Study log or self-punishment for lack of accountability?
So yea, hi. Welcome on in since I’m sharing this with the public. I have a long, unsuccessful history with learning Japanese so why not show everyone why that is. 
For why?
I’m back in the swing of things on the learning front. I’m doing this with the goal of taking the plunge of attending language school in Japan in April 2024. Didn’t get my MEXT 2024 Scholarship so I guess this is the next best option.
SO.
I took courses back in university and have gone up to midway through Nakama 2. So extremely rusty that I’m starting from scratch to refresh my grammar and vocab. I have so many resources from the decade of attempts to learn this language that I need to use them all before I leave. From textbooks, Wanikani, and children’s books of varying levels. Currently failing at waking up in the morning to study before work but hoping I can fix that very soon. any tips?
Goals
- Wanikani Level: 12 / 20
- Minna no Nihongo 1 Chapter: 17 / 25
- Genki 2 Chapter: 0 / 11
- Quartet 1 Chapter: 0 / 6
- Read books: 4 / 24
Plan
- Get to Wanikani Level 20 by April 2024
- Finish MnN by August 2023
- Finish Genki 2 by November 2023
- Finish Quartet by April 2024
- Read all my books by April 2024
- Start N3 Vocab Cards by April 2024
Supplemental
- Music
- Sakubi
- Ringotan
- Podcasts
- Vocab Cards
- Youtube / Twitch
- Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Book List
きいろいばけつ: 75 / 75- ちびどらごんのおくりもの
- ピーターパン
- イップとヤネケ
ルルとララのスイートポテト: 71 / 71- オバケちゃん 松谷みよ子作 いとうひろし糸会
- 夢の彼方への旅
- 八月がくるたびに
- パンやのくまちゃん: 25 / 145
- 虫は小さな天使たち
- 打ち上げ花火、下からみるか？横から見るか？
- サン=テグジュぺり 星の言葉
- ももいろのきりん: 0 / 88
ぐるんぱのようちえん: 27 / 27- トガリ山のぼうけん Vol 1 風の草原
- トガリ山のぼうけん Vol 2 ゆうだちの森
よつばと！ Vol 1: 224 / 224- よつばと！ Vol 2
- よつばと！ Vol 3
- フルーツバスケット 高屋奈月 Collector’s Edition Vol 1
- フルーツバスケット 高屋奈月 Collector’s Edition Vol 2
- フルーツバスケット 高屋奈月 Collector’s Edition Vol 3
- とんがり帽子のアトリエ Vol 1
- とんがり帽子のアトリエ Vol 2
Other
List of some other skills I want to develop because why not:
- The Odin Project: 18%
- freeCodeCamp: 1.48 / 20 ( 0 / 15 )
- Coursera: Learning How to Learn - 3 / 4
- Drawabox: 1 / 7
- Personal Project 1: （ º﹃º )
- Personal Project 2: （ ఠ్ఠ‸ఠ్ఠ )
Progress
Week 1 - 7/8/23
Week 2 - 7/15/23
Week 3 - 7/22/23
Week 4 - 7/29/23
Week 5 - 8/5/23
Week 6 - 8/12/23
Week 7 - 8/19/23
Week 8 - 8/26/23
Week 9 - 9/02/23
Stats Update - 8/14/23
Hopefully, I’ll be able to update this weekly or so. I am on my daily planner journey to help me organize and commit myself to everything I want to finish. Maybe I’ll start making journal entries in Japanese to help solidify some vocab and grammar. If anyone has tips on how to be consistent or any new resources you want to recommend… go for it!
This is very aggressive and I very easily procrastinate 
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Good luck with your preparations.
I’m interested in your timing (as well as where you are intending to go to language school and for how long) - in that I also have a goal of someday going to Japan to study the language (and experience living in Japan instead of the short visits that I’ve done in the past).
It appears that you applied for admission to a language school perhaps a year ahead of when you intend to enroll. How long did it take for the application process to be completed? Any advice or warnings related to going through that process?
