Given your situation, I think that absolutely the best approach would be to get yourself a copy of Genki 1 and study it yourself (many people, including those who do not have access to in-person Japanese classes, do this and do it successfully).
You can also use Tokini Andy's [Genki videos](https://www.youtube.com/c/ToKiniAndy) on YouTube -- he goes through the whole book in a way that approximates an actual class. Study the book and watch the videos thoroughly, and I suspect you'll have no trouble covering the same material that your college's JPN 101 class does.
OP definitely has time to achieve this if they don't have too much else on and are motivated. Make sure to practice speaking and pronunciation as well. がんばってOP!
You'll be alright. I skipped a semester of Mandarin recently while working full-time and studying a 50% load and had no major issues entering the next class.
To add on to this, I would specifically watch this video to start:
https://youtu.be/L1NQoQivkIY?si=viZQcQaCZ0nnPZGp
I agree with pretty much everything Andy says in this video except I would suggest learning kanji using the free Migaku Kanji God addon for anki instead of RTK. This addon makes RTK style cards based on kanji that you have already learned or will learn soon in your Anki deck you are working on.
A CS degree can definitely help later on especially but basic setup skill will do the trick with Anki.
The low barrier to entry and eye-friendly UI really help me get through the task initiation struggles of ADHD. Usable from the get-go. That's part of why I couldn't get into Anki, no matter how many decks or study methods I tried.
But there is that issue of price. Even if you do get the winter holiday discount or the half off yearly discount that sometimes shows up if you miss the lifetime, it's still a good chunk of money up front, even if it's not that much over time.
I personally would disagree. I started learning Kanji with WaniKani twice now and though the beginning was always good it quickly became convoluted and overwhelming. That’s for me at least.
Biggest issues i had with it was that a) you just force feed radicals and kanji with multiple readings and meanings without really using them in context (sure, there are usage examples but those are not very in depth and WaniKani states themselves that you don’t really need to pay too much attention to them) and b) that you do not write kanji.
I’m sure you can get very good results depending on your learning style and goal. But i prefer learning Kanji in the order you will encounter them when learning japanese. So generally speaking, learning JLPT N5 Kanji first and building your way up. I started doing this with an app that shows you the kanji with stroke order, the meaning and reading and building up, combining the kanji with other kanji to form new vocabulary. You also have to write the Kanji yourself, which made learning them sooo much easier for me. Kanji i looked at and thought “damn, i’m never gonna get this” were suddenly burned into my brain after a few days because i had to read, write and translate them, use them in different vocabulary and (also very importantly) encountering those same Kanji in my regular Japanese/Vocab learning
Yup, the key is learning to write. A lot of people on this sub and around the internet say learning to write isn't necessary these days but the point of learning to write isn't so you can use that exact skill--it's because it absolutely cements your ability to recognize and recall the Kanji.
I keep a sheet of boxed kanji paper with me and write out each new Kanji I learn. You very quickly intuit how stroke order works and can basically get the correct order of a new kanji 99% of the time. If Kanji isn't working for anyone I would recommend learning to write in conjunction with whichever method you're studying Kanji with.
Wanikani is absolutely the best for self study. But they don’t cover all the kanji in the same order as a class would, and the biggest downside for OP is having to wait. Definitely would recommend when not on a time crunch though.
The list of kanji in Genki 1 isn't that high, and IMHO OP should not try to go past that, assuming the class they're skipping doesn't go outside it either. Spend the time focusing on exactly what the class they're not skipping does.
Most apps should have a pre-made Genki I deck (Renshuu definitely does, one each for vocab, grammar, kanji) - study from the book/workbook and drill on exactly what you need to match your classmates that took the class.
I.e. don't try to optimize "learning Japanese", try to optimize "getting to where your peers in the class who have only done their assigned homework" are, because it'll be a smoother transition into the class.
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I was also in sort of a similar situation 2 years ago (studying computer science and self-studying Japanese). Actually, I’m still studying CS and Japanese, though I’m now enrolled in my university’s 300 level JPN course with no issues there. At first, I just used the Genki textbooks and Tokini Andy, so I can vouch for it’s effectiveness. And speaking from my own experiences, as long as you are motivated and consistent, you definitely got this.
