I'm a native English speaker learning Russian and Mandarin through self study. On a good day, I can hold a conversation.
Now I've added Japanese to the languages that I'm juggling. I noticed that I can get the meaning of most of the kanji, it has a massive amount of loanwords, and I watch anime with subs so why not give it a go? This time I'm employing a few new strategies.
First I'm prioritizing listening comprehension. My theory is that children learn to listen before they learn to speak - and they learn to speak before they learn to read and write. I've failed to prioritize listening comprehension with Chinese and Russian and it's biting me in the back. It's difficult to key in on spoken words because my mind is on the alert for the mispronunciation rather than the actual pronunciation.
Luckily I've found a wonderful anki deck that is built for listening practice. Better yet it's anime themed! It's called "Jlabs Beginner Course" and it's the only Anki flashcard deck that I looked forward to studying every day.
Another strategy I'm using is to use English subtitles. I know people advocate for watching anime with Japanese subs right away, but I've done it with Mandarin and found what becomes an enjoyable hobby becomes a chore. I'm pausing and translating words (many of which are not useful) and I miss patterns because it's difficult to grab context and get a "road map" of the sentence. It's more like speed reading practice.
With English subtitles, I can speed read the sentence and prepare my brain for what is about to be said, identifying anything important. I'll then concentrate on listening for key words and how they interact with each other. I'll hit the rewind button occasionally to drill it into my mind.
Finally, I'm focusing heavily on studying phrases and idioms instead of individual words. Drilling words is useful at first but once you encounter synonyms I think it's time to drill phrases and idioms instead. Therefore if I find a useful word, I'll not only write the word in my Anki deck, I'll write the entire sentence where I found the word. It'll give a better feel of which context is best suited for which synonym and I become more acquainted to making sentences.
Overall, I think learning a foreign language requires constant shifting of strategies. While I'm satisfied with the pace of my listening skills, I know I'll need to eventually switch strategies again.
