In today’s episode of doing anything-but-studying, I wanted to write a bit about how I currently divided my studying, yay!
SRS
I log all my terms into Renshuu, which I absolutely love and will recommend to anyone who will hear about it. It’s a lovely all-in-one app for vocab, kanji and grammar, all items are crosslinked, you can make custom decks, and the community is also very nice and friendly.
I love making vocab lists, so whenever I feel like studying-but-not-actually-studying I often start transcribing a list. I made lists for almost all my textbooks that weren’t already on Renshuu.
Current streak: 160 days
My schedules are currently setup like this:
Vocab
- (with JPN ↔ Meaning vector, Sentence Questions on)
- N3 words
- Core2K/Kaishi 1.5K words
- Ace Attorney words (that’s a long time project, currently learning the vocab for Case 2)
- Book Clubs (from here, what I’m currently reading and Renshuu’s book club)
- 単語 (merged schedule with anything I ever learned)
- (with Kanji → Kana vector)
- Vocab readings (selected words where I forget how they are pronounced, usually rare readings)
Kanji
- (with Meaning, Onyomi and Kunyomi vector)
- Kaishi Kanji (to accompany the vocab)
- 漢字 (merged schedule with anything I ever learned, also random kanji finds in the wild go here)
- (with Writing vector)
- 漢字 (N5-N4 kanji to practice writing)
Grammar
- (with Multiple Choice and Sentence Jumble questions)
- 文法 (merged schedule with anything I ever learned)
I think it takes me about 30-60 minutes a day. Currently I have about 300 reviews total per day. I do most of them before I start work, and then some in my break and after I get off.
I’m trying to add 5-10 new words in each uncompleted schedule, about 15-20 total per day. Though currently I’m taking it slower again until the reviews go down a bit.
Textbooks and Grammar
Textbooks
- Genki: Working my way through Vol. 2 to re-inforce grammar and practice writing. I’ve been with Genki for a long time – I like its structure but it would really be nicer with a study buddy for the partner exercises.
- Sou Matome N4: Using this as a checkpoint marker to see which points I should practice more.
- Nihongo Challenge N5-N4: Using this to practice Kanji writing (why is production so hard?).
- I’ll probably start with Shin Kanzen N3 Grammar soon, grammar is still the thing that I feel like having the least control over in terms of my abilities.
Grammar Resources
- Japanese The Manga Way: Not really using this as a lookup but more a bedside read to review a few grammar points with examples. I really like the way it’s informally written and the examples are super helpful.
- A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar: I like it, I think it’s a valuable resource, but sometimes it’s written in a way that I read an explanation 3 times and still don’t get it. The example sentences though are excellent.
- Google anything else, or paste it into ChatGPT and then keep arguing with it why it tells me contradicting things sigh.
Reading
I basically rotate between 3-5 books (mostly manga), whatever I feel most like reading at the moment. When I have to travel to the city (live in a metropol region, I usually take my kindle to read my novel). Recently it’s been busy and I’ve been so tired, but otherwise I try to read at least an hour a day (better than nothing, I guess?)
I read everything digitally, kindle or tablet. I buy from Amazon JP because I’m lazy and have never figured Bookwalker out. The dictionary function for Kindle app is meh, but I managed to import JMdict on my Kindle at least.
I do like physical books, but I’m - not very tidy, so having books always turns into a mess (my nightstand table is already cluttered with the books above). I saw some people are avid (text)book collectors, I guess I would be the same way, but I had to move often in the last years and I just can’t deal anymore with moving tons of books around.
As to what I productively did for learning, I agreed/decided now that N3 is probably better to aim for in December. Took this as an excuse to buy new textbooks
After finishing Genki, I should think what textbook I want to follow next, Quartet would be obvious since I liked Genki but probably I’m going with Tobira due to cost (Quartet would be 4 books, ie. 2 textbooks + 2 workbooks), Tobira only 2 (1 textbook plus 1 grammar workbook, I don’t think I need the kanji workbook).
I also started watching はじめてのおつかい S1 | L20, this time in Japanese. It’s super easy to understand and the kids are adorable. I loved the kid in the 2nd episode, her struggle was so real lol. I think it’s a great series to watch for beginners, since it doesn’t really have a plot, and the narrator is describing exactly what is shown on the screen.