Usually histories of people reaching n1+ levels say that they spend 4,5 or even 8+ hours a day with japanese.

And in the other hand there is a lot of people asking things like "can I get fluent in 2 years just studying 30 minutes/day"

But I feel somewhere in the middle, I usually spend around 1 hour reading, another hour listening (all materials for natives) and 15-20 mintues reviewing cards I make from reading. Sometimes I spent 2 hours of immersion, other thays I might be motivated and spent 3, 4 or more, but other days I'm just busy, or tired, and might just do anki + 1 hour.

I obviously have a job, but the thing is that I can really spent more time on japanese, but then it becomes an obsession, displacing other aspect of my life like other hobbies, playing sports or socializing more. There is also the thing that I'm not always engaged with a book, manga, anime or whatever to binge it for hours. Also, I recently deleted my time tracking app because it felt like an obligation and obsession.

I don't know if doing between 2-3 hours of immersion is what I feel like is healthy and sustainable for me then I should not try to do more, or if I'm just being lazy and trying to justify it. The borderline for me has been that recently I've been exercising less (I like calisthenics and running) just because I felt like I had to sit on on the pc and do more inmersion, and I don't know if that might be bad for my health.

When I started out I spent hours studying grammar but after that it's been slow. Don't force yourself to immerse, look for content you actually want to consume. I've slowly crawled my way up to around N1 basically just watching anime for 3-4 years.

I didn't read your post, but the answer is no.

I am not at a high level at all but I've been spending most if not all of my free time on immersion to some extent every day for the past 2.5 years. Yet, I still feel like I have eons to go before I achieve any proficiency in the language at all.

Granted, I could definitely be better about what kind of immersion I do, and spend more time reviewing anki or in general being more proactive and enthusiastic than I am currently, but my energy levels are really low and most days I resort to doing what I can rather than being enervated and energetic.

This is from the perspective of an Indo-European primary speaker (English/Serbian) for whom japanese is as foreign as languages get pretty much, if you have a language closer to Japanese I assume it's easier to learn it (especially with so much shared vocab like with Korean). But, assumedly you just starting as an English speaker, yes, you need hours and hours and hours, or at least I'd assume so based on my own experience.

Yes of course, actually there are a lot of N1 people that did about 2 hours a day. This 4.5 or 8 hour thing is way more rare than you seem to think.

You can put on a podcast while you are running if you want to add more time but it's not necessary.

Funny enough language simp just did a video kind of about this that eased some of my concerns about time management and studying. He’s usually super sarcastic and jokey but this video was actually really good.

▶Watch on YouTube

I already do that (or some anime I've already watched), but I usually do not count that time as it is not active inmersion.

I got to N3 to N2 level in 2 years at about 2ish hours of study every day. I did take breaks where I wouldnt study for a week. But studying 8 plus hrs sounds like a nightmare

Depends on where you’re coming from, linguistically. A language like Korean or Chinese is a much closer jump to Japanese than English or Spanish to Japanese.

If you’re looking to be N1 in like a year, you do need those 8 hour days. If you’re looking to get to N1 eventually, a few hours a day over a couple of years would get you there.

This is just \my\ recommendation and it’s not a hardcore rule. I based this estimate on unofficial JLPT study hours. N1 (CEFR B2 - C1) = \~4800 hours, divided by 365 days over the course of 4 years = \~3 hours daily.

“Study” can also include listening to level appropriate podcasts, reading, meeting up with Japanese friends and whatever else makes learning Japanese enjoyable to you.

Genki (and other textbook) Study Plan:

Two or three 45-60 minute study sessions a daily. Example: Chunk A - vocab, kanji and dialogue; Chunk B - textbook; Chunk C - workbook.

Before studying the chapter, get the majority of the vocabulary and kanji (if any) down. Genki marks the vocabulary used in the dialogue, so it’s easy to prepare for.

Try reading the dialogue WITHOUT looking at the English translation. Try to guess the meaning from the pictures and the dialogue prompts. Check to see how you did.

Chunk A: Everyday practice vocabulary, kanji (if any) and dialogue, shadow the audio, review the previous day’s work… you can preview the exercises you’ll be doing so you can brush up on the vocab you’ll need.

Chunk B: Everyday work in one grammar point. Do the associated exercises in the textbook. If it’s a speaking exercise, do both parts.

Chunk C: Do the workbook exercises sometime later.

Don’t forget to do the reading and writing in the back of the textbook. You can get your writing checked on an app like HelloTalk. Do corrections and resubmit. Move on to the next chapter and repeat.

You can add and subtract chucks or mix things up depending on your preference and life factors. You can combine low effort and high effort study in a day or study session, or break up the hour.

For example: while making and eating breakfast, listen to a podcast (30 minutes), watch a YouTube video for grammar during lunch (30 minutes). During your commute (60 minutes) do Pimsleur. Read manga for 20 minutes a day, do the workbook for 20 minutes and meet with a tutor for 30 minutes.

I don't think I ever studied more than a couple of hours a day.

From the time I started to the time I moved to Japan, I had studied for about 5 years and was around N2 level. Yeah, I could have studied more every day and gotten to that point sooner, but I simply didnt feel like I needed to.

A lot of people on this sub seem to treat learning a language as a race. Of all the people I know who I consider fluent Japanese speakers, none of them felt the need to speed run it.

I mean studying is legit just consuming japanese content. It’s hard at first but as you approach n2, i feel like reading books all day / playing games / listening to podcasts is the farthest thing i’d call from a nightmare lol

I need to redownload my deck to know how much hours I'm spending but im passing n2 with immersion and 2 hours of anki reading on off for 3 years i think. Well 93 not really impressive grade but that's my first jlpt test.

The thing is, being "high level" at Japanese isn't really a well defined concept. There are people who say they are "fluent", who are just trying to sell some course or are perhaps a bit too flippant to the term fluent, but there are also people who are really good at Japanese who will not consider themselves fluent.

Even the metric you're using, the N1 (understandable as there just isn't many concrete metrics to judge your level otherwise) is deeply flawed in determining whether someone is genuinely good at Japanese. I have met people who have passed N1 who were mediocre at best when it came to speaking and even comprehension was quite lacking when a person spoke a slightly non standard dialect or spoke very quickly/slurred.

Even among those who pass the N1 have very different true comprehensions. A person who immerses in regular Japanese and just happens to become good enough to pass N1 will pretty much always be quite a lot better overall at Japanese than someone who uses textbooks specifically catered to N1 and does a bunch of practice tests and esoteric grammar study.

Ultimately what I'm trying to say is "high level" is very subjective and vague. Try to come up with a goal, that is more concrete and specific and try to achieve it. If you want to be able to read your favourite manga that is very different to wanting to pass the N1, which is completely different to wanting to be able to speak and have fun conversations which is completely different to becoming really good at reading ancient Japanese literature etc. If you want to do everything, then you got quite a journey ahead.

So try not to be too concerned about getting "high level" and spending as much time as possible on Japanese. Instead, just focus on achieving your personal goals and spending however much time you feel is enjoyable. It shouldn't really feel like some chore that you have to do as ultimately it is just a hobby. And to be honest, you probably won't ever reach the level of Japanese person, nor will you ever be fully satisfied with your Japanese. So the state your in right now, doesn't really end, just enjoy the process as there is no true finish line.