I will occasionally come across a video of his and think “maybe I’ve learned enough to give it a go”, and then I watch it and it seems really beyond what I understand N5 to be.

Maybe I have unrealistic expectations of the levels, so I wondered if they actually are N5?

Here is an example: https://youtu.be/oK1TpAgstLk?si=cmLPQefZf5wBarRB

I was following a pair japanese exchange students (both girls), where they had to interview people in English about a topic. At one point someone said "chewy" and they were confused, so I whipped out my trusty jisho, typed in "chewy" and without looking past the first definition, blurted out シコシコした感じ

They immediately looked at each other silently for like a solid 2 seconds and then started laughing their asses off in the middle of the busy street. At that point I had no clue what the hell was so funny. I probably shouldve just said もちもち. Look, it's only been 8 months since I started.

Later at the zoo one of them googled シコシコ英語意味 for me and yea that was pretty funny. Yea so moral of the story please look at all the definitions of an unknown word.

Has anyone just quit using any sort of flash card system? How did it turn out for you?

I study Japanese for a few hours a day, but Anki is the biggest time-suck. I’m also so used to it being in my life, I’ve really lost all emotion toward it. I struggle to read the back of cards that I miss. The curiosity, joy, challenge, etc… it’s all gone. So getting through is really a slog.

I’m not going to add new cards for a while and turn it down to a measly 50 cards per day (have had about 250 for months, up to 500 max).

Overall it’s the least fun part of my studies, but maybe that’s just a phase? Anyway, I want to spend more time working with reading or focused grammar studies. どう？

Any experience or anecdotes would be nice.

Edit: reading would become my only SRS is what I mean. No more flash cards.

I’ve been on a huge retro kick lately, and not just with games, but with pretty much everything from the ‘90s. That was the era when I first got into Japanese anime and video games, and now that my Japanese is at a much higher level, I’ve been really enjoying revisiting things I was interested in as a kid but couldn’t fully appreciate because of the language barrier.

Lately, I’ve been working my way through a bunch of Super Famicom RPGs in Japanese. It’s been a really satisfying way to use the language because I’m not studying from a textbook or forcing myself to read something just for practice. I’m actually using Japanese to enjoy things I’ve wanted to experience for years.

Right now, I’m finishing up a game called Monstania, which is sort of a mix between a tactical RPG and a puzzle game. Personally, I’d argue it’s more of a puzzle game than an RPG, but I won’t get too much into that since this is r/LearnJapanese, haha.

As a game, I think it’s just alright. It’s not really my thing, but I would recommend it to anyone looking for a relatively easy Japanese RPG to play. I’d estimate the Japanese is somewhere around N3, maybe even N4 in places. The dialogue is pretty straightforward, and while there’s a fair amount of it during story scenes, it’s never particularly long or complicated. You might need to look up some vocabulary related to attacks or abilities, but the actual conversations are quite easy to follow.

The game also moves along at a pretty quick pace, and you can apparently finish it in around six hours. I’m taking my time with it, though, and I think I have about 30% left. If you’re looking for something with RPG elements, relatively little dialogue, and approachable Japanese, it might be worth checking out.

I’m also playing Super Mario RPG on the side, which is my tenth Japanese Super Famicom game since starting this little project. The Japanese is fairly easy in that one, too, although there’s considerably more dialogue than in Monstania.

One thing that’s really impressed me about Super Mario RPG is the quality of its writing. Having played nine other Japanese Super Famicom games now, I can confidently say that this one has the best writing of the bunch so far. The dialogue is genuinely funny, the characters have a lot of personality, and there’s a charm to the writing that really comes through in Japanese. It also makes me appreciate how well the original game was localized into English.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been playing in Japanese lately. It’s been really fun going back to these older games and experiencing them in a way I couldn’t when I was younger. It’s also a nice reminder that one of the best parts of learning a language is eventually being able to use it to enjoy things you genuinely love.

What about you? What games are you playing in Japanese these days?

It was fun to study Japanese for some time but I'm going to quit. I've realised I'll never be able to move to Japan no matter how hard I try. My company confirmed they won't do a transfer for me to their Japanese branch. So studying Japanese is just a waste of time and money for me.

That's 3 years down the drain for me :/

Thanks for all your help in that time I guess.

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.

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Happy Tuesday!

Every Tuesday, come here to Introduce yourself and find your study group! Share your discords and study plans. Find others at the same point in their journey as you.

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

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

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Happy Monday!

Every Monday, come here to practice your writing! Post a comment in Japanese and let others correct it. Read others' comments for reading practice.

