Failed the N4 exam, my listening and grammar clearly need more work (got As on reading and vocab, B on grammar and barely passed the listening section)
I currently take 1-2 classes a week of Japanese with two different teachers. With one of them I have almost finished Genki II, with the other one we are going through Minna No Nihongo, but mostly do writing and speaking practice.
Wanikani lvl 20, levelling up every 20 days or so. This is a sustainable pace for me, I reached lvl 25 a few years ago, but I was doing it waaaaaay to fast and burnt out. So reset to lvl 10 in June/July (?) and have been going at it.
I am more or less comfortable with reading sub-Natively level 21 light novels (maybe I have to look up 2-3, occassionally 4-5 words a page)
2026 aims and goals
I’m going through the N4 Shin Kanzen grammar book again, just to solidify everything.
Trying to read more than last year. Last year had a lot of work stuff to deal with and Japanese reading took a back seat. This year I’m really trying to focus on reading more. Goal is 10-12 books.
Working on listening by listening to podcasts and also trying to find Japanese YouTube channels where they talk about things I’m interested in.
About me
I have been learning Japanese on and off for a while, but more seriously for about the last two years. I have a full-time job in publishing, so trying to juggle everything is not always the easiest. My main aim is to be able to read whatever I want without having to worry about looking up too many things or about the difficulty of the book.
This seems to be in my sweetspot right now. I only need to look up about 2-3 words per page (occassionally 4-5). I read the first volume and that was interesting enough for me to hang around.
I was supposed to read the corresponding day every day, but fallen behind, trying to slowly catch up. This books is quite a bit above my level. Some days were pretty ok, but then there are also day when I look at the text and I have no idea what is going on. So on the one hand it is pretty good for vocabulary building, but on the other it is also a bit overwhelming when I see the list in Migaku. Guess just also have to find a balance of which words I should add to my list and which ones are not that important right now.
Thanks! How are you finding it? I’m planning on reading book 3 too, not sure after that one.
During my iTalki class yesterday my teacher and I talked about 日本の歴史３６６, and she mentioned that she just finished reading 最後の一色 上 | L34??. Way above my level currently, but if someone is interested in pre-Edo period Japanese history, might be a good read to pick up. The website also seems pretty cool: 『最後の一色』和田竜 ｜小学館
It’s really not the kind of book I would read in my other languages where I can read whatever I want, but for the time being it is about consuming whatever I can in Japanese.
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