I want to focus on understanding and reading. Im okay not being able to write .Can anyone suggest ways to focus on these two and possible tips for fast progress
You can easily avoid writing for a long time but honestly, trying to incorporate writing in your routine earlier can help to have faster progress in the long term. That being said, I completly ignored writing for a long time.
One good tips for progress tho is to just susbscribe to that youtube channel for example and watch it from to time when it pop up https://www.youtube.com/@takan...
It can be that one or other similar channel. Or other content not on youtube. Up to you on that part. The reasons are:
1) It doesn't take too much time 2) It's not an exercise and can just be daily side activity (more enjoyable to do) 3) It's contextually rich (Visual clue, tone of the voice, facial expression, he demonstrate each verb too, etc)
Especially 3) is really important. A word learned in context can gives you far more than month of SRS and is also easier to remember. Also the "daily activity" part is also a good entry point to immersion. Because real immersion just mean that you spent a part of daily time in "real" japanese only (which can be watching some video, reading for fun, speaking/thinking/writing in japanese, etc). And that fit the box (more or less).
Now, I have a bit of controversial point here too but I don't encourage reading first. Because reading is like an advance ability where you have to recall the meaning without visual clue. Watching some japanese talk in japanese talking japanese (with some subtitle) on youtube or something else is easier. Because even if you don't remember the meaning, the context can help you to recall that word (and associate the word with the physical object or action).
Anyway, it's just one tips that only cover a few things. First and foremost important things is to have fun while learning. Even the most advanced really useful tips are useless when you can't apply them or it doesn't work with you or your current objective. Integrate those tips one by one if they work for you and ignore the other (even for superficial reason). It always possible to improve your learning method or change it completly later. So don't worry too much about being not fast enough for now. Like I said at the beginning, I completly ignored writing at the beginning (and even until intermediate level) but right now, it's one of the thing that allow me to have the fastest progress.
In my opinion, reading and writing are a part of the same package. If you can read, you can write. If you can write, you can read. It’s hard to avoid one or the other. Though, it is easy to avoid speaking and listening, which is what it seems like you are doing. I would highly suggest that you work on your speaking and listening as well, because it can make your overall comprehension skills better, therefore making reading and writing better faster. That’s just how I’ve taken it tho, so take it with a grain of salt.
When I first started learning Japanese, long ago, I had similar ideas about what was important to me, but your goals tend to change over time, and time is one thing that you absolutely will need if you want to succeed. There are no reliable short cuts, unfortunately.
It is, however, fine to prioritize the things that interest you the most right now. The point is to stay engaged. I’ve made more progress since I joined renshuu than in the previous decades of on-again off-again Japanese lessons, books and social groups, simply because it’s there for me every day.
I Am currently focusing on immersing .Reading and writing is difficult for me . Im all in for slow progress too after all I'm learning Japanese because I want to and I enjoy it. Thank you for your advices .
