The following guide is based on my personal experience. I am not an authority on the matter and I am still barely a beginner regarding Japanese.
What am I doing?
Learning languages seems non-lienar and that's partly true (at an intermediate level). But, when you're first starting out, there's generally clear goals to work toward.
Your Beginner Goals
Study and master kana
Japanese employs hiragana and katakana in conjunction with kanji. Together, hiragana and katakana make up kana.
Learn the kana (hiragana and katakana)
Learn the difference between kunyomi and onyomi (kanji)
Delve into grammar and establish some foundational vocab
Immerse yourself with input content (movies, shows, etc)
Study and practice a basic form of "pitch accent"
Continue developing your vocab and particle knowledge
Learn about polite versus casual talk and social culture
Use the language (letters, blog, diary, etc)
Seek conversations to apply the language properly
Find and study tests like JLPT to gauge your progress
What can I use?
Duolingo
If this was your first pick, you're naive but not foolish. It'll teach you enough to get help if you're lost in Japan. But it won't be enough to hold a conversation. Give it a try and see if it works for you. Duolingo is free.
I recommend using Duolingo as a supplementary learning tool rather than your primary learning tool
Textbooks and Guides
Many learners and even classes praise numerous textbooks. I for one received a recommendation for Tae Kim's Japanese Guide. So, I'll recommend it to you. Don't be afraid to see out other guides or attempt some textbooks. However, one should always remember that the textbook is NOT demonstrative of naturalistic Japanese.
For example, 「私は猫が好きです」 is what a textbook correctly teaches, though 「猫好きだよ」 is acceptable and more natural in casual Japanese
Building vocabulary
If you want to develop your vocabulary, you can use JLPT anki decks. Anki is a flashcard program for desktop and mobile. You can also use anki in conjunction with a dictionary like Jisho to create new flashcards decks (suited to the words you'd like to learn). You may also pick up vocab from Japanese media (i.e, anime, manga, books, content creators, music, etc).
If you're using Jisho and want to find a word you only know in English, search for it using quotation marks. For example, "school" or, if you want a verb "to learn" ~ it should help. You can spell out Japanese words normally by just typing... i.e, watashi.
Good input versus Bad input
Immersing yourself in Japanese media and culture is good but you need to be mindful of the content you're consuming— take note of the context behind events, interactions, or the relationship of speakers. Be especially mindful of anime and manga— both are known to use hyperbolic language or phrases that aren't commonly used in day to day conversation. Fortunately, some anime and manga do use everyday language, and you can usually find lists.
I recommend using the Tofugu blog to learn about both Japanese language and culture. But if you don't like reading, there are many YT channels like Kaname Naito and NihongoDekita with Sayaka. For general immersion though, here's a sweet vlog channel, a JP Warframe creator, and a natural born otaku.
romaincrisis
jbbartram-illu
pixelskylines
kaledo-art
yousharknotpass