Hello,

I’m a high school teacher and adjunct professor of mathematics. About 9 years, I did a study abroad in Tokyo as I loved Japanese history, wanted to learn the language, and had to cross visiting Akihabara off my bucket list. While there, I learned enough Japanese to get around (asking directions, buying stuff, ordering food, etc.). The course I took there went through the first couple chapters of Genki 1, and that combined with constant immersion helped me learn a lot.

Unfortunately after returning from Japan, I had little chance to use my Japanese. My college didn’t offer the language, there was no community nearby of native speakers or others trying to learn (that I could find at least), and I just got super busy (graduating + applying to grad schools + job interviews). So my Japanese waned a lot. I still retained the hiragana and katakana syllabaries, but I lost most of my kanji knowledge and almost all of my grammar.

I’m approaching my 30th birthday and the 10 year anniversary of my study abroad is only a year off, so I decided to go back and learn Japanese. I have a couple of goals. First off, I would like to be able to write a letter to my host family and my friends in Japan in Japanese. Second, I would like to be able to read some basic manga and light novels in their native language. Finally, I’d like to get my listening comprehension up enough that I can understand most of a live action Japanese television show or movie. Maybe these goals are a bit large, but it’s what I hope to accomplish over the next year and a half or so.

I look forward to using Textfugu (and WaniKani) to help me achieve these goals. I will also probably continue to check these forums for advice, help, and support. Thanks in advance to anyone who read all this or replied to it.