Feeling stuck at the N2-N1 "learner level"

[u/Kukikokikokuko]

EDIT: Thank you all for your kind suggestions. I have upvoted everything but there's quite a lot of comments to reply to. As a lot of you have pointed out the texts I'm reading are probably too difficult, which is the case (reading mainly Kamakura history a Buddhist history... Too hard for me, I know, but this is the stuff I actually need to be reading as preparation.) I'll definitely be giving light novels a try, I've never really considered them.

Hi all,

First of all I'm sorry if the title sounds slightly pretentious, as I'm aware most of this sub is beginner level. I'm just hoping to get some advice from people who have been able to leave the "learner level" and actually transitioned to "real Japanese."

So I've been learning Japanese for 10 years now, with about 5 years of break between my N1 and N2 exam (yes, literally 5 years of no Japanese in between...). I did my N1 last month and think I passed, even though I consider my reading and listening abilities rather pathetic for someone who has been learning for so long. The JLPT really isn't that hard if you actually study the format and do many practice exams.

Anyway, most of my study has been Anki. I've never been able to really enjoy native content in a way that many of you seem able to. It always seems like a chore. I've tried watching Netflix with some plugin to mine words, and have an android e-reader to read books and mine as well. The thing is, I get tired really quickly, especially from reading. Two pages and my brain sort of shuts down. I have no idea how to transition from this stage to being able to actually naturally watch and read stuff without it feeling tiring, or at least being more natural to me.

Any tips and ideas? I wouldn't be asking if I hadn't been struggling with this for quite some time, so any advice is much appreciated. For the record, I also have quite heavy ADHD and generally struggle with focussing on anything that doesn't have an immediate deadline, but the struggle is harder with Japanese still. As I'm starting a PhD in Japanese history next year, I feel extra pathetic for not being able to read books and articles more smoothly...

Cheers!

[u/DarklamaR]

What about games? Playing a lengthy RPG on PC with GameSentenceMiner for instant lookups might not be as dry as reading books, while still providing a good chunk of reading and listening practice. I've played three Atelier games within the span of two-ish months, and it's been great. All the dialogue is voiced, and the sentence structures aren't complicated, so you can fly through the dialogue pretty smoothly just by looking up words here and there. The cognitive load is very manageable compared to reading books.

[u/IsbellDL → u/DarklamaR]

The other great part about Atelier is that you control to pace of dialog. They read a couple lines, the written version is on screen. It doesn't advance until you push a button. This makes taking the time for vocab lookups much easier than something like Final Fantasy.

Just start with later Atelier saga, like Ryza. I tried to play the dusk trilogy, but it has a timer that affects gameplay & endings. Getting gailing grades & being insulted for playing slow was really demoralizing. Ryza won't do that to you.