Goal Thread 2026

[eefara]

It’s time! Post your 2026 goals (for any language) here!

Past Threads	Language(s)
Goals & Plans 2025 + Review 2024	all
Goal Thread 2024	all
Goal Thread 2023	Japanese

[eefara]

Feel free to add links to your home posts here!

User	Link to Post	Goals Summary
eefara	Goals	Try not to overwhelm myself
monace	Goals	Bingo blackout
IntrepidFox	Goals	N3 in December

[monace]

So good to have this thread, thanks for setting it up!

I have been going back and forth on a lot of things for 2026, but I finally settled on doing a bingo year (I might be obsessed with bingo cards.)
I won’t be posting the card itself because I wrote it down on an actual piece of paper, but the main idea is that there are 3 types of squares: objectives, challenges, and tasks.

Objectives for 2026:

• Reading: Keep reading regularly. I don’t want to say “everyday” like I did in 2025, but I’m sure it will be most days regardless.
• Listening: Find a way to make listening enjoyable.
• Writing: Write regularly. What does regularly mean? I guess I’ll know it when I feel it.
• Speaking: Same, speak regularly. I know it is not the easiest skill to practice in my case, but I don’t want to drop it entirely.
• Vocab: 5.000 words.
• Grammar: Output more diverse grammar. I don’t want to keep using the same grammar patterns I am currently comfortable with.

Challenges:

• 30-day challenges:
  • Listen Everyday
  • Write Everyday
• 7-day challenges:
  • Study Grammar Everyday (5 challenges throughout the year)
  • Read 15 Pages of a Novel Everyday (1 challenge this year, might have to adjust the number of pages if I find 15 pages too easy)
  • Listen for 1h Everyday (2 challenges this year)
  • Record a Voice Note Everyday (1 challenge this year)

Tasks:

• Watch a documentary
• Watch a k-drama start to finish (I tend to drop them halfway through)
• Read a non-fiction book
• Listen to an audiobook
• Record a 15-minute voice note about whatever topic I feel like
• Read 5 easy novels (pushing myself to read harder books is nice and all, but I need to stop chasing the next level constantly)
• Finish a book series
• Write an essay

[eefara]

Oh, I like this objective/challenge/task breakdown. I haven’t seen this setup before, I want to see if I can use it myself!

[mic]

Watching TV: continue to watch 3 episodes per day on average and the one or other movie on top.

Manga: no real goal. I‘ll read manga to get out of a novel and/or heat slump in summer. Then I‘ll read them until am no longer interested in reading more of them, their total number doesn’t actually matter. All manga will be e-manga.

Non-manga books, like non-fiction books, children, light or heavy novels: I plan to read 30+ of them as a stretch goal, but at least the 25 I planned to read for the bingo card. Those are 5 books around L35 plus one book around L40, 6-7 orange level and 12-13 purple level books, the rest is free to choose. All non-manga will be physical books.

I hope for the L35 books to get look-ups further down. I once started at per page values of 12-13 in 2023, got to 9.5-10.9 in 2024 and this year down to 7.8-8.1. So I hope to get to values around 6-7 look-ups per page in 2026.

[Kroki]

How do you know your per page lookup numbers?

[mic]

I count them in browser history for each page and add them up for the whole book. I subtract white space e.g. at the end of chapters and space for images to get the number of pages with actual text. The rest is a simple division.

Further I compute the percentage of pages with zero look-ups and the number of pages per day in hope to get a more complete image of my progress.

[Fen]

I rarely think about goals, but if I try to think about December 2026:

• I want to be able to read an average novel in about a week without going all in, just normal reading time, and I’d like to feel comfortable picking up most things without fear of them being too advanced.
• I want to both read and listen to/watch things every day like I did in 2025, I want to both keep up and progress that habit.
• Not strictly language learning, but I want to get better at translating specifically.
• I want to be comfortable reading at least 2000 kanji. That means accurately recognizing them and pointing out examples of words, meaning, and readings.

[polv]

2025 Goals → Summary

Mandarin Chinese

• Reading with mostly good comprehension
• Get into speaking and chatting
• Get into writing

I haven’t figured out what to read, or what to count. Setting a seasonal (quarterly) goal may be possible, but yearly seems too far-fetched.

Japanese

• Finish a Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar which I’ve left hanging at WK club
• Get into manga magazines and weekly new things
• 10 manga series / 100 manga volumes
• 3 light novels series
• 3 series of re-reading my favorite series
• Practically able to listen to audiobook without needing text volume

I will use seasonal Reading Every Day Challenges and Readathons in WaniKani Community, for the time being (i.e. one more year).

