Although you will learn a lot of Japanese in Phase #2, it's essentially just prep work. You're picking up the mental faculties that will allow you to fly through your acquisition of Japanese.

If we were flying to the moon, for example, the first thing we would need to do is gather materials and information—anything that we might need to know about how to get to the moon, along with tons of raw materials and equipment. This is Phase #1. Then we'd need to build our spaceship. This is Phase #2. And now that it's complete, all that's left is the actual trip—Phase #3. So let's talk about takeoff.

This phase will take up the bulk of your first year's Japanese studies. Assuming you've made it through Phase #2, you've already learned all of the kanji and are an amazing all-around person. You've already switched out all of your music and TV shows for Japanese podcasts. You've already set up your computer to avoid distractions and help you learn Japanese. You've already got a stack of grammar study materials just waiting for you to dive into them. You've already laid all the groundwork necessary in order for you to become fluent in Japanese at an incredible rate.

I'm just going to warn you now: Like Phase #2, it will be incredibly hard to make it through Phase #3 without hitting any major speed bumps. It's difficult, because it's going to require that you study—and complete—certain items every single day. No weekends off. No holidays. No exceptions.

That said, feel free to adjust the goals and landmarks that I present here so that they fit with your personal approach to Japanese. Yes, it will require an enormous amount of discipline to complete everything in this guide. However, we don't want to burn out from overburdening ourselves. Only you know how much time you can truly dedicate to your Japanese studies on a day-to-day basis. I can tell you one thing, though, a principle that is underlying every page of this book: No one becomes fluent in a language by studying intermittently. To become a master of anything you have to do it consistently over a long period of time. In fact, “master" is probably the wrong word, because we're not trying to control anything. Rather, we want to form a symbiotic relationship with Japanese. We want to integrate it into our lives, to not only challenge us, but to interest and entertain us as well.

It certainly might not feel this way, but once you enter Phase #3, every progressive day of studying will be easier than the day that came before it.

I remember a few years ago, I was studying for JLPT N2, and I was feeling pretty discouraged about the sheer number of grammatical constructions possible in Japanese. “How am I supposed to remember all of these?!" I thought. In other words, I was being a total Negative Nancy, because I didn't feel up to the challenge.

Fast forward to today. If I look through a JLPT N2 grammar book, the grammar functions seem quite simple. I almost forget what was so difficult about them back then, because now the meaning seems quite obvious for a lot of things. Now my increased overall understanding of Japanese makes it much easier and faster for me to process new bits of grammar, vocabulary, slang, colloquialisms, kanji combos, etc. I didn't realize it back then, but this “processing speed" had been increasing ever since I committed to studying Japanese on a daily basis over a long period of time, ever since I formed…