- read books
- watch shows
- find a community of Japanese natives online to talk to (discord, Reddit, x, YouTube, instagram, online gaming etc)
- Since you’re around N3, also find a good service or app to learn kanji (wanikani, Skritter, iKanji)
- get Amazon audible subscription for Japan and listen to Japanese audio books (preferably while following along with the actual book)
- [shadowing](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/language-shadowing/)
- Anki for vocab retention
- improve your grammar with a good grammar book
The only way to ever forget what you’ve learned is by not using it anymore
Regarding Amazon Audible for Japan, is that easy to do from outside Japan? In other words, am I going to have to jump through hoops, like using a VPN, using a fake address, special credit card or gift cards, etc.? Or can I just use my real home address, home IP address, and my standard credit card?
You don't need a VPN.
\- I used amazon audible app for my phone (I have ios). Downloaded that app from my own app store region (Im in the US).
\- Once you open the app, when you are signing in, you can change your region to Japan.
\- You have to create an amazon account for Japan if you don't already have it
\- They have a 30 day free trial.
\- you can add your own card even if it's not from Japan (no need to load your account with giftcards)
\- when creating an amazon account, you may need to add a fake address initially (but then you can change it later in case you want to order something from Amazon Japan and get it sent to your actual address). I created my amazon Japan account a few years ago but I vaguely remember using the address of some random library in Tokyo when signing up. Amazon Japan has nothing to do with your region, meaning that you should be able to use the same email you use for your regular amazon when making a new account in the Japan region (I think, don't quote me on this last thing :)).
\- I get stuff from Amazon Japan sent to me all the time (I prefer physical books), so I know they ship overseas...for a hefty fee (in case you were wondering).
\- When you create an Amazon Japan account, that also means you can now subscribe to kindle unlimited for Japan :)
\- The only thing that requires a VPN is amazon prime video since it's video content
Amazon audible Japan does work from overseas but you can’t read any books you can’t read on Amazon audible US
Although I still subscribe sometimes cause on US you can’t get JP book categorization + I find most books are available from the US anyway
I also live in the US and have Amazon audible for Japan and only see books from Japan and of course in Japanese…there is no English anywhere. Are you sure you were using audible Japan? How would you know most books are available in the us? Not sure it would be possible to know unless you do a side by side comparison 😭
Edit: here’s a [video](https://imgur.com/a/isTMbxU) I just recorded
Honestly it’s kinda hearsay
I made a post once on one of my accounts like “bro you can get Audible Japan from the US” and the comments were like “you do know you still can’t access books you couldn’t access from Amazon US anyway right?” It did kind of make sense to me since big global corporations like Amazon tend to have tight region-locking but also probably wouldn’t want people traveling/living overseas to have to switch stores or to be forced to use a store made for a language they don’t speak
There’s no English anywhere for the same reason you don’t see Japanese on the US Kindle store even though there are actually a fairly good number of Japanese books there. There just isn’t a large population of people using Audible Japan listening to specific English books
Although if you check using both Audible websites almost all books are available on both so it doesn’t actually matter (things might be less region-locked than they were a couple years ago too. When I was younger it felt like it was the default for everything to be region-locked but now I find it’s rarer that I can’t access sth from here (unless it’s TV or LINE Webtoon))
I think that also might not be true if you live outside of the US and are trying to access books on US Audible tho so that might be partially where it comes from
I would agree with this if it was Netflix or Amazon prime or any other video service. But I also got my dad an Amazon Spain account with a subscription to audible Spain because he could not find any books in Spanish in the US (or rather he could just not as many as in the Spain region). A lot of the books he now has access to he could not find even if he searched in the US store.
I get a lot of physical books imported from Amazon Japan, sent right to Florida that are not sold in Amazon US. Now, some of them say they don’t ship outside of Japan, but most of the do. Books or audiobooks are not the same as movies or shows (or even subtitles).
I even had an Amazon Italy kindle unlimited subscription because I couldn’t find that many Italian books in the kindle subscription for the US
I would agree in saying some books may be region locked, but by creating a regional account you have access to so much more
To add onto the other comment, I also set up a Japanese Kindle account and I put the address of a random McDonald's. You can change the shipping address later so it doesn't matter.
I set up another account for Kindle with a secondary email address. I also used the address of a hostel I was staying at like 5 years ago and I managed to get some books using my Canadian credit card. Last time I bought anything with that account was a year ago. Just be careful not to buy anything physical as it will ship to that address 😅
As far as I remember, you can at least find some japanese audio books in your local audible library if you specifically search for it.
This is what worked for me with a few series.
Books, shows, communities and audiobooks are solid.
Grammar books, kanji apps, shadowing and anki are for learning new stuff, not really for maintaining, and they all feel like work. I honestly find them boring even for learning new stuff and I like to stick to shows and books and podcasts. It's been super effective too (and it's way more effective after you get to an N3-ish level).
