1. How long should I study? More specifically how much is too little study. Right now I’m just using wanikani and I go until there is nothing more it has for me that day. I wanna make time for my other hobby but I feel like I don’t study enough. I’m about to go pick up genki but I can’t until next paycheck.
2. What’s an overall great anki deck for beginners? I can’t seem to find one that isn’t information overload. I wanna use one cause I hear that wanikani doesn’t teach you everything you need? Should I use an all in one deck or separate kanji and vocab decks?
How many resources should I be using??? I plan on doing wanikani, an anki deck, and genki once I get the money. Is that too little? Too much?
3 comments
Genki Study Plan:
Two or three 45-60 minute study sessions a day are a good goal. Example: Chunk A – vocab, kanji and dialogue; Chunk B – textbook; Chunk C – workbook.
Before studying the chapter, get the vocabulary and kanji (if any) down. Genki marks the vocabulary used in the dialogue, so it’s easy to prepare for.
Try reading the dialogue WITHOUT looking at the English translation. Try to guess the meaning from the pictures and the dialogue prompts. Check to see how you did.
Chunk A: Everyday practice vocabulary, kanji (if any) and dialogue, shadow the audio, review the previous day’s work… you can preview the exercises you’ll be doing so you can brush up on the vocab you’ll need.
Chunk B: Everyday work in one grammar point. Do the associated exercises in the textbook. If it’s a speaking exercises, do both parts.
Chunk C: Do the workbook exercises sometime later.
Don’t forget to do the reading and writing in the back of the textbook. You can get your writing checked on an app like HelloTalk. Do corrections and resubmit. Move on to the next chapter and repeat.
For your first question, I think 30 minutes a day is a good start for a beginner,
Even if it’s 5 mins, doing everyday will at least stimulate your brain. Though with Japanese, you’ll need to go an extra mile just because it’s such a unique language. So study with as much as you feel comfortable with really, the more you study the better! But don’t overwork yourself, otherwise you’ll absorb nothing at that point.
I don’t use anki, so I can’t suggest a good deck,
But I always recommend making your own cards! Whether in Anki or another place, just because it helps you develop whatever you’re learning at the time, and can useful instead of having 1000 cards you don’t understand or know how to use.
And I think that’s a good amount of resources! I usually have flash cards, and wanikani is an amazing resource for a beginner. It gives you a great introduction into kanji, and vocabulary.
While it only has a few lessons from free, I love it. Pair that with anki and a textbook, then it’s good to go! But I also try and use another more direct resource that gives basic lessons to do when you’re not on your main resource. Like Tai Kim, Duolingo, whatever. Even imabi is a good read!
But at the end of the day, don’t be stressed by how’s or what’s! Start studying as soon as possible!
All of the data shows that studying is more effective when done at least a little bit every day. So rather than how much time you should dedicate to studying it’s how often you should study. It doesn’t matter if it’s 5 minutes. Daily repetition is way more productive than sitting down and memorizing things for an hour twice a week.
Also, you need to figure out how much you can handle doing at once. I think there’s been studies on this and it’s not really productive past a certain point because your brain is just going through the motions. I would say do each kanji or vocab word or kana writing practice 2-3 times max in one sitting for an average person. But you can find out what works for you. And I don’t mean don’t study longer than that if you can. By all means study longer if it is productive for you. Just don’t instantly dedicate yourself to an hour every day because that’s hard to stick to.
I honestly find it best to make my own study cards. Download any flash card thing and make your own stuff. It’s another way to study by making them on its own. So I don’t have an anki car recommendation. However if you’re using genki, genki has an app you can download that was free during covid (idk about now) that has flash cards on it separated into groups by chapter. So that should be a little less overwhelming.
Finally, your plan sounds fine to me. I would say to try it out and don’t add more or take anything away for a week or two, after you get a good feel of it. Good luck!