My tiny Japanese learning blog

Let's learn together!

[japaneseschooltokyo]

Top 50 YouTube Channels to Learn Japanese! - Categorized List

Looking for some free resources to learn Japanese online? We have you covered with our custom list of 50 top Youtube channels for learning Japanese.

[bm-asian-art]

Two Crows, Kawanabe Kyosai, circa 1885, Brooklyn Museum: Asian Art

Size: 27 ½ x 10 in. (69.9 x 25.4 cm) Medium: Woodblock color print

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/48008

[aic-asian]

Blossoms on the Tama River Embankment (Tamagawa-zutsumi no hana), from the series “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)”, Utagawa Hiroshige, 1856, Art Institute of Chicago: Asian Art

Bruce Goff Archive, gift of Shin'enkan, Inc. Medium: Color woodblock print; oban

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/196749/

[lennsan]

120 frames (looped twice), 316x145px, too many colors

[iamjapanese]

Untei SEKINE（関根雲停 Japanese, 1804-1877）

Anemone flowers, from the Edo period   via

[omoi-no-hoka]

Hello! I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how do you become proficient at handling conversations in Japanese/handling grammar very well? I read your post on the JLPT, and it addressed issues I have been tip toe-ing around--indeed, passive actions such as listening or reading are easier than the active ones. How did you go about that? Did you write a bunch of sentences daily? Did you have a conversation partner? What would you rec. to someone who lives outside Japan? Thank you!

This is an excellent question, and one that I get asked a lot irl by Japanese people in particular. Let’s talk about gaining fluency and the ways we can go about it!

How to Gain Fluency in Japanese (and Other Languages)

Speaking Fluency versus Accuracy

Language proficiency is divided into two separate categories:

Fluency: Although there are no widely agreed-upon definitions or measures of language fluency, someone is typically said to be fluent if their use of the language appears fluid, or natural, coherent, and easy as opposed to slow, halting use. In other words, fluency is often described as the ability to produce language on demand and be understood.

Accuracy: Correctness of language use, especially grammatical correctness and word choice.

By the above definitions, a “fluent” speaker may make grammatical mistakes, but they can speak without having to stop and think too much about conjugations, word choice, etc.

An “accurate” speaker can speak with nearly zero grammatical/word choice mistakes. However, the speed of their utterances isn’t generally taken into account, so it could take an “accurate” person twice as long to articulate the same idea as a “fluent” person. 

Ideally, you need to strike a good balance between these two qualities when speaking. I have a boss, God bless him, who is 100% fluency and 0% accuracy and…man is it hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes, but he can generally get his point across just barely. I have another coworker who is 100% accuracy and takes about 3 minutes to form a sentence because he wants it to be perfect. 

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Accuracy

First, let’s talk about the easiest thing to improve, which is accuracy. It’s also (in my opinion) the least fun thing to improve, because it means grammar books and vocabulary memorization. 

You can only use a language accurately if you know what is correct and what is incorrect, and you can only learn that by studying grammar and vocabulary (or if you’re a native speaker and picked it up innately, you lucky bastard).

So here’s some things you can do to increase your accuracy:

For example, if you’re having a hard time using the passive, you need to review that part of your textbook and find some exercises to drill it into your head. 

Say the correct thing aloud. Lots. Sometimes I just walk around my apartment and narrate everything I see/do like a crazy person, but that’s good practice. 

Write example sentences using the grammar you’re struggling with and say them aloud too. 

There’s a bunch of cool apps that connect you with native speakers that can help correct you too! I used to use HelloTalk, I think. 

If you’re a creative soul, when I was studying for the JLPT, I took 1 grammar point and 5 vocabulary words from my JLPT study books and used them to write a 2-page short story about the adventures of ネギ, a stray black cat that smelled like green onions because she napped in an onion field. Then I had a Japanese friend check it over for me and mark mistakes. I hand-wrote them to improve my abysmal handwriting at the same time. It was really fun! I sometimes think about doing it again just for funsies.

When someone corrects you, don’t feel like your entire life is over and you’re a failure and you’ll never get it right haha. I’ve seen people fall into that hopeless mindset, and that’s just nonsense. It’s a good opportunity for learning and nothing more! Say the correct thing you’ve just been taught out loud, then write it down if you can. And, if possible, find a chance to use it in conversation asap.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Fluency

Now this is the hard one. Especially for those learners who do not have native speakers nearby. 