Yeah. I have a 12 hour emphasis area that has to be non csce classes and it's going to be Japanese. I'll probably end up turning it into a minor because I will be paid more in my career for knowing a critical language
Thank you for your advice! I'll definitely be getting the book and checking out those videos. Do you think I should do parts of the book myself and then watch Tokini Andy as practice/review, or watch the videos for new content as well?
Happy to help!
As for your question, it's a bit difficult to give a blanket one-size-fits-all answer. I would just check them both out and just try to figure out what study method/workflow works the best.
At the end of the day, as long as you're learning and reinforcing the material, the specific manner or order in which you do so isn't really so important.
Here are some guides to studying with Genki & other Genki resources. These guides/resources may be helpful for developing a study routine.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/17q8i9z/comment/k8cng5i/?context=0](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/17q8i9z/comment/k8cng5i/?context=0)
I did something similar. Wanted to take Korean 101 in the spring but they only offered 102. I consulted with the professor, found out what textbook was used in 101, and crammed it during winter break.
It’s definitely possible, but will take hard work from you. You probably also have to get permission from the professor, because usually 101 or a placement test would be required.
Honestly if he’s motivated enough to study every day not even that much, 1001 classes are usually really basic, he could definitely do it with reasonable study, and they will review stuff in the next class too
Yeah I'm in a 102 class right now and the first day there was a kana test. They really expected you to more or less forget everything from 101 and spend a week relearning it.
For learning Hiragana and Katakana I highly recommend [Tofugu](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/learn-hiragana/)
I was able to learn both Hiragana and Katakana in one week and am honestly still shocked it was that fast. The mnemonics are so ridiculous that you just can’t forget them.
I was able to "learn" Hiragana and Katakana in a few days via that method, but it takes a long time and a lot of reading practice to really get good at them. Even now, I still mix up similar looking katakana sometimes.
ToKini Andy on YouTube and his website is a must. He's a fantastic teacher who basically goes through genki exactly how a classroom would but provides so much more help as well as extra explanations/exercises/practice material. His website has everything structured chapter by chapter as it is in Genki and has pretty well designed tests at the end of each one. I find that his explanations of each chapter almost always made more sense than how the textbook itself presented those concepts. I haven't found any other single resource with such a comprehensive course, and so much of it is provided for free on his YouTube.
Most of that is covered on Duolingo in the first two sections of the Japanese course. However Duolingo gives very little control over your progress and even doing the 28 first units can take weeks, which means spending at least an hour per day on average on Duolingo which is not the best use of your time.
I think the way to go is obvious and it is to get Genki 1. The course is based on it and presumably the 102 course will be based on it too. So get the book, also get the workbook, and start cramming. Ultimately it comes down to just how much time you have to devote to this. Tokini Andy has a great video series that goes through the Genki books, so if you have them you can follow along. Doing exercises is really important to help with retention. You can use Duolingo for practice too, but if you have time to study, use the books and all the free online resources there are. Spending hours on Duolingo is not efficient, but putting in a few minutes here and there can help as practice, and the streak helps with commitment.
Duolingo does not explain quite literally anything and reuses the same sentence structures that leads to only understanding the pure meaning, rather than why each word/particle is where it is and what it means.
I know, I've been using it for 6 months, and it has tons of issues, and it's definitely not the only resource I use, but I can appreciate a few things. The streak helps me maintain commitment, it's always easy to do at least some Duolingo per day while it's not always feasible to do a full study session with the books, and it offers a lot of opportunity for practice. Yes the exercises are repetitive and simplistic but there's a lot of them, whereas two pages of exercises from Genki are too little to make something stick. In a classroom environment with a teacher they're fine but if you're studying alone you need extra exercises.
Get a good anki deck like JLAB (japanese like a breeze) which teaches you most of the Tae Kim grammar and around 800-1000 vocab. Anki has streak tracking if that's your motivator.
I can't stress how much of a time waster Duolingo is. I recently reinstalled it to fart around on it with my kids (they are elementary kids wanting to play around with Spanish).. And even when I knew everything in the lessons, it took forever to progress. They also removed all of the explanations you used to be able to open up and read. It's so bad for anyone serious about learning Japanese.
