目標 – How to set your Japanese learning goals
In order to set your Japanese learning goals you will need the following:
1. Know what you want to do and what level you want to reach in Japanese
2. Determine how much time you need to learn Japanese
3. Make a plan to learn Japanese based on your goals and priorities
4. Have a way to stay on track
INDEX
What do I want and what level
Everyone needs a reason for doing something. Or at least everyone needs some motivating feeling that gets them to continue. In order to decide your reason, you will need to answer two questions.
1. What will I do when I know Japanese
2. What level do I want to reach
What will I do when I Know Japanese
The very first thing you will want to do is decide why you are even learning Japanese. Any reason is fine as long as it excites you. 
■ I like Kanji
■ I like how Japanese sounds
■ Japanese People are nice
■ I like Japanese music
■ I like Anime or Video Games
■ I am interested in Japanese culture or history
■ Japan seems really high-tech
■ I already speak other languages and want to learn more
■ Japanese food is amazing
■ I am Nikkei or have a Japanese family
■ I want to go to Japan someday
You may not have a specific reason but just feel compelled to learn. If that is the case then try thinking about what you will do once you know Japanese. Write down some ideas. Once you have a list of ideas then think about what excites you the most.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/
After you get an idea of why you are learning Japanese, try to make the goal more specific.
■ I want to be able to read 2,000 Kanji
■ I want to be able to have a 10-minute conversation in Japanese
■ I want to be able to understand Japanese music or Anime without subtitles
■ I want to be able to read about Japan, in Japanese to learn more about Japan
■ I want to be able to order food at a restaurant in Japanese
■ I want to be able to talk with my Japanese grandparents in Japanese about their life
■ I want to be an exchange student to Japan for one year and take the same classes with the rest of the Japanese students, in Japanese
If a goal is too broad then you may not know if you have accomplished it or not. Making your goal more specific will help you know how close you are to accomplishing it.
What Level do I want to Reach
So, once you know why you are studying Japanese, it is time to determine how much Japanese you need to know. Whether you want to be able to say こんにちは or to able to read academic documents about Japanese history. Anything is fine.
The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is internationally administrated for testing someone’s Japanese level. I personally hate taking tests, but they are one way to understand different levels of competency. You can see their definition of Language Proficiency to help you make your decision on how much Japanese you want to learn. They break it up into 5 levels, N5 being the lowest, N1 the highest.
Again, this is only a reference. Depending on your goals for Japanese learning, this may not help. If you are only wanting to speak and don’t care that much about writing, it would be better to just focus more on learning to speak well and put less emphasis on writing.
How much time do I need to learn Japanese
After you know what your goals are and what level you are aiming for, you can not determine how much time you need to learn Japanese. You will need to do three things.
1. Set a deadline
2. Know the total number of hours to reach your goal
3. Know how much time you have in your daily life to study
Set a Deadline for Japanese learning goals
When I was 15 I went to Japan for the first time. After I was there for 2 weeks I decided I wanted to go back for one year as an exchange student. I decided that I wanted to also be able to take all the classes in Japanese with the other students. In order to do so, I gave myself 2 years. That was my deadline.
You may not have any specific event that you need to learn Japanese for. That is also ok but having a little bit of pressure makes it easier to stay focused. Not so much because it stresses you out, but because you can actually see a light at the end of the tunnel. Just like having a blurry goal, having a blurry deadline can make it hard to aim. I have tried studying other things without deadlines. It is almost like my brain told me that I had all of eternity and not rush it. 
Deadlines help to motivate. You don’t need to beat your self up if you miss them, or if it takes 4 times longer. That is ok, just use deadlines to help you stay on track.
Total Hours of Study
Next, after you set a deadline you will want to guess how many total hours it will take to learn Japanese.
According to The Foreign Language Institute, a part of the U.S. Department of State, it takes 2,200 hours to learn Japanese. I don’t know what level they are calculating. Also, this is only an average for classroom hours. Depending on the type of studying you do it may take much much less, or much much longer.
If you study on your own it should take less I would assume. Classroom study tends to cover less content and put more emphasis on testing than learning in my experience.
Either way, you can use the 2,200 hours as an estimate. So, if you have 365 days or one year to learn Japanese, you would need to plan to study for 6 hours a day every day for a year.
Amount of Time I have
Now that you know how many hours it will take you to learn Japanese, how much time do you actually have?
If you don’t have 6 hours a day to study Japanese then if it takes 2,200 hours, reaching your goal in a year would be unrealistic. If you only have an hour a day then instead it would take 6 years.