I’m going to be dead honest with you. I started formally studying Japanese at uni, and I had a Japanese roommate/best friend since year one. I had a 4.0 GPA in my Japanese classes (and only my Japanese classes lol) because I was and still am a MEGA NERD about it. 

…But it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Japan my 4th year of uni that I gained fluency. 

There are a lot of things that can hold us back from fluency. An interesting thing I’ve noted is that Foreign Language is perhaps the only subject in which a student’s personality can directly affect their progress. To gain fluency, you have to go forth and speak, but if you are naturally a shy person, that is going to hinder you. If you are the kind of person who takes mistakes/failures poorly, you will be less likely to take risks and try to say harder sentences. In contrast, you can get full marks in math regardless of the above personality traits. 

I’m not saying that you have to be an outgoing explosion of a human being in order to gain fluency. But what I am saying is that you have to be willing to seek out conversations, and you have to be willing to take chances. Get out of your comfort zone. Use that new word you picked up the other day. Try to explain something that is difficult for you. 

My problem was that, while I lived with a native speaker who would have happily taught me anything I asked, her English proficiency was much higher than my Japanese proficiency. And when I struggled to say something in Japanese, I’d fall back onto English. And when she told me something I didn’t understand in Japanese, she’d repeat it in English instead of Japanese, because that was easier for us both. The same thing happened when I was in Japanese class as well. I always had the assurance that I could fall back on English.

But when I elected to study abroad in Japan for 3 months, I knew that this was my big chance. So on the host family form in the “other requests” area, I wrote that I specifically wanted a host family that could not speak English. I was setting fire to my crutches, and I was scared but excited to see them burn. 

By the end of my three months in Japan, I had gone from “Chotto matte kudasai” and needing a minute to form my reply, to “Okay, yeah I see that movie too and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t care for the story little.” (I’ve underlined mistakes that I would have made in Japanese, to show you that I sacrificed some accuracy to obtain higher fluency.)

So, in short, the easiest and quickest way to increase your spoken fluency is to throw away all the crutches you can and use the language as much as possible. Every single day. Even if you’re just having an imaginary conversation with yourself! And like I said, there are a bunch of cool apps that connect you with Japanese people who want to learn English and you can do language exchanges with them. I had a lot of fun with those in the past. 

As for increasing writing fluency…well. That’s a tough question with Japanese, because I can type Japanese at like 100 wpm, but my Japanese handwriting fluency is at a 10/100. I can read and type at the level of a native Japanese high school student, but I can only write the kanji that 7 year old can write. That’s no exaggeration.

The big reason for that dichotomy is that my work is paper-free. 100% of my work is done on screen, so about the only time I have to write out something is when I’m filling out a form, which includes my name (katakana), address, and maybe occupation. 

If you want to increase your Japanese handwriting speed, just keep on writing. Write those little short stories about ネギ like I did, or find some writing prompts (I just started a side-blog with writing prompts yesterday btw) or keep a little diary. Make opportunities to write. 

How to Have Nice Handwriting in Japanese

Okay, full disclaimer: I am the absolute LAST person qualified to talk about this, because I have awful handwriting in Japanese. 

Unless you have prior experience with a different language that uses kanji, or you lack the keen eye of an artist, you will likely struggle to develop neat handwriting. 

Personally, I really like using this app called Japanese Kanji Sensei. It’s on Android (not sure about iOS), and if you pay just a few bucks you can make your own kanji sets and stuff. Anyways, it will show you how to write the characters prettily. It gives you a good frame of reference for what nice, pencil/pen-written characters (versus calligraphy characters). It has hiragana and katakana on it too!

I get a stylus and write out the characters on this app for the muscle memory, so my hands remember the sensation of writing a certain character. (The muscle memory is different if you only use your fingertip.) This muscle memory and repetition is how Japanese people learn how to internalize kanji as well. I really enjoy and recommend this app. I’m sure that there are others out there like it too.

Summary

TL;DR: Review your textbooks, take risks, use every resource available or make your own, and just have fun with it! 💗

[namikubo-deactivated20200320]

How to read kanji?

The answer is that all of them are correct when you treat reading kanji as something impossible.