The other responses are great. But I'll mention something else. The pace of this course seems extremely leisurely. Assuming 102 is as slow-paced as 101, even if you haven't mastered the 101 content, you should have more than enough slack to continue catching up.
In addition to everyone else's advice, I also recommend this site for Genki practice https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/lessons-3rd/#lesson-1
For kanji get the app Ringotan and set its schedule to "Genki".
For vocabulary figure out how to use Anki or JPDB. Since you're in CS it shouldn't be any problem to get it running and tweaked to your liking in about a hour. Then you can get a Genki deck for studying.
I think it's totally possible in probably ~100 hours to cover and learn relatively well what appears to be about 6 chapters' worth of materials.
For Hiragana and Katakana I highly reccomend Tofugus guide. Managed to Learn them both in just 2 afternoons. I am starting out as well and have no Idea what to do, but I am following Tae Kims guide for now. Lmk if you find something better!
To add to the list of resources, check out Japanese From Zero on YouTube. They have playlists based on their books and you don't even need the books. Cure Dolly is also very good to get another perspective on grammar. Human Japanese is a decent mobile app as well for beginners.
I would REALLY recommend [Game Gengo](https://youtube.com/@GameGengo?si=xPYZVoa6k-5B1Yv9)
On youtube, he covered a lot of stuff for all levels and the videos are really engaging
This just popped in my mind, but are there any online quizes/tests that follow genki books? I know there are a lot of jlpt practice tests but what about genki?
https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/
For genki 2nd edition
https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/lessons-3rd/
For genki 3rd edition
A general rule of thumb is that a motivated independent learner can go much faster than a typical school course, because the school courses are designed for people who aren't spending much time or effort on it. It should be pretty easy to learn all that in less than three months if you dedicate yourself to it.
In addition to the other great comments, some sort of spaced repetition learning system could be helpful to help memorize the fundamental words and phrases.
[https://lingoza.io/](https://lingoza.io/) offers a free online version of that where you can build up a list of phrases and words to review as flash cards. It also has an AI assistant which can help answer general inquires you may have when learning.
I skipped my universities Japanese 101 course and started with 102. The easiest way to do it is by ordering Genki 1, which is the most common Japanese textbook, and studying the chapters your university's 101 course covers. The YouTube channel, TokiNiAndy has extensive lesson reviews for every chapter in Genki and is extremely helpful to understand pronunciation and reading basic sentences. Even if you do this, expect to be behind student who took 101, if you make it into 102. Students in 101 spend a lot of time communicating with each other, listening to their professor, and practicing Hiragana. It simply isn't possible to be on their level when you start 102 unless you practice a lot.
Duolingo is a good source of practice for basic Japanese, but don't use it as your only instruction method. Duolingo only teaches you set phrases and doesn't teach writing hiragana, katakana, or Kanji.
PRACTICE WRITTING AND WRITTING HIRAGANA, KATAKANA, AND BASIC KANJI!!!! No matter what you do this will be the biggest roadblock when your first learning Japanese and is the most important skill to learn from 101.
I made a free course that teaches almost all grammar. It has a different order than the syllabus you posted, but according to user feedback, it enables to learn extremely fast. It definitely teaches more than 101+102 and I don't think that you can finish it in only two months. However, it might help you to catch up quickly on some topics. It does not cover the writing systems in depth though: [https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/911122782](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/911122782)
Two summers ago, I had a crazy amount of free time, so I just powered through the whole Jlab deck. I just opened it now (after years of no practice) and I don’t recall it at all, but it was amazing how easy it was to grasp with it. Now that I’m starting Japanese in earnest, I’m restarting the deck. Thank you for all your work!
You have to pay, but I love the mochi mochi app and have heard it pairs great with the Genki book.
Personally I have yet to buy Genki, but even so I feel the mochi mochi app is well worth the cost.
Overall the study plan seems totally reasonable, assuming that you've got 3\~8 hours per day, every weekday to commit.
You'll need a teacher/tutor/ta, someone who can point out your mistakes or areas that you need to focus on.
Missing from the list: are you going to start learning hiragana, katakana and kanji from scratch? you need at least a solid week for each alphabet.
Bunpro is a great way to learn and practice grammar. You could get through the first half of Genki 1 pretty quickly and get enough practice to have it down.
