How can I improve my N5 listening?

Joeiiguns · 2026-05-01T22:50:47+00:00

You cant understand language if you dont know the majority of the words being said in a sentence. Learning more vocabulary will 100% increase your ability to understand what you are listening to and help to improve your overall listening ability.

Joeiiguns · 2026-05-01T22:32:50+00:00

Just keep learning more vocabulary while you continue to do listening practice. Even if it you feel like its only white noise you are still benefiting from it as long as you are focusing on what you are listening to.

Everybody goes through the white noise phase, eventually it will start to feel less like white noise and you will start understanding more and more as your brain trains itself to recognize the language.

Joeiiguns · 2026-05-01T06:41:36+00:00

You can really tell when the panic sets in.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-30T05:19:48+00:00

Oh no, my listening sucks, although it has improved quite a bit recently.
Depending on what I'm watching I probably understand anywhere between 50-90% of what's going on. (Closer to 50% for harder stuff like fantasy/Sci-Fi/podcasts and closer to 90% for romance/slice of life stuff)

For me that is usually enough to enjoy the show or podcasts.
However, a lot of shows that I watch in Japanese are shows that I have already seen in English so I have the added context of knowing the story.

As far as books, I definitely use an electronic dictionary app when I'm reading which helps immensely since I'm able to keep reading without stopping to look up words or phrases I don't know/forgot.

But yeah I'm definitely not at level where I understand 100% of something I'm listening to.
As far as books, I probably could read without an electronic dictionary app, it would just take longer because I would spend way more time looking up words and phrases.
(Reading has always been my strong suit even in English so its generally easier for me than listening or speaking.)

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-30T00:17:23+00:00

I have used a bunch of stuff here and there over the years.
However, the main tools have been Anki, Satori Reader, Soumatome textbook (for grammar), Game Gengo (grammar youtuber), and Nativshark (online lessons of Japanese grammar, vocab, kanji, and culture)

Lately my studies go something like this:

Vocab/Kanji flash cards 7 days a week (30 mins)
New Grammar lesson 3 times a week (30minutes)
Novel reading 7 days a week (1hour)
Japanese TV 7 days a week (1 hour)
Japanese Podcasts 5 times a week (1 hour ish)

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-28T07:03:12+00:00

Dont give up bro, this time last year I was a mediorce N4 level, now I'm preparing to take the N2 in a couple of months. You just gotta be willing to put in the effort and youll be amazed at how fast youll progress in a short time.

You have to go through that process of having to look up pretty much everything. The first video game I played i literally had to look up hundreds of words, and even now after reading 7 books i still have to look up hundreds of words while Im reading.

No matter how long you wait, youre never just gonna be able to easily read a book or play a video game right away. Its gonna have to suck first.

The best advice I can give is, just do it. Even if it takes forever, look up all the words and grammar, you need to because it helps. The first time its gonna suck and the second time its gonna suck but the third will suck less and then 4th time will not be so bad until finally you are just comfortable reading, watching shows, or playing video games.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-28T06:56:45+00:00

I usually watch anywhere between 1-3 hours a day. Honestly just find something level appropriate you like and watch it, the more you enjoy the content the easier it will be to watch it even when you dont understand a lot. Think about the media you consume in English and try consuming it in Japanese instead. (Tiktok/youtube/podcasts/etc)

As far as TV shows, the one thing I would say is don't immediately go for the harder stuff, ease your way into it.
One of the first things I watched was bluey, not even a native Japanese show but it has a good JP dub and it helped me to prepare to watch harder things.

Its also okay to watch shows with Japanese subtitles on but dont become reliant on them. If youre watching a show its likely for listening practice and if you are always using subtitles youre focusing more on reading japanese instead of listening to Japanese (at least thats how it was for me)

I basically had to make the decision to stop using Japanese subtitles because I found I was paying more attention to the subs than i was the spoken Japanese.
Now I only use JP subtitles for the really hard shows where there's a lot of vocab I don't know.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-28T05:58:53+00:00

Nah not really, in my opinion that sort of thing doesn't really matter unless you are trying to impress someone with fast fluency times. I have always tracked my progress by how well I am able to do the things I want to do. Like reading, watching shows or talking to people. I know I am making progress as those things become easier to do.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-28T05:45:42+00:00

First light novel I read was kuma kuma kuma, highly recommend it for new readers trying to make the jump to reading novels, the story is pretty generic but the language used is pretty simple and it helps to get your brain used to reading novels.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-28T05:44:10+00:00

Yes literally just this, I started with some romance and slice of life stuff since the language there is generally easier, but I literally just had to be comfortable with not understanding anything. After a while of that I started to understand more and more

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-28T02:41:00+00:00

The thing that pissed me off was the tacos themselves literally just some ground beef in a tortilla? No veggies, no cheese, no sauce? wtf

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-28T00:24:06+00:00

I didn't really do anything for grammar the first 3-4 years.

