How I'm Learning Japanese!

It's no secret that I'm going to Japan after college, and I like to think of my blog as a journey to me going. I like telling you guys new things I've learned and over the years I've been trying to learn Japanese. Let's be real, learning a language can be very difficult. It can also be very easy depending on what you do. It's whatever works for you. Personally I have ADD so it's almost impossible for me to study out of a textbook. I'm a full time college student so when I'm not studying at school I'm studying my Japanese. Any language that you learn takes commitment. If you're not committed to learning, it won't be easy. Here's a few fun ways I'm learning Japanese.

• Memrise: This is possibly the best method I'm using just because you have different courses in anything you want to learn, including Japanese. It gives you the word, then you have seconds to answer the question based on that word. Here's an example. If it gives you the word 2 people here are the options you might get.  1.　にさい　2. ふたり　3. にじ　4. にふん　You're timed which makes it a challenge. Spoiler alert, the answer is number 2, which the kanji for that is 二人 which translates to 2 people. It's easy to master. My only advice is don't take on too much words, because you might forget what you learned. It's helping me read it and understand it. It's just your job to write it down and speak it. Also, pace yourself. Don't go too fast with learning.
•  Anime or J-dramas: I love anime, but I got into J-dramas well. It's best for learning casual Japanese. It helps you with understanding it a little better. It helps with listening skills. I know Sharla in Japan made a point in her video to write down any word you may not know which I agree with that. You should definitely write down whatever you may learn :)
• J-pop: I know what you're thinking. How can you learn japanese with J-pop. I just think it helps speaking fast if you sing along to it. At least for me. Look up the romaji or Japanese lyrics and sing along to your hearts desire! Also, write down words you don't know and look them up.
• Ameba: I admit, I'm 20 and I love ameba. It's so much fun to use, and best if you know some Japanese. If not, you might be confused. It's very easy to navigate, and so much fun when you make an account. My account name is kisa546 by the way. So come find me on the site and our virtual characters can hang out and talk and stuff! It helps a lot with reading Japanese. That and memrise is honestly the only thing I use to learn how to read. Along with the next tip I have.
• Social Media: Social media is honestly the best way to learn hirigana, katakana, and Kanji. I changed the twitter trends to Tokyo twitter trends and that's helping me read everyday subconsciously. Watch J-vlogger or Japanese YouTubers. Change the language setting with social media sites to Japanese. It helps so much I promise you. Also, get a penpal from Japan.  That way you can learn speech and pronunciation. I have one, and I teach him English and he teaches me pronunciation on Japanese words I may be having trouble with.

Obviously there are ore ways to learn, but this is how I'm learning right now. It's easy for me because I'm a full time student, job hunting, and making YouTube videos, so this is less time consuming since it's also a fun way. Always remember to keep on writing words you learn until it sticks with you. Use what you learn in sentences. (If you don't know the full sentence just substitute an English word with a Japanese word). Good luck learning!

Websites I mentioned or implied
www.memrise.com
http://www.ameba.jp/
www.interpals.net/

Good luck!