ようこそ！Welcome to the ResetERA Japanese Language thread!
The aim is to provide:
When you start any task in life, you should have a clear idea of why exactly you're doing it in the first place. Naturally, learning a language is no different, and knowing why you're doing it is key to reaching your goal. With Japanese, it's best to be honest with yourself as to why you're studying it. Once you have that set in stone, your best bet is to structure your study around achieving that goal – for 2 reasons. The first being to achieve said goal, and the second, is because that reason is what will keep you studying, and keep you committed. You won't get good overnight. You won't become great within a year. There will be times when you will want to give up. But if you have a reason and you stick to it, you'll make it through those dark times.
Are you studying Japanese so you can work in Japan?
Do you want to be a teacher?
Is it just a personal challenge with no real purpose?
Are you planning to take the JLPT?
Or do you just want to play games, read manga and watch anime?
This OP + thread is a place to help you achieve that goal. There will be people to talk to, questions to ask and a lot of things to learn. There will be a lot of debates and discussions. You'll make mistakes, people will fix them, and you'll learn from them. There will be no shame or embarrassment, 'cause the thread exists for the sole purpose of helping and growing your understanding of this language. One last thing. The following is a combination of resources put together by Alanae アラナエ and myself. Credit where credit is due – I may have the first post but アラナエ got the OP started. Who wrote which part? Doesn't matter, it's all the same baby.
Before we get too far ahead, think back to those questions above. For this OP/guide to be of any use to you, we need to know why you're studying Japanese so we can set you to the right starting point.
Head straight to the Learning and Reading Japanese section if you are:
For those looking for a more reading based approach to learning, アラナエ helped work on the guide here, but since its kind of long to put in an OP we'll just summarize it below and disguise it as a resources list. You can find more detailed explanations of how to use the tools below in it.
Even if you're using a different learning method, the tools in the second half might come in useful for when you start reading.
Why?
Advantages to doing things through this method are:
First you might want to print out some kana sheets forhiragana and katakana, print these out and grab some sheets of paper and try to write them out row by row, while checking if you remember them.
If you have the time you'd be able to finish learning these over the span of 1-2 evenings.
If you would prefer a more gameful method, you could try playing through kanawarrior instead.
No need to fully master these 100% yet as you'll be seeing these all the time, if one slips from your mind you'll know right away and will be able to refresh your memory on it up pretty easily.
Vocab
Once you've gotten kana down there's two things you'd need to start working on next, grammar and vocab.
There's a ton of flashcard-based practice courses, both free and paid for. For this method anything that covers words, gives example sentences for understanding the usage of the word, and isn't something you'll get too attached to will do.
One example isthis deckfor anki.
If you dislike flash cards you it is possible to skip doing this, but it'll make the start of getting into reading things harder.
Grammar
For basic grammar there are multiple options, for those wanting something free and quick to breeze through there is tae kim's grammar guide (google it). Don't accidentally do the complete guide, as contrary to the name it isn't actually complete.
For those wanting more of a classroom experience you can try to hunt down the Genki I&II books (if you can't find these online, check the Textbook section below).
Just like with kana, you don't need to fully master these yet at this point as you'll be coming across beginner grammar everywhere.
Reading
Once you've finished getting through the basic grammar, the real deal begins.
Here you work on improving your vocab, grammar and understanding of the language by reading a lot (and by reading things with voice acting or watching things with Japanese subtitles you can practice your listening skills).
When proficient in those, you can use those as a springboard to have a much easier time getting good at production.
The important thing is to make sure to look up everything (or at least strive towards doing so) you come across that you did not know yet, or (partially) forgot.
Repeatedly looking these up will cause them to stick eventually. When starting out it will be rather harsh, seeing how you'll probably need to be looking up most of the words in a line, so I would recommend prioritizing reading something that you're really motivated to read over simply only just trying to find things that are as easy to read as possible. After the harsh start things will become much more manageable quickly, as the rate at which you memorize new words increases as you know more of them.
