The following is a review of the Jalup Intermediate and Beginner Decks which are available via the Nihongo Lessons app on iOS or Anki decks anywhere else via this Discord. Disclaimer: I am not in any way connected with the Nihongo Lessons app, Jalup, their creators, etc. This is not a sponsored post.
I’ve stopped and started studying Japanese way too many times in the past, and I have bought way too many textbooks, and spent way too much time using SRS systems that I’d eventually abandon. Jalup is the only SRS that REALLY seems to work well for me. Jalup consists of 5 main decks, and 2 extra decks that are designed to help you read the first chapter of a number of popular manga. I'm only planning on finishing the 5 main decks.
The beginner deck teaches just about all of the grammar from Genki 1 and 2 in roughly the same order over 1000 cards. The emphasis is almost entirely on grammar. You won’t learn a rich and varied vocabulary with the beginner deck, but you will be JUST BARELY capable of proceeding with the intermediate deck. Every Jalup card for the first 5 decks is read by the same native speaker. The beginner cards all have definitions in English.
The intermediate deck contains no English at all. All of the definitions for every word and grammar point are in Japanese. This is incredibly intimidating at first. It was incredibly intimidating after 400 cards. Somewhere around 450 or 500 cards, I got into the groove and found J=>J to be quite fun. As a major caveat, I do not rely solely on these J=>J definitions. I found some of the definitions to be strange and obtuse. However, each card has a link to the superb Nihongo J=>E dictionary app made by the same developer.
One of the features that makes this work at all, is that every single word on every single card is linked back to the card that first introduced it. So, if the current card has a term or grammar point you’ve since forgotten, you can just click on it and go back to original card with that information. This includes all of the words in the definitions. I use this feature a LOT. The linking is the magic with Jalup.
Each deck is divided into 100 Days with 10 new cards introduced per day. I religiously use the app every day and my daily review count is usually between 75 and 100 cards. I spend about an hour to an hour and a half every day on Jalup. If you keep up this pace, you can finish all 5 of the main decks in less than a year and a half.
Every day I learn 10 new words. Every day I read at least 75 Japanese sentences and hear 75 sentences read out loud. I'm actually reading more than 75 sentences because each intermediate card has additional Japanese I can read in the form of definitions. So, Jalup is reading, listening, learning vocabulary, learning grammar, and learning kanji.
Jalup pulls no punches with kanji, and that’s one of my favorite features. The front of the card has no furigana, and kanji begin appearing within the first few beginner cards. I don’t count my review as correct unless I know the complete reading for every word, the meaning of each word, and the meaning of the sentence itself (as best as I can reckon with the tools that I have). The backs of the cards have furigana and are spoken out loud along with the definition.
If you let go of your desire to know each individual kanji’s meaning and readings, Jalup will help teach you how to add them into your brain. Many words made up with kanji (compound or not) are seared into my brain just by encountering them over and over. I did spend some time with WaniKani, but I don’t think that’s necessary to learn all of the vocabulary presented in Jalup.
The five main decks of Jalup introduce 1587 kanji total. That's not the magic 2300, but it's a long way there, and by the time I finish Jalup, I don't expect the next 700 to be too difficult to pick up with daily study, especially since it will be pretty easy for me to read their definitions in native Japanese dictionaries.
WRAP UP:
Do I recommend Jalup for everyone? Hell no. Everyone eventually learns by the methods and manners which make the most sense to them. Jalup is also expensive! I don’t remember the current prices, but it’s at least $100 per deck and maybe $300 or $350 for all of the decks if you buy them as a bundle. However, for me, it’s been worth every damn penny.
Who is Jalup for then? If you read the review above, and it motivates you to want to learn with Jalup, then it may well be for you! The first 100 cards of the beginner deck are available for free on the Nihongo Lessons app. That’s 10 days worth of studying. Also, the price has to be taken into account. It is possible to create your own sentence decks to study with. But I’d much rather pay for someone else to have done all that hard work for me.
After 2000 cards, do I feel like an intermediate learner of Japanese? Yes. But that’s not solely due to Jalup. After finishing the beginner deck I started reading stories in the Satori app, and began watching anime with Japanese subtitles using Yomitan and now Migaku. I also am going through the Quartet books which became very accessible to me after I got pretty deep into the intermediate deck. Every single day I hear new words in the content I immerse with that I didn’t know just a short time before. THAT’s the real motivation.
That said, I don’t expect that I’ll be anything like an Advanced learner after conquering the Advanced deck or an expert or champion after finishing those decks. However, I am positive that completing all 5000 cards will burn hundreds more kanji into my brain and propel me along my Japanese learning journey. At 10 cards a day, that’ll be by the end of July next year!
TLDR: Jalup is a fantastic resource if you have the money and perseverance and want a pre-made n+1 SRS!
by InternetsTad