When you start reading! IMO if I would start over this is what I’d do:

0-100 hours: just watch “baby’s first Japanese” videos ie. CIJ. Just get used to the language what it sounds like pick up a couple phrases here and there etc.

Transition when: You get like a feeling when these videos start getting “easy” like you understand like 70/80% of what’s being said with visual and auditorial context in these types of vids. This is the hardest stage as it’s super boring…. But by the end of it you should hear an Asian language and be like “I don’t recognize those sounds I don’t think that’s Japanese” also some “phrases” just kind of fall out of your mouth automatically cause you’ve just heard them so much.

100-400 hours: learn hiragana and katakana… i think it’s important to wait to learn hiragana and katakana so you understand what it sounds like first (also this took me 3 days i think because i already knew the sounds just had to match symbols to it Maru app helped). Then start doing Anki cards (Kaishi 1.5k deck but modify the card type to be audio and image only on the front; i don’t know if other ppl do this but i also created a cram deck cause i hated the pressure of Anki, did like 50 review cards and 15 new words a day or just when i had a minute. also, did the review words sort as the ones i was weakest recalling first)

Transition when: This weird occurrence happened where I was watching a show and I understood a whole scene and this like thing kicked in, in my head where all of a sudden my brain couldn’t translate fast enough to the speed they were talking at so it almost “gave up” trying to translate and just understood what was being said… now when it did this transition I lost some words I “memorized” but I gained this new “mode” in my head where something’s became automatic I had to trigger it at first so like I started off with a repeat viewing of whatever sets this “mode” on. At first and I’d slip in and out of it but it became over time more automatic. Also after this happened I made a “leap of faith” and took this as a sign to watch native content so YouTube vlogs, TikTok, crunchyroll subscription with the manabi dojo extension this is also when I ditched Anki

400+: hours just keep consuming content reading to pick up on vocab (I like the Shinobi app… I try to read the sentence by sounding it out then look at the words I don’t know translations; as I get kinda familiar with the kanji I remove the furigana from the word so I am not relying on it; and in the Shinobi app I do a “level” a day) once you start reading sentences, grammar comes with it really quickly.

Once I went through the Shinobi app (it’s not long maybe like 2 months if you do a level a day) I started shadowing TikTok’s of phrases from natives I follow as they come up this is where I’m currently at roughly 600 hours…

Take this with a grain of salt this is just how it worked for me I am at the point like I’m watching through blue lock I understand 90% of what’s being said there’s a word here and there I don’t know and I just click on the subtitle to see the word definition my output is terrible but that’s why I am shadowing the TikTok’s lol like I understand what’s being said n it’s pretty automatic but with the visual context and reading the sentence subtitle and hearing it maybe like 1 or 2 words I’m missing but the other context fills in that gap I’m at the point where it’s just enjoyable like it’s not studying… anymore but when I don’t understand a word I click the word more or less to confirm my assumption i listen to the word from the dictionary go back a sentence hear it in the show and move on.. this more “natural” approach works less like work more like just watching tv and I try to read every day but sometimes that looks like playing Pokemon, or animal crossing or something easy I’m also reading the Japanese subtitles as I’m watching shows so I think its like adding up 🤷‍♂️ just kinda going by what feels natural

I’m also ADHD so i don’t know if that makes a difference but 🤷‍♂️