I've been studying Japanese for 5 months now, and over the last few weeks, I really feel like I've missed a trick. I used to read about and put all the traditional Japanese learning methods on a pedestal. For some reason thinking that learning it is somehow vastly different to how I've learned things in the past. It really isn't.
I left school at 16 with basic GCSEs. By the time I somehow got to university, I would honestly say that my English language abilities were very poor for a person of my age. By the time I finished university, I'd graduated with a first class BA, and a Masters with distinction. In the space of five years, I went from scraping a GCSE English C, to writing a high level Master's thesis. I was working for the course, and was even helping to improve other students dissertations. You can probably tell by just this post alone, that I am by all means not a hugely intelligent person, or even outstanding at English, but I found the right way to continually improve in the area I needed to improve, while others around me stayed the same level. I certainly didn't read a manual on academic English writing. I just kept reading and writing things relevant to what I was doing, every single day without fail. I'd learn something, and then I'd try and use it. Over time, I greatly improved. That was just the written side of my degree, not the practical side in which I went in with absolutely nothing and came out with a very usable skill set.
Obviously, it's a little bit different for Japanese, since you may not have the underlying grammar knowledge, but you can still find ways to express the thing you want to say even if it is a bit clumsy or unnatural. Over time, you will improve and find better ways to express those things. Speaking is challenging, because it requires a different kind of ability (although not hugely different). I don't get enough speaking practice, but with Skype and all that stuff, it really is my own fault.
I don't know if this post is at all useful for anyone, but anyway, read and understand the grammar points and then use them to express the things you want to express. Get someone on Lang-8 or wherever to correct it. Don't just stick to the bullshit they have you writing in textbooks. That stuff will slowly drain your motivation away.
Think about it, why are you writing about blog posts? Write about the girl or guy you want to bang, or something else vastly more interesting to you. In the end, you'll be able to express anything you want. My grammar level is so basic it's laughable, but this morning after reading this thread, I managed to write a blog post in Japanese relating to this discussion. A week later, I'll be able to write something even better. I write a Japanese blog post on Lang-8 every day now and don't bother with the text book exercises, unless I really don't understand something.
Are you studying in Japan, or abroad?
