so hardcore la u... i cant even manage to understand momotaro story 

Frankly speaking, reading LN is a hell of a mountain climbing method to improve your japanese. I do get brain-processing congestion with reading and understanding it. Without realizing it, you'll realize how tough and rough was it. But on the other hand its quite effective.

on a side note it doesn't help much on JLPT. JLPT requires u to study its text book. Reading LN will improve ur japanese language in another way but not the exam.

The recent 2013A JLPT just held few days ago on 7/7/2013. 2013B will be held on December, so good luck to those will be taking.

^ Loooool, for real?! XD


I recognize quite a lot of kanji, but don't really study how to write them. Even more so since I basically self-study instead of going to classes. I take the exam for the certification, and to give myself a way to measure how much I've learnt so far. I'm currently making myself learn how to write, but I'm doing it at a leisurely pace

Listening-wise, I tend to listen to a lot of seiyuu web radio shows. Some radio shows are tied to a specific anime series, but there are some that are the seiyuu's own radio show. And in radio shows, it's not unusual for the host to talk quite fast (because they have limited time, usually about 30 mins to 1 hour). And they also talk like how they usually talk in real life, full of slangs and abbreviations. I won't say that I understand everything they say, but I certainly learn lots of new words this way, and it's also how I get used to how Japanese people speak.

Oh, I like to listen to drama/narration CDs as well.



I can listen to the recording and read the book at the same time, so whenever I come across a word I'm not familiar with, I can listen to how it's pronounced and try to search from there instead of having to check the radicals every time.

I see what you did there

I did the whole anime/manga thingy, though I'm more of a listener than a reader. When I took the L2, it was my choukai that really helped me score the test.
Over the years, I've immersed myself in many other aspects of Japanese culture. Rurouni Kenshin got me started on the whole samurai thingy and I watched lots of chambara (sword fighting) / jidaigeki movies, eventually developing a taste for haiku and Heian poetry and Kendo.
From watching Azumanga Daioh and Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai as well as popular TV variety programs, I developed an interest in dialects, especially Kansai dialect. Some of my Japanese acquaintances have remarked I have the mild singsong lilt of a Kansai speaker even when I speak hyoujungo

Not so much babbling but making efforts to form sentences and express yourself, mistakes be damned. I enjoy it when students go out of their way to form outlandish but grammatically correct sentences. Being adventurous and trying things out is an integral part of making the language your own. When I was a student I'd try to make the most complicated anime flavoured sentence I could think of whenever the teacher asked us to use a mundane grammar pattern. It helps test the limits of your ability and is part of the process of learning to "think" in Japanese.

Learning kanji is hard 

Em,I currently learning Japanese too. But now only level 1.

Any textbooks recommended?

especially in Kinokuniya book store..

No it's really easy actually compared to learning how to hold an actual conversation with a Japanese.

I originally planned to take Japanese language class starting September. But between workload, money problem and professional examinations, looks like I will need to defer my plans again

No, I mean I am too busy with my current exam (acca) and work to take Japanese language class XD

damn i feel jelly my friend can write and read

u watch 300 anime oso cant become pandai laa ~_~

actually i really want to learn the language.im have been watching anime and tokusastsu series for few years already but only managed to understand very little of it.so my level is i think is below beginner and im not asking to be baby-fed but i just need guide on how to start(not like straight away read LN).im willing do to slow paced learning and willing to use our google sensei for that purpose. maybe considering taking classes but before that,i would like to do self study first so i dont get left behind easily while attending the class since maybe that time already know the basic japanese.

then i should start with online japanese tutorial links posted in the front page of this thread?or buying the textbooks first?im not chinese educated so have to learn everything from the scratch.let say if i were to read raw manga or LN,not a single word i understand from there.so its not recommended from start right?if anyone here from ipoh area,could somebody tell me where can i attend the class since when i search the web,i only found ones in kuala lumpur area only.maybe i didnt search carefully enough.will try to search again in the meantime