Overall – Kaeru’s Japanese Learning Goals

In my attempts to partially shift this over to being a Japanese learning blog, I realized I should probably give some context to my goals and general self as a language learner.

What do I most want to use Japanese for?

Weeb thing to say, but I anticipate what I’ll end up using Japanese the most for will be consuming anime and manga without subtitles. Being able to consume material supplementary to media I read/watch would be nice too (announcements, tweets from creators, etc.)!

One thing I’ve learned is that immersing yourself in the language (as much as you can) makes committing to it long term much easier. I’ve been watching anime and reading manga for… more than 16 years now, and keeping up with it has just turned into something that’s part of my everyday life. I’m aware that being able to achieve this is definitely a lofty goal, but I’m in it for the long run.

What do I also want do be able to do?

Travel: I actually will be having my honeymoon in Japan and would like to not make a fool of myself by “talking like an anime character” to normal people. So, I’ll be concentrating some effort on learning how to speak properly.

Translation Services: I’d like to get to a point where I can do some interpretation or offer reliable translation services, but this is mostly because I like to monetize hobbies for tax purposes.

JLPT (up to N2): I’m hoping to keep taking the JLPT until I pass N2. I won’t be studying for the JLPT as much as I’ll be learning other things and then doing some basic prep. It should be a side-effect of my main efforts. From what I’ve heard, N1 isn’t particularly useful

What will I be ignoring?

I’ve chosen to ignore/de-emphasize learning writing kanji and business Japanese. This is mostly because I don’t plan on living or working in Japan. Additionally, I spent time as a kid learning Mandarin, so I actually have acquired a lot of muscle memory for writing Chinese-based characters.

How will I measure progress?

I’ve learned that when I overplan, I end up not actually doing things. So, I’ll be posting goals at the beginning of the month and then reflecting on them at the end of the month. The first one has been posted already, and you can check it out here!