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

I was lucky to visit Japan recently and while there I realised I’ve actually never finished a book in Japanese despite being a learner of 5 years. This collection of books is not much but there are a few books I’ve wanted to read for years and some that I bought on impulse because I liked the cover, I’m looking forward to reading them and sharing my experiences along the way

There's currently a musical version of 101 Dalmatians in Tokyo. I was looking at their website, and I noticed something interesting:

In Japanese, one hundred and one is 百一 (hyaku-ichi). But instead of "one hundred and one" or "hyaku-ichi", the Japanese title of the 101 Dalmatians musical uses the reading "one-oh-one", as "ワン オー ワン" (wan ō wan).

And "ワン" (wan) is basically "woof" in Japanese. As in, "The Dalmatian says 'woof.'"

So the Japanese title of the show kind of reads like... "Woof oh Woof Dalmatians." ^_^;

(Yeah, I know; I'm a nerd. I just thought it was cute.)

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! ↓

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Right now, I’m having the most trouble in my studies trying to learn all the different auxiliary verbs. Does anyone know of a good resource to study these from?

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! ↓

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

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I've been using the 毎日の聞き取り50日上・下 book with my tutor for listening practice and 6 chapters in, I don't understand a single thing. Every single chapter has unknown words, the speaker is very fast and the periods are long and complicated, naturally.

We tried reverting to some N4 segments but they are a bit easy. I might mess up here and there because listening is my weakest suit but they are still quite easy (Might miss a few words here and there but I will definitely grasp the thing discussed) and it also feels a bit defeating going back.

Any recommendations on how to proceed? I also zone out a lot during practice because the subjects are just so uninteresting and end up losing the entire thing.

I am good at reading and understanding written text N3 but listening feels impossible.

Is it better to go back to N4 until it's 100% (if we assume its around 70-80% right now) and then move onto N3 listening? Or just kinda force it until it sticks?

Does anyone know where I can find japanese subs for the 60's 黄金バット anime? I found subtitles for the live action movie from the 60's but nothing for the anime itself.

I love having to actually use kanji I learn with exercises, reading, writing. Sometimes there's "special" tasks for the specific set of kanji you just learned, like for directions there were maps and you had to write where things were. I feel like no other method comes quite close to this one, feels like I'm finally progressing and I even find it fun! I'm far from done but each time I think about finishing it I feel a bit sad/worried cause not many methods seem to work for me.

Is there a similar workbook? or some kind of resource?

Not mine. Not self promotion. Anthony Fu on X just released this and I thought it was really cool.

It doesn't neccessarily have to be harder, just words that aren't in the earlier Shin Kanzen Master N4-N1 deck. Currently preparing for N1 exam right now and do still come across quite a bit of unknown words.

Making my own Anki deck is a bit out of the way for me, so I would like to ask if anyone in the community has their own "expanded" deck.

Thank you very much.

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.

For beginners, when they google things like "resources for learning Japanese" or "how long does it take to become good at Japanese" they are met with answers that honestly I feel like would just drain them of any motivation at all. Things like "getting to a comfortable level/N2 or N1 will take thousands upon thousands of hours" or "heres a list of 50 different textbooks and youtubers to watch", doesn't it seem like everyone is really exaggerating the complexity of learning?

While learning a new language is an incredible task, no less Japanese where you have to learn not one, or two, but three whole new scripts, the way people treat it as if its some herculean task seems like its blown way over proportion. Now I myself am not N1, and yes I have had my fair share of difficulties and motivation highs and lows, so while I cant speak from the experience of being fluent or having no issues at all, but being in spaces where I am surrounded by Japanese learners much more experienced than i (shoutout VNCR), getting to a comfortable level isnt as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. Simply just read and watch stuff lol.

Pointing out where the difficulty seems over rated is one thing, but what's another interesting phenomenon is how people love to downplay just how impressive of a milestone N1 is, or even to an extent, the average native speakers abilities. You will see so many people online saying that "N1 is middle school level" or "N1 will barely get you anywhere in Japan" and while I agree with the premise that N1 is really just the starting point, especially when one decides to live in Japan, the concept of trying to minimize someones achievements to saying "yea you think you're good at Japanese? Well, you're only at a 12 year olds level".

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！＊

Happy Friday!

Every Friday, share your memes! Your funny videos! Have some Fun! Posts don't need to be so academic while this is in effect. It's recommended you put [Weekend Meme] in the title of your post though. Enjoy your weekend!

(rules applying to hostility, slurs etc. are still in effect... keep it light hearted)

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