How should one practice Japanese...?

[Liuqahs15]

Hey, everyone. I've been studying Japanese for a little while, and I'm a little stuck now because I've learned a ton of verb conjugations, but now I want to stop and practice using them. The problem is, I have no idea how to practice Japanese. I have no one to speak to, and I've never truly spoken a sentence of it to anyone, though I know enough grammar to form plenty of them. The most practice I've done is writing little paragraphs, but this is only slightly better than nothing since I have no one to check them. I listen to podcasts and videos, but those are mostly meaningless experiences since I don't know enough words for anything I hear to matter. I can't read Kanji yet, so reading anything is almost completely impossible. Is there any way one can actually practice Japanese other than looking at flashcards and a notebook all day?

 

[Half-n-Half]

Lang-8 is a website where you can write diary entries in your target language that gets corrected by native speakers who are learning your language. In return, you correct their entries.

 

[forgottenmems]

By picking a book or lyrics of a piece of music you like and translating them to learn new words and grammar constructs. It's the easiest/most painfree way of learning Japanese that I know.

 

[OsakaMarie]

You could find a penpal or 'chat pal' on SharedTalk (free): Language Exchange Community - Practice Foreign Languages

For the kanji learning, I strongly suggest the DS game Kakitori kun: Amazon.com: Tadashii Kanji Kakitori Kun Kanken Taisaku [Japanese import video game]: Video Games

Hope that helps!