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Could you learn Japanese in just 3-6 months?
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To the OP, since we all spend different amounts of time each day then we should maybe talk in terms of number of hours of study.
Sadly the part that comes after RTK is longer and doesn't have a magic bullet, but using various nice things often discussed here like RTK + SRS + Subs 2 SRS + kanji odyssey (superceded by kore), I think it took me less than 700 hours of study to pass JLPT2, so 2 to 3 times faster than Wikipedia lists for students with no prior kanji knowledge.
However, I believe that studying more than a certain amount per day has negative effects on your per/hour efficiency.
For example I did RTK in around 150 hours over 3 months (like yourself) and after that I didn't have many reviews remaining. From what I've heard from students who have done RTK in one month - they may spend over 200 hours total and then still have tons of reviews to do after the book is 'finished'.
7, 8 months studying 8 hours per day, one could maybe pass JLPT1 - but likely with good listening + reading skills and poor speaking skills. I could never study that much 
.
Last edited by vosmiura (2011 May 13, 12:41 am)
@vosmiura
I've studied for 1.3 years. At 3 hours on average per day, I've done 1,095 hours or so. I might just pass N2 barely! Respects to ya! -700 is awesome juice!
@matto
Hehe, I sense fluency might mean able to speak and listen to you. 
A lot of other people would add reading and writing to that too. Probably if I was being totally honest, I would side with you, actually - perhaps, a more traditional view of fluency.
Last edited by Cranks (2011 May 13, 3:12 am)
Cranks wrote:
Just for kicks, why not start a Kanji wall.
1 x BIG AS paint brush and black ink will be needed and about 100 pieces of A4 paper.
Simply engage in the art of super sized calligraphy. Once you finish a good one, just hang it up on the wall next to the 100 others and smile as you see yourself tearing it down with an even better version of it later on (version 2.0!). For an instruction video, see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5ziKQdLy0E <--- Now doing that in your room or garden would be hilarious fun.
Well I actually do own such a brush (even bigger) but right now I don't have the moeny effording so much ink and I don't want to "rub" it by myself (that sounds kind of wierd, but you know what I mean, right? 
).. I used to do that last summer in the garden at the river near our house with my girlfriend together. She basically introduced me to Shodou and this is just beautiful Sosho I must say~
I talked to a friend who is further along. He had this to say:
Based on the idea of fluency being speaking and listening well only.
1) Set very specific goal, such as in 1 month learn how to talk about my day, the weather, food, etc.
2) Achieve that goal.
3) Rinse and repeat.
He thought you could probably get quite good in a very short time doing this. His reasoning was fairly simple: We often set for complicated goals that are often not practical or don't allow for a slow upward progression from a manageable level. Hence, working on talking about rather basic stuff followed by going slightly higher by function or topic allows us to ladder ourselves, rung by rung, to higher levels quicker than taking a rather general "I'll just learn it all approach" that we often take on.
An example of this approach in action would be:
Weather, etc. --> Requesting information --> hobby discussion --> Relationship discussion...
For listening:
Textbook dialogues (related to the above) --> Pilsumeur --> children's audio books --> topic based audio books with transcripts (in Romanji)...
Yes, I wrote Romanji...
Anyway, it was a good conversation over a few beers. I'm still trying to think it through a bit, but I feel he is onto something with this. Theoretically, with decent instruction, correction and resources this would be possible, although the learner would have to work through a text book at the same time, in my opinion, to round this approach out.
