A few questions for those studying/studied Japanese

[EX_cavate]

For a little context, I started taking Japanese classes at a nearby community college during my junior year of high school because a friend told me that certain college classes at this community college were basically free for high school students. I'm a freshman in college now and i'm taking a conversational class at the moment. I feel that my kanji skills (reading and writing them) are deteriorating pretty quickly but now i'm able to hold a decent conversation with someone in Japanese for a decent amount of time.

Anyway, how long have you been studying for and how are you studying? (like taking classes, online, through a friend, by yourself, etc.)

Have you/are you doing any translations? If so, how accurate was your translation?

If someone were to bring you to Japan for, lets say a week or two, would you be able to get around?

If you're not actively studying at the moment, how do you make sure your Japanese skills don't decay?

I've reached the point in my studying where I know when some of the subtitles are wrong, but not enough to watch shows without subtitles.

Sorry if these questions don't make sense, i'll try to explain them if needed.

On a side note, I'd love to help this community with translations but i'm nowhere near confident in my Japanese at the moment. I really hope I can help with translations in the future.

[Naryoril]

Well, i first studied when i was a child, maybe 12 to 14 years old, i had private lessons for 2 or 3 years. Then i didn't do anything for roughly 13 years, apart from some self studying attempts, which all ended with "i'll do it tomorrow"...
After playing im@s 2 for about 100 hours i actually wanted to really understand the story, so i enlisted to a class, this way i couldn't push it to "tomorrow". After about a year i switched to private lessons (which i wanted from the start, but the only teacher i found that didn't take the equivalent of 100 USD per hour, was fully booked when i asked, that teacher got a free slot by then), and continued the lessons there for about 2 years or so. Unfortunately, the teacher went back to japan since her husband got a job there, and we continued the lessons over Skype for a while, until she got pregnant. She said she'd contact me after a baby break, but i never heard back from her, i had the impression she wanted to stop these lessons anyway, so i didn't pester her about it.

On top of that i have been using wanikani.com to learn reading kanji for several years now, that's the only remaining real studies i'm duing atm, although that's more maintenance by now since there is no new stuff coming (i reached the end).

To keep and sharpen my Japanese skills i play games and read manga and light novels in japanese. Thanks to wanikani and that, reading is by far my strongest skill, i'd say listening is the weakest.

And yes, i'm easily able to get around in Japan. Maybe i should take the JLPT N3 or even N2, it definitely wouldn't hurt if i had it.

As for translations: The only thing i did was a relatively literal translation of Yukiho's OfA Ex episodes. I used them as an exercise and asked my japanese teacher about any points that were unclear to me.
http://forum.project-imas.com/index.php/topic,2173.0.html

[EX_cavate]

Thanks for responding! I posted this because I wanted to know where I stand with my progress compared to others learning the language. Sorry for taking so long to respond as well, I've wanted to for awhile but I always forget/school takes up almost all of my time. I'll check out wanikani as well! The conversational Japanese class I just took was mainly speaking and remembering vocabulary and I'm planning on taking the next level of Japanese offered at my school.

[Verita V.]

Still need more testimonies for reference? Let me share one.

Q : Anyway, how long have you been studying for and how are you studying? (like taking classes, online, through a friend, by yourself, etc.)
A : I've been studying by myself for almost 5 years, started around early 2011 but had a hiatus in 2013. Studying alone is the only option I have since the beginning of my study as no one was willing to teach even by now. Thank goodness for the internets and the massive amount of e-books circulating in it; Tae Kim's, Nihongo Sou Matome, Shin Kanzen Master are amongst the all e-books I have that I'd recommend highly.

Q : Have you/are you doing any translations? If so, how accurate was your translation?
Q : If someone were to bring you to Japan for, lets say a week or two, would you be able to get around?
A : Never did any translations and never have been to Japan, but if you're asking my self evaluation, then I say that I'm confident that my skill is around intermediate. I took 2 mock tests from a Japanese lecturer and she claimed that I could pass JLPT N3 with ease. Also I've had conversations with Japanese tourists few times and we understand each other without problems.

Q : If you're not actively studying at the moment, how do you make sure your Japanese skills don't decay?
A : Reading Japanese news online in or watching raw anime. If my ears are failing me (which happens easily while watching fantasy and sci-fi anime), then I'd resort to switch on Japanese subtitles first, and switch to English subtitles intermittently as a last resort.

On a side note, I'd love to help this community with translations but i'm nowhere near confident in my Japanese at the moment. I really hope I can help with translations in the future.

We hope you do, too. Better late than never. Im@s 1 hasn't been completely translated after nearly 10 years since its release, so there's one thing to do.