I'm coming to realize, I haven't made a post here in about 3 months so it's perfect.

I just want to talk about my experience in Japan on a very low level view. I also want to just take a second to reflect learning the Japanese language as a whole.

I reflect at my first thread here which was posted almost 10 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/3o0r2h/sentence_structures/

It's fascinating to think I started so long ago and i'm also 10 years older. The journey has been nothing short of difficult, confusing, stressful but also fun and filled with many opportunities that I've come across that I wouldn't have if I didn't decide to study Japanese.

My last 3 years have been the most notable. For reference, I was in high school when I first started learning.

Summary of the last 3 years:

– Joined a language learning group in my city and met hundreds of Japanese people to practice Japanese with / become friends with

– Met some life-time friends that I still talk to and never want to lose

– Studied over 2000 Kanji via Memrise (Not all are memorized/learned but I went through them)

– Experienced many chats and phone calls using HelloTalk. Made friends from it that I met up with in my city too.

– Used Italki a handful of times to try to learn from professional tutors

– Traveled to Japan a few times

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What I learned about learning a new language:

Japanese is hard. Learning a new language is hard but Japanese in particular has been a mountain of emotions. I know for a fact many people who are just getting started probably feel confused and also might like their stuck.

Let me tell you that I also experienced that same feeling and you really need to trust the process. There are no magical courses. Your brain takes time to develop and process all the new material that it's learning day to day, week to week, etc.

I will tell you the fastest way to improve and learn Japanese.

The fastest ways to learn

– Spend a year in Japan and enroll in a language school

– Do working holiday in Japan

– Get a Japanese girlfriend

– Study every time you have the opportunity and do not lose motivation. You need to stick to it just like I have

I personally think if you're someone who is actively studying and wants to boost your speaking and listening skills ten fold, you should get into a relationship with someone who has the target language that you are studying.

In my example, I have been dating someone for 5 months and this person can speak english but not perfectly so she chooses to use Japanese everytime we talk. She also does this thing where she says the full phrase in Japanese and then repeats it right away in English even though I understood lol. Useful for when I don't.

There is nothing more valuable than spending almost everyday in the native country with someone who is constantly speaking to you in Japanese and ALSO teaching you stuff you do not understand. I do the same for her in English. This is truly a hack for learning.

My Japanese after 3 Months:

As a test today, I decided to revist some old content I was using to learn Japanese on Youtube and other sites like supernative(free). It's amazing to think a few months ago I already felt like I was pretty good at listening but it just keeps increasing.

It makes sense though, everyday I travel around the city and everyone is speaking Japanese. The TV ads are in Japanese. It's the exact definition of immersion.

As for speaking, I feel so much more confident than I did before. What really made it apparent was one night after a night out, I met 3 Japanese people who didn't speak english. We hung out at one of their houses and it was purely in Japanese. I was nervous at first but when I realized I was able to really engage with the conversion, it was joyful.

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I'm currently still in Japan but once again, for people who are looking to learn FAST. I suggest you try to find any possible way you can simply stay in Japan. I've met so many foreigners here who are on 1 year working holidays and they enrolled in a language school. It's possible for you too. If money is not a problem and you do not have any crazy obligations in your home country; give it a try.