NIHONGOCENTRAL | Beginner-Intermediate Overview

Beginner-Intermediate Overview

Before you begin, read my Introduction to NIHONGOCENTRAL. If you are even more motivated to learn Japanese after reading the intro, read the articles under the GENERAL INFORMATION section of my Guide to Learning Japanese.

In addition, you will also need the following two books.
(Consider these your minimal investment. If you decide that Japanese is not for you, these books will be the only thing you will ever have to buy.)
Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries
Remembering the Kanji, Vol. 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters
see School Supplies for a complete list of study materials

NOTICE: The following guide is based on achieving fluency in Japanese on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Proficiency Scale in 2 or 3 years by using a combination of methods developed by the internet community.
see Method Overview for details

LEGEND: #A (2-Year Plan) / #B (3-Year Plan)
see Goals & Timetables for details

WEEK #1 / #1

1) Start & Finish Remembering the Kana.

2) Begin audio lessons from Japanesepod101. Start by exploring the site and find a level you are comfortable with.

WEEK #2 / #2

1) Begin Remembering the Kanji, Vol 1. Make sure to read the introduction/forward to the book so you understand the idea behind the book. Likewise, you can read the excerpts from the introduction of ‘Remembering the Kanji’ that I compiled and get a concise summary.
see Remembering the Kanji Method for details
see How to use RtK for details

2) Continue audio lessons from Japanesepod101. At this point, all you need to do is listen and try to understand. Do not take notes, do not look up words, to not analyze the transcript. Simply listen and go with the flow. You should practice reading Kana by follow along with the Kana section of the transcripts, and avoid the Romanji at all costs.

MONTH #1 / #2

1) Review RtKana. Especially important if you have not been shadowing along with the transcripts to JPod.

2) Begin reading Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar. Simply read and try to understand. There is no need to rush. There is no need to take notes. At this time, your goal is to understand all the grammar points, not to memorize the examples. (You will come back and make use of all the example sentences after finishing RtK)
see Japanese Grammar for details

Complete beginners will be able to make headway using Tae Kim’s Guide only after completing RtKana, covering the first 600-1000 kanji from RtKanji, and “understanding” about 30-60 lessons of JPod101.

3) Continue audio lessons from Japanesepod101. Listen to each lesson as many times as necessary (10 times if that’s what it takes). Lessons get exponentially harder and before moving to a higher level, see if you can understand the later lessons within the difficulty level you’re are currently using. If you find that you are understanding everything with little effort, move to harder lessons.

4) Continue RtKanji.

MONTH #3.5 / #5.5

1) Finish reading Tae Kim’s Guide.

2) Complete Remembering the Kanji, Volume 1.

3) Continue audio lessons from Japanesepod101.

4) Begin the Sentence Method. Your first several hundred (500-800) sentences will come directly from Tae Kim’s Guide. Do not download a pre-made deck, make your own sentences. Make sure you understand and cover each grammar point. This is one of the most critical parts of the method, and will form the foundation for everything you will learn in the future.
see Japanese Grammar for details
see Sentence Method for details