Learning japanese!

[Drakath]

forget it, I was kindly reminded by our dear friend below why I don't bother with forums

[Javizy]

No offence, G, but big walls of text aren't necessary if you use paragraphs.

[Drakath]

Thank you for your invaluable contribution

[Javizy]

Thank you for your invaluable contribution

That piece of advice would have saved you getting an E on a GCSE English exam. Could be valuable, depending how old you are.

[Drakath]

precisely the reason I had one post when I made this thread. forums are a hub for trolls like you who just bash and bicker. good bye and good riddance

[Javizy]

precisely the reason I had one post when I made this thread. forums are a hub for trolls like you who just bash and bicker. good bye and good riddance

That's slightly dramatic. I wasn't actually being sarcastic in my first post; I, like many others, find it difficult to read giant blocks of text. It's common courtesy to spend the milliseconds it takes to press return, especially when you're asking for advice.

With that behind us, I wouldn't worry too much about your problem. Your main concern is what you're already addressing: learning grammar and vocabulary - the Japanese language. Eventually, you'll reach a point where your ears can discern one syllable from the next, and it's more a case of words you don't know than words you can't understand. It will happen eventually, you just have to keep at it. Don't let yourself get frustrated, but rather go on the assumption that you understand nothing, and anything you can pick up is a bonus.

As for techniques, there's something called shadowing, which you can learn more about here, and I've found very effective to speed up this process, as well as massively improving my accent/intonation. The more you break down and repeat things, the more of the language you're going to understand when it comes to the crunch of full-paced listening.

You also say speaking isn't an option, but as long as you have a microphone and Skype then you'll find an instant gateway at places like The Mixxer. When you're speaking, you have some form of control, since you can ask your partner to repeat things, speak more slowly, explain things to you, etc. Speaking is obviously an important skill in its own right, and a lot of fun, so try it if you can.

So carry on studying vocabulary and grammar, and try to get as much exposure with TV shows, podcasts (try switching to the Japanese iTunes store), and whatever else you have access to. You've got to keep in mind that there are no in betweens with these mediums. You can slow down, reread, and look up words with a book, but an announcer isn't going to wait for you to catch up. Consistency will pay off in the end.