[9Sora2]

Japanese

My goal is to read a lot of the light novels I own and I want to focus on one or maximum to series at a time otherwise I feel like I’m barely making progress the way I used to just read one volume of that series, then that series, etc. And I want to complete more visual novels

Honestly reading backlog is so difficult for me because I love to read light novels, visual novels, manga, but also English novels. I just don’t know how to juggle all that in an efficient way I guess
I made the habit of reading one or two manga chapters per day though when I’m reading an English novel or visual novel.

And I want to get back to seriously learning Kanji, I haven’t done that in ages. Granted I learned a lot just through vocabulary from light novels but I’d like to finally learn all N2 Kanji I still don’t know (and at some point also all N1 Kanji).

[Snappie]

Love the idea for this thread

My Japanese goals:

• I’ve been reading an average of 75 minutes per day since May this year, and I want to keep reading at least 1 hour per day for the entirety of 2026. I’ll have to skip some days when life gets in the way that’s life.
• I want to read at least 5 more volumes of サイレント・ウィッチ | L30 this year which all fit into my bingo card as well (which is no accident).
• I read ~3800 pages last year, I’m hoping to match that next year.
• Keep up my daily Wanikani reviews (Level 36 now)
• I wish to finish all the grammar on Bunpro. I currently only do recognition but after that I want to reset my progress and also start typing answers. Hoping to do that around June.
• Restart my listening practice. Currently I’m focusing all my effort on reading but I should start listening somewhere this year too because:
• I want to pass the JLPT N3. I’m probably already there in reading and kanji, but my listening is atrocious. If I don’t pass (or even attempt) the test I’m not going to lose much sleep over it though. I just think it would look marvellous on my cv.

But frankly. if I can consistently improve over time I’ll be happy even if I fall short on some goals . I’ve already improved so much since the beginning of the year and I’m curious where I’ll be in another year!

[IntrepidFox]

German

I have a bunch of books on my shelf, and I should really finish them. Also, watch more TV shows in German. (If anyone has any recommendations, don’t hold back.)

Japanese

• Need to read way more. I was doing pretty well, but then work stress, laziness, and other stuff intervened and I haven’t really read anything apart from the readings in Genki, NHK Easy News, and the odd thing. I really need to start cutting down on my TBR list.

• Need to do more listening. I did the N4 in December, and listening was my weakest part and I’m pretty sure I failed the exam because of that. Podcasts, YouTube, audiobooks etc.

• Carry on having lessons with my tutors, and come up with a better way to organise new vocab/grammar after lessons (if anyone has any tips, again, do not hold back).

• Wanikani. Currently level 17 (I reset from level 25 to 10 in June). I think I found a sustainable pace, so just carry on with that. Same for Bunpro.

• Try for the N3 in December. Around the beginning of summer order the Shin Kanzen Masters book for N3 and go through them (not like before the N4, when I did it in like 4 weeks).

[Shiori]

2026の目標:

2025年に読んだ本の数を超える (ライトノベルも含む) ( /7)

漫画をいっぱい読でみる (特定の数がない)

毎日日本語で読書する ( /365)

漫画や小説などで出会う1000語の新しい語彙を習得する( /1000)

新しい語彙の勉強をしていない時でもAnkiの復習を続ける

MarumoriのN2のコースを完成させる(107個のタイルが残っている)

もうそろそろ日本語能力のN2を受けてみる

一つの好きなポッドキャストかユーチューバを見つけてみる

受動的なリスニングの量を増やす

🌻最終的な目的

辞書をほとんど使わずに、心地よく気になる小説や漫画を読めるようになる

1週間以内に小説を読めるようになる

買う代わりに、図書館で小説などを借り始める

好きな小説/ライトノベルのシリーズを見つけ、最後まで読み切る

日本語で複雑な話題についても自分の意見をすらすら、うまく伝えられるようになる

[Kroki]

Kroki’s Japanese goals 2026

Ambitious goals…
Kanji: (using KKLC) get to 900 (stretch goal 1000)

Vocab: (using NativShark) reach the end of Phase 2 (that’s 5-6 units a week so I’m doubtful)

Reading:

• Read a total of 300 volumes in Japanese
• Blackout on Bingo 2026 (81 volumes)
• Challenge myself to no-furigana reads at least once a month
• Try to follow along books with an audiobook
• Aim for 12+ light novels this year

Listening: aim for 12+ audiobooks to make Audible JP subscription worth its money.

• First priority (assuming I wouldn’t hate it) to follow-along books that are most likely too hard for me now i.e. https://learnnatively.com/series/a02adbbea4/
• Second priority to books that don’t have digital edition but do have audiobooks i.e. https://learnnatively.com/series/d8f1a71822/

JLPT: I’m doing it as a hobby so it’s not really a goal. I’ll go to N1 or N2 depending on how I feel about my sad N2 kanji part results when they come out.
I’m leaning towards N1 just to finally see what it’s all about but we’ll see

[earwen]

I think I did pretty well on my goals for 2025 all things considered so I am going to go a bit harder. I don’t expect to clear everything in this list to be honest, but you know, aim for the moon and all that.

