Varying the level of difficulty of books I read helps me stay motivated to learn Japanese. Instead of always picking books that fit my level I sometimes read easy novels, sometimes challenging ones. I explain in this post how it helps me and what are the benefits of varying difficulty levels.

What about starting a bullet journal to organise my Japanese study? Learning a language on one’s own requires some organisation system to stay productive throughout the year. I have never done a bullet journal before and I think that now is a perfect time to start one!

This weekend, I went to a Japanese restaurant where you could hear the radio of Okinawa. Back home, I checked their website, and they have several programs accessible in streaming. I have always considered the radio to be one of the best ways to improve one's listening skills. People tend to speak at a natural..

I am preparing the JLPT N2, and I think that I might have put myself too much into it. I met several Korean students who passed N1 and even a girl who got a full mark at the section "language knowledge" of N1 😳 I also saw that some Koreans can pass N2 in 4 months..

Among the usual advice given to language learners is the idea that one should pursue one's field of interest in the target language. For example, if you like history, try to read history books in Japanese, if you like cooking, try this Japanese recipe, and so on. I am following this advice, of course, but..

I have realized that even if I can recognize a good amount of character I can write very few of them… Time to set a strategy to write kanji on a regular basis!

When learning a foreign language, it is easy to get demotivated and give up, especially when one is self-studying. One of the most common causes of demotivation is the belief that we don't make any progress. I think that there are two reasons why language learners can have this feeling: if you don't study, you..