Another thing that is important is to make sure to ask questions (you can ask them in this thread for example) in cases where you feel your understanding is off but cannot figure out why, or when you simply don't understand a sentence.
When asking, make sure to include a chunk of the surrounding text instead of only just the line/clause itself. The context will make it a lot easier to answer and in cases might change what the correct answer is.
Lookup methods
Due to the nature of how Japanese is, it can be quite troublesome to look up words in a dictionary, thankfully there are many tools to help with that.
For anything you can get to display in a web browser, you could get by with copy and pasting them into any dictionary, however, to save time and effort there are add-ons you can use to speed up the process:
For those using older/branch versions of firefox there's rikaisamathat you can use while it still works.
For those with up to date firefox/chrome there's yomichan.
If the thing you're trying to read is a visual novel or one of the few games it can support there is ITHVNR, which can hook onto the process and copy the text on screen into your clipboard.
Using something like clipboard inserter you can then get the text to show up in an empty or an augmented empty page so you can use rikaisama/yomichan on it.
For programs not supported by the above you can try and use hook any text on it(requires some skill in using computers).
If all the above doesn't work and what you're reading is being displayed on a computer screen then sharex has a ocr mode that works decently.
For methods that will work on everything (with some effort) there's the ocr on the google translate app, radical search on jisho, and the handwriting search in your IME.
Dictionaries
One thing to keep in mind is that the standard J>E dictionary that is used in pretty much everything, edict, has some drawbacks to learning new words with it.
This is because instead of giving definitions it instead just gives a list of various ways the word can be translated, grouping all the different meanings together. You're left to figuring out which meaning of the English word is meant, and to which meaning of the Japanese word it would be linked to, something that easily can cause you to learn things incorrectly.
The most straightforward way to solve this is to use a J>J dictionary. This might be a bit tricky when starting out so thankfully there are some alternatives.
The 英和Weblio辞典 website gives the definitions of the different meanings of the word and plenty of example sentences to help figure out how they're used.
The 研究社和英大辞典 does the same and can be loaded into rikaisama/yomichan and into Ebwin4 (standalone dictionary file reader).
You can also use ALC アルク as an alternative to Weblio; both are fine.
When using it in rikaisama make sure to put \n[・].+|ﾛｰﾏ.+|\〔.+?\〕|\n.+? .+" into the regex filter to reduce the amount of example sentences a bit so they don't fill your screen.
Flashcard deck building
After reading for a bit it'll be a good idea to start replacing the premade flash card deck with one of your own making. Simply just throwing in all words you come across in into it will have you end up with a rather large deck, so instead trying to to fill it with just the words you have trouble remembering would be a good idea.
Through a combination of rikaisama/yomichan, epwing2ankiand the 研究社和英大辞典 it is possible to quickly make batches of cards which include example sentences.
This is done by using a hotkey in rikai/yomi to save a word + the sentence it's in to a text file and using epwing2anki later on to convert all the words in that file into a deck using the definitions and example sentences of the dictionary.
Studying and Speaking Japanese
A key motif of the past Japanese Learning threads has been how critical it is to have a good foundation of Japanese. You want to be able to at least listen (understand), speak (produce) and of course, read. I'd argue writing is just as important, if only to save face when you need to do it. But if you don't have any plans to write, you can neglect it (up to you).
If you're going the self-study only route, then as a minimum you'll want to dive into the following.
Now, this OP is not designed to give you a set path for becoming a Japanese language master. It exists as an aid and tool for your self-study. For that reason, you're free to pick and choose which things you incorporate into your study routine, based on whatever your goal is. These tools aren't static; they'll change over time as new resources become available, or as more people start sharing their tools that gave them success. The thread will live and die based on that input, so don't be afraid to share.
