2026 language learning resolutions

Here we are in the last week of January 2026, and I'm finally settling back into the swing of daily life in Santa Barbara after two months of on-and-off vacation. Anyway, this year I'll be entering into my 8th year of study into Japanese, which honestly is a little embarassing to admit given my level! I'd like to lay out my Japanese journey until now in a separate blog post, though, so today I thought I'd talk about what I'd like to do this year.

I'll start by mentioning my first ever trip to Japan, which happened a few months ago in November and December. I think being there for so long really helped to reignite my passion for learning the language after having been in a slump for about a year. Due to my experiences there, I've tentatively decided that I'll try to look for jobs in Japan after I graduate, so I want to use this year to focus on skills that will help me prepare for the possibility of working in Japan.

Right now, I'm somewhere between an N3 and N2 level. I readily passed the N3 in 2022 and have studied on and off (mostly off) since then. You could consider an N2 certificate as proof to employers and even the government that you're serious about learning Japanese, even though it doesn't test output at all; this is why passing the N2 is so important for those who want to work a serious job in Japan.

Goals

My main goals are as follows:

• Pass the JLPT N2 with a high score
• Regularly immerse by reading novels or short stories
• Semi-regularly watch tv shows or listen to podcasts

Passing the N2 is a difficult but doable challenge. Right now, I am using Wanikani and JPDB to work on my kanji and vocabulary knowledge respectively. Learning 10 items a day using each will put me in good shape to do well on the N2's vocab and kanji questions. It will also help with reading by increasing my base vocab knowledge and kanji recognition. I'd like to focus on this for the first 6 months of the year.

Meanwhile, I'd like to finish the last 6 chapters of Tobira by the end of April. The average pace works out to be a breezy one page a day. After that, I'll switch over to primarily JLPT studying using the Shinkanzen Master books. On that front, I plan on first working my way through the grammar book, focusing my effort on grammar forms I'm not familiar with. Doing all of this should cover my bases for the kanji, vocab, and grammar questions on the exam.

The last two pieces of the puzzle are the reading comprehension questions and listening section. Finishing Tobira will allow me to comfortably into the reading comprehension SKM book, which I plan on going through carefully. Alongside this effort (and after I increase my base vocab knowledge), I want to regularly start immersion by reading short novels on syosetu and watching shows or listeng to podcasts. I think this is going to be tremendously important going forward, not only for comprehension speed and vocab knowledge, but getting familiarized with natural Japanese in general.

Summary

My hope is to do the following 6 days a week, most weeks, for about an hour to an hour and a half each day:

• Do all reviews and 10 new items a day on Wanikani and JPDB
• Finish Tobira, read SKM grammar and reading comprehension textbooks
• Read a short novel or watch an episode of a show

Honestly, studying for 90 minutes a day seems like a lot of work, and I'm worried about getting burned out and quitting. Nevertheless, I think this is what it's going to take to up my abilities in this short time frame, so I'm going to do my best and push through it! I'll aim to make an update post in 3-4 months talking about my progress. Happy studying, everyone!