What is the proper way to learn Japanese on your own?

Japanese is an isolated language spoken by 121 million people in the Japanese archipelago. Small Japanese communities can be found in American Samoa, Hawaii, North and South America, Europe, and Australia.  The only languages to which Japanese is related are those spoken on the Ryukyu Islands, which are located south-southwest of Japan, but the linguistic affiliation of the Ryukyuan languages is also unknown. According to some sources, the Japanese–Ryukyuan language family consists of Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages (Ethnologue, Vance 2001). Japanese studies have revealed that it contains both Altaic and Austronesian elements: the phonological system is more similar to that of Austronesian languages (Alpatov 1998), but the archaic lexicon appears to have more Altaic elements (ibid.).

Gather the Right Materials to learn 

Old language versions aren’t in use anymore; therefore I suggest you learn the Modern Standard version of a language. Get yourself the right resources that help you learn to speak Japanese properly. 

Plan your studies.

Set short and long term realistic, measurable goals that will help you keep your learning on track. I strongly recommend not l to get over ambitious with your goal as it would burn you out and further discourage you. 

Start by learning the basic alphabets, progressing naturally to word building, phrases, idioms and slangs in the language 

Empower yourself to read small two-letter, three letter words, with children books so you can get confident with speaking the words. This will further strengthen your vocabulary as well as enable you to read; record yourself, playback,  correct your mistakes and repeat until you get the hang of it! 

Capture new words in a journal or diary to refer back to! 

Ensure you start by adding day-to-day used words that you hear in Japanese audio, movies so as to be motivated to build small sentences.  Remember, One of the best ways to improve your speaking is to improve your vocabulary!

Watch Japanese TV shows/ Movies/Talk Shows. 

Watch English movies with Japanese subtitles and Japanese Movies with English subtitles to get a good understanding of the language in an entertaining way. 

Watch videos to understand the natural speech patterns,  rhythm, pitch, tone, modulation of speech. 

Apart from this,  the videos will also help you listen to the words and recognize them during repetitions. Eventually, when you start speaking with native speakers you would be a little relaxed and would be able to follow a few, if not all, words at the speed they speak. 

Further your understanding and learning via the shadowing technique to repeat dialogues that you hear. 

You can also turn on subtitles so that you can follow along and speak with the actors. TV shows in particular are also a great way to learn colloquialisms that you may not learn in a formal learning environment.

Further your learning by listening to a lesson, reading along, and reading out loud. Then re-read and speed up your speech. Do this again and again until you can speak faster. Try your best to pronounce words correctly, but don’t exhaust yourself over it. 

Listen to Japanese talk radio/podcasts/ audiobooks/audio clips

Utilise your spare time whether it will be waiting in a queue, walking your dog, washing your car etc. Use all such time to listen to the podcast, audio clips, basically any audio resource you can lay your hand on, to be able to gather more vocabulary and correct accent.

Music plays an immensely important part in our life. 

It is so evident from the fact that Alzheimer patients who forget the names of their loved ones, situations, have been known to recollect song lyrics and tunes! Song lyrics can also help you to improve your vocabulary. Also, singers tend to pronounce the words more clearly than people. By memorizing songs, you will learn the pronunciation better! 

Seek other reliable audio resources online that can help you learn. 

A learner who wishes to learn to Japanese should listen to Japanese news as it is spoken more formally and clearly. They are also a great way to add new vocabulary words to learn! 

Use SRS to excel 

I could suggest proven apps such as Anki and Memrise where you can learn through existing decks or create your own!

Try Mnemonics to improve your learning 

Mnemonics is another popular method to further your learning by memorizing the existing Japanese words, phrases into something known and common in your own native language. 

Practice, practice, practice! In the end, it is the only practice that is going to help you learn the language. 

Try the Pomodoro technique! 

Spending 45 minutes at spaced intervals, 3 times a day, everyday, rather than spending long hours at a stretch on the weekends. 

Find a conversation partner to converse and seek feedback from to improve your learning. Look for conversation partners around you, in your neighbourhood, any community near you; if you don’t find one I suggest going online on Conversationpartner, Tandem, Languagepartner, Italku, Hello Talk etc. Review again and again. 

After you are confident about your pronunciations and the accent, I recommend you talk aloud and record yourself. Then hear yourself again and correct your mistakes, to re-record yourself. You may continue doing this until you get the right pronunciations in one recording.

Japanese is the only major language whose genetic origin is unknown. The most persuasive theory is that Japanese and Korean are related, although other theories have been offered as well. Some people try to link Japanese to South Asian language groups including Austronesian, Austroasiatic, and the Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman family. Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, linguists focused their attention on the origins of the Japanese language rather than its genetic link in general; in particular, they attempted to reconcile some conflicting linguistic features.

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