I'll do an exchange program in a Japanese university starting from next October and I've been studying the language ever since July 21 of 2014. I used Minna no Nihongo as my basic textbook and I started studying with Tobira just recently. I've been creating my own Anki decks and also using some pre-mades, such as Minna no Nihongo Vocabulary, Core 2k and 6k Vocabulary and Sentences and now the ones available at the Tobira website.
I also have been trying to read 2 NHK News Web Easy articles a day and I'll start to incorporate some native material on my studies. I also have been listening to JapanesePod101 a lot. I recently finished Beginner Season 6 and I'm on lesson 11 of Upper Beginner Season 1.
I know the common readings of about 500 kanji and my vocabulary is of almost 3,000 words. I can read simple texts and I'm starting to get the hang of reading articles at NHK Easy.
English is my second language and I started learning it over 10 years ago. That experience taught me that production is extremely hard. I could only read and listen to English not long ago. I only learned how to use the language actively after I started to use Reddit everyday.
Not learning Japanese in a classroom has its downsides. I didn't practice producing my own sentences as well as I could. The classes in the university will be held in English, but I really want to improve my Japanese while I'm in Japan.
There will be Japanese classes in that time. There are 6 different levels and according to that test, I would be placed in Level 3. I really want to be able to get at least to Level 4 to really take the most out of this opportunity. According to the level description, I need at least a reasonable handle in production and that's where I need help.
What do you think I could do to improve my production in these almost 5 months I have left? I was thinking of writing diaries at Lang8. I also wanted to use Hellotalk, but my cellphone can't be upgraded to Android 4.0. There is also italki, but I'm really short on money to hire a tutor and I wouldn't know how to use Japanese actively anyway.
I also have been trying to read 2 NHK News Web Easy articles a day and I'll start to incorporate some native material on my studies. I also have been listening to JapanesePod101 a lot. I recently finished Beginner Season 6 and I'm on lesson 11 of Upper Beginner Season 1.
I know the common readings of about 500 kanji and my vocabulary is of almost 3,000 words. I can read simple texts and I'm starting to get the hang of reading articles at NHK Easy.
English is my second language and I started learning it over 10 years ago. That experience taught me that production is extremely hard. I could only read and listen to English not long ago. I only learned how to use the language actively after I started to use Reddit everyday.
Not learning Japanese in a classroom has its downsides. I didn't practice producing my own sentences as well as I could. The classes in the university will be held in English, but I really want to improve my Japanese while I'm in Japan.
There will be Japanese classes in that time. There are 6 different levels and according to that test, I would be placed in Level 3. I really want to be able to get at least to Level 4 to really take the most out of this opportunity. According to the level description, I need at least a reasonable handle in production and that's where I need help.
What do you think I could do to improve my production in these almost 5 months I have left? I was thinking of writing diaries at Lang8. I also wanted to use Hellotalk, but my cellphone can't be upgraded to Android 4.0. There is also italki, but I'm really short on money to hire a tutor and I wouldn't know how to use Japanese actively anyway.
