I know more than what is in Genki I. Way back when, Genki was the original material that I bought to learn Japanese. This time last year I was probably not much past the first couple of chapters. Now I know all the kanji from it, and all the grammar points.

I’m 3/4 of the way through Japanese for Everyone, and I will be finished by the end of the year. In terms of grammar, I think that Japanese for Everyone gets you right into an intermediate level. It is really good and has a lot of bang for what you pay for it. I have started reading some books and I so far understand (most of) the grammar, even for longer, complicated sentences.

I am still getting through learning all the Kanji. Because of university I have had to utilise many different methods of learning the Kanji. If I could start again, I would have completed Remembering the Kanji before I started at university. I hope that I can get through this book by the end of the year.

I am understanding more and more of what I hear. Watching a lot of dramas definitely has attuned me to the language.

The biggest let down for me is my lack of vocabulary. I don’t have a large vocabulary which makes it hard to read or listen and actually understand what is being said. I am at the moment experimenting with some vocabulary learning exercises.

My speaking is also probably not very good. I haven’t had an opportunity to speak much Japanese besides following along with tapes and talking to myself aloud. I am going to Japan in November which will be my first real test of speaking and conversing.

I am very happy with my progress, I don’t think that I could progress any quicker. Even if it is not possible for me to be in All Japanese All The Time enviornment like some people can be, I engage myself in a Japanese language activity every day. It is very much a part of my life now and I will get to Japanese fluency. If you want a more “slow and steady” approach to Japanese learning compared to the AJATT method, I recommend my method: Procrastinating and Looking At Japanese Boys. It seems to be working for me!