Apricot WebコミュのHow I practice Japanese (For Japanese learners)

Many people often ask me "how is your Japanese so good?"
First of all, I don't really think my Japanese is good at all.. I still have a lot to learn...
but anyways, I thought I would share some things on how I recently practice on Japanese.

First of all, it is not easy, it takes time and dedication

I often see people who are "learning Japanese" and not take it seriously.
if you only want to have fun and talk to Japanese people, you can close this page and stop reading right now. It is not for you.
If you just want to be cool and and impress other people. You can stop also, this isn't for you as well.

Okay, with that aside, I think Rikaichan will help any Japanese learners
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/

Its a wonderful little tool that translates Japanese words on your web browser.
With Rikaichan, You can now surf the net in Japanese since it can translate most words that you don't understand.
I think reading news and various articles help a lot.
Mixi itself have a lot of interesting articles in my opinion.

There are also novels and literatures that you can read for free on the internet.
Aozora Bunko is one, but everything here are books with expired copyright, which means that the books are rather old and the words and kanjis used might not be common therefore difficult.

Another choice will be internet novels, here is the link to one that I use:
http://nnr.netnovel.org/

When I find a word that seems useful, I would write it down on a flash card and paste it on a place where I can always see. (for me I paste it on my work computer)

Other helpful dictionaries I use include.
http://www.alc.co.jp/ -its good that it include sample sentences

http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/ -it includes Japanese-Japanese dictionary which is helpful sometimes

http://www.brothersoft.com/je-dictionary-143539.html
-its Japanese-English only, but good for offline use I guess

Chatting with Japanese people also help a lot, if you chat in Japanese that is :P