, which culminated in finding Genki Japanese and Culture School (GenkiJACS) and the 18-month intensive Japanese course they offer.
Due to the pandemic, various lockdowns and travel restrictions, it took a couple of attempts to get there but finally, in April 2022 I was given a visa and permission by the Japanese government to enter the country at a time when most other foreigners trying to enter were turned away.
Finally I was able to seriously attempt to learn Japanese.
Arriving in Japan
When I arrived in Japan, I knew next to nothing. I could identify the hiragana and katakana charts and most of the kana (c.f. Japanese syllabic alphabet “letters”), which were the basic requirements of the GenkiJACS course. I also knew a couple of phrases, such as please, thank you and “My name is…” but not enough to survive in Japan. Furthermore, I was living in Fukuoka on Kyushu island, south-west of Honshu (the island where Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, etc. are), where most people only spoke Japanese or, if they spoke another language, it was Korean or Chinese due to the number of tourists from those countries. Westerners and people able to speak English were very few and far between.
Fortunately, after arriving I stayed with a host family for 3 months. They were able to help me get set up, from going with me to register with the city to helping me buy a bike. I do not think I would have survived nearly as well without their help.
My Japanese Journey: language school and self-study
In essence, I started from zero in April 2022. By the time I finished in September 2023, I had passed the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N4 and N3 exams with flying colours and was testing at the N2 level (The JLPT goes from N5 “beginner” to N1 “native” levels). This was through a combination of intensive study at GenkiJACS and self-study. Every day I would spend about 5 hours at the school and most days, I would also spend at least 3 hours reviewing and learning new material at home. I will go into that in more detail for each level.
Beginner (N5/N4)
In the classroom
The JLPT N5 and N4 (beginner) levels are covered by the Foundation, Beginner 1 and Beginner 2 courses at GenkiJACS.
Since you were only required to know the hiragana alphabet before starting classes, we first reviewed hiragana and katakana in class. This is important because you can only use Japanese in class, so everything was going to be in hiragana, katakana or eventually kanji. We needed these building blocks for later, so we focused on them for 2 weeks. Then we went to the normal lesson structure.
GenkiJACS classes are organised into four 50-minute lessons per day Monday through Friday, rotating between reading, speaking, listening and speaking practice as well as grammar and culture lessons. Each day is a different combination, so no two days feel the same. They are also taught only in Japanese (so there is no support in other languages like English or French). This is known as immersive study.
Minna no Nihongo books
During the pandemic, GenkiJACS switched from Genki, a series of textbooks aimed at high school/university students, to Minna no Nihongo (MNN) for its beginner levels; most of their students want to use Japanese in everyday and business contexts and do not go to university in Japan. They also supplied the MNN Translation and Grammar book and associated workbook as part of my tuition fees.
I have to admit that while the MNN book was good for covering all the necessary topics, it was sometimes confusing or too brief to fully explain things. Many non-native English speakers (we used the English-Japanese version) and non-academically-minded people did not understand some of the explanations in the book. It was excellent to have teachers to be able to ask these clarifying questions. However, do not be discouraged. I have created guides for MNN1 and MNN2 to help you better understand the book.
During the day we would work on reading, listening and grammar points and practising speaking. We would always have homework, reinforcing the vocabulary and grammar for that lesson. Each lesson would take us a couple of days to get through depending on the length. We would always follow the same pattern: go over the vocabulary and look at the “additional information” section, learn a couple of grammar points, do the associated reading, learn some more grammar, do another reading, and then do the listening/DVD.
If you are not studying in classes and have to set your own pace using MNN, I recommend taking a couple of sessions to go through the lesson thoroughly before moving to the next one. There are a couple of reasons:
- Later lessons depend on the vocabulary and grammar of previous lessons, so it is important to have a strong foundation.
- The more you look over vocabulary and grammar, the more likely you can recall it when needed. Simply reading once and understanding what it is saying is not enough. Take time to come up with sentences and check them. Do they make sense with what you have been told in the book?