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Best of luck! I think having a lot of resources is a good plan cause you’ll want to be propelling yourself forward and not getting too comfortable at any particular level, so I like your plan here. Just don’t feel too tied to something – that’s quite a bit of textbook use for example, and if you get sick of them, I’ve been there too. There’s no need for any particular resource if it becomes a drag and there are always good alternatives.
Other resources I’d recommend since you’re already planning to branch into reading (which is fantastic) are Satori Reader, a site with stories written for learners that include on demand definitions, grammar explanations, etc. I found it did a lot for bridging the gap between my theoretical textbook knowledge and actually reading. The second are just the book clubs here, at pretty much any level a bunch of people in the Absolute Beginner or Beginner book clubs will be happy to hold your hand through anything at all that’s giving you trouble if you join them. Getting into interacting with the language for real will 100% boost your skills tremendously once you get there.
I think you just have to take the time right now when you’ve got that early excitement and use it to hammer out some sort of consistent schedule that works for you, something that will make it feel more automatic when that fades and it starts truly dawning on you how much work you’ve signed up for, haha.
I also just want to add, yeah it looks relatively ambitious compared to the pace a lot of people go – and I think that’s great. Try not to hold yourself to NEEDING to do these things because there’s no point in setting yourself up for unnecessary possible disappointment. If you’ve got the time, these goals (and more) are doable.
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@Akashelia Thanks and I made it because I’m currently procrastinating getting stuff done for work ^__^;
Don’t think I’ll be up for Quartet next month. I have to refresh through N5 and N4 first 
@servette I need a lot of prep. Currently applying to language school for an April 2024 admission in Miyazaki City. They told me that admissions technically open up in September. Couldn’t really find any reviews on Miyazaki Information Business Medical College Language School but I’m drawn to Miyazaki City so I’m just taking the plunge and hoping for the best I think. For most language schools I think it needs to be fairly in advance and you have to pay upfront which is the worst part IMO. This school is 1 or 2 years, and if you do 1 year, you have the option to extend it and go on payment installments for the second year.
I did a month-long “intensive” study abroad session before and went back for 2 weeks in 2019 I applied for the MEXT scholarship this year and ended up not getting it and just timing with my job and everything combined, if I don’t go to Japan now then I’ll end up settling down in my home state.
@Daisoujou I’ve looked into graded readers, I just think at this point I should stop investing in resources and actually start using the ones I have. In the past I tried translating the books, but now I’m just reading them to read them and logging the words I don’t know into a custom list on the Japanese App. Def will look into Satori Reader.
And that’s true, I just can’t wake up early enough to hammer in my textbooks but hopefully it starts becoming an impulse instead of dread. I do feel like I need to use them before I leave but I know there’s a high chance I won’t complete it all. Thanks for the advice!
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I agree with all of @Daisoujou 's recommandations 
especially the book clubs and Satori reader.
The list of books you posted, is it real books you own? If you choose to read digitally however, I can’t recommend enough Mokuro, it enabled be to start reading native material way earlier in my Japanese journey than I would’ve thought possible!
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Yea they’re all ones I own already. Some I’ve had for 5 years now and some I’ve picked up on trips to Book Off NYC over the past year or so. Definitely want to get through them. After I’m thinking of getting a Kindle and opening up a Japanese Amazon account so I can get more books through it.
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Okay, can’t really vouch for that but I’m sure others can. I’ve been getting books exclusively from Bookwalker so far (and reading on PC via Mokuro)
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That’s similar to my own situation - I’ve been to Book Off NYC several times (I used to live in NYC, but no longer) - and I have bookshelves full of all kinds of Japanese reading material, from non-fiction to fiction to manga to textbooks and dictionaries and children’s books and more.
“Someday” I hope to be able to read many of them.
WK has been an important stepping stone in that direction for me. I’ve been ‘learning’ Japanese for many years, mostly by ‘not learning’ - but WK has helped me in terms of adding some structure and discipline, along with learning kanji, of course (which for sooooo long I thought was beyond my reach - but now it’s falling into place for me).