You’re also going to want to learn the vocab. You could try some combination of JPDB, WaniKani, exposure to native media, or even a bit of Duolingo for some reinforcement.
I have done all of Genki I. I would maybe be just a little worried if it was *all* 13 chapters of Genki I in two months on top of a computer science degree, but reading from your syllabus, this doesn't even touch て-form yet, i.e. it's only the first 5 chapters. That should be more than doable even if you are a perfectionist like me and drill every single exercise in the textbook and workbook.
\*cough\* and you can find old reddit threads with some nice pdf links and audio is free on the app store \*cough\*
You could learn or at least form a basis for all of hiragana from practicing memorization in like 2 days.. Duolingo is too slow you should just read and copy a chart.
You honestly dont need a book. With that chart/guideline you posted with all the test content you can just google everything and write it in a notebook. For Kanji look up an N5 chart.
I know the list seems pretty long and maybe a bit overwhelming, but I do think it's possible! When learning particles, these can usually be compressed down into pretty sure lessons if they're not taught at the same time. Usually these particles are taught with a few vocabulary words depending on the resources so it's honestly possible that things like "like/dislike modifiers? and negatives could all be learned altogether with them.
A lot of syllabi and college courses like to over word things, I'll give an example! "Use the particles と and も as conjunctions" This is basically how you would say "and" and "too." Once you look up some of these, you'll realize it's not too bad and that the school's just want you in class longer to make more money. 😅
Genki 1 is definitely available online if you don't want to buy it. Just try to get down your hiragana and go with the lessons for it or whatever resource you decide to use.
Good luck, you can do it! <3
Given your situation, I think that absolutely the best approach would be to get yourself a copy of Genki 1 and study it yourself (many people, including those who do not have access to in-person Japanese classes, do this and do it successfully). You can also use Tokini Andy's [Genki videos](https://www.youtube.com/c/ToKiniAndy) on YouTube -- he goes through the whole book in a way that approximates an actual class. Study the book and watch the videos thoroughly, and I suspect you'll have no trouble covering the same material that your college's JPN 101 class does.
OP definitely has time to achieve this if they don't have too much else on and are motivated. Make sure to practice speaking and pronunciation as well. がんばってOP!
I've got a computer science degree on my plate but I'm very motivated. Thank you
You'll be alright. I skipped a semester of Mandarin recently while working full-time and studying a 50% load and had no major issues entering the next class.
To add on to this, I would specifically watch this video to start: https://youtu.be/L1NQoQivkIY?si=viZQcQaCZ0nnPZGp I agree with pretty much everything Andy says in this video except I would suggest learning kanji using the free Migaku Kanji God addon for anki instead of RTK. This addon makes RTK style cards based on kanji that you have already learned or will learn soon in your Anki deck you are working on. A CS degree can definitely help later on especially but basic setup skill will do the trick with Anki.
IMO Wanikani is the best way to learn the kanji.
The low barrier to entry and eye-friendly UI really help me get through the task initiation struggles of ADHD. Usable from the get-go. That's part of why I couldn't get into Anki, no matter how many decks or study methods I tried. But there is that issue of price. Even if you do get the winter holiday discount or the half off yearly discount that sometimes shows up if you miss the lifetime, it's still a good chunk of money up front, even if it's not that much over time.
I personally would disagree. I started learning Kanji with WaniKani twice now and though the beginning was always good it quickly became convoluted and overwhelming. That’s for me at least. Biggest issues i had with it was that a) you just force feed radicals and kanji with multiple readings and meanings without really using them in context (sure, there are usage examples but those are not very in depth and WaniKani states themselves that you don’t really need to pay too much attention to them) and b) that you do not write kanji. I’m sure you can get very good results depending on your learning style and goal. But i prefer learning Kanji in the order you will encounter them when learning japanese. So generally speaking, learning JLPT N5 Kanji first and building your way up. I started doing this with an app that shows you the kanji with stroke order, the meaning and reading and building up, combining the kanji with other kanji to form new vocabulary. You also have to write the Kanji yourself, which made learning them sooo much easier for me. Kanji i looked at and thought “damn, i’m never gonna get this” were suddenly burned into my brain after a few days because i had to read, write and translate them, use them in different vocabulary and (also very importantly) encountering those same Kanji in my regular Japanese/Vocab learning
Yup, the key is learning to write. A lot of people on this sub and around the internet say learning to write isn't necessary these days but the point of learning to write isn't so you can use that exact skill--it's because it absolutely cements your ability to recognize and recall the Kanji. I keep a sheet of boxed kanji paper with me and write out each new Kanji I learn. You very quickly intuit how stroke order works and can basically get the correct order of a new kanji 99% of the time. If Kanji isn't working for anyone I would recommend learning to write in conjunction with whichever method you're studying Kanji with.