Today, I’ll present you with a few kanji reading “rules”. However, treat them as your last resort. Kanji work in unpredictable ways:

Verbs are usually read with kun’yomi: easier said than done, it’s not a rarity that one kanji appears in more than one verb. A Japanese verb usually comes in two variations: intransitive (it means that something is happening on its own) and transitive (it means that someone is doing something). These intrasitive-transitive verb pair can be read with the same kun’yomi reading (壊れる・こわれる・kowareru “to be broken” vs 壊す・こわす・kowasu “to break”) but sometimes not (消える・きえる・kieru “to disappear” vs 消す・けす・kesu “to make sth disappear” or “to erase”). There are also instances of a one kanji which appear in two (ore more) verbs with different meanings and kun’yomi readings (行く・いく・iku “to go” vs 行う・おこなう・okonau “to perform”). However, that doesn’t change the fact that verbs are usually read with kun’yomi. The exception to this rule is verbs ending in ～じる・～jiru. Kanji attached to this hiragana stem are read with on’yomi (感じる・かんじる・kanjiru “to feel”)

Nouns consisting of a single kanji are usually read with kun’yomi: there are a few instances of kanji with on’yomi reading only and in such cases… well, you have no choice but to read it with on’yomi, for example: 意・い・i “meaning” or 胃・い・i “stomach”, and well… there are a few f*&kers which have both kun’yomi and on’yomi, yet when standing on its own as a noun we read them with on’yomi, for example 茶・ちゃ・cha “tea”

Nouns/adjectives composed of two kanji, which DON’T have any hiragana stem attached to it are OFTEN read with on’yomi: that’s probably the least helpful rule since there HUNDREDS of exceptions: 1) two kanji compound read with kun’yomi 暗闇・くらやみ・kurayami “darkness”, 2) two kanji compound read with mixed readings 両手・りょうて・ryoute “both hands” (りょう is on’yomi while て is kun’yomi) 3) exceptional readings: 雪崩・なだれ・nadare “avalanche” (both of these kanji are normally NOT READ like this)

Nouns/adjectives composed of two kanji, which HAVE a hiragana stem attached to it are USUALLY read with kun’yomi: look at this example: 殺人 vs. 人殺し, the first one is read with on’yomi さつじん・satsujin “murder” and the second one with kun’yomi ひとごろし・hitogoroshi “murderer”, I suspect there are exceptions to this rule but I can’t think of anything right know

More than three kanji without a hiragana stem is usually read with on’yomi

To conclude this optimistic post, I’ll give you my personal advice. Kanji can be compared to printers: when they feel your fear and impatience towards them, they refuse to cooperate. Clear your mind, get rid of your desperation, look at the kanji and read it. 

Don’t TRY to read kanji. Just read them.

That’s a logical complaint. I’ll try to answer it in another post.

[amillionlanguages]

2+ Months of Language Learning Prompts!

Sometimes it can be tricky to know what to learn if you are teaching yourself a language. Here are some ideas for what you can focus on learning each day for the first two months of learning a new language! I formatted it so there is the general topic for the day and then in parentheses are some ideas to get you started but you can definitely learn a lot more than what I’ve written down! These are just to help generate some ideas!

This definitely would move pretty quickly if you covered all this material in 2 months so you could definitely spend more time on each topic if you need! This would require quite a bit of time each day in order to learn it all. This could totally work for a 4 or 6-month challenge where you spend 2 or 3 days on each of the topics I listed if you don’t have enough time to cover each topic in just one day!

Polite phrases (thank you, please, yes/no, you’re welcome, I’m sorry)

Introductory phrases (hi, my name is, I’m from, I speak, how are you?)

Pronouns (I, you, he, she, they, we)

Basic people vocab (girl, boy, man, woman, person, child)

Basic verbs in present tense (to eat, to drink, to walk, to read, to write, to say)

Sentence structure (how to form some basic sentences)

Negative sentences (I do not __)

Question words (who, what, where, when, why, how, how to form questions)

Numbers (0-20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000)

Time (hour, minute, half hour, reading the time)

Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, appetizer)

Basic foods (apple, banana, rice, bread, pasta, carrot, soup, water)

More foods (beef, pork, fruit, vegetable, juice, coffee, tea, chocolate, cake)

Kitchen (stove, oven, kitchen, fridge, table, chair, bake, boil)

Eating supplies (knife, spoon, fork, plate, bowl, cup, glass)

More verbs (to make, to have, to see, to like, to go, to be able to, to want, to need)