Reading – Vocab, Kanji and Grammar
If you choose to bypass starting with the Learning and Reading Japanese section above, and instead head the more conventional textbook route, don't feel like you've missed out. In fact, that will only make that approach even easier – for that reason, it's recommended you refer to that section often as you gradually refine your reading skills.
The core things you'll take away from any reading study will be:
If you primarily read manga, you'll get good at reading manga, but will struggle reading the news (at first).
If you primarily read the news, you'll be able to read the news, editorial pieces and opinion pieces well, plus you'll be able to read anything else. However, if you don't read any manga, you'll have a hard time adjusting to the change in style and liberties that come with that genre.
Reading light novels is a decent middle ground, but if you lean too heavily on it, you'll pick up some weird styles - depending on the authors style – remember, with light novels you're reading recounts, stories and third person explanations.
What's the key here? Don't rely on any one thing too much, unless that's the only thing you want to be good at. If you want to be well rounded, read a lot of different things. There is no way around that. If you only care for manga, then only read manga. But don't be shocked if you can't read anything else without stumbling a lot.
Grammar and Vocabulary - 文法と語彙
Learning the required grammar to understand Japanese can only really come from two things; a textbook and exposure.
Textbooks
I'm not really sure where to put this, so now it's going here. Depending on your level (you may be intermediate looking to take the next step), you're going to need a textbook of some sort to develop even further. I'm going to list these books in 3 groups –
Developers
This is just a selection of books I've used and rate highly. Of course, if there's something you're using that's better or you think we should add – let us know, and I'll slot it right in.
Reading and Exposure
Now if you're taking the JLPT or you just want to be good at this language, I highly recommend reading everything. Obviously, your text books because they are going to teach you the basics. But do not rely solely on those or you will be in for some pain come exam time. You need to read EVERYTHING. News, editorials, opinion pieces, novels, poems and philosophical writings (yes, really), blogs, Twitter, games news, manga, games. In that order. Plus, your textbooks – those keep you in check and doing things systematically – yes, I said this twice. It's all useful. You'll learn something different from each of them. Often they'll repeat the same words, sentences and styles (games especially), and you'll burn them into your brain. And the variety keeps things fun and interesting too.
How can you do this?
As for reading strategies, it's honestly up to you. When I read, if I see a word or grammar pattern I don't understand/have forgotten, I write it into a textbook, and then re-read it before I go to bed. You could probably stand to do the same, using all of the tools listed in the Learning and Reading Japanese section. It's ultimately going to come down to exposure and repeition.
Kanji
There are a few ways to do it.
There is a crazy Kanji learning strategy called The Whiteboard Method. Some say it's the real deal, others say it's a major troll. Nobody really knows, because the dude who wrote it was a serious enigma. Regardless, it has it's benefits:
The aim is to provide:
- A place for people to congregate, chat, and ask questions.
- A place to provide feedback and input on study tools (websites, books, dictionaries and apps).
- A place to provide support, strategies and study methods geared towards each students needs, limitations (time, resources) and goals.
When you start any task in life, you should have a clear idea of why exactly you're doing it in the first place. Naturally, learning a language is no different, and knowing why you're doing it is key to reaching your goal. With Japanese, it's best to be honest with yourself as to why you're studying it. Once you have that set in stone, your best bet is to structure your study around achieving that goal – for 2 reasons. The first being to achieve said goal, and the second, is because that reason is what will keep you studying, and keep you committed. You won't get good overnight. You won't become great within a year. There will be times when you will want to give up. But if you have a reason and you stick to it, you'll make it through those dark times.
Are you studying Japanese so you can work in Japan?
Do you want to be a teacher?
Is it just a personal challenge with no real purpose?
Are you planning to take the JLPT?
Or do you just want to play games, read manga and watch anime?
