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What do you recommend for self-study over the summer for a Japanese major?

I have been immersing myself further in Japanese media and I bought the first Genki textbook. I have taken a year online and have been studying on my own as well. I know a great deal of vocabulary, but I am weak in grammar and kanji. Do you have any recommendations for media, online sources, or practice methods I could utilize over the summer? #language #studying-tips #foreign-languages #translation #japanese

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Rainer’s Answer

I lived in Japan for more than 20 years and studying is good, but you will learn much faster and more real-world language skills if you can spend time with actual Japanese speakers. I don't know the exact best forum to do this, but you should be able to find an online community where you can reach out and find someone in Japan in a similar situation as you who wants to learn English. With Skype and such it should be easy to setup online chats.

Thank you comment icon Thanks! In fact, for reference fr anyone reading this, I do use something along those lines. It's called lang8. It's a blog website where you blog in the language you are learning and native speakers correct it, and vice versa. It's really helpful. Jesse
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Megumi’s Answer

Hi Jesse,

I am Japanese and have friends from foreign countries.
I'm so happy to hear that you are interested in Japan and Japanese media.
It is important to learn Kanji, Hiragana, and grammar with textbook, but I think communicating with others is the most important and
it will be a quick way to learn Japanese.

The first step is making Japanese friends and talk a lot!
Try Japanese food and cultural experience.
It will be great experience and helps your sutdy.
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David’s Answer

Ii agree with Rainer. There is no substitute for being in contact with other Japanese speakers and listening to and speaking as much Japanese as possible. You mentioned the Genki series and I taught Genki 2 for a semester at a university when I was between jobs. Genki is good, but really listening and speaking is where it is at for really learning Japanese. It would be great if you could go on an immersion trip to Japan and live with a Japanese family. Programs like that are available. Also, in addition to the language, I would suggest that you continue to study Japanese culture. Japan is a groupist culture and has many different aspects from the U.S., which is considered more of an individualistic society.
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