History
I have been learning Japanese on and off for the past few years. Late last night, I started thinking about the progress I have made, especially this year. And more and more, I realised that this is the perfect time to summarise my progress.
This is the first time I am writing about my Japanese learning journey, so let's start with a bit of background:
-
My native language is Cantonese (Traditional Chinese, Hong Kong)
This is definitely a major advantage when learning Japanese, since I can understand a lot of the Kanji and vocabulary. -
I am fluent in English (L2)
I have learned this language since I was a kid, and mostly by watching too many Minecraft videos in English. -
I am also fluent in Mandarin (Chinese, used in Mainland China / Taiwan) (L2)
N5
I have been watching anime since 2018 (7 years or so ago?).
I used to watch a lot of anime with English subs, before switching to Chinese subs around 2020.
However, anime didn't help much, since I was not really paying attention to the Japanese.
I started learning Japanese back in 2021, I spent almost a month just on hiragana, and honestly, it was already too much for me. On and off, I learnt about TheMoeWay of learning Japanese, and which, I started using Anki to memorise N5 vocabularies. I was using Tango N5 deck, which at the time was the easiest deck to get started with.
Note: If you are starting out now, Google Kaishi 1.5k, which seems to be the best deck to get started with now.
However, I only continued until March, where I have completed the N5 deck, with a lot of breaks in between.
Figure 1: My Anki Tango N5 deck progress for 2022
That's when progress stagnated.
Between 2021 and 2023, I fell in love with a small Touhou circle called 森羅万象. And such, I have started to listen to their songs, and to more Japanese music that is outside of the typical Anime OP/EDs. More on this later.
Then in 2023 December, I went to Japan for the first time, and even went to C103 (comiket) in Tokyo. That's when I realised that I need to actually learn Japanese.
Figure 2: Me at C103 queuing
Taking the JLPT N5 Test
Me and my friend decided one day, for fun or for real, we would take the JLPT N5 test in 2024 July.
and without any particular preparation:
Figure 3: Official JLPT N5 Test Results
I got 129/180 points, which is a pass.
More importantly, I got 60/60 for listening, but only 69/120 for "Language Knowledge",
aka, I suck at Grammar but I can understand Japanese.
Next Step
After the N5 test, in 2024 September, I started taking a Japanese course at my university, JASP1450, which taught me the basics of Japanese,
including how to actually conjugate grammar.
Yes, I didn't know how to conjugate 歩く into 歩きます nor 歩いて when I took the N5 test.
And with that, at the start of 2025, I took JASP1460, an extension of the course into deeper N5 and little bit of N4, I thought I am ready to do N4.
During this time, I have also started to listen to more Japanese music, and here is when I discovered ラブライブ！蓮ノ空女学院スクールアイドルクラブ. And with this, I have started to listen to their songs, their YouTube videos, and sometimes, their podcasts.
This is the first time I have indulged into a project / series entirely in Japanese. And this wasn't forced too, I was genuinely enjoying it. Hours just flew by.
Discovery of JPDB.io
Discovering JPDB.io was a game changer. It is an Anki clone with a focus on using Japanese materials as the source of cards. I could create and follow decks by the frequency of the words in the materials, and also see the coverage of the words in the materials.
With this, I was able to focus on words that I actually would encounter, without specifically mining for them.
(I have tried to mine words for Anki following the methods in theMoeWay, but I am not sure why, but I simply do not have the patience to do so.)
The pre-built frequency decks removed the friction of 'creating' and let me focus on 'consuming' and learning.
With that, I have started to read native Japanese mangas (in sequential order):
- ささやくように恋を唄う
A manga series I have actually bought physically when visiting Japan.
Was specifically intrigued by the art style by 竹嶋えく.
Would definitely recommend since the difficulty is only around N4 personally. - 恋する(おとめ)の作り方
Nothing particular about this one - 夢見るメイドのティータイム
Another manga I bought physically when visiting Japan.
This one is probably easier than above, this is a short story with cute characters. - きみが死ぬまで恋をしたい
I tried reading this one because people were recommending it for Japanese learners.
However I have soon realised that forcing myself to read a manga just because it is 'good for learning' sucks the fun out of it.
