Just finished a university minor in Japanese. Where to now?

Hi everyone

I just finished my minor in Japanese language at university, and would love to keep on studying and improving. I havent done the jlpt but the course description for the last class I took said that completion would take me to approximately an N3-2 level.

The areas in which I'd like to improve the most are my speaking and listening. Fortunately, I have some Japanese friends but whenever I talk to them I feel like I'm fighting for my life a little bit. Reading and writing I have less issue with, but could obviously still improve heaps.

I would love some recommendations for resources where I can practice my listening skills, expand my vocabulary and learn some new grammatical constructions. For example, movies and tv shows where the characters use 'real-life' spoken Japanese (i.e. less anime-oriented) and a variety of speech styles. Bonus points if I can access them with Japanese subtitles.

Also, if anyone has some tips about self-study for someone who's just spent a while in a highly structured, teacher-led learning environment I'd really appreciate that. Feeling a bit lost on how to progress from here and get over the so-called intermediate plateau.

Thanks!

by bsmilner

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