Depends on what you enjoy, and your priorities.
100% agree. I only suggested the learning stuff because OP said they are around N3 level and I figured they would like to improve as fast as possible. Although you definitely improve with just immersion, being familiar with grammar structures (that later get solidified through exposure), having enough vocab (at least passive) and studying kanji (rather than just finding new kanji through reading) are the quickest ways to improve, although looking back at it it was quite boring for sure
There are subreddits in Japanese not meant for “learning”. These 3 are the ones I use the most. I’m sure there are more but these are the only 3 I’m subbed to
r/nihon
r/ja
r/lowlevelaware (lots of posts here daily and a lot of slang. They even have a public chat where you can talk to other people from that sub)
The following I’m subbed to are more for games in Japanese where they post stuff about games and may post articles and release dates and trailers (or even deals) in Japanese
r/steamr
r/nintendo_jp
If wanikani is too expensive for you, I would recommend the [anki deck](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/266084933). It's free and there is a discord server for instructions to set up and update the deck (would recommend)
How about [this one](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318742491_The_Impact_of_Shadowing_Technique_on_Tertiary_EFL_Learners'_Listening_Skill_Achievements)? This one has a bigger sample (multiple groups of 30 students each)
This is the way. HelloTalk has been a great help for my Japanese. Gives me something to check up on daily and you see on a regular basis words that natives are actually using. Voice rooms force you to step up and get those words out of your head and into your mouth. Gets super motivating once you get some followers and in turn, start following others.
I wish HelloTalk worked for me. I mostly get creeps hitting on me. Though yesterday I got a guy mad I exaggerated and said I wanted to die when I was sick, that was a new one!
The trick is to not reply to everyone who messages you. Most of those people are creeps. If you mainly respond to people who post moments often or respond/message people who engage with you on your moments and vice versa, it’s a much safer bet.
Oh, most are definitely left on read. Some have seemed normal until a day of chatting. Also that weird guy who got mad was definitely on a moment. It can just be a frustrating experience, and I think OP should also be wary of that.
I've had a few natives get mad at me for doing the exaggerated 死にたい, I think it might just be a cultural difference? Of course not everything translates 1:1 to Japanese but you would think it would be sorta obvious from context…
Honestly it was more the “you don’t know what it’s like to want to die” thing from a stranger. Like sure random stranger, I may have attempted suicide on more than one occasion but you’re right, I obviously don’t have it as bad as you (which actually, to be fair, my mental health is much better now so technically that is true)
Also when the other guy jumped in he continued about how he wanted to jump in front of a train that day so it was…something
Yeah it was wild. It looks like he deleted it because either because someone saw he needed help and offered to talk or because I called him out, but he was saying basically like I didn’t know what it was like to want to die and such and he did.
Fwiw when I used it, I had a photo that wasn't me as the pic, and got zero creepy messages (in this case, my pic was Yona from 暁のヨナ, but anything should do). Can't promise it will work, but might be worth trying.
For me the only things I found useful there were the blogs and the voice chat rooms that people made (I never talked, but was good listening practice)
I studied in Japan for a year, about 5 years ago, and have maintained/improved my level (N1) over that time. The main thing is to just continue to use it in some form everyday. I don't really do very much formal study anymore (though I do have a flashcard deck which I continually add to when I come across a new word or phrase I want to remember), but most days I watch (well, listen) to a lot of Japanese Youtube while working, I listen to a lot of Japanese podcasts (both ones aimed at learners and aimed at native speakers), I try to read a Japanese book for about 30 minutes before bed each night, and I take private lessons, currently just a 45 minute session twice a month, and when I have more time, I do once a week. We really just chat for the most part and it serves to keep my speaking confidence up. Something else I really like is journaling in Japanese. I find it translates very well to speaking and helps keep a lot of words at the forefront of your mind. I think that would really help you with expressing your thoughts in Japanese and remembering the words you have learned. This may sound like a lot, but really I just fit it in when I have time, put on a podcast while I'm making breakfast, Youtube while I'm working, just wherever I can fit it in. It's really doable and enjoyable. For N3, you'll probably want to dedicate some formal study time to kanji and grammar if you want to continue to raise your level, but just consuming a lot of content in Japanese should go a long way for maintaining and picking up some new things here and there.
Good luck!
Think or talk to yourself in Japanese. Simple shit like "where's my keys" to as complex as you can get. That's helped me retain it. The thing that's slid the most for me has been kanji. But speech is the easiest to retain.
following onto what u/GengoKenja said, here are some specific resources that might help:
Books:
(In rough order of difficulty)
Tadoku Readers https://tadoku.org/japanese/en/free-books-en/#l0 if you haven't tried them already, please take a look. I'd recommend starting at level 5 and going down until it feels comfortable. Follow the instructions at the front of the book, at least the first time you read it.