JP:

• vocab: Currently according to jiten my known words sit at 11.5k. I want to get this up to 20k. Is this realistic at my current pace? I don’t know, but it’s a number to aim towards. I just feel like at 20k the stuff I can read comfortably would open up a bit more.
• kanji: I want to have all joyo kanji under my belt currently 1588 / 2136, feels do-able at current rate.
• Read all physical manga I own (so I can buy more): fell in love with reading manga physically last month and I want to do more of it.
• Read 1 novel, physically. Can be one I already own or newly bought, can be a reread.
• Finish following vns in jp:
• • Muv-Luv Extra ^[1]
• • 魔法少女ノ魔女裁判 ^[2]
• • 幻想牢獄のカレイドスコープ 2 ^[3]
• • 黒蝶のサイケデリカ or another otome game ^[4]
• • FLOWERS -Le volume sur printemps-
• • Little Witch Parfait ^[5]
• Finish following novels in jp (any format)
• • チェンソーマン バディ・ストーリーズ
• • 永劫館超連続殺人事件魔女はXと死ぬことにした
• • 変な地図
• • スキュラ＆カリュブディス―死の口吻―
• Manga: rad 200 volumes. I love manga and I’ve been neglecting it. But I still managed to read 100 vols while neglecting it so I can probably do better. Doubling my read count seems a bit crazy but I feel like I barely read anything in autumn and most of the summer, so it shouldn’t be impossible.
• Read 12 novels total. I failed this goal last year even if just by 1 book, so I am leaving it unchanged.
• I want to watch more anime movies in jp! Specifically I am thinking of re/watching Ghibli movies as I haven’t watched that many of them, and the ones I do I don’t remember that well. I am going to say 12 movies as my goal which is not a high number but I am NOT a movie person.
• Finish grammar quiz book: I was working at that for a few months last year but stopped completely. It was decent as filling in gaps in my knowledge. I’ll probably start with reviewing my previous mistakes. There are 65 quizes with 20 questions each. I’m thinking January I go over the quizzes I already completed again and afterwards I try to do 2 quizzes per week roughly

Bonus German goal: I want to finish one of my big nonfiction books in Q1. These are big hardback reference type books and not something you read cover to cover. However a couple of them are for kids so it shouldn’t be that hard. I’m planning to just read a few sections a week. Other than that, I want to continue watching non-jp stuff in german when possible. That’s all!

Bonus English goal: English is technically my third language so I allow this to myself. I want to read or reread 30 of my owned books. (this is just an excuse to remember to track this)

---

1. while technically only half the game, I will read this with a friend, so we might take a break before Unlimited idk yet ↩︎

2. bonus: read it before the english translation is out, which may or may not be in 2026 ↩︎

3. bonus: read it before fan patch is out, which granted probably won’t happen in 2026 ↩︎

4. I asked for otome recs specifically so I’d like to get to one of them to try it out ↩︎

5. I had this on my pc for ages but while the language seems simple enough I avoided it bc of the gameplay section… ↩︎

[obscureniche]

I really fell short of what I was hoping to achieve in 2025, despite crushing my goals in 2024. I think some health issues I’ve had have ended up making me pretty depressed, but all of that may be slowly getting more under control now. This year I’m going to keep my goals a little more simple.

1. You buy it you read it, you buy it you beat it. The biggest goal/challenge of the year for both japanese books and video games in general. If I purchase it this year it needs to be finished this year.
2. 1 volume of manga a week
3. 1 chapter book a month
4. Finish PostPet DS, Okaeri Chibi Robo, and Houkago Shounen. (all started in 2025)
5. Play BokuNatsu 4 in the summer
6. Continue trying to watch videos in japanese and use audiobooks when reading if they’re available.
7. Attempt a bingo this year.

No specific goals for exactly which things I want to read or what difficulty they should be. I think worrying about those sorts of things held me back in 2025.

[gillianfaith]

I’m splitting my 2026 Japanese goals into concrete ones I can check off throughout the year, and some more nebulous ones I want to work towards but don’t want to quantify.

Concrete goals:

• Finish the prose books I received as gifts last year, plus at least one more of my physical books (2 chapter books, 3 novels)
• Finish the games and TV shows I gave up on doing in 2025 (2 games, 2 series)
• 180 days read
• Score a bingo in the 2026 reading challenge
• Finish acquiring the upper-level grammar I’m missing (130 grammar points)

Nebulous goals

• Build an understanding of Natively’s level system and where my comfort level is within it by reading more books with confirmed levels
• Speak in full sentences and get more comfortable expressing myself in language exchanges
• Figure out a routine for solo speaking drills

I’m not very sure about my ability to reach my media goals for 2026, because I don’t know what my employment situation will be for the second half of the year, and 2025 taught me that my reading slows down and I can’t juggle multiple types of Japanese media while I’m working full-time. I will also be making the jump to real novels this year after previously only reading chapter books and manga, so I have no idea how much other content I’ll have to cut out in order to make progress on the novels I have planned to read. Manga’s still going to be in my diet, but I’m not going to set a goal for it, to avoid feeling pressured to split my focus.