So I have only read the first volume. - 世界で一番『可愛い』雨宮さん、二番目は俺。
I just read the manga, because reading LNs are still too painful for me. - 保健室はふたりきり
The only reason I read this one is because it is Yuri. It is easy too, well that's the second reason. - etc...
Starting online lessons
In February, seeing my progress, I wanted to start actually speaking some Japanese.
I booked some lessons on AmazingTalker and Preply (since that's what YouTubers recommend, I don't really have a stance).
Here's how the first lesson went:
bad
Why? Because I could not speak very well. I could understand the teacher, but words just didn't want to come out of my mouth. I tried speaking, but thankfully the teacher was patient and waited for me to speak, no matter how long it took.
I constructed, not sentences, but words, that glued together to form "sentences". But it worked, it was something the teacher could understand.
The first few lessons were the same. But one day, it just clicked, I suddenly felt "unlocked", and I could express myself better. So, I decided to continue the lessons per week. Currently, I feel like there is still a barrier for me to express myself, but I can understand and express myself better than before.
N4?
In February, I have started to wonder if I should take the JLPT N4 test. And so, I did an online test on JLPT N4 test.
Figure 4: Online JLPT N4 Test Results
It was way above my expectations, I got 156/180 points, which prompted me to study for N3 instead.
N3
So I have applied for the JLPT N3 test for 2025 July.
In between, I went to Japan for more live and concerts, in particular:
- 森羅万象 6thワンマン『シンラ団』
The one-man live of 森羅万象 in 2025 June, the circle I mentioned earlier.
I was surprised how much I could understand MCs in Japanese.
This was actually the second time I went to a one-man of 森羅万象, as I had previously gone to the 5th one-man live in 2024 June. But previously, I couldn't understand that much. - ラブライブ！蓮ノ空女学院スクールアイドルクラブ 4th Live Dream ～Bloom, The Dream Believers～ ＜102期卒業公演＞ Day.2
Seeing the 102期 members graduate and perform their songs was a bittersweet moment for me.
Figure 5: Me standing in front of K-Arena Yokohama, with penlights that I lost just 15 minutes later
With more Japanese content consumption, I have started to feel more confident in my Japanese. And here is the result of the JLPT N3 test:
Figure 6: Official JLPT N3 Test Results
I got 178/180 points, which is absolutely crazy. The only two points I lost were because of "Language Knowledge". This was a massive boost to my confidence.
What's next?
Since passing the JLPT N3 test, I have again lost interest in JPDB.io. Learning new words is not as fun as reading manga, watching YouTube videos, and listening to music.
I don't actually know why, maybe I am just not made for using Anki-like tools.
I am obviously not good enough, I still feel the invisible barrier of not being able to speak my mind in Japanese, and my Japanese level is not high enough to be able to read novels in Japanese.
My personal benchmark for true fluency is the ability to passively understand speech without active focus. What that means is, if you can understand the content of a speech, while doing something else, like walking, or browsing the Internet, and not actually paying attention to the speech, it is pretty much fluency to me for that language.
Currently, I can do that for my three other languages, Cantonese, English, and Mandarin, but not for Japanese.
So what's next? I just took the JLPT N2 test earlier this month, and I have been waiting for the results since then. It is most likely a pass, since I have only got 5 wrong for the listening part, meaning 40 to 50 out of 60 points for the listening part. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, it is not guaranteed to be a pass.
Next year, I will be going to Japan again, mostly for other live concerts. But lately, I have been thinking about going to Japan for more than just live concerts.
In order to work in Japan, I would need a N2 pass, and a workable level of Japanese proficiency to be able to communicate with my colleagues. This means that I would need to speak Japanese fluently, both in casual conversations and in business professional conversations.
I am not sure how to achieve this, but I have been thinking about it for a while. What if I stayed in Japan for 3 months to attend a language school? I could have a lot more opportunities to practice my Japanese, especially speaking.
But what if it is a waste of time since I am not really used to classroom learning?
Well, I don't know.
P.S. I haven't graduated university yet, but having this roadmap makes the future feel a little less daunting.
If you are also learning Japanese, or if you've made the jump to working in Japan, I'd love to hear your story (daniel@shedaniel.me). Here is to 2026!