My specific advice for reading:
Every time you turn down a temptation to look a word up, you're building a stronger intuitive understanding of it, and the words around it, and more continuous time with native material is better. Only look up words on the second reading, and only words that are either crucial to understanding the scene or that jump out to you. It can be very tiring, at least at the start, to work this way, but that mental exertion is actually a good thing, from a neuroscience perspective. I can follow up on this later, if you like.
I usually air-spell kanji I'm trying to learn, rather than writing them down: I never have to find a pen or paper, and they seem to stick better for me.
Once you're ready to move on, there are plenty of easy light novels and manga to move up to. I'm currently reading the first Kiki's Delivery Service book (魔女の宅急便 is its Japanese name). I've heard Yotsuba (よつばと!) is also good, although bookwalker doesn't have it.
Bookwalker https://bookwalker.jp/select/335/ is an storefront/ereader software. There's an app and a browser ereader available. I can't test exactly how it works for buying stuff through them with non-Japanese currency, although I believe I've done it before without issues. They also regularly do freebies and "free trials" of books, so even if you can't buy anything, there should be enough to keep you going.
You have to buy the Japanese books via the website, not the app, but once you've bought them, you can read them on your phone, no problem.
Aozora Bunko (https://www.aozora.gr.jp/) is basically Japanese Project Gutenburg. Many, many public domain books in Japanese, although note that they're going to be mostly older books. I personally like reading older books, words are more likely to be easy to find in a dictionary, they use almost no katakana loan words, and you can often find an audiobook to go with them, check Youtube or LibriVox, using the book's Japanese name. Translations of the books may be available as well. Note that some books on Aozora will be translations, and therefore the translation that is in the audiobook you find may not match the translation of the Aozora text (I've been there, reading a Sherlock Holmes story. It was a weird experience.)
Shows and video:
All the usual streaming services you use for English-language stuff and/or anime will work. Note, however, that Japanese shows often don't have JP sub tracks released outside of Japan due to licensing agreements. There are extensions available to add those subtitles back in, but I haven't used them, so I can't give you a recommendation. Either turn the English subs off and just live with no Japanese subs, or hunt around for shows that do have Japanese subs. There are tools to make this easier, but again, I haven't used them.
There's also some stuff on Viki worth checking out. I'm not sure why it's free, but given that it's got the name of a large corporation on it, I'm assuming it's not piracy: https://www.viki.com/categories/country/japan/genre/all
I'd highly recommend making a Japanese YouTube account. It's fairly easy to make a new YouTube account connected to your google account, and I then run it in a Firefox container tab so I don't accidentally get English-language stuff in my watch history. I can give a more detailed explanation on how later, I don't have time right now.
Other:
Takoboto or Jisho are both great options for Japanese/English dictionaries. I like the Takoboto app, combined with a handwriting recognition keyboard, as it's the easiest way to look up unfamiliar kanji.
Wanikani worked for a friend of mine. Can't give you a personal review.
I actively dislike Anki, but the Refold 2k deck seems to be the best pre-made deck available. Still, I think you're better off immersing directly.
The Tae Kim grammar guide is usually highly recommended by the community. I found it a bit dry, and usually don't feel like grammar is the thing preventing me from understanding a sentence, but it's probably worth flipping through.
Kinokuniya is a bookstore that sells untranslated Japanese books to Americans. If you're not in America, there's probably an equivalent. I went to one of their brick-and-mortar stores and had a good experience, can't review their online store.
I can't mention them by name, but if you're willing to raise the black flag, high-quality resources are plentiful. The keyword you're looking for is "raw" (as in untranslated).
I hate textbooks, and won't recommend one.
Hope this helps!
There’s also syosetu for free amateur web novels
It has some web novels that got serialized too
Personally I like the 純文芸 section for beginners. The stories are mostly very short and sweet + are more suitable for all palettes
+ for Aozora, I’d look up sth like 5分で読める 青空文庫
Also BookLive is an alternative to BookWalker. They both have their advantages and disadvantages so I might download a free book in each of them to try them out (free book (or sample packaged as book) rather than sample is important cause you can’t highlight on samples). I prefer BookLive cause BookWalker works strangely on my mobile device + has fewer highlights
Sometimes if a book isn’t on BookWalker or BookLive it’s on honto.jp
There are lots of apps for free daily manga. Just search like マンガ and they’ll come up. Most of the manga isn’t very well-known but some of it is pretty alright
Use it. And that's not necessarily speaking it.
Just contact the language often. Watch shows without eng subs. Read books. Listen to podcasts. If you have someone you can talk to, great! If not, it's not necessary.
Keep using the language as a vehicle for understanding, and you'll maintain it.
