What is the best way to learn Japanese vocabulary?

9 comments

1. There are many different avenues that you can take either separately or at the same time.

   (Flash Cards rote memorization)

   Anki which is a flashcard and SRS (Space Repetition System) is crucial in the beginning. It helps you not forget vocabulary.

   Memrise is an app as well that is popular. It is a bit more stylish than Anki but I feel it isn’t as easy to make detailed cards.

   (Reading language context)

   Graded readers are also a good option. There are free resources online. Youtube has tons of videos with all levels.

   Tea Kims guide (Google: Tea Kims guide pdf) Vocab/ grammar/ and useful sentences.

   **No matter where you learn the new vocab the main way to study vocabulary is to use it every day.** Don’t just say “This is a pen, これはペンです。”

   Learn basic phrases that you can attach your new vocabulary to so you can ask tutors, friends, or yourself.

   このペン好きですか。Kono pen sukidesuka. You this pen like?

   この（This）ペン（pen) すき（like) か（question marker)

   You know what you want to say so find phrases that are useful to you and incorporate the new vocabulary into your everyday practice.

2. Anki is always an option. Look for decks that are your level, for basic vocabulary.

   One option is also to learn kanji and, with it, to learn vocabulary that uses that kanji. Plenty of material like that for free on the internet, I believe.

   One thing that is important is learning how to retain the knowledge you’ll acquire. You can easily find plenty of “top 1k most important words in Japanese” lists out there, but just reading words with no context won’t be very helpful, I think.

   If you like books, you can try looking for books with children’s stories, I remember really liking レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー, which is a series of graded readers for different levels.

3. ANKI

4. Assuming you’re a complete beginner, the best way to pick up vocab would be around you. Find things and think, “what would this be in Japanese?” You then pick up a Jisho 辞書 (Dictionary) then find the Japanese equivalent of it.

   Here’s my favourite, hands down the best. (100% Free; Online)

   [https://jisho.org/](https://jisho.org/)

   ​

   When you have a word, kanji or kana, I recommend making a flashcard out of it using Anki. A free and popular tool used by many for this reason. You make a deck, or find one made by others on their deck repo., and then make a card.

   ​

   This is my Template for Kanji or Kana vocab.

   (Front Side)

   図書館　[Kana or Kanji Word]

   ​

   **Kana**　

   としょかん　[If it’s kanji, add the kana form as a reminder of how it’s pronounced]

   ​

   **Example**

   図書館へ行きました。[Make an example sentence with the word to memorise its usage]

   (If you can, of course. If you need help with regular grammar, you can DM and I can help.)

   ​

   (Back side)

   Library [English equivalent of the word]

   ​

   **Example**

   I went to the library. [Translated example]

   ​

   If you need a head start with words, you can start off with the kanji for numbers or words that you may already know.

   一；二；三；四；五；六；七；八；九；十　（１−１０）

   ペン（Pen）パン（Bread）ドア（Door）こんにちは（Hello；Good afternoon）こんばんは (Good Evening) おはよう（Good morning）

5. Most people are going to tell you Anki, but I’ll throw in a caveat.

   I’ve had a lot more luck remembering words if I’ve actually used them _in a meaningful way._

   The point of language is, of course, to communicate. And words are simply tools to that end. But there’s not much use in having a tool if you don’t know how to use it.

   Flash cards are great, but I would highly recommend finding a language exchange partner/pen pal to actually engage with and use the words you learn. Experience is above and beyond all the best teacher, even when it comes to vocabulary.

6. Memrise is working really well for me

7. Thank you for all the help

8. If you live in a city with a university, borrowing Japanese textbooks from their library may be an option. This is what I did 22 years ago when I started (it was hard back then to find online resources).

9. I use a 2000 words flashcard deck with Anki.