This OP + thread is a place to help you achieve that goal. There will be people to talk to, questions to ask and a lot of things to learn. There will be a lot of debates and discussions. You'll make mistakes, people will fix them, and you'll learn from them. There will be no shame or embarrassment, 'cause the thread exists for the sole purpose of helping and growing your understanding of this language. One last thing. The following is a combination of resources put together by Alanae アラナエ and myself. Credit where credit is due – I may have the first post but アラナエ got the OP started. Who wrote which part? Doesn't matter, it's all the same baby.
Before we get too far ahead, think back to those questions above. For this OP/guide to be of any use to you, we need to know why you're studying Japanese so we can set you to the right starting point.
Head straight to the Learning and Reading Japanese section if you are:
- Interested in reading manga
- Interested in reading and playing Japanese games
- Interested in reading Japanese light novels
- Interested in reading Japanese News.
- Planning to take the JLPT
- Aiming to speak Japanese (production)
- Interested in watching Japanese dramas, movies and anime (without subs)
- Interested in reading manga
- Interested in reading and playing Japanese games
- Interested in reading Japanese light novels
- Interested in reading Japanese News.
For those looking for a more reading based approach to learning, アラナエ helped work on the guide here, but since its kind of long to put in an OP we'll just summarize it below and disguise it as a resources list. You can find more detailed explanations of how to use the tools below in it.
Even if you're using a different learning method, the tools in the second half might come in useful for when you start reading.
Why?
Advantages to doing things through this method are:
- You can for the most part avoid heavy rote memorization
- Gets you to the point of being able to read decently very quickly
- Arguably a more fun way of learning
- Learning is more concentrated towards things that you'll currently be needing.
- The period when starting out reading can be very harsh (although it will quickly become easier after the initial barrier)
- This method doesn't directly teach production (the understanding of the language you get from being able to read, will function as a good stepping stone to make learning to communicate it much easier, however)
- If you'll want/need to be able to handwrite, you will have to find a different way to practice it than learning to through the direct learning of kanji one by one.
First you might want to print out some kana sheets forhiragana and katakana, print these out and grab some sheets of paper and try to write them out row by row, while checking if you remember them.
If you have the time you'd be able to finish learning these over the span of 1-2 evenings.
If you would prefer a more gameful method, you could try playing through kanawarrior instead.
No need to fully master these 100% yet as you'll be seeing these all the time, if one slips from your mind you'll know right away and will be able to refresh your memory on it up pretty easily.
Vocab
Once you've gotten kana down there's two things you'd need to start working on next, grammar and vocab.
There's a ton of flashcard-based practice courses, both free and paid for. For this method anything that covers words, gives example sentences for understanding the usage of the word, and isn't something you'll get too attached to will do.
One example isthis deckfor anki.
If you dislike flash cards you it is possible to skip doing this, but it'll make the start of getting into reading things harder.
Grammar
For basic grammar there are multiple options, for those wanting something free and quick to breeze through there is tae kim's grammar guide (google it). Don't accidentally do the complete guide, as contrary to the name it isn't actually complete.
For those wanting more of a classroom experience you can try to hunt down the Genki I&II books (if you can't find these online, check the Textbook section below).
Just like with kana, you don't need to fully master these yet at this point as you'll be coming across beginner grammar everywhere.
Reading
Once you've finished getting through the basic grammar, the real deal begins.
Here you work on improving your vocab, grammar and understanding of the language by reading a lot (and by reading things with voice acting or watching things with Japanese subtitles you can practice your listening skills).
When proficient in those, you can use those as a springboard to have a much easier time getting good at production.
The important thing is to make sure to look up everything (or at least strive towards doing so) you come across that you did not know yet, or (partially) forgot.
Repeatedly looking these up will cause them to stick eventually. When starting out it will be rather harsh, seeing how you'll probably need to be looking up most of the words in a line, so I would recommend prioritizing reading something that you're really motivated to read over simply only just trying to find things that are as easy to read as possible. After the harsh start things will become much more manageable quickly, as the rate at which you memorize new words increases as you know more of them.
