jean5429 - Japanese Quest

[dampingwire]

Do you use any other method for vocabulary/kanji other than anki?

For Kanji I use the Heisig method through Kanji Koohi.

For vocab it's reading and then feeding stuff that seems to matter into anki. As I'm currently working towards JLPT N2, then anything new in a textbook goes into anki. If it's from a novel it might go in when I've had that feeling of "that's the third time I've seen this, why is it not sticking?". If it's from NHK News or similar then it might make it into anki if it's something I should focus on (like expressions related to the weather or phrases that often seem to crop up in relation to the weather, perhaps) otherwise it just has to take it's chances for now. I've tended to skip stories related to either politics or North Korea lately, so I still don't recognise the names of either of the legislative chambers or many of the different names for missiles ...

[jean5429]

I'm finally back to my Japanese Quest and I’ll log here how my past months were! As it is usual for me, there are many ups and downs during my language studies, and I would really appreciate some tips on this subject, if anyone has been through the same feelings and has overcome it. My major problems were cut already, and they were my exaggeration when starting a new cycle. I always start too high, and then the amount of studies quickly becomes too much for me. This time around I’ve started as easy as possible. My goal is to be able to have a solid long term study instead of a high short term study. I’m in no hurry. I’ll put my studies listed to ask for guidance, to serve as a future guide for myself or even for others who feel stuck as me:


The tools I use for my daily studies are:

• Habitica for daily tasks and habit tracking;

• Notion for note taking and overall organization;

• Remembering the Kanji as a companion for Anki Kanji

• A collection of 6 books from a Japanese Basic Level Course for grammar;

• Genki I / II as a companion for Anki phrases and grammar;

• Duolingo for extra vocabulary and practice

• Netflix/Crunchyroll for listening;

• iKnown for vocabulary. This one is new, I’m still trying it.

My daily studies are divided as below:

• Anki Kanji: I review cards and then I add a not religiously fixed amount of cards. It varies from 5 to 20 Kanji. I like to let it more flexible, so I don’t feel overloaded by it; 700/2000

• Anki Phrases: I review phrases from the Japanese Core 2k deck, adding 5 each day; 200/2000

• Duolingo: I do one exercise each day as a daily routine, but I always do more when I feel like I want it; 16/141

• Lesson on textbook: I progress further into my chosen textbook or review previous lessons if I feel like I need it. This way has been the most efficient for me by now; Book 3 out of 6

• Write a text: I put daily on the title, but this one is more a weekly task that I do. I try to post it on iTalk forums for correction (I also did some private classes for conversation on the platform, but from my currency, it became too expensive).

• iKnow: I’ve learned from another log here from genini1, that this is the source from the Japanese Core Phrases, and I decided to try it and I really enjoyed it! It is very well designed, but I’m still trying it out to see if it is a good substitute for Anki Phrases.

Things that I do to keep me motivated (They are not related to my studies, but they have made them possible for me):

• Exercise/Health food: I know that goes without saying, but these are the things that had the most impact on my studies. After changing my diet to a more healthy one and starting to do some daily exercises, my study has increased by far. I knew that these were really important things, but I didn’t know in practice how much it would impact. And I’m not really talking about drastic changes, I exercise as low as 15 min. a day and I just try to choose more vegetables and fruits over other foods. I’ve also started to cook myself everyday instead of buying ready meals or iFood meals;

• Personal development books: Miracle Morning, Power of Habit, and others. Those books have helped me organize my routine to fit more things in, especially during the intervals which were usually spent on social media or other stuff that I don’t really know what were. It is very interesting how much time I lose every day doing nothing at all if I don’t keep my eye open. So I try to sleep less (not not something surreal, just keep track of it, like 7 to 8 hours, never exaggerating);

• Meditation: I think this has helped me to focus on what matters the most to me;

Well, that’s all I’ve been doing, I hope it isn’t too long and that I didn’t go too far from the main topic of the discussion, which is the language progressing log.
I’d love to hear feedback from you guys and also what other tools I can use, I always like to vary and try different methods.

Thank you so much!

[jean5429]

It has been quite a while before posting here again, but it was mostly because I lost my password to access the forum . I tried to contact the board administrator without any success, so I gave up . However, just recently, I tried again, and the password came to my mind out of nowhere. Maybe it was my time to get back into logging!

I didn’t improve much in the years 2021 and 2022; I spent them mostly revisiting the content I already knew in the language. But this year, I started having some private classes again, and it was fun I found a teacher whom I had a great connection with, so the classes were evolving pretty fast. Because of that, I have decided to attend the N4 test in the mid-year. I haven’t received the results yet, but if I didn’t pass, I intend to try again at the end of the year.

My studies are mostly focused on the classes now, and on the book みんなの日本語(minna no nihongo), which is a very nice book! An interesting thing about it: the audio is faster than the N4 exam audios, so if we can understand it, the exam audios will be easy!

I am still on chapter 14 out of 25 chapters of the first book. The recommendations are to take the N4 exam after finishing the 2nd book, but I wanted to give it a shot before finishing it, and I believe it went better than I expected.

I am really glad about my progress in the Japanese language over those almost 7 years of learning. I wanted to share that, now that I have a teacher whom I have a good connection with, it seems that the progression comes smoothly every week. So, I suggest for those who are not feeling the progress when only studying by themselves, to try to find a private teacher. And even if a private teacher didn’t work well on the first try, change to someone else.
Since we learn in different ways, teachers may also teach differently, and it may be hard to find someone aligned with our way of learning (or someone who can actively identify it and change the classes accordingly: verbal, kinesthetic, visual, auditory, logical, and so on). I am currently on a journey to better understand my ways of learning. It feels like I am more into the logical/visual/writing way. I don’t really know in which category writing goes, but it is most effective for me when I write down notes from the classes, even if I never touch those notes again. The handwriting thing really helps me internalize the information.

Thanks for reading!