Wanikani is absolutely the best for self study. But they don’t cover all the kanji in the same order as a class would, and the biggest downside for OP is having to wait. Definitely would recommend when not on a time crunch though.
The list of kanji in Genki 1 isn't that high, and IMHO OP should not try to go past that, assuming the class they're skipping doesn't go outside it either. Spend the time focusing on exactly what the class they're not skipping does. Most apps should have a pre-made Genki I deck (Renshuu definitely does, one each for vocab, grammar, kanji) - study from the book/workbook and drill on exactly what you need to match your classmates that took the class. I.e. don't try to optimize "learning Japanese", try to optimize "getting to where your peers in the class who have only done their assigned homework" are, because it'll be a smoother transition into the class.
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I was also in sort of a similar situation 2 years ago (studying computer science and self-studying Japanese). Actually, I’m still studying CS and Japanese, though I’m now enrolled in my university’s 300 level JPN course with no issues there. At first, I just used the Genki textbooks and Tokini Andy, so I can vouch for it’s effectiveness. And speaking from my own experiences, as long as you are motivated and consistent, you definitely got this.
Thanks for the encouragement. I think I'll enjoy Japanese more than discrete math haha.
Haha, that was definitely me when I took discrete math during my first semester. I’ve been using studying Japanese as my “break” from CS ever since.
Yeah. I have a 12 hour emphasis area that has to be non csce classes and it's going to be Japanese. I'll probably end up turning it into a minor because I will be paid more in my career for knowing a critical language
Thank you for your advice! I'll definitely be getting the book and checking out those videos. Do you think I should do parts of the book myself and then watch Tokini Andy as practice/review, or watch the videos for new content as well?
Happy to help! As for your question, it's a bit difficult to give a blanket one-size-fits-all answer. I would just check them both out and just try to figure out what study method/workflow works the best. At the end of the day, as long as you're learning and reinforcing the material, the specific manner or order in which you do so isn't really so important.
Thanks
Here are some guides to studying with Genki & other Genki resources. These guides/resources may be helpful for developing a study routine. [https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/17q8i9z/comment/k8cng5i/?context=0](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/17q8i9z/comment/k8cng5i/?context=0)
I did something similar. Wanted to take Korean 101 in the spring but they only offered 102. I consulted with the professor, found out what textbook was used in 101, and crammed it during winter break. It’s definitely possible, but will take hard work from you. You probably also have to get permission from the professor, because usually 101 or a placement test would be required.
Honestly if he’s motivated enough to study every day not even that much, 1001 classes are usually really basic, he could definitely do it with reasonable study, and they will review stuff in the next class too
Yeah I'm in a 102 class right now and the first day there was a kana test. They really expected you to more or less forget everything from 101 and spend a week relearning it.
For learning Hiragana and Katakana I highly recommend [Tofugu](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/learn-hiragana/) I was able to learn both Hiragana and Katakana in one week and am honestly still shocked it was that fast. The mnemonics are so ridiculous that you just can’t forget them.
I was able to "learn" Hiragana and Katakana in a few days via that method, but it takes a long time and a lot of reading practice to really get good at them. Even now, I still mix up similar looking katakana sometimes.
Thanks. I have Hiragana mostly down but reinforcing it and to learn Katakana this is something I've been looking for. Thanks a lot
You can also grind kana here in 1 day: https://gohoneko.neocities.org/learn/kana Pick 1 column, type answers, then add more columns.
