LLearn Japanese

Advice for learning efficiently with a ton of free time?

こんいちわ！I started learning Japanese around 2 weeks ago so I’m still very new. However I have a lot of free time due to being unemployed and would like to study as efficiently as possible. I want to learn so that I can consume Japanese media such as anime, games, vtubers, manga, etc.

So far I’ve used Duolingo for my kana, started the 2k core on Anki @ 6 words/day, and started watching “Japanese From Zero!” due to a recommendation I read here. While doing the last 2 methods, I take several notes in a personal Discord server and plan to keep doing so as I learn more. [Here’s an example.](https://imgur.com/a/lKlQV5l) I make it a point not to include romaji in my notes so that I can ‘force’ myself to read kana faster over time when I review them.

When I’m not studying I often try to immerse myself by translating random things I see online, singing karaoke with romaji for pronunciation practice, watching JP Hololivers, typing things in JP with Microsoft IME, and recently I started a new game on Pocket Monsters Fire Red since I’m very familiar with it overall and the vocabulary should be on the simpler side of things.

Lately I’ve practiced around 5+ hours per day using these various methods. I plan to casually use Duolingo to learn words and keep my streak but primarily stick to Anki and LJFZ! moving forward as these seem to be more useful long term. I did see that Duolingo will be adding Kanji soon though so that’s helpful. Is there anything else you guys would recommend that I can take advantage of daily to further increase my learning or am I on the right path currently? I would appreciate any feedback so that I can build good habits early on rather than later. ありがとうございます！

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Edit: Sorry, this post is already a wall of text but I also wanted to quickly explain how I use Anki to make sure I’m using it correctly. Typically I push “Try again” if I don’t guess the word within a few seconds. I only press “Good” once I can recognize the kana/kanji with no thought. Sometimes I push “try again” even if I know the answer, just to make dang sure that I do when it comes back up. I never touch “Easy” and “Hard” since I’ve heard that’s bad long term. Doing things this way so far has taken me around 20-30min a day with 80-120 reviews on average. I kinda expect the reviews to grow exponentially this way however as I’m only at around 40 cards atm lol

12 comments

  1. IMH, don’t bother with duolingo, it really isn’t worth much. As for textbooks, I personally can recommend the Genki and Quartet series, though JFZ is supposedly good as well, although slower paced.

    BTW: its actually こんにち**は**, as the “wa” is actually the topic particle は, not just a sound of a word.

  2. I suggest checking out this video

    [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgHTx1pNFiU&ab_channel=ToKiniAndy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgHTx1pNFiU&ab_channel=ToKiniAndy)

    He also breaks out a suggested schedule, but if you have extra time maybe use the same ratio but just scale it up.

    My biggest but of advice would be to integrate youtube videos of people giving classes into your study sessions. TokiniAndy who I linked to gives classes based off the Genki textbook, which is what I use so I make sure to check out his videos on each class. My big regret was not doing this earlier. Im sure japanese from zero has someone out there doing equivilent classes for those books.

  3. Be careful. Trying to “immerse” this early on and needing to look up every other word can easily lead to burnout

  4. For a free perspective it seems like you are on the right path. But I’d advise ditching duolingo. Its not the best and you time would probably be spent better elsewhere.

    If you keep with anki you should be good. But one option you might consider is the anki wanikani deck for kanji. Id normally just recommend wanikani for kanji, but from a cost perspective i think the anki deck being free would work well. Since of the resources you meantioned I think kanji will be a bit harder to study.

    I found structuring kanji learning through radicals to be helpful. But there are other ways and I think you might want to find one that works for you. I think in the beginning not knowing kanjo is fine but the longer you go the more benifit there is to knowing kanji. Also starting early helps.

    If japanese from zero works well stick with it. Other free options include tokino andy youtube lessons, tae kims japanese grammer (it has issues, but dont worry about them till as by the time they would become issues youd jave long outgrown it and be relying on more advanced resources anyways for nuance).

