What is the best way to learn Japanese?
Immersion and deliberate practice.
Motivation and dedication/endurance are also necessary, but in terms of actionable steps, I'd recommend those two. I'd also recommend learning all four language skills -- learning to read and write kanji, in particular, really helps with listening and speaking in the long run.
Getting into the details, by immersion, I mean exposing yourself to as much Japanese reading and listening input as possible (e.g. anime/dramas on sites like Crunchyroll, and Japanese ebooks from sites like ebookjapan.jp). In conjunction with that, deliberate practice is about practicing the four language skills (listening and speaking, reading and writing) in a structured manner. Grade school courses in Australia aren't great, but if you're learning Japanese at university/college, you should have a reasonably well structured course.
If you're learning by yourself, as I did, I'd start by learning the Japanese alphabets (hiragana and katakana) -- the Anki flashcard program can help. Other than that, I'd use books like the Genki and Shadowing Japanese series.
As for kanji, there are a range of methods people have used (https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/kanji-study-methods/), but I think they're best tailored to one's language background. For example, because I learned Chinese as a child,using the Kanji Kentei series of books combined with Anki worked very well for me.
Motivation and dedication/endurance are also necessary, but in terms of actionable steps, I'd recommend those two. I'd also recommend learning all four language skills -- learning to read and write kanji, in particular, really helps with listening and speaking in the long run.
Getting into the details, by immersion, I mean exposing yourself to as much Japanese reading and listening input as possible (e.g. anime/dramas on sites like Crunchyroll, and Japanese ebooks from sites like ebookjapan.jp). In conjunction with that, deliberate practice is about practicing the four language skills (listening and speaking, reading and writing) in a structured manner. Grade school courses in Australia aren't great, but if you're learning Japanese at university/college, you should have a reasonably well structured course.
If you're learning by yourself, as I did, I'd start by learning the Japanese alphabets (hiragana and katakana) -- the Anki flashcard program can help. Other than that, I'd use books like the Genki and Shadowing Japanese series.
As for kanji, there are a range of methods people have used (https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/kanji-study-methods/), but I think they're best tailored to one's language background. For example, because I learned Chinese as a child,using the Kanji Kentei series of books combined with Anki worked very well for me.