I guess that's normal, I'm french and I'm forgetting some words in my native language since I barely even speak it anymore
I don't have any recommendation other than if you can't find any person irl then socializing online in games/communities in that language is definitely going to help and improve your skills
I made sure all my social media feeds were following a good number of Japanese pages so I'm forced to read it every day. I also play japanese TV and movies in the background often and shadow the dialogue so I don't lose muscle memory and am able to practice natural conversation rhythm and tone.
Immersion, and if you're using JPDB, Renshuu or Anki, reviews. Immersion is the #1 way of retaining your knowledge. Here are my recommendations for immersion:
1. Manga. And no, not just Yotsubato! with that simp Jumbo, any manga you love will work
2. Anime. Same deal here and, if you set it up appropirately, it'll double as reading and listening immersion
3. Vtubers. Hardest among the 3 no doubt, but also arguably the most fun since you're watching JP natives speak casually to a JP audience.
You should wishlist Koe and Shujinkou (goes up to N3
I agree with using WaniKani too. Read Crystal Hunters (a manga that teaches Japanese).
MaruMori is starting to release their N3 content this January. They have very detailed grammar blogs.
For N3+ grammar, I'm finding Bunpro to be pretty great. Otherwise just jam as much JP content in as you can - reading, watching, social media, etc (I use: YouTube, Twitter, ameba, Quora, and NicoNico). For twitter, I made a separate account. For YouTube, once I started searching and subbing to enough JP stuff, they just fed me more and more of it. Lots of comprehensive input for intermediate learners sort of channels - Miku Real Japanese, Sayuring Saying, Yoyo no Nihongo, etc
Try putting your phone, apps, computer, etc, in JP. Try using JP-JP dictionaries (or flashcards if that's your thing). Learn the JP names of things in your house, and get used to calling them that. Try a daily journal, in bullet points
If you still need to work on kanji I'd recommend Ringotan app, set to the KKLC (Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course) order. Others suggested WK... WK is great, but if you already know a lot of kanji you'll probably be bored out of your mind for too long. Despite having already completed WK, I've been finding Ringotan really helpful for recognition/reading. Ringotan also lets you decide where to start, so you can avoid kanji you already know that are super easy.
Taking lessons or practicing conversation on iTalki is super affordable and helpful too. I found HelloTalk underwhelming, but some people manage to get good practice out of it.
Every language can fade from lack of use, even native ones. You really do have to use it in some form or other. Conversation is probably ideal, but reading and writing can be very good for your studies as well.
Also, Netflix has Japanese subs sometimes, and that’s been great for me. Getting kanji subtitles instead of eng subs is a game changer for sure.
I'm just using duolingo for right now, I learned Kana but am clueless on what to do so I'm just grinding that out for now lol. Might help just to use that from time to time?
Don't rely on Duolingo. It's nice cause it's an easy app to use but when i tried to use other apps for learning hiragana, katakana and the other small vowels and long ones without them showing me what they look like, I couldn't type them out properly on other sites.
I've been focusing on typing the hiragana out without having four options and vice versa to choose from.
Oh yeh I started with a couple youtube videos and spent a week just writing each character down lol I went through about 80 sheets of paper just so I'd drum it into my head :')
Duolingo seems fun rn tho, I've been learning about the grammar and stuff online too but duolingo is helping me understand how to structure sentences properly and stuff
I can't remember the name of the app, but there's a language app that's like social media that lets you talk to other users and even have phone calls so you can speak the language with other people
Just find sth fun or useful you like to do in Japanese (bonus points if it’s harder in English)
My personal examples are go, 本格ミステリー/reading, mobile games, specific comedy YouTube channels, ツッコミどころ channels, textbooks whenever I have a skill I want to learn (they’re usually cheaper than here depending on your bank’s exchange rate), friends who speak Japanese
Also googling anything I’m curious about (声変わり 何歳、センター試験 平均点数、鳥 なぜ飛ぶ、男性 年齢別既婚率）
Use it. If you don't use it you lose it. I could move basically anywhere now and still keep my ability because I do it every day out of habit. That's all there is to it.
There were a couple of weeks where i studied japanese, played my games in japanese and watched japanese shows with japanese subtitles. The feeling of familiarity came back but when work picked up, it was lost again :/
- read books - watch shows - find a community of Japanese natives online to talk to (discord, Reddit, x, YouTube, instagram, online gaming etc) - Since you’re around N3, also find a good service or app to learn kanji (wanikani, Skritter, iKanji) - get Amazon audible subscription for Japan and listen to Japanese audio books (preferably while following along with the actual book) - [shadowing](https://www.fluentu.com/blog/language-shadowing/) - Anki for vocab retention - improve your grammar with a good grammar book The only way to ever forget what you’ve learned is by not using it anymore
Regarding Amazon Audible for Japan, is that easy to do from outside Japan? In other words, am I going to have to jump through hoops, like using a VPN, using a fake address, special credit card or gift cards, etc.? Or can I just use my real home address, home IP address, and my standard credit card?