    Also there are anime streaming sites that have japanese subtitles, a text log you can skip around in and make home-made anki cards from. Also the ability to slow down speech to 0.75 was a god send early on. I wont link but if you look around, you can find it.

  6. Space things out throughout the day with breaks if you can, or at least avoid doing the entire day’s grammar, say, in one big block. Seeing the same thing again hour or two apart is better for memory than seeing it every two seconds.

  7. I am probably now at the mid-upper beginner stage being about 8 months in and it’s exciting to see the basics come together!

    Also Duolingo was the first app used, then found this subreddit which led me to Anki decks and Wanikani.

    Myself to start again (and I didn’t have a bad start) I would keep Duolingo SOLELY for Hiragana and Katakana and even then after a month I’d ditch it.

    Then you focus on three things IMO SLOWLY especially in the beginning; Vocab, Grammar, and Kanji (once Kanji comes together it makes reading way easier).

    Vocab: Anki decks lots of good ones; Tango N5 and Refold more recently personal favourites, anything that uses full sentence examples. (I don’t try to memorize whole sentences, just for context of the word / seeing it in use)

    Grammar; at the very beginning again would keep it fairly light; Japanese From Zero or Cure Dolly I would again personally start from scratch with. Then maybe after a month to 3, look at a textbook that you can follow along with a Youtuber like Genki. TokiAndy, Game Gengo and others do full reviews of each chapter.

    Kanji: All I’ve ever known is WaniKani so can’t really point to anywhere else but that.

    Doesn’t sound like you’re too far off from the my own path. Looking into in class lessons soon! Good luck and have fun!

  8. Here’s my suggestion:

    – Grind hiragana and katakana (just continuously write the whole alphabet over and over)
    – get a text book such as Genki
    – watch ToKini Andy genki videos as you go with each chapter
    – learn the genki vocabulary as you go (I recommend JPDB, go to the prebuilt decks on JPDB) Anki is also good
    – after about 4 weeks I would start learning more kanji (Remember the Kanji by James Heisig or wanikani is my recommendation)

    Here’s a sample of what your daily routine could look like:

    1. Vocab review + new vocab (Anki or JPDB)
    2. Kanji review + new kanji (RTK + Anki or WaniKani)
    3. Genki textbook grammar lesson
    4. Genki workbook up to where you are
    5. Read an easy book (write down important words)
    6. Write sentences with the grammar and vocab you’re learning

    And then any of the other things you like to do on top of this would be bonus.

    I highly recommend Japanese ammo with Misa on YouTube.

    Also note that for many things, you will need to find methods that work best for you. As time goes on you will make adjustments to your study methods and will get into a good flow. Part of learning is learning what methods work best for you. And you won’t know what’s most efficient for you until you try.

    I hope I could help a little bit. This is just my suggestion. Others may think differently.

  9. Some other stuff you could try in a month or so to keep studying varied and interesting:

    read japanese graded readers on Tadoku
    practice pronunciation with the OJAD
    find a group on discord to practice japanese conversation

    I especially recommend looking for a study buddy whos going at the same pace as you. It keeps you motivated and you can do the “pair work” exercises together.

  11. I originally started with the Genki series which is the most popular resource for beginners. Personally I didn’t find it very engaging since the lesson material seems somewhat geared towards kids, but it’s still a great resource for picking up the essential grammar points.

    If you’re not a fan of Anki, I recommend a website called jpdb. They have thousands of pre-built flash card decks, including one for each of the Genki books. They also include high quality audio recordings for each vocabulary word and their user interface is a bit more intuitive, especially for those who aren’t as tech savvy.

    If you finish the material covered in the Genki series, I’d recommend Quartet I & II as well as regularly consuming whatever form of Japanese media you find the most entertaining. Personally, I enjoy listening to podcasts like Learn Japanese with Noriko and Miku Real Japanese.

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