Hi everyone,
a couple of weeks ago I (re)started learning Japanese after I stopped it after three weeks earlier this year, the main reason why was because I wasn’t really efficient on my learning method and I just spend hours and hours on the first days and later felt quite bad as I didn’t have as much time available and the “beginning hype” started to fade (like I started to want to start playing video games again and doing other things instead of just learning Japanese 24/7).
This time I made sure to start “slowly” and installed a routine (mainly centered around the Core2k/6k deck and WaniKani) that I think I could follow pretty much anytime even after the end of the summer break (I’m a uni student), I’ll finish my seasonal job in a week and will have much more free time in August.
Therefore I was wondering what I could do to improve my Japanese without risking a burn-out or without installing a routine that I won’t be able to hold later on, obviously I can’t just “immerse” because I barely know like 300 words yet and I feel like it would just be a loss of time and energy, I can’t really up my daily Anki cards aswell as I’m scarred I’ll be overwhelmed after that (I’m currently at 10 new cards per day and waiting a few weeks/months to see if I can raise this number or not).
So what should I do? Learn more grammar? I feel like this would be kind of useless and that I’ll probably forget about it before even being able to use it… I feel like learning vocabulary could be a good things but I don’t really how I should do so, the aim wouldn’t be to effectively learn the words but more of a way to have it somewhere in my mind therefore making it easier when I’ll encounter it in my Anki deck or through something else.
5 comments
You need to avoid the burnout, so that you can keep going *after* august.
Try to build a habit where you do wanikani and anki each day, but at a pace that remains manageable. Sure, do more lessons and review while you can in august, but not too much. In the last week, reduce the number of new items you do each day, to reduce the overall amount of daily reviews before uni starts again.
You need to start learning some grammar. Bunpro is a good recommendation. I also really like the “japanese 80/20 book”. It’s very good at giving a good overview of the grammar for N5/N4. You can probably read it over the whole month. You don’t need to “learn” it per se, just “be aware of the things it contains”.
Also, you need to “apply” all this by reading. You can try the free book from level 0 or 1 from Tadoku [https://tadoku.org/japanese/en/free-books-en/](https://tadoku.org/japanese/en/free-books-en/)
*Beginner here*
the aim wouldn’t be to effectively learn the words but more of a way to have it somewhere in my mind therefore making it easier when I’ll encounter it in my Anki deck
You seem have some to have something in mind already. I think you are suggesting that you want exposure to new material without the pressure of reviewing it before it appears in your Anki. I primarily use Anki as my tester to see if I truly know a term. After I complete all my reviews and new cards if I still want to study more through out the day I usually grab an app like [KanjiTeacher](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kanji-teacher-learn-japanese/id1048445761). There I can grind as much as I want. It is another SRS source but I use it as an Anki I don’t care about as much. The app offers multiple choice so it is a bit softer than Anki and could be a good way to ease yourself into new words/kanji.
I game a lot and there is a lot of free time between games/deaths. If you die look down and answer a question. It isn’t really efficient but I enjoy it.
10 new cards a day is fine. Keep that up for 2 years, and you’ll likely be at N2 level vocab at the end of it all. Aside from that, pick up a beginner resource like Genki or Tae Kim and start drilling grammar.
And don’t forget that forgetting is a natural and arguably neccesary part of the learning process (no pun intended)
Vidya, VNs, Manga, Anime, LNs … consume as much as possible but do what you love the most. I remember playing OoT as my first japanese media after doing core2k6 and having a blast doing every second of that. Don’t stick to theory all the time, if you feel like it take a peek for a few minutes into an manga and try reading a page or two. I’m of the opinion that immersion truly is king.
I only started three month ago but so far I have found some great resources that work for me. Especially using a mix of resources keeps me going. Maybe this provides some sort of value.
WaniKani is doing wonders for me. I try to do it two times a day and the successes of actually remembering the words and kanji kept me motivated. Even on days that I don’t feel like studying I try to at least to a couple of reviews. Usually the next day I feel ready enough to pick up the pace again. So if you like the program trust the process.
I am using duolingo for repetition. I am sure it is not particularly efficient, but finding kanji I learned from wanikani and vice versa actually feels pretty motivating. The gamification and streak motivate me personally.
I am not the type of person that can consistently work through textbooks or grammar guides. But I found the beginner series from cure dolly on YouTube to make grammar points stick pretty efficiently for the beginning. Taking notes helps. You should definitely check out cure dolly!
Additionally I find that even though immersion in the beginning is very hard it is a big motivator. Watching an anime and starting to understand more bits and pieces every time solidifies the learned vocabulary. Try to actively listen for words you might know you will be surprised.
Here are some additional resources I use on some days:
TODAI app: japanese news app with building in dictionary. Horrendous ad Spam though.
Satori Reader: Simple stories with building in dictionary. Only free for a couple of chapters.
Yomuyomu: japanese stories. There is a very simple story about a cat for absolute beginners.
Tanakasan on youtube: everyday conversations with animation
Jisho.org: fantastic dictionary. You can type the sound of words in Romaji and get the corresponding words and kanji.
Anki. But only for words or phrases I really want to remember. Not as a way to aquire vocab. I don’t even do 10 words a day.
Maybe some of these work for you, maybe none work. Remember to have fun and celebrate the little steps.
Sorry for the long post