- If you know other people who know Japanese, check these sentences with them to see if they are correct. A good resource for that is the r/LearnJapanese subreddit. Make sure you read their rules before posting!
- The same grammar structure in different situations can mean very different things. MAKE SURE TO READ THE DETAILS AND UNDERSTAND CONTEXT! Context is always key for the Japanese language.
- Do the readings and listening separately from the grammar. This will give you time to process each individually. Most of the time for the listening we had blank spaces that we had to fill in, which forced us to listen. This was a good way to get used to Japanese sounds.
Kanji
After a month or so we also began to learn Kanji from a book rather than just from the vocabulary we got from MNN. The series of books we used was Practical Kanji (Vol 1 and 2, I will use PK to refer to them). Most books are organised starting with the simplest Kanji and progressively getting more difficult. In contrast, PK was organised by topics, so you may sometimes have Kanji more complex than others in the lesson but they always fit. The idea is that once you have completed PK Vol 1 and 2, you have learnt all of the Kanji for the JLPT N4 exam.
Studying at home
After classes, I would go home, do the homework and then study some more. We were required to pass the JLPT N4 exam within 1 year of being in Japan for our visa, so I had a lot of incentives. Note: this is no longer a requirement for a student visa for language schools.
Minna no Nihongo
In the very beginning, I would simply look ahead in the MNN book. Because of the sheer volume, learning vocabulary is often difficult when learning a new language. To help me, I used Anki, a powerful flashcard software that is made for learning Japanese. You can use it on the internet, download the app (Google Play and App Store) or download it for offline use.
Vocabulary
Here are the Anki decks that I used for vocabulary:
Kanji
I was unable to find Anki decks for PK, so I made my own:
Outside the classroom
While the classroom gives you important foundations, using it is the most important thing. GenkiJACS was very good about having a lot of practice but using it in the real world is extremely important.
Media
If you are interested in Japanese pop culture and literature, anime and manga are a great way to practice reading and listening to Japanese. Many of my peers did this. This is a great way to be exposed to vocabulary, although a lot of it will depend on the genre you read and/or watch. Here are some good bilingual books (including manga) to get you started.
Be warned: in anime and manga, several unique speaking and writing styles appear that are not used in everyday Japanese. Materials like these are more casual and sometimes use words that never appear in life in Japan, so keep that in mind.
Talking and Communication
However, I would argue that conversation is even more important if you want to speak and be understood in Japan. If you are living in Japan, there are a lot of everyday opportunities, such as going grocery shopping or making friends. For example, GenkiJACS partnered with an English language school and held weekly coffee hours where students intermingled and learned from each other.
If you are not in Japan, there are a lot of other resources you can use. There are several Discord communities with rooms and sessions for speaking practice. Here is a good review of some of the major ones. The subreddit r/LearnJapanese can be a good place to get tips and tricks.
YouTube is also a good place for formal learning (i.e. language topics) and informal learning (i.e. watching videos about anything in Japanese). A good way of doing this is creating a separate account and then only following Japanese creators/YouTubers. This way, you do not affect the account you usually use (if you watch a lot on YouTube on your personal account) and the algorithm will continue to suggest videos that will help you. You can do this by creating and using a new, free email address.
For a (potentially) informal setting, X (formerly Twitter) is a good place to follow Japanese people and personalities on social media. Like YouTube make a separate account and follow accounts that put out content in Japanese that interests you.
The more you put into your own learning, the more you will get out of it. If you don’t do much to actually practice, you won’t practice and it will take you a lot longer to learn the language.
The result
I arrived in Japan at the end of April, started classes in early May and took the JLPT N4 exam at the beginning of December. In this time (7 months), we had completed MNN1 and most of MNN2 (except the last 3 chapters on Keigo – formal language- which is not on the JLPT N4 test). By October/November I was consistently passing JLPT N4 tests, so it took me about 6 months to get to that level.