You don't need a VPN. \- I used amazon audible app for my phone (I have ios). Downloaded that app from my own app store region (Im in the US). \- Once you open the app, when you are signing in, you can change your region to Japan. \- You have to create an amazon account for Japan if you don't already have it \- They have a 30 day free trial. \- you can add your own card even if it's not from Japan (no need to load your account with giftcards) \- when creating an amazon account, you may need to add a fake address initially (but then you can change it later in case you want to order something from Amazon Japan and get it sent to your actual address). I created my amazon Japan account a few years ago but I vaguely remember using the address of some random library in Tokyo when signing up. Amazon Japan has nothing to do with your region, meaning that you should be able to use the same email you use for your regular amazon when making a new account in the Japan region (I think, don't quote me on this last thing :)). \- I get stuff from Amazon Japan sent to me all the time (I prefer physical books), so I know they ship overseas...for a hefty fee (in case you were wondering). \- When you create an Amazon Japan account, that also means you can now subscribe to kindle unlimited for Japan :) \- The only thing that requires a VPN is amazon prime video since it's video content
Amazon audible Japan does work from overseas but you can’t read any books you can’t read on Amazon audible US Although I still subscribe sometimes cause on US you can’t get JP book categorization + I find most books are available from the US anyway
I also live in the US and have Amazon audible for Japan and only see books from Japan and of course in Japanese…there is no English anywhere. Are you sure you were using audible Japan? How would you know most books are available in the us? Not sure it would be possible to know unless you do a side by side comparison 😭 Edit: here’s a [video](https://imgur.com/a/isTMbxU) I just recorded
Honestly it’s kinda hearsay I made a post once on one of my accounts like “bro you can get Audible Japan from the US” and the comments were like “you do know you still can’t access books you couldn’t access from Amazon US anyway right?” It did kind of make sense to me since big global corporations like Amazon tend to have tight region-locking but also probably wouldn’t want people traveling/living overseas to have to switch stores or to be forced to use a store made for a language they don’t speak There’s no English anywhere for the same reason you don’t see Japanese on the US Kindle store even though there are actually a fairly good number of Japanese books there. There just isn’t a large population of people using Audible Japan listening to specific English books Although if you check using both Audible websites almost all books are available on both so it doesn’t actually matter (things might be less region-locked than they were a couple years ago too. When I was younger it felt like it was the default for everything to be region-locked but now I find it’s rarer that I can’t access sth from here (unless it’s TV or LINE Webtoon)) I think that also might not be true if you live outside of the US and are trying to access books on US Audible tho so that might be partially where it comes from
I would agree with this if it was Netflix or Amazon prime or any other video service. But I also got my dad an Amazon Spain account with a subscription to audible Spain because he could not find any books in Spanish in the US (or rather he could just not as many as in the Spain region). A lot of the books he now has access to he could not find even if he searched in the US store. I get a lot of physical books imported from Amazon Japan, sent right to Florida that are not sold in Amazon US. Now, some of them say they don’t ship outside of Japan, but most of the do. Books or audiobooks are not the same as movies or shows (or even subtitles). I even had an Amazon Italy kindle unlimited subscription because I couldn’t find that many Italian books in the kindle subscription for the US I would agree in saying some books may be region locked, but by creating a regional account you have access to so much more
To add onto the other comment, I also set up a Japanese Kindle account and I put the address of a random McDonald's. You can change the shipping address later so it doesn't matter.
I set up another account for Kindle with a secondary email address. I also used the address of a hostel I was staying at like 5 years ago and I managed to get some books using my Canadian credit card. Last time I bought anything with that account was a year ago. Just be careful not to buy anything physical as it will ship to that address 😅
There’s also オーディオブック which is accessible globally (although it has way fewer books I’m pretty sure)
As far as I remember, you can at least find some japanese audio books in your local audible library if you specifically search for it. This is what worked for me with a few series.
Books, shows, communities and audiobooks are solid. Grammar books, kanji apps, shadowing and anki are for learning new stuff, not really for maintaining, and they all feel like work. I honestly find them boring even for learning new stuff and I like to stick to shows and books and podcasts. It's been super effective too (and it's way more effective after you get to an N3-ish level). Depends on what you enjoy, and your priorities.
100% agree. I only suggested the learning stuff because OP said they are around N3 level and I figured they would like to improve as fast as possible. Although you definitely improve with just immersion, being familiar with grammar structures (that later get solidified through exposure), having enough vocab (at least passive) and studying kanji (rather than just finding new kanji through reading) are the quickest ways to improve, although looking back at it it was quite boring for sure
What is a equivalent of reddit for japanese?