Family (father, mother, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandmother, grandfather, parents, grandparents)

Transportation (car, train, plane, bus, bicycle, airport, train station)

City locations (apartment, building, restaurant, movie theater, market, hotel, bank)

Directions (north, south, east, west, right, left)

Adjectives (good, bad, smart, delicious, nice, fun)

More verbs (to give, to send, to wake up, to cry, to love, to hate, to laugh)

Colors (red, yellow, blue, green, purple, black, white, brown)

Emotions (happy, sad, calm, angry)

Physical descriptions (tall, short, blonde, brunette, redhead, eye color)

Body parts (arm, leg, hand, finger, foot, toe, face, eye, mouth, nose, ears)

Descriptors (rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, expensive, inexpensive)

Basic clothing (shirt, pants, dress, skirt, jacket, sweater, skirt, shorts)

Accessories (belt, hat, wallet, gloves, sunglasses, purse, watch)

More verbs (to keep, to smile, to run, to drive, to wear, to remember)

Animals (cat, dog, horse, cow, bear, pig, chicken, duck, fish)

More animals (turtle, sheep, fox, mouse, lion, deer)

Months (January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)

Seasons (fall, winter, spring, summer)

Weather (sunny, cloudy, hot, cold, snowing, raining)

States of being (I’m hungry, I’m tired, I’m thirsty)

House (bedroom, living room, bathroom, stairs)

Furniture (bed, lamp, couch, door, window)

Electronics (phone, TV, computer, camera, radio, headphones)

Nature (tree, flower, plant, animal, grass, animal, outside, sky, sun, moon, clouds)

More verbs (to teach, to learn, to understand, to know, to listen, to hear)

School (classroom, elementary school, high school, college, student, class, grade, homework, test)

School subjects (math, science, English, art, music, chemistry, biology, physics)

School supplies (book, pencil, pen, paper, notebook, folder, backpack, calculator)

Classroom features (student desk, teacher desk, whiteboard, chalk, clock, bell)

Jobs (teacher, scientist, doctor, artist, dancer, musician)

More jobs (surgeon, manager, engineer, architect, lawyer, dentist, writer)

More verbs (to buy, to sell, to work, to ask, to answer, to dance, to leave, to come)

Comparisons (less than, more than, same, __er than)

Languages (French, German, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, English, Japanese)

Countries (France, Germany, China, Russia, Spain, Mexico, United States, Japan)

Religion (church, temple, mosque, to pray, Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

Past tense (I was, he ran, she wrote)

Hobbies (shopping, sports, soccer, chess, fishing, gardening, photography)

More verbs (to describe, to sleep, to find, to wish, to enter, to feel, to think)

Art (paint, draw, painting, gallery, frame, brush)

Morning routine (to wake up, to brush teeth, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, soap)

Future tense (I will run, he will write)

TV + internet (online, internet, to watch TV, TV show, movie, documentary, cartoon)

More verbs (to look for, to stay, to touch, to meet, to show, to rent, to wash, to play)

[wanderlustlanguages]

TEDTalks related to language (learning)

because (sometimes) they motivate me

How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky

The secrets of learning a new language | Lýdia Machová

How to learn any language in six months | Chris Lonsdale | TEDxLingnanUniversity

Learning a language? Speak it like you’re playing a video game | Marianna Pascal | TEDxPenangRoad

Why We Struggle Learning Languages | Gabriel Wyner | TEDxNewBedford

5 techniques to speak any language | Sid Efromovich | TEDxUpperEastSide

Breaking the language barrier | Tim Doner | TEDxTeen 2014

How to learn any language easily | Matthew Youlden | TEDxClapham

The Irish Language and Beauty | Dónall Ó Héalaí | TEDxBerkeley

How to Talk Like a Native Speaker | Marc Green | TEDxHeidelberg

How the language you speak affects your thoughts

Hacking Language Learning: Dr. Conor Quinn at TEDxDirigo

How learning German taught me the link between maths and poetry | Harry Baker | TEDxVienna

We'r Needin tae Talk Aboot Wir Language | Michael Dempster | TEDxInverness

One Simple Method to Learn Any Language | Scott Young & Vat Jaiswal | TEDxEastsidePrep

Learning a Second Language | Shinyoung Grace Kim | TEDxYouth@AISR

Let me know if I missed your favourite!