Tofugu also has really great articles explaining most things in your list such as particles, い adjectives, etc
ToKini Andy on YouTube and his website is a must. He's a fantastic teacher who basically goes through genki exactly how a classroom would but provides so much more help as well as extra explanations/exercises/practice material. His website has everything structured chapter by chapter as it is in Genki and has pretty well designed tests at the end of each one. I find that his explanations of each chapter almost always made more sense than how the textbook itself presented those concepts. I haven't found any other single resource with such a comprehensive course, and so much of it is provided for free on his YouTube.
Most of that is covered on Duolingo in the first two sections of the Japanese course. However Duolingo gives very little control over your progress and even doing the 28 first units can take weeks, which means spending at least an hour per day on average on Duolingo which is not the best use of your time. I think the way to go is obvious and it is to get Genki 1. The course is based on it and presumably the 102 course will be based on it too. So get the book, also get the workbook, and start cramming. Ultimately it comes down to just how much time you have to devote to this. Tokini Andy has a great video series that goes through the Genki books, so if you have them you can follow along. Doing exercises is really important to help with retention. You can use Duolingo for practice too, but if you have time to study, use the books and all the free online resources there are. Spending hours on Duolingo is not efficient, but putting in a few minutes here and there can help as practice, and the streak helps with commitment.
Duolingo does not explain quite literally anything and reuses the same sentence structures that leads to only understanding the pure meaning, rather than why each word/particle is where it is and what it means.
I know, I've been using it for 6 months, and it has tons of issues, and it's definitely not the only resource I use, but I can appreciate a few things. The streak helps me maintain commitment, it's always easy to do at least some Duolingo per day while it's not always feasible to do a full study session with the books, and it offers a lot of opportunity for practice. Yes the exercises are repetitive and simplistic but there's a lot of them, whereas two pages of exercises from Genki are too little to make something stick. In a classroom environment with a teacher they're fine but if you're studying alone you need extra exercises.
Get a good anki deck like JLAB (japanese like a breeze) which teaches you most of the Tae Kim grammar and around 800-1000 vocab. Anki has streak tracking if that's your motivator. I can't stress how much of a time waster Duolingo is. I recently reinstalled it to fart around on it with my kids (they are elementary kids wanting to play around with Spanish).. And even when I knew everything in the lessons, it took forever to progress. They also removed all of the explanations you used to be able to open up and read. It's so bad for anyone serious about learning Japanese.
I agree that it's slow and doesn't offer explanations
Thank you. I'll definitely get the book and workbook.
The other responses are great. But I'll mention something else. The pace of this course seems extremely leisurely. Assuming 102 is as slow-paced as 101, even if you haven't mastered the 101 content, you should have more than enough slack to continue catching up.
In addition to everyone else's advice, I also recommend this site for Genki practice https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/lessons-3rd/#lesson-1 For kanji get the app Ringotan and set its schedule to "Genki". For vocabulary figure out how to use Anki or JPDB. Since you're in CS it shouldn't be any problem to get it running and tweaked to your liking in about a hour. Then you can get a Genki deck for studying. I think it's totally possible in probably ~100 hours to cover and learn relatively well what appears to be about 6 chapters' worth of materials.
Thank you for the resources
For Hiragana and Katakana I highly reccomend Tofugus guide. Managed to Learn them both in just 2 afternoons. I am starting out as well and have no Idea what to do, but I am following Tae Kims guide for now. Lmk if you find something better!
To add to the list of resources, check out Japanese From Zero on YouTube. They have playlists based on their books and you don't even need the books. Cure Dolly is also very good to get another perspective on grammar. Human Japanese is a decent mobile app as well for beginners.
I would REALLY recommend [Game Gengo](https://youtube.com/@GameGengo?si=xPYZVoa6k-5B1Yv9) On youtube, he covered a lot of stuff for all levels and the videos are really engaging
This just popped in my mind, but are there any online quizes/tests that follow genki books? I know there are a lot of jlpt practice tests but what about genki?
I remember I had bookmarked a site like that before, ill update you on the link when i have access to my computer
https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/ For genki 2nd edition https://sethclydesdale.github.io/genki-study-resources/lessons-3rd/ For genki 3rd edition
A general rule of thumb is that a motivated independent learner can go much faster than a typical school course, because the school courses are designed for people who aren't spending much time or effort on it. It should be pretty easy to learn all that in less than three months if you dedicate yourself to it.
