Suffering Through Japanese (For Fun)

Being a Beginner Again

At the start of the year, I added “Take the JLPT N5 exam” to my language project board. My reasoning was simple. Since I was already planning to take the DELF B2 exam in French, why not make 2025 the year of language proficiency tests?

Now that I’ve taken the French B2 exam, I realize it’s probably time to start studying Japanese.

Switching from a language I can speak and understand to one I barely know is humbling. I felt this same discomfort 2.5 years ago when I began French after reaching an intermediate level in Mandarin.

A few months later, I was immersed in a French working environment, despite my French being non-existent.

Thankfully, no one expects me to use Japanese right now. But without any external pressure, I need to rediscover the kind of discipline, excitement and curiosity I had when I was learning Mandarin.

Japanese is often called a “difficult” language, especially for Romance language speakers. But the usual reasons like characters, syntax and grammar aren’t what I’m struggling with. At least, not yet.

It’s the discomfort of knowing I’m at the beginning and have a long way to go.

Although I haven’t used Mandarin in a while, the comprehension is still there. That’s helped me recognize and partially understand Japanese sentences like:

"私は一年前に、日本に来ました”

I didn’t remember how to read “前,” but I recognized it from Mandarin. Sometimes I say a Kanji out loud in Mandarin, and it helps me remember the Japanese reading. For example, 年 is nián in Mandarin and ねん (nen) in Japanese.

My issue, though, is that since I’m coming from Mandarin, I tend to treat hiragana (the Japanese alphabet) like kanji. I prefer to learn through exposure and context because I find memorization boring. Technically, I’ve studied the hiragana chart before, but there are still a few characters I forget.

One thing I liked about Duolingo was their Hirigana and Katakana practice. It was what I used back before I decided Duolingo wasn’t for me. I might just need to give in and spend a bit of time properly memorizing the alphabet again.

So, what am I doing to learn Japanese?

I’m using Migaku, a Spaced Repetition System (SRS) flashcard app I already use for French to mine sentences and new vocabulary from videos.

I like to use SRS tools from time to time to increase my vocabulary. Migaku was originally built with Japanese in mind, so it is one of the few languages they have courses and decks for.

I’ve been a bit scattered trying to choose a resource to use, so instead of jumping between tools, I’m sticking to just one for now, Migaku.

Here’s how I’m using it:

• Following the Migaku Academy 1 course to build a foundation in grammar and core vocabulary

• Sentence mining from YouTube videos I watch and adding them to a personal deck

I’m prioritizing the course for now because I tend to slack on card reviews, and once they pile up, I lose motivation.

Right now, I know about 20 words in Migaku. I’m not setting any big goals yet, but I’d like to grow that by a few hundred words by the end of the year.

I also plan to use a Mandarin-Japanese vocabulary book, which helps me maintain my Mandarin and avoid relying on English translations.

Learning Japanese is all for fun, and so is the idea of taking the JLPT. I’m on my streak of trying new things, so why not?

Once I build a good enough foundation, I’ll look into more JLPT-related resources. If you have any, please share them with me!

💌 I’m still taking questions for an upcoming Q&A. Submit your question here or in the comments!

Thanks for reading!