[languagessi-deactivated20210423]

Language learning and langblr tips from me

What to learn first when learning a new language

How to stay motivated when learning languages

How to learn a language with a different script

How to learn kanji

Vocabulary list topics

How to make vocabulary lists

How to expand your vocabulary

How to learn vocabulary and verb endings

How to improve your listening skills

How to practice speaking your target language

How to go from intermediate to advanced in your target language

How to learn two (or more) languages at once

How to learn all the languages you want

How to avoid mixing up languages

How to study languages with depression

How to practice speaking when you have social anxiety

How to study with a language exchange partner and what to talk about with them

How to study with Duolingo

How to make a language notebook

How to divide your language notebook/what to write in your language notebook

How to use bullet journal in language learning

How to find native speakers to practice with

How to know what level you are in your languages

How to start a langblr

[foxmouth]

Cherry Blossoms, 2013 | Masakazu Ejiri

[tokyostreetphoto]

Mailboxes, Ginza （銀座）

[distressedphilosopher-deactivat]

Honestly “thanks I hate it” is one of the funniest phrases in the English language

[gideongaius]

i one time told my italian professor “grazie lo detesto” and she lost her shit, so it’s not just english

[superamatista]

“¡Gracias! ¡Lo odio!”

[kafkaesque-meat-deactivated2025]

“Danke, ich hasse es.”

“Merci, je déteste”

[feministfront]

Tak, jeg hader det.

[ghost-faeries]

Bedankt, ik haat het.

[russlangblr]

Спасибо! Я это ненавижу.

[somecunttookmyurl]

go raibh maith agat, is fuath liom é

[bane-of-technology]

どうも！ それが嫌い。

[propitlikeithot]

[makeitdewey]

411 Writing systems of standard forms of languages

[ettenmoor-deactivated20211222]

.شکریہ! مجھے اس سے نفرت ہے

(shukriah! mujhay isay nafraat hai.)

[lesbiankiliel]

kiitti! mä vihaan tätä.

[verycorrectlotr]

“谢谢！我讨厌它。”

(Xièxiè! Wǒ tǎoyàn tā.)

[asp1diske]

고마워! 진짜 싫다.

alt(slang): ㄱㅅ 개극혐이네

[tinywagashi]

Uchiwa Fans from Kyoto - Kyoto Women's University, Lifestyle Design Laboratory - Google Arts & Culture

The uchiwa fan is an indispensable item during Japanese summer. It is used not only for fanning, but also for repelling mosquitos and flie

[nagaino]

Mar. 21, 2018 abnormal snow on cherry blossom in Tokyo

[af-hverju]

me: why are you destroying earth!!!

aliens: because theres people who think that english is the only language they need to speak

me: thats fair i understand

[nerdypersonwithwings]

For some reason I find this all the more amusing because it’s written in English

[af-hverju]

moi: pourquoi vous détruisez le monde!!! l'extraterrestre: parce que il y a des gens qui pensent que l'anglais est le seule langue pour parler moi: ah ça c'est bien

[languageoclock]

ich: warum zerstört ihr die erde!!!

aliens: weil es leute gibt die glauben dass englisch die einzige sprache ist die sie sprechen müssen

ich: das ist fair ich verstehe

[sprachtraeume]

ég: af hverju eyðileggið þið jörðina!!! aliens: af því að það er fólk sem finnst að enska sé sú eina tungumál sem þau þurfa að tala ég: oh, það er vit í þessu. ég skil.

[pory-gon-2]

ik: waarom vernietig je de aarde!!!

aliens: omdat er mensen zijn die denken dat engels de enige taal is die ze hoeven te spreken

ik: oh zo, ik snap het

[perilegs]

minä: miks te tuhootte maapalloo?

alienit: koska tääl on ihmisiä joitten mielestä englanti on ainoo kieli jota niitten täytyy puhua

minä: toi on reilua, ymmärrän

[polyglottica]

私: どうして地球を滅ぼしているんですか？

宇宙人: 英語しか喋る必要がないと思う人がいるからです

私: なるほど、わかりました

[lingumaniac]

me: Wosück maakt ji de Welt twei!!!

aliens: wieldat dat Lüüd gifft, de dinkt dat Engelsch de allenige Spraak weer, de een snacken mütt

me: jo, daar seggst wat. Nu versta ik’t

[somalang]

aniga: dhulka maxaad u burburinaya !!!

