Learning Japanese

Learning Japanese is easy... not.  (>.>)  I thought it was easy for the longest time, but now that I am years away from my last formal Japanese learning situation, it seems much harder.  I have found some really great free resources and then some really great pay resources.  Granted, I still have not learned Japanese, but I can actually chat online with Japanese people now.  A step up I'd say.  Currently, I do not pay for any of the following services, though I occasionally contemplate ponying up the dough, or whatever that colloquial phrase is, for some of them.  Although I will most likely also create a LiveBinder or some other better organized guide, for now, here are some of the resources I am using:

• Anki - Spaced Repetition Flashcards
• This program is great.  You have a certain number of cards to learn each day in addition to the cards you must review.  The system times the review of each card for maximum memory retention.  If a card is easy for you to remember, you won't have to review it for a while.  Didn't learn something?  It will be reviewed immediately.  
• Decks I'm using:
• Japanese Core 2000
• Core10Kv4
• JALUP RTK Mod
• Heisig's Remembering the Kanji 6th Edition
• Complete Japanese Sentences

• Remembering the Kanji 1
• This is a book by James W. Heisig on "how not to forget the meaning and writing of Japanese characters."  I'm having a little bit of trouble with it, but it really is helping me remember kanji better.  Some don't like it as it has you learn some kanji that are not used very often for the sake of learning other kanji.  The JALUP RTK Mod Anki deck has taken out the unnecessary kanji for you though.  I didn't discover this until I was hundreds of kanji in, so I'm kind of starting over a bit.  Check out the JALUP website for more info on the mod, or the Reviewing the Kanji website for more info on the book.

• Memrise
• Memrise is an app and a website that does pretty much the same thing as Anki, but you "grow a garden" with your reviewing.  When you need to review something, you will need to water that flower.  I love gardening and games, so I use this plus Anki.  I would suggest the Learn Basic Japanese course and the JLPT series by BenWhately.  I'm still on N5 part 1, but there are additional parts.  Memrise could use more Japanese courses, but it's still great.

•  Tae Kim's Guide to Grammer
• Free textbook.  'Nuff said.  No really, it is a great free textbook. It is focused on the individual learner and learning Japanese the non-traditional way.  Some chapters even have exercises.  A good paid for textbook series would be the Genki books, but I prefer the non-traditional learning method now that I am not in school.

• Lang-8
• This is one of the best resources ever.  Write a blog entry in Japanese.  Publish it.  Have native Japanese speakers correct it.  It's great.  It's best to also then correct their posts if they are learning your native language.  It's a little nerve wracking for me, but super helpful for those more willing to make mistakes.

• HelloTalk and Interpals
• HelloTalk is an app that does something similar to Lang-8 with somewhat of a social media feel and speaking practice also thrown in.  You make friends, conduct language exchanges, voice chat with each other, and correct each other on the languages you are exchanging.  Interpals is similar, but the website version.  It is much more social media-esque than HelloTalk and Lang-8, but it is the browser version.  I still check it out now and then, but HelloTalk is much better.

Alright, these are my current learning programs.  I am also reading Japanese manga and watching Japanese anime.  I plan on actively using the anime to learn, in addition to watching for fun of course.  Check out Tofugu's blog on Learning Japanese from Anime for more info on his technique.  Not sure what my technique will be yet.