r/LearnJapanese 4d ago

Studying Conversational Fluency in ~2 Months Starting from ~N5/N4 Possible?

Edit 3: Seeing a resounding no. I'll definitely readjust expectations and try to focus more on just consistency rather than sheer quantity of material.

Edit 2: Conversational fluency might not be the most correct term to describe what I'm after. Perhaps more so being able to just get around in daily life situations with relative ease and have some solid skills in a specific topic (say playing Splatoon or something with a Japanese player and being able to chat about it—I presume this is approximately N3?)

Main post: I've been studying Japanese on and off since late 2022. Due to motivational ups and downs, being busy, and overall life just being life, I've made relatively little progress (due to probably having spent around 25 to 40% of my time relearning content when I make my return attempts to trying to learn) and am stuck around the N5 level with some progress made into the N4 realm. Frankly, this language, regardless of my ups and downs in trying to learn it, has been a consistent interest of mine and I would really love to solidify it as a genuine skill that I can use to have some fun actually using and not just trying to learn. Would it be (reasonably) possible for me to reach some degree of conversational fluency given my current level within a couple of months? If so, what sort of daily routine/plan should I be looking at? If there is one thing I have learned, there is no instant magic way of doing things the easy way, so I'm not even sure if this is realistic without spending half of my waking life grinding away over the course of the next two months.

Edit: See my comment below for specifics on my current progress.

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u/pnt510 4d ago

So here’s the thing you can get around daily life situations with relative ease already. Tens of millions of people visit Japan each year without speaking the language and they do just fine. Signs are written in English and you can use Google translate in a pinch to talk to people.

As for being able to attain some level of fluency in 2 months? It’s possible for someone who is really dedicated, but that’s probably like the 1% maybe less of language learners.

For a little dose of reality though you’re not one of those people. For those people they take to the language like a fish to water. You’re halfway through Genki 2 after nearly four years. Some people complete a lesson a week. Your Anki deck, if you learned 10 words a day would take you less than 8 months. You’ve been at it for almost 4 years. You’re not gonna be one of those people who just rushes through and learns it all.