Keyword: Japanese self study

The Ultimate Guide to Japanese Self-Study

Use Japanese popular culture to study the language on your own.

Intro
What this guide is, why I wrote it, and what it will do for you.

Taking classes alone isn’t enough. You have to be willing to immerse yourself in the language. Even if
you do take a class, you need to interact with the language outside of class to truly get a grasp of it.

[insert Chris story, he took classes but didn’t do anything outside of them]

[insert my story, was learning on my own before ever taking a class, placed into intermediate]

This is a guide both for those who have taken classes and who haven’t, who are looking to take their
language learning into their own hands.

Why self-study Japanese?

 Choose things that are interesting to you
 Go at your own pace
 Can’t afford classes/teacher
 Learn much faster in the end

This is NOT a good idea if:

 You have trouble managing yourself

 You need direct/explicit instruction
 You don’t really “care” about learning Japanese

Don’t I need a teacher?

You can:

 Teachers can help explain things you don’t understand

 Teachers will give you a speaking partner
 Teachers know what you should learn
 Teachers will give you proven study methods

But you don’t need to:

 Enough resources online to explain what you don’t get

 Can find speaking partners online or in your own community; or talk to yourself
 Teachers knowledge may be outdated, may not reflect current language use
 Self-study methods tend to be faster and more easily tailored to each student

Will this work?

It did for me. And for several other people. Here are some testimonials:
  Khatz
 Kanji koohii people
 Lex
 Me

Where do I start?
There are two ways to get started with self-studying. If you’ve never taken a Japanese class before, you
might want to start from the Ground-Up. If you’ve got a basic understanding of Japanese grammar, or
simply can’t wait to get into the nuts and bolts of your favorite Japanese anime, then go ahead and Dive
In.

[GRAPHIC: GROUND-UP VS. DIVE-IN]

GROUND-UP

 Find textbooks (borrow from a friend, buy them on the cheap, other methods I won’t mention
here)
 Go through online courses (tae kim’s guide to Japanese, textfugu)

DIVE-IN

 Find movies, music to listen to and immerse yourself

 Find Japanese people to talk to and figure it out as you go

Body
Contents
1. Determine your level
2. Choose your method
3. Focus on your skills

Determine your level: Where are you at right now?

Because this is self-study, you self-assess as well. Figure out where you’re at right now to know where
you need to go next. Use this tool to help assess, the best Japanese level check I’ve found:

1. JALUP Level Guide

https://japaneselevelup.com/test-your-japanese-might-levels-1-20/
https://japaneselevelup.com/test-your-japanese-might-stage-2/
https://japaneselevelup.com/test-your-japanese-might-final-stage/

You can also use other indicators, such as JLPT testing or which Japanese class you’re taking at
university.

Choose your method: Immersion or Scaffolding?

What the immersion method is, it’s proponents, pros and cons.

What I call the “scaffolding” method, using your native language as a crutch to help you level-up. Many
people disagree with this; hence the term “crutch”; but sometimes you need crutches to learn how to
walk.
This is the method I used that got me to pass N2, win 3 Japanese speech contests in a row, graduate
with a degree in Japanese with high distinction. So it’s not complete shit.

[GRAPHIC: IMMERSION VS. SCAFFOLDING

Immersion
Pros Cons
Surround yourself in If limiting yourself to
Japanese from the “i+1” comprehension,
beginning (understand or proximal zone, may
faster) become bored with
material
Get used to Can feel over
comprehending overwhelmed if you’re
Japanese without the just starting out and
crutch of English don’t understand much
Take a look at the pros and cons of each, and choose the method that feels best for you.
Scaffolding
Pros Cons
Take a stab at more May become reliant on
difficult Japanese textsavailability of English
quicker (understand and falter in situations
more) where translations
aren’t available
Use your working Can learn wrong
knowledge of your translations, or have
native language to difficulty learning
boost comprehension concepts that don’t
translate very well

The Four Skills of Language Learning

Master these four skills and you will become fluent in any language. Here is a guide to the types of
activities you may want to focus on for each skill and level.

Listening Speaking Reading Writing

Beginner Kids’ shows, Shadowing, Start learning Kana and kanji
Japanese learning Japanese tutor Kanji Take notes in
focused YouTube Graded readers Japanese
Japanese journal
Intermediate Anime, music Skype partner, Keep learning Blog in Japanese
Nhk news easy Japanese Kanji using Lang8
Japanesepod101 language meetup,Graded readers, Copy lyrics
move to Japan parallel texts
Advanced Drama, movies Japanese daily Finish learning Write essays in
Podcasts, news, vlogs on YouTubeKanji Japanese
youtube vloggers Friends, move toReading books in Write stories in
Literally anything Japan native Japanese Japanese and post
in Japanese Surfing the web in on novelist, etc.
Japanese Japanese journal
Why I don’t recommend anime until you’re intermediate (know what’s appropriate and not appropriate
wrt words and Japanese culture)

The more advanced you become, the more the world of native Japanese media will open up to you. As
you progress, your “teacher” becomes every Japanese person ever. Read their blogs, watch their
YouTube videos, write them emails—interacting with the language on a daily basis like a native speaker.
This is how you self-study.

If you’re at the intermediate stage, you can still try some of the things in the advanced section; it might
make more sense to scaffold your language than immerser yourself, though. Use subtitles,
rikaichan/rikaikun and lyrics translation to understand Japanese materials that are too hard. Once
you’ve reached the advanced stage, however, there really is no more reason to be using English.

Conclusion
You don’t need to pay money for teachers or expensive classes to learn Japanese. Thanks to the
internet, you have everything you could possibly desire at your fingertips.

Take your language learning into your own hands. It’s your responsibility. No one else is going to make
sure that you succeed.

Don’t fall off the bandwagon like my friends did. Power through, and you’ll be fluent, too.

Call-to-Action
So, what are you going to do? From the ground-up? Dive-in? Where are you at right now? (Take the
level test and let me know!) What skill are you going to focus on? Post a comment and share your
journey!

[MY COMMENT: Took the level test and ashamed to admit I’m only Level 40 Advanced! I’ll admit it’s
been a while since I studied Japanese. I’m interested in rebuilding my comprehension (because
speaking/writing tend to come naturally to me after I have enough background knowledge stored away
in my brain). So I’ll be focusing on advanced reading and listening. Looking forward to podcasts, vlogs,
language diary and surfing the Japanese web!]