Study Guide
This guide will aim to give you a general idea of what path to take while self-studying with Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese. Please see the section below for info on how to tackle each lesson.
Study Routine
Below is a list of things to do each lesson.
- Memorize the Vocabulary for the current lesson. You can do this with either the Anki decks on Tobira's official website or the 単語 exercises under each lesson on this website (ex. Lesson 1). If using the latter method, please see this page for tips on memorizing vocabulary.
- Read up on the Grammar in the 文法ノート section for the current lesson. Once you've finished reading up on the grammar, you can read the 読み物、会話文、etc. sections along with the various notes (言語ノート、文化ノート、etc.) to practice the grammar alongside the new vocab you acquired in Step 1. Additionally, you can practice listening with these sections after reading by using the audio files for this lesson.
- Do the Practice Exercises in the textbook. Unfortunately these are not available on this website (why?), so feel free to skip to Step 4 if you don't have anyone to check your answers. Fortunately, there are still plenty of exercises in the workbook to practice the grammar you learned in Step 2.
- Do the Grammar Workbook Exercises for the current lesson. If anything is unclear, feel free to click the link to the grammar point in the current exercise to review it (example). You can also review all grammar learned in Tobira in the Grammar Index.
- Do the Kanji Workbook Exercises. Study the kanji in these sections and then practice their readings, meanings, and stroke order (see Lesson 1's exercises). Additionally, if you'd like to expand your vocab, you can memorize all the new words introduced in the kanji section's kanji-compounds, as some of them appear in the workbook exercises. This can also aid with memorizing kanji readings and meanings. After this, you can do the exercises in the workbook to practice utilizing the kanji learned in this lesson.
- Repeat the Steps Above for each Lesson until you finish Tobira.
That's everything! On average it can take about 1-2 weeks to complete a lesson, but this varies from person to person (for example, it took me around 3 weeks alongside development of this website). So, take your time and ensure that you properly understand the contents of each lesson! Even if it's just a little each day, as long as you try to study daily you'll slowly but surely come to better understand the language. Keep at it and best of luck on your studies!