shisheeyaha: dadka intiisa badani u malaynayaan in Ingiriisidu tahay afka oo kaliya ay u baahan yihiin inay la hadlaan

aniga: waxaan fahamsanahay. waa wax cadaalad

[zhanaform]

我：你们为什么在毁灭地球?！！

外星人：因为有人以为他们只会英语就可以了

我：懂了，说得有道理

[natsui]

ako: bakit niyo sinisira ang mundo!!!

taga-ibang planeta: kasi merong mga taong akala nila Ingles lang ang kailangan nilang matutunang lenggwahe

ako: ah, sige naiintindihan ko

[katsudonski]

Aku : kenapa kau hancurkan bumi!!! Alien : karena masih banyak orang berpikir hanya bahasa inggris satu-satunya bahasa yang terpenting Aku : oh, oke lah..

[belisencia]

tôi: tại sao các người hủy diệt trái đất!!! người ngoài hành tinh: bởi vì có người nghĩ rằng tiếng Anh là thứ tiếng duy nhất mà họ cần biết tôi: ồ thế thì tôi hiểu

[aphdoitsu-deactivated20170414]

Eu: Por que vocês estão destruindo a Terra?! Aliens: Porque há pessoas que pensam que o inglês é a única língua que eles precisam falar. Eu: Isso é justo, eu entendo.

[wednesdaythunder]

jag: varför förintar ni jorden!!!

utomjordingar: för det finns folk som tror att engelska är det ända språket de behöver kunna

jag: rimligt, jag förstår

[useless-czechrepfacts]

Já: Proč ničíte Zemi?

Mimozemšťani: Protože tu jsou lidé, kteří si myslí, že angličtina je jediný jazyk, který potřebují znát

Já: To je fér, to chápu.

[useless-polandfacts]

ja: dlaczego niszczycie Ziemię?

kosmici: ponieważ są ludzie, którzy myślą, że angielski to jedyny język, którego potrzebuję

ja: rozumiem, w porządku

[vyrkann]

io: perchè state distruggendo la terra!!!

alieni: perchè ci sono delle persone che credono che l’inglese sia l’unica lingua di cui hanno bisogno

io: capisco, mi sembra giusto

[rad-and-sleepy]

Yo: porqué estás destruyendo la tierra!?!?

Extraterrestre: porque hay personas quienes creen que inglés es la única lengua que se tiene que hablar.

Yo: te entiendo, es justo.

[haxyr3]

Я: Почему вы уничтожаете Землю?!?! Инопланетяне: Потому что есть люди, которые считают, что им нужно говорить только по-английски. Я: А, ну понятно, тогда ладно!

[jenroses]

A modern Rosetta stone.

[blackrebelz-deactivated20240608]

me: Why ya’ll finna bust on the Earth?

aliens: Folks really out here thinkin English the only language worth speaking, they sleep.

me: … Bet.

[perpetuallurkernazanin]

Aho: Fa maninona mandringana ny tany ianao e?

Mpivahiny: Satria misy olona mieritreritra fa ny teny anglisy ihany no ilaina.

Aho: Lojika izany. Tsy gaga aho.

[thewordsweresimple]

Hey! It’s Shanice :D

Let’s get this show on the road!

The plan for now is to:

(1) start and finish the japanese 1 course on memrise (2) start learning hiragana and katakana using memrise and anything else I can find, and (3) See if I can find anything on YouTube that’s simple enough to use

After I finish those three things, I’ll regroup and analyze what I should do next. BUT I’ll most likely:

(1) Continue to finish the premade memrise courses (if I like how the first one works) (2) Drill vocabulary (3) Use these two websites that I found as guides for what to do next until I start college: A: Tofugu, which I found just with a simple Google search for some resources (though I’ve known about it for years) and B: Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese, which was strongly recommended by one of my favorite YouTubers, stagedface. She’s a German girl who’s fluent in english and in japanese and has actually studied abroad in Japan! 10/10 recommend checking her out, or at least her video on how to learn japanese.

[tinywagashi]

Just a suggestion, but if you can, start learning kanji with WaniKani (by Tofugu) as soon as you have hiragana/katakana down. 

Don’t worry; kanji are just words, and the rumors of how scary it is are much exaggerated. :) The earlier you can start, the faster you can build a large vocabulary. I can’t thank “past me” enough for starting WK early.