The JLPT is 180 points in total. Below is a breakdown of the JLPT and the levels. Scoring sections of N1-N3 and N4-N5 are different. Overall pass marks and sectional pass marks for each level are shown in the table below.
| Level | Total score | Scores by Scoring Sections | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language Knowledge （Vocabulary/Grammar） | Reading | Listening | ||||||
| Range of scores | Overall pass marks | Range of scores | Sectional pass marks | Range of scores | Sectional pass marks | Range of scores | Sectional pass marks | |
| N1 | 0～180 points | 100 points | 0～60 points | 19 points | 0～60 points | 19 points | 0～60 points | 19 points |
| N2 | 0～180 points | 90 points | 0～60 points | 19 points | 0～60 points | 19 points | 0～60 points | 19 points |
| N3 | 0～180 points | 95 points | 0～60 points | 19 points | 0～60 points | 19 points | 0～60 points | 19 points |
| Level | Total score | Scores by Scoring Sections | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language Knowledge （Vocabulary/Grammar）・Reading | Listening | |||||
| Range of scores | Overall pass marks | Range of scores | Sectional pass marks | Range of scores | Sectional pass marks | |
| N4 | 0～180 points | 90 points | 0～120 points | 38 points | 0～60 points | 19 points |
| N5 | 0～180 points | 80 points | 0～120 points | 38 points | 0～60 points | 19 points |
In the end, I passed the JLPT N4 with 124 points. Here are my results:
Lower Intermediate/Intermediate
In January 2023 I started the Lower Intermediate level of classes. Rather than continuing with MNN, we switched to several different books. For the Lower Intermediate level, we used:
- Vocabulary: 語彙N3 (pronounced “Goui”)
- https://teachtranslatetravelrepeat.com/product-category/japanese-shop/japanese-intermediate/try-n3/
- Grammar/Kanji/Reading: Quartet Vol 1 and Vol 2
For the intermediate level, we used:
- Vocabulary: 語彙N2
- Grammar: Try! N2
- Grammar/Kanji/Reading: Quartet Vol 3 and 4
In the classroom
Whereas in the beginner levels, we had only used MNN and each day had been the next part of the lesson, in the lower intermediate and intermediate courses we went between three textbooks as well as any additional materials that were given to us. However, it was more structured in terms of when we did what. Rather than four 50-minute classes, we had two 100-minute classes (with a small break in the middle) and we knew what we were going to do each day:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
| First class | 語彙 (vocab) | Quartet | 語彙 (vocab) | Quartet | 語彙 (vocab) |
| Second class | Try! (grammar) | Kanji (usually Quartet, sometimes PK for any lessons not finished before JLPT N4 exam) | Try! (grammar) | Seminar | Try! (grammar) |
While our “main” textbook was Quartet, that was only because it had Kanji and reading as well as grammar. Because of the way it presented grammar (only that needed for the reading), we supplemented lessons with the Try! series, which is aimed at passing the grammar section of the corresponding JLPT exam. For vocabulary to pass the exams, we used the corresponding 語彙 books.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays started with a page of 語彙 vocabulary. The reason it would take 100 minutes to get through one page was due to all of the nuances at this level. Intermediate and advanced Japanese words often have very specific meanings. For example there are many ways to translate the English word “limit” depending on the type of limit. We usually say “time limit” or “speed limit”, but those concepts “limit” are different, so Japanese has separate words for them. 語彙 does not necessarily have a good explanation in English (in fact the N2 version is only in Japanese), so figuring out EXACTLY what each meant and how to use them took time.
In the afternoon, we would work through 4 or 5 grammar points from Try! At this level there is a lot of grammar not used while speaking and you will only come across or use it when reading or writing. It is important for more official documents than a text message or social media post – reports, news, books and publications.
On Tuesdays we spent the day focused on Quartet. Usually we had a set of kanji to go through and memorise that was tied into the reading, which we would do the same day. For the first couple of weeks we still had not finished the PK Vol 2 book from the beginner level, so we used that as well.