Another thing that is important is to make sure to ask questions (you can ask them in this thread for example) in cases where you feel your understanding is off but cannot figure out why, or when you simply don't understand a sentence.
When asking, make sure to include a chunk of the surrounding text instead of only just the line/clause itself. The context will make it a lot easier to answer and in cases might change what the correct answer is.
Lookup methods
Due to the nature of how Japanese is, it can be quite troublesome to look up words in a dictionary, thankfully there are many tools to help with that.
For anything you can get to display in a web browser, you could get by with copy and pasting them into any dictionary, however, to save time and effort there are add-ons you can use to speed up the process:
For those using older/branch versions of firefox there's rikaisamathat you can use while it still works.
For those with up to date firefox/chrome there's yomichan.
If the thing you're trying to read is a visual novel or one of the few games it can support there is ITHVNR, which can hook onto the process and copy the text on screen into your clipboard.
Using something like clipboard inserter you can then get the text to show up in an empty or an augmented empty page so you can use rikaisama/yomichan on it.
For programs not supported by the above you can try and use hook any text on it(requires some skill in using computers).
If all the above doesn't work and what you're reading is being displayed on a computer screen then sharex has a ocr mode that works decently.
For methods that will work on everything (with some effort) there's the ocr on the google translate app, radical search on jisho, and the handwriting search in your IME.
Dictionaries
One thing to keep in mind is that the standard J>E dictionary that is used in pretty much everything, edict, has some drawbacks to learning new words with it.
This is because instead of giving definitions it instead just gives a list of various ways the word can be translated, grouping all the different meanings together. You're left to figuring out which meaning of the English word is meant, and to which meaning of the Japanese word it would be linked to, something that easily can cause you to learn things incorrectly.
The most straightforward way to solve this is to use a J>J dictionary. This might be a bit tricky when starting out so thankfully there are some alternatives.
The 英和Weblio辞典 website gives the definitions of the different meanings of the word and plenty of example sentences to help figure out how they're used.
The 研究社和英大辞典 does the same and can be loaded into rikaisama/yomichan and into Ebwin4 (standalone dictionary file reader).
You can also use ALC アルク as an alternative to Weblio; both are fine.
When using it in rikaisama make sure to put \n[・].+|ﾛｰﾏ.+|\〔.+?\〕|\n.+? .+" into the regex filter to reduce the amount of example sentences a bit so they don't fill your screen.
Flashcard deck building
After reading for a bit it'll be a good idea to start replacing the premade flash card deck with one of your own making. Simply just throwing in all words you come across in into it will have you end up with a rather large deck, so instead trying to to fill it with just the words you have trouble remembering would be a good idea.
Through a combination of rikaisama/yomichan, epwing2ankiand the 研究社和英大辞典 it is possible to quickly make batches of cards which include example sentences.
This is done by using a hotkey in rikai/yomi to save a word + the sentence it's in to a text file and using epwing2anki later on to convert all the words in that file into a deck using the definitions and example sentences of the dictionary.
Studying and Speaking Japanese
A key motif of the past Japanese Learning threads has been how critical it is to have a good foundation of Japanese. You want to be able to at least listen (understand), speak (produce) and of course, read. I'd argue writing is just as important, if only to save face when you need to do it. But if you don't have any plans to write, you can neglect it (up to you).
If you're going the self-study only route, then as a minimum you'll want to dive into the following.
- Start learning hiragana and katakana – print these out, and memorise them. Write them, read them, speak them. Do it like 2 hours a day or something – it should only take a week to memorise these with some effort.
- Grab some textbooks so you can learn the basics. A lot of learners suggest Genki I and Genki 2 as the best starting points, followed by Tobira upon completion. I haven't used these books so I can't vouch for them. Personally, I worked with a Japanese tutor, and self-studied using Nihongo Challenge N4 (Grammar and Reading Practice), then moved on to the N3, N2 and N1 books.