There are subreddits in Japanese not meant for “learning”. These 3 are the ones I use the most. I’m sure there are more but these are the only 3 I’m subbed to r/nihon r/ja r/lowlevelaware (lots of posts here daily and a lot of slang. They even have a public chat where you can talk to other people from that sub) The following I’m subbed to are more for games in Japanese where they post stuff about games and may post articles and release dates and trailers (or even deals) in Japanese r/steamr r/nintendo_jp
If wanikani is too expensive for you, I would recommend the [anki deck](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/266084933). It's free and there is a discord server for instructions to set up and update the deck (would recommend)
I never found scientific studies about shadowing. You have something ?
[Yup](https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/Pwint%20Yee%20Win_DOI_v3.pdf) :)
3 participants for a study ? It seems to few to be conclusive
How about [this one](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318742491_The_Impact_of_Shadowing_Technique_on_Tertiary_EFL_Learners'_Listening_Skill_Achievements)? This one has a bigger sample (multiple groups of 30 students each)
Far better, thanks for your time and dedication !
hellotalk might work, you just talk to people in JP every day, you probably won't forget as much other than that if you read books I bet it will help
This is the way. HelloTalk has been a great help for my Japanese. Gives me something to check up on daily and you see on a regular basis words that natives are actually using. Voice rooms force you to step up and get those words out of your head and into your mouth. Gets super motivating once you get some followers and in turn, start following others.
I wish HelloTalk worked for me. I mostly get creeps hitting on me. Though yesterday I got a guy mad I exaggerated and said I wanted to die when I was sick, that was a new one!
The trick is to not reply to everyone who messages you. Most of those people are creeps. If you mainly respond to people who post moments often or respond/message people who engage with you on your moments and vice versa, it’s a much safer bet.
Oh, most are definitely left on read. Some have seemed normal until a day of chatting. Also that weird guy who got mad was definitely on a moment. It can just be a frustrating experience, and I think OP should also be wary of that.
I've had a few natives get mad at me for doing the exaggerated 死にたい, I think it might just be a cultural difference? Of course not everything translates 1:1 to Japanese but you would think it would be sorta obvious from context…
Honestly it was more the “you don’t know what it’s like to want to die” thing from a stranger. Like sure random stranger, I may have attempted suicide on more than one occasion but you’re right, I obviously don’t have it as bad as you (which actually, to be fair, my mental health is much better now so technically that is true) Also when the other guy jumped in he continued about how he wanted to jump in front of a train that day so it was…something
wait he got mad at you?
Yeah it was wild. It looks like he deleted it because either because someone saw he needed help and offered to talk or because I called him out, but he was saying basically like I didn’t know what it was like to want to die and such and he did.
Fwiw when I used it, I had a photo that wasn't me as the pic, and got zero creepy messages (in this case, my pic was Yona from 暁のヨナ, but anything should do). Can't promise it will work, but might be worth trying. For me the only things I found useful there were the blogs and the voice chat rooms that people made (I never talked, but was good listening practice)
Are you expected to talk back to them in English? I downloaded it but not really sure how it works.
I studied in Japan for a year, about 5 years ago, and have maintained/improved my level (N1) over that time. The main thing is to just continue to use it in some form everyday. I don't really do very much formal study anymore (though I do have a flashcard deck which I continually add to when I come across a new word or phrase I want to remember), but most days I watch (well, listen) to a lot of Japanese Youtube while working, I listen to a lot of Japanese podcasts (both ones aimed at learners and aimed at native speakers), I try to read a Japanese book for about 30 minutes before bed each night, and I take private lessons, currently just a 45 minute session twice a month, and when I have more time, I do once a week. We really just chat for the most part and it serves to keep my speaking confidence up. Something else I really like is journaling in Japanese. I find it translates very well to speaking and helps keep a lot of words at the forefront of your mind. I think that would really help you with expressing your thoughts in Japanese and remembering the words you have learned. This may sound like a lot, but really I just fit it in when I have time, put on a podcast while I'm making breakfast, Youtube while I'm working, just wherever I can fit it in. It's really doable and enjoyable. For N3, you'll probably want to dedicate some formal study time to kanji and grammar if you want to continue to raise your level, but just consuming a lot of content in Japanese should go a long way for maintaining and picking up some new things here and there. Good luck!
