I’m trying it with the simple stories but there are still many words I don’t know (on average, 1-2 words per sentence).
Should I:
1. Skip Satori Reader for now. I’m not ready.
2. Just go through the content using the in-app dictionary and translations. Read it as you would read any other book.
3. Pre-mine words and maybe sentences so that by the time I read a story I should know most of the words already.
4. Mine words and sentences as I read the stories.
6 comments
If it’s too many you might be better served focusing on Anki a bit more and doing prebuilt decks focused around N5-4, or Genki 1 and 2 until you feel more comfortable with ambiguity.
Satori reader does its best to repeat a lot of words as well through the same story. Start with Jam Maker or the Radio story, and while you may not recognize words to start, as you progress you’ll see a lot of them repeated over and over.
Stick with it, I was about where you were at or even worse here and there to start and I came out of The Jam Maker much more confident!
I actually recommend their Grammar in a Nutshell Series as well!
I had this issue as well. I went hard on an N5 and N4 vocab deck and came back to satori a few months later. I think it was the best decision I could have made.
One to 2 words per sentence is not that much. I used to look up practically every word when I first started.
Because it’s not that much, you might get away with trying to infer the meaning from context and only add the words to srs when you really feel you don’t understand the word.
You could always go through the same story multiple times until it feels like you get it without having to look anything up
You’re always gonna have 1-2 words a sentence you don’t know for as long as you’re learning the language. If you know more, you’re reading a story that’s too easy for you. I’m reading about the subway attacks in Tokyo on Satori reader right now, and I also have to look up 1-4 words per sentence. It would be very weird for me to skip reading all together because of it!
Satori Reader has its own SRS (flashcard) app, so you can just save the words and review the words afterward as part of your daily reviews, then reread the story afterward.
Alternatively, you can export your saved words as an CSV file and then import them into Anki.
In general, though, I recommend what other people are suggestion: learning the most common 2k words, like going through the Tango N5 and N4 decks, as well as reading a grammar guide.
Then read Satori Reader afterward. It still won’t be easy to read, but you’ll have an easier time because you know your basic vocabulary.
When I was going through Satori Reader, my daily routine was to reread a few chapters from the day before, then read several new ones. Many times, sentences that I had trouble reading from the day before, would suddenly click and make sense the next day.
Then later, at my computer, I’d sentence mine from the chapters that I had already read. I’d just reread it again and when I spot a word I wanted to learn, I’d add the word and the sentence plus the audio, to my Anki card. I’d also add any translation or grammar notes to my card as well.