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Definitely a good way to go. My personal path was essentially just grinding through N5 and N4, then with Satori Reader and the clubs here to ease the transition a little, going straight into reading and listening and that’s all I’ve done ever since, no real traditional study. Obviously you’re planning differently with the language school and whatnot, but I’m reasonably comfortable in the language now, so point is it’ll help so much. And I do a similar thing with words, I make anki cards out of unknown words I come across in reading.
I have a Kindle I’ve used to read some books! Depending on your Kindle you’re going to see some amount of delay in bringing up the dictionary; mine is on the better end and it’s still a little annoying at times. But it definitely works. You can load custom dictionaries on it, which is really nice.
Along similar lines, I personally use Yomichan for instant browser lookups (in conjunction with other tools for making anki cards, using it with visual novels, etc). There’s a ton of good stuff out there to help make breaking into reading more manageable.
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Oh that’s something to think about! I’m more into novels but maybe I can Jimmyrig something together with Mokuro? When I go to Japan though I might just make frequent bookstore stops so maybe I’ll avoid diving into it until after I finish what I have 
@servette I know the feeling! I would intentionally get books with furigana in increments of easy to hard. I’d say if you know some grammar points, start reading and translate as you go. I keep a list in my app that I can refresh my brain if I want/need to. WK is def the easiest thing to start getting into learning again IMO
@Daisoujou Language school for me is just the easiest non-teaching way to get into the country and hopefully be able to land a job afterward. Also rent for a small studio and the language school cost divided over the year comes to less than what my rent now is. Self study is def doable though.
I might get a kindle once I get in Japan so good to know about the dictionaries. There’s so many online resources now to when I first attempted the language that it’s crazy. Just downloaded Yomichan 
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If you can manage to get a novel open in your browser, I think the aforementioned Yomichan is the more naturally suited tool for this task; it pulls from the text directly instead of being an OCR. Though manga can be very nice as a stepping stone; there’s a reason the beginner clubs here tend to use it. That said… outside of people’s self published or copyright free stuff on Aozora, it isn’t the easiest thing to get novels in your browser because no one likes to give you drm free ebooks and you kinda have to look into converting them yourself.
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Like @Daisoujou said
I use Mokuro to be able to use Yomichan basically, Mokuro makes the images into selectable text. So for novels you won’t have that issue. Probably wherever you buy the book will block you from copying it though, but should still be fine as it should have an integrated dictionary (even Bookwalker)
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Week 1 - 7/8/23
Minna no Nihongo Chapter: 6 → 8 / 25
ルルとララのスイートポテト: 12 → 32 / 71
Wanikani → Wanikani
Podcasts → 3
I FINALLY got down to 0 reviews from ~1300. Took a big leap and powered through 500 yesterday and did ~250 today. Really want to get my apprentice levels down out of the 300s. I guess I’ll start my lessons up again tomorrow now that I have a handle on my reviews.
Broke down my textbook lessons, figure if I can get through 2 chapters a week then I can finish by the end of August. If I commit 2 hours a day, I technically can do 4 a week if they take about 2 hours per chapter. So as long as I’m consistent, I should easily be able to complete MnN in August!
I can ever so slightly tell that my reading is connecting better in my brain by a little. It’s definitely helping the vocab (and grammar) retention which I’m terrible at in general.
Podcasts are always on when I go for walks. Episodes are usually around 30 mins and conversational so sometimes I know a little of what they’re talking about and sometimes I just get a word stuck in my head and look it up as I’m walking.
Might switch to Anki for vocab cards since they’re more detailed. Just not sure which versions to get for each level
Other than that, I don’t know what else to update on. I am trying to self-learn coding as well… not sure if I should add that to this as a little separate category just so I have a place to log it. Using The Odin Project and freeCodeCamp for reference… and Drawabox is on my learning list too for me to refresh my art ability. A 180 life flip is overwhelming and let’s hope I don’t burn out! 