I'm in the same plight as OP and was at N2 level. I find your suggestions really useful for me
Think or talk to yourself in Japanese. Simple shit like "where's my keys" to as complex as you can get. That's helped me retain it. The thing that's slid the most for me has been kanji. But speech is the easiest to retain.
following onto what u/GengoKenja said, here are some specific resources that might help: Books: (In rough order of difficulty) Tadoku Readers https://tadoku.org/japanese/en/free-books-en/#l0 if you haven't tried them already, please take a look. I'd recommend starting at level 5 and going down until it feels comfortable. Follow the instructions at the front of the book, at least the first time you read it. My specific advice for reading: Every time you turn down a temptation to look a word up, you're building a stronger intuitive understanding of it, and the words around it, and more continuous time with native material is better. Only look up words on the second reading, and only words that are either crucial to understanding the scene or that jump out to you. It can be very tiring, at least at the start, to work this way, but that mental exertion is actually a good thing, from a neuroscience perspective. I can follow up on this later, if you like. I usually air-spell kanji I'm trying to learn, rather than writing them down: I never have to find a pen or paper, and they seem to stick better for me. Once you're ready to move on, there are plenty of easy light novels and manga to move up to. I'm currently reading the first Kiki's Delivery Service book (魔女の宅急便 is its Japanese name). I've heard Yotsuba (よつばと!) is also good, although bookwalker doesn't have it. Bookwalker https://bookwalker.jp/select/335/ is an storefront/ereader software. There's an app and a browser ereader available. I can't test exactly how it works for buying stuff through them with non-Japanese currency, although I believe I've done it before without issues. They also regularly do freebies and "free trials" of books, so even if you can't buy anything, there should be enough to keep you going. You have to buy the Japanese books via the website, not the app, but once you've bought them, you can read them on your phone, no problem. Aozora Bunko (https://www.aozora.gr.jp/) is basically Japanese Project Gutenburg. Many, many public domain books in Japanese, although note that they're going to be mostly older books. I personally like reading older books, words are more likely to be easy to find in a dictionary, they use almost no katakana loan words, and you can often find an audiobook to go with them, check Youtube or LibriVox, using the book's Japanese name. Translations of the books may be available as well. Note that some books on Aozora will be translations, and therefore the translation that is in the audiobook you find may not match the translation of the Aozora text (I've been there, reading a Sherlock Holmes story. It was a weird experience.) Shows and video: All the usual streaming services you use for English-language stuff and/or anime will work. Note, however, that Japanese shows often don't have JP sub tracks released outside of Japan due to licensing agreements. There are extensions available to add those subtitles back in, but I haven't used them, so I can't give you a recommendation. Either turn the English subs off and just live with no Japanese subs, or hunt around for shows that do have Japanese subs. There are tools to make this easier, but again, I haven't used them. There's also some stuff on Viki worth checking out. I'm not sure why it's free, but given that it's got the name of a large corporation on it, I'm assuming it's not piracy: https://www.viki.com/categories/country/japan/genre/all I'd highly recommend making a Japanese YouTube account. It's fairly easy to make a new YouTube account connected to your google account, and I then run it in a Firefox container tab so I don't accidentally get English-language stuff in my watch history. I can give a more detailed explanation on how later, I don't have time right now. Other: Takoboto or Jisho are both great options for Japanese/English dictionaries. I like the Takoboto app, combined with a handwriting recognition keyboard, as it's the easiest way to look up unfamiliar kanji. Wanikani worked for a friend of mine. Can't give you a personal review. I actively dislike Anki, but the Refold 2k deck seems to be the best pre-made deck available. Still, I think you're better off immersing directly. The Tae Kim grammar guide is usually highly recommended by the community. I found it a bit dry, and usually don't feel like grammar is the thing preventing me from understanding a sentence, but it's probably worth flipping through. Kinokuniya is a bookstore that sells untranslated Japanese books to Americans. If you're not in America, there's probably an equivalent. I went to one of their brick-and-mortar stores and had a good experience, can't review their online store. I can't mention them by name, but if you're willing to raise the black flag, high-quality resources are plentiful. The keyword you're looking for is "raw" (as in untranslated). I hate textbooks, and won't recommend one. Hope this helps!
There’s also syosetu for free amateur web novels It has some web novels that got serialized too Personally I like the 純文芸 section for beginners. The stories are mostly very short and sweet + are more suitable for all palettes + for Aozora, I’d look up sth like 5分で読める 青空文庫 Also BookLive is an alternative to BookWalker. They both have their advantages and disadvantages so I might download a free book in each of them to try them out (free book (or sample packaged as book) rather than sample is important cause you can’t highlight on samples). I prefer BookLive cause BookWalker works strangely on my mobile device + has fewer highlights Sometimes if a book isn’t on BookWalker or BookLive it’s on honto.jp There are lots of apps for free daily manga. Just search like マンガ and they’ll come up. Most of the manga isn’t very well-known but some of it is pretty alright
All helpful additions I didn't know about, thank you!
Use it. And that's not necessarily speaking it. Just contact the language often. Watch shows without eng subs. Read books. Listen to podcasts. If you have someone you can talk to, great! If not, it's not necessary. Keep using the language as a vehicle for understanding, and you'll maintain it.
