I’ve been studying pretty diligently for about 6 months, and I think I’ve done a good job structuring my study time so far, but there are so many resources and I’m a little overwhelmed! Looking for advice from more advanced learners on how I can best use my time.
I have an Italki tutor that I started seeing for 1 hour, 2x a week. I’m Level 5 on Wanikani. I use Anki for all new vocabulary and practice sentences. This is the core of my routine.
After catching up on SRS I usually review the slides from my lessons, listen to beginner friendly podcasts, read excerpts from “A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar”, pick away at Genki 1 (currently on chapter 5), write practice sentences, and generally just google any random question that pops up. I do this until I get bored and then call it a day.
It’s a lot of fun to bounce around like this, but I feel like I need more structure? My grammar really needs some work. Should I refocus on Genki? Should I prioritize native content like podcasts and graded readers and just look things up as they come? Should I focus on language producation (via writing) instead of just comprehension?
If it helps, my focus is on casual speaking and listening comprehension. Reading is also important, but maybe a bit less. I just want to travel in Japan and make friends at the スケーターパーク and play 日本限定ビデオゲーム! I want to put together a more focused study routine to get me there faster.
ご協力ありがとうございました！
5 comments
I found it very helpful to blast through grammar really quickly (I’m like 90% of the way through Japanese the Manga Way, which I highly recommend for self study) and focus on consuming native material. Podcasts and graded readers are great, the youtube channel Comprehensible Japanese is *fantastic,* and I’ve also just been watching anime with Japanese subs even though I can’t understand most of what’s being said (actively engaged with watching and trying to figure out what’s being said, often not getting the whole meaning because my vocabulary is very small but it’s still helpful to pick out grammar points, verb and adjective conjugations, etc)
Just talked to my sister (masters degree in special education) today. To be brief she said if you were studying 30-40 minutes a day here’s a handful of things to stay on track.
– Set relevant goals like learning 10 new words a week that pertain to things you want to talk about (your career, hobbies, etc.)
– Dedicate time to writing words and making sentences, writing them 5-10-15 times depending on what works for you.
– Practice reading material relevant to your interests in the same way.
– Categorize your learning. If you’re learning vocab for a week make sure all the words pertain to a specific subject such as cooking, work, sports, whatever.
– Lastly keep track of what works for you and understand how you learn best and make adjustments freely.
Sorry if this is all useless just figured I’d share it if it helps anyone or makes your think of something else even. Best of luck champ.
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I think you should focus on Genki. For one, it’s designed to be used and sufficient as a sole resource (technically it’s designed for a classroom setting, but it works well for self study too and you mentioned you had a tutor).
Also, you absolutely need to know the grammar. Once you know the basic grammar in theory you can understand most sentences (from examples in other learning resources or from graded readers or native content), you just need to look up some words. I think that makes everything else (learning vocab, listening comprehension,..) easier and more efficient.
Rather than critiquing what you’re working on, here’s a general tip on what helped me organize my studying: checklists. I make weekly checklists that have what I want to do and how often I want to do it per week. Sometimes I don’t finish everything, but that’s okay because it keeps me on track as to what I’m studying to make sure that I’m not only focusing on one thing over the other. As basics, for example, I include grammar three times a week (switching off from textbook/YouTube lessons every other week) and kanji three times a week. Anki isn’t in this checklist because it’s just a part of my daily routine now.