Advice Needed!

[Thud]

I think you should look at how to slowly add more reading into your daily study routine and hopefully find your own balance between reviews, studying grammar and reading. At least that’s kinda how I went about it.

For more grammar practice I find bunpro helpful. Just add grammar points I learned from the chapter I studied and let it sink in for a bit.

Reading is still gonna be painful in some sense if you pick something that is either too low or too high of a level. You should pick something that is close to your level, preferably a bit above where you’re at and maybe something you’re already familiar with. Then pick at it on a regular basis. We currently have a reading challenge going on people can join, to read whatever little or much they want every day for the coming two months. I think it’s great not only to have that accountability and motivation for yourself, but also posting regularly there will be great source of motivation for others. Plus it’s a good place to see what people will read, so you might find some good recommendations on what to read next. Another thing is that you can see back your progress pretty easily.

I read Yotsuba after finishing genki, but I think it’s one manga you could already start while learning from genki 2. Polar Bear cafe is also a good choice. Even the tanuki favorite 雨と君と might work, as you have more kanji under the belt. Pokemon games in kanji mode is another that I could have done before maybe. I find having a little project like this where you can do a bit every once in a while on my own pace very benefical. Either way you do gotta start trying and you’ll make mistakes, but that’s how you learn.

[nmilton2191]

I meant creating a thread/post. That was a reply.

[nmilton2191]

Thank you for your response. I’ve used Bunpro a little and have the full version of it. I probably use it once a week (if that)

From this response, I think I will try to utilize it more and look into graded readers (I don’t know much about them at this point). Thanks for the tips!

[nmilton2191]

Awesome, thank you. I like listening to podcasts on my way to work. Do you have any recommendations? For Japanese, I only have “Learn Japanese Pod” and I feel it’s helpful. Do you have any other podcasts you’d recommend for beginners?

[nmilton2191]

That is very good advice. I think my main goal first would be listening comprehension. I know reading is super helpful. What tends to work against me a bit is that I have never been a big reader in any language I speak. But I’m getting that trudging through it might benefit me a lot. And stopping to think about reasons for learning is important too. Thanks for the reply!

[ekg]

It all depends on what stuff you enjoy or find interesting I think, more so than the level of what you listen to. That’s true for both reading and listening I think, in that it helps you to get over the inevitable hurdles in comprehension.

Personally, I’m more into audio dramas than podcasts, since I like to follow a story. But there’s descriptions of some popular podcasts on the Ultimate Additional Resources list that is worth a look.

The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!

This post is a list of Japanese resources and stands as a collaborative wiki gathered by the WaniKani Community. If there’s a resource you feel is missing from the list, please add it by clicking the edit button above. Include an edit reason by clicking the button at the top of the edit window. Many of the resources here are free, however, the ones that aren’t are marked with a dollar sign $ or otherwise noted. Click on the triangle symbol ► to open a section’s resou…

[slkrebs]

You’re welcome. Depending on where you live, perhaps audio books off audible are an option? Read in tandem with an ebook of the same translation. Someone else here is doing trying to do that with “the little prince” by Saint-Exupéry. I’m not a big fan of Amazon, but their audiobook/e-book combo could be beneficial for your needs, combining the desire to listen more perhaps with giving visual confirmation for stuff you’re not familiar with.

[nmilton2191]

@Omun

For me, the goals set themselves as I engaged with the language.

I like this way of looking at it. I will need to be more conscious of that and create some short/mid term goals.

@Omun

I added and dropped things to my study routine frequently, to walk the tight-rope of being as productive as possible while being on the look-out for burn-out, and slowing down before the daily studying ground to a halt completely. I would speed up and slow down, with the singular goal of never stopping. Never fully losing momentum.

I love this. Such a great way to look at the process a whole. And allowing to yourself to slow down and give yourself some grace. This is great advice that I definitely need to hear from time to time.

@Omun

Unfortunately, there is no way to start something new with any form of proficiency. If something is new, it inherently means you’ll be bad at it. You have to push through that struggle. Through the slowness. The awkwardness. The confusion. The frustration. Just like when you were learning to read as a kid. It takes huge amounts of repetition and input. You just have to grind out those hours of actively doing the thing that you want to get better at.