Now, this OP is not designed to give you a set path for becoming a Japanese language master. It exists as an aid and tool for your self-study. For that reason, you're free to pick and choose which things you incorporate into your study routine, based on whatever your goal is. These tools aren't static; they'll change over time as new resources become available, or as more people start sharing their tools that gave them success. The thread will live and die based on that input, so don't be afraid to share.
Reading – Vocab, Kanji and Grammar
If you choose to bypass starting with the Learning and Reading Japanese section above, and instead head the more conventional textbook route, don't feel like you've missed out. In fact, that will only make that approach even easier – for that reason, it's recommended you refer to that section often as you gradually refine your reading skills.
The core things you'll take away from any reading study will be:
- Vocabulary
- Kanji readings
- Grammar patterns
If you primarily read manga, you'll get good at reading manga, but will struggle reading the news (at first).
If you primarily read the news, you'll be able to read the news, editorial pieces and opinion pieces well, plus you'll be able to read anything else. However, if you don't read any manga, you'll have a hard time adjusting to the change in style and liberties that come with that genre.
Reading light novels is a decent middle ground, but if you lean too heavily on it, you'll pick up some weird styles - depending on the authors style – remember, with light novels you're reading recounts, stories and third person explanations.
What's the key here? Don't rely on any one thing too much, unless that's the only thing you want to be good at. If you want to be well rounded, read a lot of different things. There is no way around that. If you only care for manga, then only read manga. But don't be shocked if you can't read anything else without stumbling a lot.
Grammar and Vocabulary - 文法と語彙
Learning the required grammar to understand Japanese can only really come from two things; a textbook and exposure.
Textbooks
I'm not really sure where to put this, so now it's going here. Depending on your level (you may be intermediate looking to take the next step), you're going to need a textbook of some sort to develop even further. I'm going to list these books in 3 groups –
- Essentials – grammar bibles that serve as study tools.
- Developers - N4, N3, N2, N1 grammar/kanji/vocab/reading textbooks.
- Complete Newbie – where to go if you're just starting.
- Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Dictionaries of Japnese Grammar are requirements. You may not need them now, but you will eventually. They have most (if not all) grammar patterns in them, with detailed English explanations and use cases. You need these if you're serious about the language.
- 日本語文辞典 is another goodie, but this time it's all in Japanese. This is for your more advanced learner (N2/N1).
Developers
- にほんごチャレンジ – Japanese Challenge – is a great place to start. This is an N4 level book that lists the first 110 or so grammar patterns that you'd need as a floor.
- 短期集中初級日本語文法総まとめポイント２０ - Short Term Focus: 20 Point Beginner Japanese Grammar Roundup) is a an excellent companion and an absolute minimum for understanding Japanese particles – when and how to use them. This also covers the basic grammar patterns you'll need as a foundation.
- 日本語そうまとめ – Levels N3, N2 and N1 (Grammar) – again, this series lists out the grammar patterns, their meanings, some example sentences, plus some tests/quizzes for you. There are about 150 per book; if you follow this series from N4 – N1 there should be about 650 grammar points. Rough! You can also use the Kanji and Vocab books if you feel inclined (I didn't). These are a personal favourite of mine due to their simplicity. Tag them together with https://ejje.weblio.jp/ and the Bibles above, and you have a winning combination.
- 中級日本語文法要点整理ポイント２０ - (Intermediate Japanese Grammar Key Point Arrangement) – the next level of the 短期集中初級 book, this is another pearl that digs into the intricacies of grammar raised in the 総まとめ series. It also has a great few sections covering Keigo!
- 新完全マスター – Shin Kanzen Master – this is a go-to for all JLPT takers. Similar to 総まとめ but with greater detail, and all in Japanese. You can use the 文法、読解 and 語彙 books to prepare yourself for the JLPT exam – questions, quizzes and teachings mimic the exam papers in an effort to get you familiar.
- Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced are requirements. You may not need them now, but you will eventually. They have most (if not all) grammar patterns in them, with detailed English explanations and use cases. You need these if you're serious about the language.
- にほんごチャレンジ – Japanese Challenge – is a great place to start. This is an N4 level book that lists the first 110 or so grammar patterns that you'd need as a floor.
- 短期集中初級日本語文法総まとめポイント２０ - Short Term Focus: 20 Point Beginner Japanese Grammar Roundup) is a an excellent companion and an absolute minimum for understanding Japanese particles – when and how to use them. This also covers the basic grammar patterns you'll need as a foundation.
This is just a selection of books I've used and rate highly. Of course, if there's something you're using that's better or you think we should add – let us know, and I'll slot it right in.
Reading and Exposure
Now if you're taking the JLPT or you just want to be good at this language, I highly recommend reading everything. Obviously, your text books because they are going to teach you the basics. But do not rely solely on those or you will be in for some pain come exam time. You need to read EVERYTHING. News, editorials, opinion pieces, novels, poems and philosophical writings (yes, really), blogs, Twitter, games news, manga, games. In that order. Plus, your textbooks – those keep you in check and doing things systematically – yes, I said this twice. It's all useful. You'll learn something different from each of them. Often they'll repeat the same words, sentences and styles (games especially), and you'll burn them into your brain. And the variety keeps things fun and interesting too.
How can you do this?
- NEWS, EDITORIALS, OPINION PIECES – YahooJapan and NHK are great sources for Japanese news. They'll have articles that redirect to other news sites like 朝日新聞.
- NOVELS – buy a Kindle and grab some books off AmazonJapan for it – the Kindle should have a built in dictionary which makes getting stuck a thing of the past. You can also buy the 単行本 for whatever novel you're after there too. They typically ship worldwide, quickly.
- POEMS – you think I know everything? I'm at a loss. You can help me though!
- BLOGS – I don't know all the blogs, but some gaming blogs like http://blog.esuteru.com/ and http://jin115.com/ are great places to start – you can read the comments too for a laugh.
- TWITTER – find your favourite Japanese artist, actor or AV star and follow them everyday. Prepare to be bored, though.
- GAMES NEWS – www.4gamer.net is pretty legit, as is https://www.famitsu.com/. Overall though, the blogs are typically better (less formal).
- MANGA – read whatever you want! And remember, you can buy it from AmazonJapan as well.
- GAMES – if you're still playing games while trying to learn Japanese, do yourself a massive favour. Start playing everything in Japanese. It will be brutal at first but will pay off dividends – plus you won't feel like a jerk for always gaming instead of studying.
As for reading strategies, it's honestly up to you. When I read, if I see a word or grammar pattern I don't understand/have forgotten, I write it into a textbook, and then re-read it before I go to bed. You could probably stand to do the same, using all of the tools listed in the Learning and Reading Japanese section. It's ultimately going to come down to exposure and repeition.
Kanji
There are a few ways to do it.
- Wanikani/Anki – pretty popular these days, but I know nothing about it – so feel free to fill this section if you're so inclined.
- Exposure – reading everyday, writing down new words – just getting used to seeing Kanji everywhere and understanding the 音読み and 訓読み readings. This is covered in the Reading and Exposure section.
- Brute Force – the Whiteboard method. You write every 常用 Kanji onto a whiteboard every single day for 3-4 months, 8 hours a day, until it is ingrained in your fingers, hand, arm, shoulder, eyes and brain.
There is a crazy Kanji learning strategy called The Whiteboard Method. Some say it's the real deal, others say it's a major troll. Nobody really knows, because the dude who wrote it was a serious enigma. Regardless, it has it's benefits:
- Your handwriting becomes fantastic
- You remember a lot of Kanji
- You become disciplined
- You lose your life
- If you don't read at the same time, you forget everything
- Your hands will get sore
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