Continuing learning Japanese

Hey guys. I need some advice/help on how to learn Japanese. I looked around on here a bit already and couldn't really find many answers, so I'm hoping if I ask, someone can answer or point me in the right direction.

I'm currently in my final semester of my Bachelor's degree at a university in California, and have almost finished my second semester of Japanese. I'm really interested in the language and would like to continue learning how to understand/speak it, but my problem is that my only resource for learning (currently) is the class I'm taking in school. Once this semester ends, I'll be heading off to grad school and don't think I'll have the chance/time to take another full course on the subject.

So here's what I'm wondering: does anyone know of any good resources for someone to learn the language who's already taken two semesters of intro classes?

People say to watch anime. This doesn't seem to work. All I hear is gibberish, basically. I can pick out a few words here and there, but everything else that's being said sounds like a bunch of nonsense. One of the tutors in class told me to try Japanese picture books, but I've heard from other people that these are actually pretty tough.

As far as how I'm doing in class: I get the basics, but it's sometimes hard for me. Grammar and sentence structure is usually pretty straight forward, but I get lost in verb/adjective conjugation, and present/past tenses. I can read and write hiragana without much effort, katakana is a bit harder only because it's used so rarely (at least in my class), and kanji... I can read maybe about half of what I'm supposed to be able to for the class, and out of those writing them is a lot harder. My vocabulary is decent, at least for what we're supposed to know for the class (but much of it is school-oriented words, such as student, class, semester, homework, etc).

So, if anyone can give me any suggestions or point me to any resources on how to keep learning the language after I graduate, I would be grateful. I'd really like to get a lot better at it, and I dread having everything I've learned go to waste because I don't practice and forget all of it.
ありがとう ございます。

Try to set aside time every day for study, even if it's only a half-hour. Time put in is one of the things that makes the most difference.

I presume you have access to the uni library (and will also do so at graduate school) - what textbooks or other sources do they have going? Something that provides plenty of practice drills will help you with your conjugations.
Erin's Challenge, while aimed at a slightly younger age group, is good for beginners/false beginners.

Children's books are a good example of the sort of things people think should be easy, but are not for a second language learner (just think of Dr Seuss, or how people talk to young children). The type of vocabulary and grammar used are different - and unless you particularly enjoy reading kiddy books, it's not necessary to struggle through them. The same goes for anime - if you like watching it, fine, but it's full of dialect/slang/weird vocab/exaggerated speech patterns.

For katakana, just look at any Japanese website, they use it like it has an expiry date. Just from the front page of Rakuten (major shopping website): ランキング、オークション、クーポン、カード、トラベル、タブレットPC、ファッション、スポッツ、ペット、ゲーム、ギフト、バーゲン、セール、アカウント (All these are English derived terms which can be sounded out).

This is usually also the part where I say that non-fiction (particularly where the topic is something you're knowledgeable about in English) is a great practice source, advice that nobody ever seems to take. Watching an anime about cooking may be fun, but watching/reading a beginners guide on cooking is more likely to teach you both a) useful/standard language and b) how to actually make something. (substitute programming, photography, bicycle repair, etc, as you prefer).

Thanks for your quick response nekojita. That sounds like some good advice. I think studying every day is probably the most important, something I don't always do at the moment. I never really thought about looking in the library... I'll check that out. As far as non-fiction goes, my main interest is math (it's what I'm studying in school), but I'm not sure that would be a good subject to read in another language. I'll try to come up with some other ideas.

I second the recommendation of Erin's Challenge. It was a tremendous help to my listening comprehension.
Another thing that I found to be a tremendous help was watching videos with Japanese language subtitles, mostly anime and drama.

You can find plenty of Japanese subtitles here,

D-Addicts :: Subtitles Index

If you want to look into some non-fiction I might start with NHK高校講座 NHK高校講座 | ライブラリー
There aren't, unfortunately, letter-perfect transcripts but the written guidance materials are word-for-word matches to good chunks of the dialogue anyway, and in any case help you follow what's happening.

One advantage to fiction is that you can get a copy in Japanese and a copy in English and compare the two. The number of non-fiction books that are translated is ... very limited... but there's tons of fiction in various formats that has been translated, and in both directions.

A lot of people start with Harry Potter just because it's familiar (and there are audio books of the first four volumes; the Japanese don't go for audiobooks much so that may be more important than it sounds at first!). The manga Yotsubato! and the light novel series キノの旅 are also popular works for people starting to approach native materials.

^ Agreed. I myself am reading Harry Potter as part of my exam reviews. I don't really want to read all my textbooks and use my apps all day every day. I have to use something that interests me and that is Harry Potter

If you're still having trouble with the sort of verb/adjective conjugations you encounter in first year Japanese, you're miles from being able to "read" anything. Go back and review the material you have already been exposed to and drill drill drill until you have a firm grasp of it.

Your 2nd semester means you are in 1st year Japanese right? My memory is foggy, but in my 2nd semester Japanese class we didn't go much beyond learning how to ask directions or ask simple questions at stores. My advice to you would be continue to study using whatever textbook series your school has students in their 3rd-4th semester of Japanese use, such as Genki, Minna no Nihongo, etc. There's no way you will understand anime at your level, and even if you can pick up words or phrases it won't be contributing as much to your understanding as a more basic systematic approach would. That being said, making sure your listening skills don't fall by the wayside, as with many learners of Japanese, is very important.

At this stage of learning, it helps to have lots of exposure to Japanese speech, more as background noise than anything you are consciously trying to listen to and understand, as it will help tremendously to acclimate your brain to Japanese pronunciation and the natural rhythms and intimations of speech.