** edit: just bought the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar on impulse and might just read it front to back
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Congrats on clearing your reviews!!
Do you make all your banners yourself? They’re really neat!
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Thanks! now I just have to hope I can get all the leeches off of me 
And yah! They’re just something I made quickly on Canva for fun. Figured why not add a little color
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I just skip mine and try to learn them in context
Nice!! I might copy you. That’s cute and fun
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Week 2 - 7/15/23
Wanikani Level: 9 → 10
Minna no Nihongo Chapter: 8 → 9 / 25
ルルとララのスイートポテト: 32 → 38 / 71
よつばと！ Vol 1: 0 → 60 / 224
Anki Core 2k/6k Optimized Vocab: 43%
Anki Ultimate JLPT N5 Vocab: 73%
The Odin Project: 12% → 18%
Coursera: Learning How to Learn - 1 → 2 / 4
LEVEL 10 !! I feel like I didn’t see myself breaking out of the 9th level of WK review hell so to actually do it is wild. Felt like the reviews got so punishing because I kept making stupid mistakes and getting things sent all the way back to apprentice level when I felt like they should be burned. Missed my first WK day yesterday and I realized I felt some kind of shame for actually having a life and being out all day but that’s just some personal adjustments that need to be made tbh. Definitely started off the week strong but already feel myself fizzling a bit which is bad and tbh kinda nervous that I’m gonna get in my own way again. 
Oh yea. So I made a table that I have on a skeleton site somewhere on the internet that I can check off and screenshot so I can add it to here since I don’t think I could add all the cosmetics to it on here so I went for the workaround. Have a little sticky note app with my list that I mark off during the week which I haven’t been annoyed with checking off yet since it’s pretty convenient.
Realize I have to spend more time during the week on my textbook. Almost finished chapter 9 yesterday so if I want to stay on track for my August finish I need to get to chapter 12 this week. As for Anki, I think the 2k/6k deck is what most people use? I was digging online to see which deck is the best but I find the 2k/6k deck hard for actual vocab as I’m trying to remember all the definitions in the example sentences so I’m not making solid progress. I don’t think going slow with vocab decks is bad because it’s supplemental and the worst that happens is that I actually remember it. The Ultimate N5 deck is one I’ve used in the past and is strictly vocab which I don’t think will hurt in the long run. I really don’t know the best anki course of action if I’m honest and not sure at what point to sign off on them and head to the next… maybe when I get an A?
Got my grammar dictionary and after I finish reading out the main section and when it breaks into the actual dictionary catalog, I think I want to use that as a way to make “diary entries”. Take like 1-3 grammar concepts and write sentences out with them as a guideline to help me internalize them.
Need to read more during the week as well because it’s really a major retention factor. Read 60 pages of よつばと all last Sunday so even just picking it up once more during the week I could’ve made a lot of progress. The other kid book I’m read has some chunky grammar points in there for a kid book tbh so it’s more of a bite to sit down and tackle although I know it’s getting easier as I read on.
Made some slight coding progress and downloaded my own virtual machine on my PC so then I can get into the actual learning on it now. Need to finish the Coursera course though because it has quiz deadlines even though I’m just doing the free version and not getting a cert from it. It’d be good to get it off my plate too and always down for a recommendation if anyone has one I should check out next.
I have 2 personal projects running but only worked on one a bit but that’s better than it was going. Visualizing what I’ve worked on each day is actually helping me stay on track, just have to detach myself from the days that I feel like I haven’t done enough because 1% is better than 0% and it’s easier to make everything 0% than a few things 1%.
That’s all from me for now! 
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I like the thread that you’ve got going on! It’s so colorful and well organized - I’ve wanted to try something like this but never mustered up the willpower to do it, just want to say that I look forward to seeing your progress updates!
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Thank you so much!
I figured making it fun to update might help me in actually wanting to keep it up to date. I never thought I’d actually make one either but I do think it’s helping me in my commitment and management of it all.
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