If you look at 6 years and your stomach sinks, you have a few choices:
1. Find a different method of study that takes less time
2. Aim for a different level of Japanese
3. Find more time in your day
Here we are only going to look at option 3. Find more time in your day.
In order to find more time in your day, you again have a few choices:
1. Work on finishing up stuff quicker or work faster
2. Eliminate stuff that is taking up your time
3. Multitask
Alright, again we are only looking at Multitasking. Multitasking for learning Japanese usually means listing to Japanese audio when cooking, cleaning, driving, and so on. It can also mean trying to read things in Japanese that you would otherwise read in English. So, if you want to look up the news, you could try searching in Japanese instead.
If you are still worried that you don’t have enough time to meet your deadline though, don’t worry. There are always ways to make learning Japanese quicker.
Making the plan
Now you know why you are studying and how much time you have. Next you can create your actual plan.
Breaking Down Japanese Study into Mini-Goals
It is now time to look at specifically what material you will need to learn to reach your goal in time. There are a number of different ways you can break up your Japanese Studies. The following is one example:
■ Speaking and Listening
■ Learning Vocabulary
■ Learning Grammar
■ Reading and Writing
Whatever way you determine to break up your studies after you do so the next step is to set mini-goals. These are mini-deadlines where you aim to accomplish certain milestones in your Japanese learning. Some examples:
■ Understand 10% of a 30-second video after 1 month
■ Be able to recognize 1 out of every 20 words in a text after 1 month
■ Be at N5 in Japanese after 3 months
■ Learn to write 50 Kanji after 2 months
Breaking up your studies by category allows you to determine even more specific goals. Then, breaking up your studies over time lets you focus on achievable short-term goals so you don’t get overwhelmed but instead get motivated.
One thing to be careful about though is being too obsessed with meeting your goals. It’s ok if you don’t hit every mini-deadline. The point is to give you something in the short term to focus on so you stay motivated. If you let the natural instinct to beat yourself up for missing a goal take over, it will have the opposite effect.
You will not likely hit every mini-goal every-time. Aim for getting it 70% of the time, 50%, or whatever you need to stay motivated.
Prioritizing Japanese Studies
Now that you have determined how you are going to break down your studies, next is to decide what is most important. This will be different for everyone based on what their language learning goals are.
If your goal is to dissect the Japanese language and understand it’s linguistic properties such as language structure, phonology, the etymology of words, and so on, you may not care so much about speaking with people. That is fine, you would then want to focus more on what you are interested in. If you don’t care about all of that and just want to speak with people as quickly as humanly possible, then don’t spend all that extra time trying to figure out when you should use は and when you should use が.
After you determine your priorities, simply set aside more time for learning what is most important to reach your goal.
Resources I need
Now that you have set your goals and priorities you only have to find the right resources to study Japanese. Depending on what you enjoy and what method you want to use, there are several resources out there.
The main thing is to make sure that you pick the resources that you are interested in. Being interested is the most important part of language learning.
The second most important thing is to make sure that you understand what you are learning. You do this by picking resources that are simple, and easy to understand.
If you focus on these two things, your Japanese learning will be no problem.
Staying on track with my plan
You are all set! You have a reason for studying Japanese, you know how much time you have and a plan to do. All that is left is to carry out your plan.
How to Stay Motivated
Some times you will not have the motivation to study. That is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. Sometimes you can just ignore it and study anyways but other times you won’t be able to push yourself.
What you can do is try different things to motivate you. For example:
■ Mix up your Japanese studies. Try studying something else
■ Take a break! Sometimes if you study too much you just need to rest
■ Try meditating on why you are studying Japanese again. Remember what got you excited in the first place
■ Try exposing your self to Japanese. Watch something in Japanese, read the news about Japan, eat some Ramen or anything that will get you excited
■ Find someone that speaks Japanese or is learning Japanese that you want to compete with
■ Put pressure on yourself but making deadlines sooner
Everyone will be different. Your personality will determine what works and what doesn’t. Try different things until you find something that motivates you.
What will I do when off Track
Sometimes you may try everything and not find the motivation. Other times you may just not have the time on that day to study. For whatever reason, if you get off track decide what you will do.
■ Study extra later to get back on track
■ Modify your plan and skip certain things that are not as important to learn
■ Just continue on and push the deadline later
■ Anticipate that you will not always meet your goals on time, and study extra when you have the motivation to do so
Again, if you are not someone that does well with too much pressure, don’t pressure your self too much. You will need to make your goals more lax. If you are someone that loves working under stress, then try pushing off your studies until the last minute, or make really tight deadlines. It is all up to you.
Resources