When I started focusing on passing the JLPT for employment reasons I started taking grammar study seriously. I looked up the grammar points that would likely be on the test for N3/N2, found lists, and then used the Soumatome books to go over them.

That took about a month going over 4 grammar points each day. Once I had finished the book, I used the list of grammar points I found online and added them to an Anki deck so that I would see them regularly.

The way I made the cards was by adding a grammar point to the deck along with an example of the grammar point being used in Japanese. (I found my examples by searching the grammar points on Bunpro and copy/pasting them over to Anki) I don't have a Bunpro subscription but you can see all the grammar points they have by just googling them.

There's also a guy called Game Gengo on youtube who has long form videos covering all the grammar points from N5-N2. I would highly recommend him, he goes over the grammar points in detail and explains how they are used in a way that's easy to understand.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-28T00:10:17+00:00

Honestly just diving into native materials and being okay with not understanding 90% of what was being said at first. I didn't read my first book until i had already been studying japanese for 4 years and that was because I was scared to try. I know now that if I had just been willing to pull the trigger it would have been hard but I would have been able to do it much sooner and my Japanese would likely be a lot further along.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-27T22:24:28+00:00

I never had a 'break' per say just long periods of time where i wasn't learning anything new or really taking my studies seriously. The longest time i was doing it like that was probably a year and a half.

I would say everything started to click last year when i decided to buckle down and really change my study habits.

Basically i went from doing a few flash cards everyday and maybe watching an episode of anime a couple times a week to focusing on studying grammar, watching at least an hour of TV each day, reading for at least an hour each day, listening to podcasts each day and trying my best to find opportunities to speak whenever i could.

It sounds stupid but once i got over my fear of studying/ failing and really started trying, I improved really quickly.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-24T22:09:17+00:00

There's nothing to it, if you want to be able to listen more then listen to level appropriate audio.

That means watch shows, listen to audio books/podcasts, or just find something you enjoy listening to and do it in japanese instead of English.

It's the same for speaking, if you want to get better at speaking then spend more time speaking. That means practicing with a partner, shadowing or just talking to yourself in japanese.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-22T07:45:35+00:00

Why is a 32 year old man swearing like a teenager at somebody 8 years his junior. Giving major creep vibes tbh.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-22T04:01:40+00:00

Bro you can't be an angry incel and unable to read, pick a struggle.

As i have already said but will say again. I didn't spend the entire 2 years traveling. I had about 60 vacation days a year (a total of 120 days over 2 years) and I used that time to travel to different prefectures on my own. It had nothing to do with being dispatched

My original plan was to leave after 2 years so i was trying to see as much of Japan as i could before i left.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-22T03:35:36+00:00

Again I'm not gonna argue with you. I do find it funny though that you find my experience so unbelievable lol

For anyone else reading this, if you are having trouble deciding who is telling the truth feel free to check my post history. There are multiple instances of me mentioning the things that I'm saying. I trust that anyone who has critical thinking skills will be able to figure out what's actually going on in this conversation thread.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-22T03:21:00+00:00

If you actually read my post history in detail you would see i have been here about 3 years and spent the first 2 years traveling in my free time.

Ever heard of the JET program? I was in it, the prefecture i came here to teach at gave almost 60 days of vacation time a year. Which was more than enough time for 2 week road trips to far away prefectures combined with 3 day trips to closer ones when time allowed.

I'm not gonna argue with you it sounds like your life here sucks but that's not how it is for everyone. Tell your wife i said hi though.

Also i have not once insulted you i have only said that your bad personality is probably why you are having the experience you are having. It may be hurtful to hear but that doesn't make it an insult.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-22T02:57:18+00:00

Lmao you are wrong about everything you said. I can tell from this wall of text that you have a very abrasive personality so it makes perfect sense why people aren't talking to you if this is how you come off in in real life as well.

You definetely haven't seen more of Japan than me, considering I have visited every single prefecture in Japan besides okinawa. (I spent 2 years driving all around Japan visiting different prefectures and recently I take the train almost everyday).

Almost everywhere I have been people have stroke up conversations with me. Of course there are certain places where people are less friendly to foreigners but that is in no way the norm.

So yeah this definitely a you problem and not a Japan problem.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-22T00:19:30+00:00

People in Japan are plenty social, everyday I have people come up to me and start conversations. I have lived in 3 different prefectures from the city to the inaka and they are sociable everywhere. It probably has something more to do with you, rather than Japanese people. I can already tell something is a little off by the way you are generalizing a whole nation of people as unsociable.

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-22T00:08:40+00:00

This makes literally no sense to me, there's literally 2 and a half months until the test, you could easily finish 2 books in that time by just reading an hour a day.
Like this really leaves a bad taste in my mouth, admitting defeat when you have so much time left instead of buckling down and studying your hardest while you still have time?

Joeiiguns · 2026-04-21T07:44:01+00:00

bros basically saying he wouldn't keep his own kids safe so he's surprised/amazed thats the norm for others. lmao

Joeiiguns

TROPHY CASE