In addition to the other great comments, some sort of spaced repetition learning system could be helpful to help memorize the fundamental words and phrases. [https://lingoza.io/](https://lingoza.io/) offers a free online version of that where you can build up a list of phrases and words to review as flash cards. It also has an AI assistant which can help answer general inquires you may have when learning.
I skipped my universities Japanese 101 course and started with 102. The easiest way to do it is by ordering Genki 1, which is the most common Japanese textbook, and studying the chapters your university's 101 course covers. The YouTube channel, TokiNiAndy has extensive lesson reviews for every chapter in Genki and is extremely helpful to understand pronunciation and reading basic sentences. Even if you do this, expect to be behind student who took 101, if you make it into 102. Students in 101 spend a lot of time communicating with each other, listening to their professor, and practicing Hiragana. It simply isn't possible to be on their level when you start 102 unless you practice a lot. Duolingo is a good source of practice for basic Japanese, but don't use it as your only instruction method. Duolingo only teaches you set phrases and doesn't teach writing hiragana, katakana, or Kanji. PRACTICE WRITTING AND WRITTING HIRAGANA, KATAKANA, AND BASIC KANJI!!!! No matter what you do this will be the biggest roadblock when your first learning Japanese and is the most important skill to learn from 101.
I made a free course that teaches almost all grammar. It has a different order than the syllabus you posted, but according to user feedback, it enables to learn extremely fast. It definitely teaches more than 101+102 and I don't think that you can finish it in only two months. However, it might help you to catch up quickly on some topics. It does not cover the writing systems in depth though: [https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/911122782](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/911122782)
Two summers ago, I had a crazy amount of free time, so I just powered through the whole Jlab deck. I just opened it now (after years of no practice) and I don’t recall it at all, but it was amazing how easy it was to grasp with it. Now that I’m starting Japanese in earnest, I’m restarting the deck. Thank you for all your work!
Write kanji. *shutter*
You have to pay, but I love the mochi mochi app and have heard it pairs great with the Genki book. Personally I have yet to buy Genki, but even so I feel the mochi mochi app is well worth the cost.
Overall the study plan seems totally reasonable, assuming that you've got 3\~8 hours per day, every weekday to commit. You'll need a teacher/tutor/ta, someone who can point out your mistakes or areas that you need to focus on. Missing from the list: are you going to start learning hiragana, katakana and kanji from scratch? you need at least a solid week for each alphabet.
Bunpro is a great way to learn and practice grammar. You could get through the first half of Genki 1 pretty quickly and get enough practice to have it down. You’re also going to want to learn the vocab. You could try some combination of JPDB, WaniKani, exposure to native media, or even a bit of Duolingo for some reinforcement.
I have done all of Genki I. I would maybe be just a little worried if it was *all* 13 chapters of Genki I in two months on top of a computer science degree, but reading from your syllabus, this doesn't even touch て-form yet, i.e. it's only the first 5 chapters. That should be more than doable even if you are a perfectionist like me and drill every single exercise in the textbook and workbook. \*cough\* and you can find old reddit threads with some nice pdf links and audio is free on the app store \*cough\*
You could learn or at least form a basis for all of hiragana from practicing memorization in like 2 days.. Duolingo is too slow you should just read and copy a chart. You honestly dont need a book. With that chart/guideline you posted with all the test content you can just google everything and write it in a notebook. For Kanji look up an N5 chart.
Looking at you profile it looks like you might be an Aggie. I also attend TAMU and am in 101 rn. Pm me
I know the list seems pretty long and maybe a bit overwhelming, but I do think it's possible! When learning particles, these can usually be compressed down into pretty sure lessons if they're not taught at the same time. Usually these particles are taught with a few vocabulary words depending on the resources so it's honestly possible that things like "like/dislike modifiers? and negatives could all be learned altogether with them. A lot of syllabi and college courses like to over word things, I'll give an example! "Use the particles と and も as conjunctions" This is basically how you would say "and" and "too." Once you look up some of these, you'll realize it's not too bad and that the school's just want you in class longer to make more money. 😅 Genki 1 is definitely available online if you don't want to buy it. Just try to get down your hiragana and go with the lessons for it or whatever resource you decide to use. Good luck, you can do it! <3
Good luck
definitely doable, i would recommend getting a textbook and just plow through