Hi all

This is my first post, although i've lurked for a while.

I have been very casually learning Japanese for maybe 2 years. Very casually.

It started when I got a Japanese girlfriend. I was already watching anime and reading translated manga, but she started teaching me a bit here and there. That girlfriend is gone now but I enjoyed learning. I was speaking with Japanese friends picking up bits and bobs here and there. Sometimes I even surprise Japanese veterans with some vocab they don't know or something like that. But generally, my Japanese sucks.

However I do have many Japanese friends and my understanding is... so so. A lot of the time I will be lost but usually I will at least have some idea what they're talking about.

A few months ago I started studying Japanese for the first time.

One thing about me is, I have no studying skills. At school I never studied or anything like that, so i'm having to learn studying skills, discipline AND Japanese.  So far the only sure fire thing i've learnt is that the best way for me to study is to leave the temptations of my computer...

I'm currently trying to go through RTK. I find it to be a good method overall. I'm around 410 kanji in. I am both a pessimist and a realist. I think 410 kanji sounds pretty rubbish, but I am also aware that it's very close to 20% of the book. So yay @ that.

I'm also currently in Japan on a working holiday visa. I had wanted to do this for a long time, although now I think maybe I should have waited until my Japanese was more advanced, but no use crying about it now. I'm still doing RTK and also picking up Japanese through everyday life.

I think it might be a strange way to do things, I know people who study first then go, or go to study, I just came and am studying as well... I'm not at university or anything like that.

So yeah this is my story (THUS FAR).

I'm a bit of a weirdo and have strange ideas about a lot of things, but i'm trying hard and my will is strong, i'm confident within two months (maximum, I won't accept longer) i'll have finished RTKv1 and will then have to start attacking the readings. Although I feel this task is a lot easier with RTK out the way.

I'm not going to try JLPT4 because I feel it would be a waste of my time. I'm not looking down on it, but I feel I would be better served aiming for JLPT3 at the least. Would you agree?

Anyway, i'll end this essay like post.

Looking forward to taking an active part in this forum!

/zole