On Thursdays we would start the day with Quartet and then move to a seminar class, which was focused not on formal learning like other classes but on a variety of topics. It was a “catch-all” for doing formal presentations, learning about Japanese cultural topics, group discussions and debates, and anything else we showed an interest in and what the teachers thought we would need. For example we used a couple of sessions for creating cover letters and résumés/CVs and talking about how job interviews are in Japan. Other sessions we asked to be dedicated to special exam prep when we were close to taking the JLPT N3.
Studying at home
Thinking back on everything I have done so far, I think this is the most studying I have ever done considering I did three degrees (and the work for three degrees) at the same time! We had a lot less homework at this level – rather than worksheets like in the beginning levels, we were expected to be able to know how to study Japanese ourselves. Instead, our homework (when we did have it) was essays, Kanji and sentence practice.
Instead studying at home was often learning vast amounts of kanji and vocabulary. The JLPT N3 test can test you on 3,750 words and 660 kanji and the N2 covers about 6,000 words and 1,000 kanji. That could not be covered in class, so we had to focus on that at home.
Vocabulary and Kanji
Anki was definitely a favourite study tool of mine. For the lower intermediate level I used the following decks:
- Pass JLPT N3 Vocabulary Deck
- QUARTET: Intermediate (Complete Edition) – also used for Intermediate level
- 新完全マスター語彙N3
For the intermediate level I used the following decks:
- QUARTET: Intermediate (Complete Edition) – also used for Lower Intermediate level
- 新完全マスター語彙N2
Additionally I often read ahead to be on top of the readings and grammar points that were coming. I spent a lot of time at desks, cafés and study rooms but it was definitely worth it.
Outside the classroom
Outside of the classroom, I tried to engage as much as possible with people, read news, join special interest groups and use as much Japanese as possible.
Japanese news for learners
The app I used (and could have used from N5 although I did not know it then) was Todaii: Easy Japanese (Google Play and Apple App Store). This app takes real current Japanese news articles and edits them for learners. You set the level you want to learn at (e.g. N3); it will assume you know N4 and N5 grammar and vocabulary and instead point out N3, N2 and N1 level material, giving you context and examples when you click on the underlined words. Here is an example:
You can use Todaii: Easy Japanese for many other types of reading but I used it primarily for keeping up with the news.
Talking and Communication
Having people to talk to really let me continue speaking Japanese. GenkiJACS assumes that you have made friends by this point in the 18-month programme and therefore you have speaking practice with them. With the exception of formal presentations and discussions about complex topics during the seminar, a lot less focus is placed on speaking at the intermediate level than at the beginner level. It is your job to keep that up.
If you are not in Japan, joining special interest Discord groups in Japanese is a good way to practice. You can join the same groups as listed above (in the beginner section) but I would also recommend you look for any group in Japanese that shares one of your interests for a couple of reasons:
- You will be forced to only use Japanese in a non-language exchange group
- Japanese people who also speak English might try to help you by using loan words instead of the proper Japanese term. That does not help you if your goal is to improve your Japanese.
The same goes for YouTube and X/Twitter. Start following creators who go into complex topics that you find interesting. That will expose you to more Japanese – and you don’t even feel like you are studying!
The result
I took the N3 in July 2023 (7 months after my N4 exam) and passed with 130 points. I was ecstatic. I mean I thought I was going to pass but I did not realise that I was going to pass with a higher score than the N4 exam. In fact I think I should have tried to go for the N2 exam at the time. However I felt stressed and thought that I did not have enough of a grasp on the N3 material, so I settled instead of pushing myself. Hindsight is 20/20.
Here are my results:
How long should it take me to learn Japanese?
The honest answer is that it is going to be a lifetime to learn Japanese. Even if you pass the N1 exam, there is a lot to get you to the fabled “N0” native-speaker level (N1 is “fluent/near native”).
