Beginner
The first thing you’ll want to do is learn hiragana, katakana, and the 50ish sounds of the Japanese language. There are tons of free resources online, such as Tofugu. It is possible to learn hiragana and katakana very quickly (even in one day if you’re quick with languages), but getting used to them will take a lot of practice, so start early and practice reading as often as you can. It will be exciting and rewarding when you start being able to read words and signs around you, which will happen in no time! Once you’ve got a handle on hiragana and katakana, get yourself a good beginner textbook. The most popular is Genki, but there are others out there.
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese is a free website that has grammar lessons, many videos, and more all built for “learning Japanese from scratch.”
CLAIR Japanese Language Course: We are lucky that we are offered a free online course through CLAIR. All ALTs should take advantage of this privilege, especially during the first year you are here. Reviews on this program are mixed. Some people found it very helpful. Some thought it was not very well made. Do keep in mind that there aren’t really any positive or negative incentives to keep you on task, so if you aren’t very motivated, it’s easy to fall behind and give up. But it’s free, so why not try it out? Check the CLAIR monthly emails for sign-up information, or ask your CO if you can’t figure it out.
Vocab and Phrase List for ALTs: Alternatively, you can use this Vocab and Phrase List for ALTs to get you by in your schools while you work on your Japanese studies at your own pace. This list is intended for new JETs with little to beginner level of Japanese, but people of higher levels could also benefit from it. In this list, you can find words and phrases that are commonly used in different situations such as the staffroom with your coworkers, or in class with the students. If you print this and keep it at your desk or in your English classroom, it could save you a lot of stress and confusion!
Intermediate
Once you’re done with Genki 1 and 2, you can move on to a more difficult textbook. An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese is a popular choice (author’s note: as a personal opinion, the best Japanese textbook I’ve ever used). This is also when you’ll start ramping up kanji study. WaniKani is a popular website to use. Talk with your coworkers and students to practice, and consider trying community classes or conversation circles. There are also websites and apps like HelloTalk to find conversation partners.
Advanced
Once you’re past the point of textbooks, you may feel frustrated at having plateaued in your learning. It is definitely difficult to achieve true fluency, but it’s not impossible! Keep studying grammar, learn all 2000 basic kanji and beyond (try Kanji in Context), listen and read as much as possible, and do whatever keeps you motivated (watching anime, going to bars and making new friends, joining a local hobby group, etc.). If you feel like you’ve maxed out your learning from self-study, see if there are classes locally or online. There are many free and affordable options like HelloTalk for finding conversation partners, tutors, and teachers.
**Click HERE or a more thorough breakdown on studying listening, reading, writing, and speaking Japanese.**
Advice from a former JET:
A very inspirational ALT gave a presentation on exactly this subject at the 2016 Skill Development Conference. Below are links to her presentation and handout, which were very well received by those who attended.
JLPT
General JLPT advice: Before you sign up for the JLPT, consider what your goals are for studying Japanese. If your goal is conversational fluency, then the JLPT may not be the best top goal for you, since it doesn’t require speaking. Passing the JLPT requires you to focus on kanji and reading comprehension, which is great and necessary if you want to be able to read Japanese novels or work in a Japanese company in the future, but focusing on that might take away time and energy from practicing your speaking. There are other benefits besides resume-boosting (which, most likely, only N2 or N1 will help you with)–most importantly, it provides great motivation to study, and can mark big leaps in your studying journey that feel rewarding and exciting. Also, it can give you some structure in what to study, since there are so many books already written, so your studying will be more guided and less flounder-y than if you were trying to do everything yourself.
Passing N5, N4, and N3: While these tests will probably not help your career in the long run, they can be good benchmarks for measuring your progress and staying motivated. You can probably pass all three without purchasing specialized study books if you follow online guides alongside your general Japanese self-study or lessons. CLAIR will refund your test fee for passing N3, but not N4/5.
Passing N2 and N1: The gap between N3 and N2 is big, but the gap between N2 and N1 is gargantuan. The best thing you can do is learn as many kanji as you can using whatever method works best for you, and to read as much as possible to integrate all the vocabulary and grammar you learn from study books (on top of increasing your speed and ease of reading). The top books for these levels are 日本語総まとめ and 新完全マスター, both available on Amazon. Kanzen Master is more comprehensive, but it’s all in Japanese, which might be discouraging because it’s more work to study. Sou Matome is cuter and more fun, but it is considered the less “serious” book. You should pick whichever series will help you study the most. Or, if study books aren’t your thing, there are plenty of online website and youtube video series targeted towards passing the JLPT. It’s a lot of work, but very rewarding, and if you pass, CLAIR will refund the test fee cost.
Online Resources
WaniKani a kanji learning website that uses SRS (spaced repetition study) and mnemonics to help you memorise kanji for good. VERY effective, but it is not free. Membership is 8$ monthly, 80$ yearly, or ~300$ for a lifetime membership (yearly discount offered during December).
Anki FREE flashcard maker with SRS capabilities built in. Upside is it’s free and there are tons of decks that other people have made that you can download and use. Downside is that it’s not super user-friendly and it can be hard to learn how to use all the features.
Memrise Another website/app for SRS and flashcards.
For more online resources, click here.