Hi everyone.
I am learning Japanese since 2 years +, I have 2 hours of Japanese lessons per week (finished Minna no Nihongo 1 and 2 and Minna no Nihongo Chukyu 1), I am trying to play games in japanese, read manga and I listen to a lot of JPOP 😉
I am also using ANKI, and I might be addicted to it. Sin
Since the beginning of my journey I have been using ANKI on a daily basis – I didn’t skip a single day of reviews. I made some of my own decks based on some handbooks (but different than mentioned above). I have finished following decks
* JLPT-N1 words in jisho.org
* JLPT-N2 words in jisho.org
* JLPT-N3 words in jisho.org
* JLPT-N4 words in jisho.org
* JLPT-N5 words in jisho.org
* Minna no Nihongo 1 & 2 (Chapters 1-50)
* Japanese V2K – Visual Novel, Anime, Manga, LN Vocab
* Onomato Project Japanese
* Vocabulary Core Anime
* Wanikani Ultimate 2: Electric Boogaloo
* みんなの日本語中級
* Core 2000
* JLPT Tango N3
* JLPT Tango N4 Omega
For two years, it took me around 2 hours to complete reviews for a day, since a few months it takes me around 45 minutes daily, but now I am mostly reviewing old cards, not adding anything new. I can play some simple games like 僕の夏休み or 怪獣が出る金曜日, now I am going throug Yakuza Kenzan – and it is a bit hard, but I grasp general plot. When I try to read a book like Kikis delivery service it is hard, there are plenty of words I don’t understand, but I could follow more or less the plot.
Am I satisfied with my current Japanese level ? No – I can read simple manga which is aimed either for kids (Dragon Ball SD, Shirokuma Cafe, Yotsubato) or for adults (you know what I mean 😉 ).
Can I speak ? Well, I can but I haven’t talk with anyone other than my teacher.
My listening skills are meh – I have tried to watch some simple anime like Kotaro Lives Alone, Way of the House Husband or Aggretsuko but without subtitles and constant pausing it is hard for me to understand anything.
In my situation, does anki have outlived its usefulness ?
What can I do to improve my language skills ?
More anki (which decks do you recommend) ? More anime (which one ? )
I am reluctant to speak with japanese people – I don’t like speaking to strangers and I don’t feel that I can speak very well.
I want to learn Japanese to play video games 🙂
5 comments
Anki is pretty much always going to be useful. If it’s taking up too much time, keep doing reviews but stop doing new cards, or at least do fewer. If you ever quit doing your reviews it’s best to be sure you’re done for good first. Anki is merciless to returnees.
I think Anki has outlived its usefulness in your case. The time you spent on it could be put toward reading. Also, the nature of word memorization means that you are spending time and energy learning words/kanji you simply don’t require – especially if your main motivation is gaming. Old habits die hard. You might want to consider making a “final” Anki deck which includes a few hundred words that you really want/need to master from all the other decks you have, and just limit yourself to that deck until it’s minimal time to review. This is a way to decouple and spend your study time on more interesting and more valuable pursuits.
Anki is useful no matter your level, it’s made for memorising and remembering words, and that is exactly what it does best for you.
With all respect, may I ask if you still have time for a life besides this?
you can stop and start back whenever imo. I took a few months off and it made me realise how useful it really was for me, so I went back to it. Now, I’m taking another break since I want to relax after grinding for the JLPT. You can turn off reviews within the options of a deck so that when and if you do wanna come back to it you can and the reviews won’t be crazy.