Here is a table that lists approximately how many hours of study you need to reach each level:
Level | Students with kanji knowledge (e.g. speakers of Chinese) | Converted to time (if studying 3 hours per day) | Other students (no prior kanji knowledge) | Converted to time (if studying 3 hours per day) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N1 | 1700~2600 hours | 1 year 6 months 18 days~2 years 4 months 14 days | 3000~4800 hours | 2 years 8 months 25 days ~ 4 years 4 months 17 days |
| N2 | 1150~1800 hours | 1 year 17 days ~ 1 year 7 months 20 days | 1600~2800 hours | 1 year 5 months 14 days ~ 2 years 6 months 19 days |
| N3 | 700~1100 hours | 7 months 19 days ~ 1 year 1 day | 950~1700 hours | 10 months 10 days ~ 1 year 6 months 18 days |
| N4 | 400~700 hours | 4 months 11 days ~ 7 months 19 days | 575~1000 hours | 6 months 9 days ~ 10 months 27 days |
| N5 | 250~450 hours | 2 months 22 days | 325~600 hours | 3 months 17 days ~ 6 months 17 days |
Please note that this means you can pass the exam, not go to Japan and have a conversation. Conversation is not tested on the JLPT, so the timetable above does not include time for conversation, pronunciation or anything related to speaking.
No deadline
While these times seem daunting, I recommend the following. Create a study plan for yourself. If you can, use a calendar and set two 1.5-hour study blocks aside to focus on Japanese – one in the morning and one in the afternoon or one in the afternoon and one in the evening. You want two blocks so you can learn something, take some time and then come back to it the same day or another day. The first block should be for “formal” learning (i.e. from books); the second should be for “informal” learning (i.e. YouTube, media, etc.) or practice (e.g. talking to people on Discord).
When you are making your calendar, also plan for some extra time. You might want to finish the first MNN book in 3 months but something might stop you, like going on holiday, seeing family, etc. If you plan a couple of extra weeks, you can either 1) get ahead if you understand everything well or 2) not fall behind because of something you weren’t expecting.
I have a deadline
If you have a deadline (e.g. I am going to Japan in 3 months), then it is likely that you are going to need to be much more intensive about your studying. Instead of setting aside a specific amount of time per day, think about your goal. What level do you want to be by that deadline? What is my goal?
Then break down all of the things that you need to learn/study into “bite-sized” tasks. For example, “learn X number of vocab per day”, “review X number of grammar points per day”, and “practice X number of Kanji per day” and decide how much time you are going to need to get everything accomplished.
Make sure you are also being reasonable. You can’t go from N5 to N1 in a month, so do not even try. You won’t make it and you will only burn yourself out. Set attainable goals that push your boundaries bit by bit.
Too long; didn’t read (TL;DR)
Resources
Get a good textbook to learn from with structure. Here are some links to resources that will be helpful.
- Absolute beginner (N5) textbook + resources
- Beginner textbook (N4) + resources
- Lower intermediate (N3) textbooks + resources
- Upper intermediate (N2) textbooks + resources
Tips and Tricks
- Practise as much as possible! Speaking is the hardest skill to learn, so do as much as you can.
- A good review of Discord servers for learning Japanese
- r/LearnJapanese subreddit
- Todaii: Easy Japanese (Google Play and Apple App Store) for news and reading
- High-quality YouTube creators
- Make a schedule for yourself and stick to it. Plan set times when you learn Japanese and stick to them. Make it a habit.
- Do not study too much so you burn yourself out!
- Do not try to achieve unrealistic goals in short amounts of time!
- When in doubt, learn more Kanji and vocabulary! Those are the two most numerous aspects of Japanese.
- If you only want to speak Japanese, aim for the JLPT N3 level. N1 and N2 grammar are for writing in formal settings. However, vocabulary at those levels can be important for talking about specialised topics.
- Use materials about topics you are interested in. For example, if you like science but not art, find scientific materials in Japanese and skip the ones that talk about art. You will find you are much more interested than you would be otherwise.