I almost put this section in Phase #1, because there are so many Ninja Tools that I want to introduce here. However, I was worried that doing so might distract from the focus of the first three phases: (1) Prepare study tools, (2) Learn reading and pronunciation, (3) Build a fluency foundation. Also, I have found that completely immersing yourself in a target language (especially one like Japanese with so many characters that you might not know) can actually be discouraging if you do it too soon. I'm sure that there are a lot of people who disagree with me. Look at AllJapaneseAlltheTime.com. That's like the entire premise of that site.

Once you get to a point where it's not overwhelming, though, an immersive environment can serve as a huge study motivator. Once you truly start living with Japanese, it will seep its way into your life, and studying will become second nature. In my case, for example, my life is now set up in a way that I can't escape Japanese. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to get away from Japanese. I have Japanese friends posting in Japanese on Facebook. I get emails from Japanese newsletters. My IP address is set to Japan. I get emails in Japanese for translation work. I get emails in Japanese from low-level English students. The majority of the books on my Kindle and the movies on my iPad are in Japanese. As a result, even doing something that is “relaxing” turns out to be a form of studying. I tried to do stuff like this when I was at a lower level, but it just stressed me out, to be honest. Instead, I eased into it over time, and it was a nice, fluid transition.

As such, you can take advantage of as much or as little of this information as you'd like. If the idea of setting your PC's settings to Japanese stresses you out, then put it off until you get to a higher level. For the meantime, maybe you could just follow a bunch of Japanese pages on Facebook. Your call.

For those who want to create a 100% immersive environment, though, I have quite a long list of ideas for you…