I have been studying Japanese for over 2 years through formal classes at a non-profit language school in San Francisco, California. I became frustrated with the school’s program at their upper intermediate level and have decided to see how I do on a self-study program.

I am not doing this completely alone. San Francisco has a fairly sizeable Japanese population and one friend Taka and my girlfriend Kana are both native speakers. I have been fortunate to have these people to turn to for questions that come up.

Vocabulary has been a big focus in the beginning of this self-study program. Weekly vocabulary lists hand-written onto flashcards are helping me focus on things I want to be able to talk about.

Writing was a big focus at the school I attended. I am going to be keeping up with that practice by hand writing and later posting something along the lines of essays.

Conversation is practiced with both Kana and Taka, both coaching me through unfamiliar words I need to get a story across. Recently I struggled through a description of the storyline of the movie District 9.

I plan to post my vocabulary lists, essays after a friend has corrected them, any grammar tidbits I pickup, and how particular approaches to study turn out.

Thanks for reading and I hope my contributions prove to be useful to people.