I’ve started meeting with a local Japanese woman for an informal language exchange once a week, and plan to continue that throughout 2026 as our schedules allow. These meetings have really made my weaknesses in speaking obvious, though, and I’ve found that I have a very hard time finishing my sentences (among many other bad habits), so I want this year to be the year I finally work on my confidence communicating. What I really, really need to do is add regular speaking drills to my routine, but since I live with roommates, I don’t have a quiet, private place at home to do them without disturbing anyone, and finding a solution to that is going to be my priority. (If anyone has any ideas for non-obnoxious ways to drill speaking, I’m all ears!)

[araigoshi]

2025 Goals Recap

Read 52 manga volumes (again)

A bit of a last minute rush, but I read 53!

Read 10 novels

Didn’t get as much of an increase in speed as I hoped, but I met the target

Write a weekly diary in Japanese

Daily is 7 times more than weekly!

Listen to 250 hours of Japanese

I reached 270 hours!

Find a tutor and do some speaking practice

One to really do in 2026

2026 Goals

Find a tutor and do some speaking practice

This one is jumping to the top of the list to make sure I actually do it this time. Probably I’m looking at weekly or biweekly lessons once I settle into a routine here, but will see how the finding phase goes.

Read 200 hours of Japanese

This is likely to mean finishing less media than last year, but I want to reduce the time to make room for other goals (like speaking or learning piano), and I also want to make it more flexible. The manga goal helped me get started with reading, and the novel goal helped me avoid getting stuck in the just manga, but while I enjoyed reading a bunch of volumes of various series I read this year, sometimes I’d just want to play e.g. Hundred Line Academy but my previous goals were a little too restrictive to fit that in, so now it’s just a general time based goal.

Listen to 200 hours of Japanese

Again, this is a reduction in time. I think the media mix will change up a bit this year, partly because when the weather and daylight improve I want to get back to walking again which will pair well with more podcasts, and partly as I went more realistic practice. I can watch an episode of an anime, and get a pretty good understanding, but then I watched a FFXIV developer stream and got very little. Topics are a little different, but FFXIV is something I know very well so I think it’s more about the casual speech vs carefully produced media speech than about the word choices or anything.

Other 2026 Plans

Those are the big headline goals for the year above, but there’s two other things that are not goals as such (certainly they’re not SMART approved ones, but honestly screw SMART lol), but more things I want to keep in mind for next year:

All anime should be tried in Japanese without subs first

• exception: Watching with others who need subs

I think I’m at the point where I want to move my consumption of anime for entertainment to Japanese. If some series is particularly hard I reserve the right to add subs back later, but I want to at least try everything raw first.

No SRS targets

I’m not setting any SRS targets this year, and generally expect my SRS time to go down even further this year. I’m only about 250 items from a full burn of Wanikani, and I’m not going to specifically study the N2 vocab or N1 grammar decks on Bunpro. I had originally considered making this “No SRS” in general, but I think I’m going to do some Bunpro as a reinforcement for what I’m doing in media - basically if there’s words or grammar points I find myself looking up a lot in the native material, I’ll add them to SRS to study specifically rather than just hoping repeated exposure will cement them, but it’s going to be much more adhoc than N lessons/day or “do X deck”.

Travel to Japan!

I’m going to plan a trip to Japan for October, current ideas here. The speaking practice will hopefully come in useful there too!

[basilsauce]

I’m setting my Japanese goals low because I want to learn some basic Korean. My mental energy is limited and I’ve found out the hard way that it’s easy for me to overdo it and burn out.

Japanese:

• 1 novel per month
• Read along to audiobooks every day for at least 3 months. I can count these toward the total novel count for the year.
• Keep watching Youtube videos about whatever interests me. This part maybe doesn’t even need to be a “goal” because it’s turned into something that I just do out of boredom

Korean

• Do some Lingodeer every day until I finish the Korean I course. (I have a lifetime membership)
• Watch some comprehensible input videos now and then.
• Use Japanese to help me learn

For Korean, I just want enough to get by as a tourist. My SO has been working with people in South Korea a lot, this will probably continue for a while, and sooner or later I’ll probably go along on one of his trips. Also I’ve found myself having to try to decipher this or that in Korean. So it would be helpful to be familiar with the basics.

[CatDQ]

@earwen

Finish grammar quiz book

Random question but what grammar book are you using for this? I feel like I need more grammar practice I can be tested against if that makes sense.