Have been employed here since last year as a fresh graduate engineer. I came here with barely passing N3, and just graduated N2 last December. While the old me would have been proud of that achievement, the current me realizes how much that _really_ doesn't mean anything, as I believe "N1 is just the starting line" quote from my fellow fresh graduate foreign worker in my office (who's much more proficient than me) more and more, day by day.
The thing is, I'm not exactly sure how to proceed. I feel like even with trying to self study on my own by reading (or trying to read) native materials, increasing my vocabulary and grammar, interacting with japanese people around me, I just feel like at an impasse as I have to look up a lotta things when trying to consume native materials – it just doesn't feel effortless. My reading speed is stagnating, conversations doesn't flow as smoothly as I want to, it's hard to understand long sentences, keeping context in meetings feels hard, etc. Tried classes and tutors, but that hasn't felt like it did anything, or maybe I haven't found the right one yet. My coworker said that him going through middle school here was the main driving factor of his proficiency, so it's not really much of a reference.
So for those who are highly proficient at it – how DID you get better at this? It's frustrating to have my pace at work be impeded by the language, albeit its kinda mixed with my inexperience of working within this domain of engineering to begin with.
by staling_lad