Postby thegooseking » March 29th, 2017 5:49 pm
Avecerno-san,
I don't know what level you're at, but I hope this helps. There is a lot on offer and a lot of different paths to take through it, so the confusion is understandable. Besides what level you're at, it depends on what your ultimate goal is (i.e. why you want to learn Japanese), what learning style best suits you, how much free time you have, how quickly you want to learn, and so on.
I would try Beginner Season 1. If it's too hard, you can switch to one of the easier courses. If it's too easy, stick with it: It does get harder. Some people find it gets harder too quickly, and if that's the case, you can skip ahead to Season 2, which starts out with review and filling in the blanks, and is a bit easier. Then return to where you left off in Season 1 when you feel more confident.
I recommend the easier courses even if Beginner isn't too hard for you, but if you can manage Beginner, you can pretty much just look at the easier courses and pick and choose the things you think you need clarification on, rather than trying to follow from beginning to end.
Unless you're living in Japan, listen to something harder every so often, like an (upper) intermediate lesson or an audio blog. It doesn't really matter if you don't get everything: just see what you can pick up. The point (for now) is just exposure. Exposure to more 'natural' language that's less designed to be understandable by beginners. It depends on your approach, but I'd say try to listen to something harder at least once a week.
In short, try a bit of everything, but focus on Beginner S1 for now. If that works for you, that's great, but if not, then you can revise your approach. I've heard a lot of more advanced (than me) people say they wish they'd spent more time studying and less time trying to figure out the best way to study, so keep that in mind.
がんばりましょう、
小狼