Jlpt N1 holder here. From 0 to N1 took 4 years +.

Don't go to class for beginner. They progress is so slow at that stage most people will have given up before their passion burn out.i been to ICLS, in fact I went to all 3 branches. I was jumping level because it is so slow. 4 hours per chapter takes a week. You gonna spend 2 years stuck at beginner. Not to mention, you will just forget your previous class.

Japanese learning in beginning stage should be rapid and fast. Once the basic is in grain. Then ever persuit to learn more begins.

Try learning those begineer stuff from YouTube. Is really not that hard.

Study minna no nihon go red and blue beginner book consists of 50 chapters. That 50 chapters are basically the introduction to Japanese.

Those 50 chapters are the foundation to build Japanese on further levels.

Once you fully master those 50 chapters. You are like about 7 8 yo kids level.( you can pass n5 and n4 easily at this stage)


N3 is where the grind starts. You are in the territory of daily speaking, about 12 yo and Japanese kid level.
If U face difficult at this stage, best is find phsycial class.

I would suggest at the very least aim to get N3.

Why?

Most ppl gave up before even finishing the 2 minna no nihon go book.
N3 is the point where U can say to yourself you know Japanese. Any lower than that is just casual greetings, or mimicking few phrases from anime.

Normal people should take around 3 to 4 years to reach N3. Everyday 1 hour study averagely.

You need around n2 to understand business language. Is not a definite level but is a ball park. Knowing N3 helps U learn business related Japanese.

Word of advice : don't learn to speak from anime. Just like us don't talk like characters in movies, Japanese don't speak like anime characters.
You can inference grammar points or word from it, but never learn to speak like that.

I had seen many weebs joining beginners class start speaking like anime characters and they think they are cool. They are annoying and also grammatically wrong most of the time.

This post has been edited by littlegamer: Feb 17 2024, 03:27 AM

I heard across the broad, most that make most noise during beginner often just drop out.

One of the reason, I suggest TS not join beginner class is to avoid people like these as well.

If you are a mandarin speaker, you can search 出口任老师.
He has a full set minna no nihingo as well.

At higher level he teaches Japanese using Japanese. Good for future reference