I ' m a sophomore in college now , but back in high school my study routine was complete a chapter of Genki every 2 weeks I typically spent the first week memorizing all of the vocabulary , Kanji , and grammar for the chapter , and then the second week completing all of the exercises . Meanwhile , throughout all of high school , the only music I ever listened to was Japanese . I frequently looked up the lyrics , sang along , and tried to understand what the lyrics meant . Once I finished Genki , I moved into reading manga and watching anime without subtitles . After high school , I took Advanced Japanese I and II in college , visited Japan for a month , and continued learning Japanese by assimilation through anime , manga , music , games , and magazines , looking up new phrases , grammar , and vocabulary anytime something new popped up . Ever since I started learning Japanese 4 years ago , I would say I ' m almost fluent at reading , writing , and listening somewhere around N 2 level , but my speaking skills are very lackluster as I don ' t usually get to practice speaking in the States N 3 to N 4 level . I can watch anime without subtitles and understand what ' s going on 90 % of the time , and read pretty much most manga that don ' t involve obscure grammar or vocabulary like slice of lifes , shounen , sports , etc . . I would recommend to continue at whatever pace you ' re comfortable with and meet the goals that you have . The most enjoyable part of my learning experience has been being able to use Japanese in reallife situations such as participating in the Japanese Student Association at my school , singing Japanese karaoke , playing Japanese games , watching anime without subtitles , etc . And as such , I ' ve focused on doing those things more frequently and trying to use and learn as much Japanese in those situations .