From the first day of 2021, I decided to learn Japanese . There was not really a good reason, I just liked anime, and learning one of the languages of my ancestors seem cool. Fortunately (I mean, not really), it was during the COVID lockdown, so I had more time than usual.

I followed the immersion school of thought, which, instead of focusing on polishing your grammar or taking classes with a professor, has you mostly learn by consuming media you are interested in the target language.

Part 1: The Beginning

The first four months were all about setting the foundation for my Japanese skills. I memorized hiragana and katakana using an Anki deck, speed-read Tae Kim basic grammar book, memorized the 2000 most common Japanese words, and listened to Pimsleur Japanese (mostly to get accustomed to the sounds of the language).

It was an speedrun of cramming information just so you can get to the good part (the immersion). If I ever decide to learn a new language again, I would opt for regular lessons instead. It is definitely slower, but a lot less uncomfortable.

Part 2: Subtitled Anime

For the next 1.5 years, I watched anime in Japanese with Japanese subtitles. When I found a word I did not know, I would look up its meaning and add it to an Anki deck with the phrase it appeared in. This process is called “mining words.”

Anime is great for this purpose. It is easily accessible, the subtitles are available, it provides a lot of context in the combination of sound, text, visuals, and narrative.

The first anime I tried was Non Non Biyori, and I was promptly ass-kicked, I could barely understand anything. But with a little practice, I could see progress. During this phase, I mainly focused on the slice-of-life genre, since it had simple plots and episodic narratives.

Part 3: Anime Without Subtitles

The jump from watching anime with subtitles to without them might seem subtle, but it is not.

Written language is much easier for learning compare to spoken. When you see a word (assuming it is not handwritten), it always looks the same. But when someone says it, there are accents, odd syllable stress, fast speech… it sounds different every time.

Thank you, Sailor Moon, for helping me through this stage.

Part 4: YouTube

I decided to create a platform where people could rate the Japanese difficulty of games and YouTube channels. It was named GameHongo. I learned a lot about development with this project, it gave me confidence as a developer. Unfortunately, the site never got popular. This show me the importance of marketing and ptoduct research.

To get data for the site, I watched tons of Japanese YouTube channels and ranked their difficulty. My favorites were:

• Cooking channels. It was really interessing to see a different culinary culture, where the base isn’t salt, pepper, and onions, but shoyu, mirin, and dashi. These videos use very formulaic language since the host is mostly explaining how to cook.

  

• Foraging videos (like searching for ingredients or rare bugs), I know it is weird, but they were very relaxing.

Part 5: Visual Novels

My next stop was visual novels. If you do not know, they are a type of video game where you mostly read a story with visuals. Every click advances the text, and sometimes you make choices that affect the plot.

For learners, they are a great middle ground between visual media and full text . Usually, every character except the main one is voiced. So you are exposed to a lot more vocabulary than in normal dialogue, but you still get some audio help.

Part 6: Podcasts and Audiobooks

Podcasts are the most difficult medium in my opinion. There is no text, no visuals, just audio ( which is the hardest to understand between the three ). On top of that, it is usually unscripted dialogue. If you miss a part, you lose the flow of conversation, or the host might suddenly change topics without warning ,just like real conversation.

I still struggle with them to this day. I recommend the Yuyu Podcast, it is made for Japanese learners,but the topics are interesting. I also listen to Interviewing Japan Channel, pretty light-hearted and fun interview with random people on the street.

For audiobooks, I listen to light novels during work. Honestly, most of LN characters are boring, so it is hard to stay focused. I constantly lose track of the plot. But every now and then, I find a good one.

Language Learning Isn’t One Skill

You should think of language as multiple connected skills. At first, you might be good at understanding text/audio/visuals together. Then you move to just audio/visual, maybe increase the complexity of narrative. Then maybe only audio, or just reading text. The immersion method is highly customizable,you can focus on the media you enjoy most.

The Flaws of Immersion

Immersion has limitations. If your target language does not have a robust media ecosystem, there might not be enough interesting content.

Also, if you do not practice a skill, you will never learn it . For example, I never really focused on reading books. I can read one now, but it would be slow and boring.

More importantly, I never practiced speaking. I can only say really simple, pre-formed phrases. This makes me hesitant to even tell people I study Japanese, what if they ask me to say something?

I tried playing VR Chat to practice speaking, but starting conversations with strangers online just feels awkward, regardless of the language. Maybe writing would be a better way to start , there isno time pressure,but I never know what to write.

Was This a Failure?

After 4 years studying Japanese, I can not say I have learned the language. But I have had a lot of partial successes along the way:

• Even after 4 years, I still continue to learn japanese everyday . This is only ppossible because immersion is an sustainable method, even though is not the fast one.
• I passed the JLPT N3 test ( for proficient in japanese language )
• I watched a ton of anime , and try new genres
• I tried visual novels for the first time and liked them
• I can now watch anime in Japanese with no help

But I have to say, I am definitely on a plateau. I still mine new words, but they are getting rarer and rarer. If I really wanted to level up, I would need to train my weak sides; read some books, listen to podcasts, or start writing. But honestly, I have more pressing projects right now. I can always do that later.