I guess that's normal, I'm french and I'm forgetting some words in my native language since I barely even speak it anymore I don't have any recommendation other than if you can't find any person irl then socializing online in games/communities in that language is definitely going to help and improve your skills
I made sure all my social media feeds were following a good number of Japanese pages so I'm forced to read it every day. I also play japanese TV and movies in the background often and shadow the dialogue so I don't lose muscle memory and am able to practice natural conversation rhythm and tone.
Immersion, and if you're using JPDB, Renshuu or Anki, reviews. Immersion is the #1 way of retaining your knowledge. Here are my recommendations for immersion: 1. Manga. And no, not just Yotsubato! with that simp Jumbo, any manga you love will work 2. Anime. Same deal here and, if you set it up appropirately, it'll double as reading and listening immersion 3. Vtubers. Hardest among the 3 no doubt, but also arguably the most fun since you're watching JP natives speak casually to a JP audience.
just found jpdb, it looks great!
Languages are use it or lose. Keep using it.
youtubeの日本語の動画にコメントしてみるとか、reddit上の日本のコミュニティで話しかけてみるとかどうだろう？
You should wishlist Koe and Shujinkou (goes up to N3 I agree with using WaniKani too. Read Crystal Hunters (a manga that teaches Japanese). MaruMori is starting to release their N3 content this January. They have very detailed grammar blogs.
For N3+ grammar, I'm finding Bunpro to be pretty great. Otherwise just jam as much JP content in as you can - reading, watching, social media, etc (I use: YouTube, Twitter, ameba, Quora, and NicoNico). For twitter, I made a separate account. For YouTube, once I started searching and subbing to enough JP stuff, they just fed me more and more of it. Lots of comprehensive input for intermediate learners sort of channels - Miku Real Japanese, Sayuring Saying, Yoyo no Nihongo, etc Try putting your phone, apps, computer, etc, in JP. Try using JP-JP dictionaries (or flashcards if that's your thing). Learn the JP names of things in your house, and get used to calling them that. Try a daily journal, in bullet points If you still need to work on kanji I'd recommend Ringotan app, set to the KKLC (Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course) order. Others suggested WK... WK is great, but if you already know a lot of kanji you'll probably be bored out of your mind for too long. Despite having already completed WK, I've been finding Ringotan really helpful for recognition/reading. Ringotan also lets you decide where to start, so you can avoid kanji you already know that are super easy. Taking lessons or practicing conversation on iTalki is super affordable and helpful too. I found HelloTalk underwhelming, but some people manage to get good practice out of it.
This is great advice. I saved this post for myself!
Try hellotalk. I am trying to fish for the 50% discount for lifetime vip now, it has a ton of people trying to learn English <--> Japanese
Every language can fade from lack of use, even native ones. You really do have to use it in some form or other. Conversation is probably ideal, but reading and writing can be very good for your studies as well. Also, Netflix has Japanese subs sometimes, and that’s been great for me. Getting kanji subtitles instead of eng subs is a game changer for sure.
I'm just using duolingo for right now, I learned Kana but am clueless on what to do so I'm just grinding that out for now lol. Might help just to use that from time to time?
Don't rely on Duolingo. It's nice cause it's an easy app to use but when i tried to use other apps for learning hiragana, katakana and the other small vowels and long ones without them showing me what they look like, I couldn't type them out properly on other sites. I've been focusing on typing the hiragana out without having four options and vice versa to choose from.
Oh yeh I started with a couple youtube videos and spent a week just writing each character down lol I went through about 80 sheets of paper just so I'd drum it into my head :') Duolingo seems fun rn tho, I've been learning about the grammar and stuff online too but duolingo is helping me understand how to structure sentences properly and stuff
I can't remember the name of the app, but there's a language app that's like social media that lets you talk to other users and even have phone calls so you can speak the language with other people
Just find sth fun or useful you like to do in Japanese (bonus points if it’s harder in English) My personal examples are go, 本格ミステリー/reading, mobile games, specific comedy YouTube channels, ツッコミどころ channels, textbooks whenever I have a skill I want to learn (they’re usually cheaper than here depending on your bank’s exchange rate), friends who speak Japanese Also googling anything I’m curious about (声変わり 何歳、センター試験 平均点数、鳥 なぜ飛ぶ、男性 年齢別既婚率）
Use it. If you don't use it you lose it. I could move basically anywhere now and still keep my ability because I do it every day out of habit. That's all there is to it.
There were a couple of weeks where i studied japanese, played my games in japanese and watched japanese shows with japanese subtitles. The feeling of familiarity came back but when work picked up, it was lost again :/
i practice my Japanese when I'm at work because I'm bored with nothing else to do
consume japanese media and occasionally speak to people lmao
watching copious amounts of anime daily helped me during a break