I started playing a visual novel game in the WK level 20s. I had gone through the first 10 or 20 CureDolly grammar videos while taking copious notes, and eking into N4 on BunPro. It took me 9 months to get through the game. At the very beginning it could take me 3 days to get through one screen of convos and investigation. At the end of the game, I could read in one afternoon what would have taken me two weeks at the start.

I guess a better way to word my question would have been “an efficient way to start reading/improve reading” (looks like my native English still needs work as well ). But it sounds like there may not be a “good way” vs a “bad way,” moreso just good resources a bad, from what I’m gathering. And no matter what, it’s going to be a grind.

What is a visual novel game? Do you have recommendations for other games like this?

@Omun

Motivation is a false friend. It never lasts. Self-discipline is what got me through 2+ years of studying 7 days a week. Motivation is an amazing extra when it’s present, but you can’t depend on it. If you’re planning on the long, long, looong journey of learning a new language, you can’t expect to want to study every day.

As you move up to intermediate levels and higher, there is less low-hanging fruit. When you know nothing, progress comes in a flash, because everything is new. As you get further and further, you have to put more effort into getting fewer results. It’s not a good feeling, but as long as you’re stubborn about it, you’ll be able to look back and see that the stubbornness meant you kept progressing, even at a slower pace.

At level 48, I’m sure you’ve been through the peaks and valleys before. You know that sticking with it even when it feels like pulling teeth is what gets results.

Just reading this is motivation by itself!

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Really helpful!!

[nmilton2191]

Thank you for responding with such great advice. I will check out those links as well!

[nmilton2191]

Thanks, I’ll check those links out.

@Nishi790

Do you have a goal thing you want to be able to do in Japanese? Read a specific book, understand a specific show? That can be helpful to guide what steps forward come next - if it’s ‘read specific book’, starting read anything has to be a next step.

I think my biggest goals when starting were listening comprehension with anime and games. I like Playstation, so games that comes to mind are like Nioh and Ghost of Tsushima.

Just starting will be key, whatever it is. Looking forward to looking through those book club links.

[nmilton2191]

True! I’ll take a look at that. Thanks!!

[nmilton2191]

Thanks for your reply. It’s helpful hearing how others are tackling it. And thinking of them as little projects is a good way to look at it.

[ccookf]

@nmilton2191

What is a visual novel game?

It’s a form of interactive fiction that usually supplements a text based narrative with audio and visual media. Some are basically books as computer programs, most have background art, music, sound effects, character portraits, and the occasional illustration. Many have partial voiceovers in key moments. There are VNs with linear narratives, or some that follow more choose your own adventure style plots. There are also quite a few that get into a solid hybrid between narrative and incorporation of game elements.

I’d say the most common is the type that starts with common exposition and branches into one of several (mostly linear) “routes” based on a character selection. Romance/smut is super common, but there are lot of other genres as well. In a VN the text is usually the bulk of the game with shorter VNs being less than 10 hours or so, but I’ve seen long ones reported at 100+ depending on reading speed.

This site is kind of annoying to use, but if you want see how deep the rabbit hole goes https://vndb.org/

A lot of anime comes from VNs, but if we want to get into memes Nekopara, Fate, Stein’s Gate, Ace Attourney, Danganronpa, ect. are all big names you might have heard of that are or originated from VNs. I hope this cover the basics well enough. I feel like someone more into the genre could write an essay here.

Edit: I recently played VA-11 HALL-A which was an absolute joy

[VegasVed]

I agree with others that using Bunpro more could be beneficial. And, obviously, reading.

Only thing I can add is: Ditch the owl.

[Kanjinsanity]

Level 48 and haven’t really gotten into reading yet, yikes. Ditch Duolingo, pound vocab with a different SRS and start reading. I’d recommend Satori reader.

Duolingo is honestly garbage. The only thing that app is good at is making you think that you’re productive.

Reading is the fastest way to aquire a language. Once you’ve read as much as you can be bothered with, get onto listening (each day). Whenever you have downtime listen to japanese.

[DaisukeJigen]

@nmilton2191

What is a visual novel game?

It’s like that “choose your own adventure” books, but in video game form…
Are those still a thing? Or am I just old?

[sergiop]

Are you really doing all the Genki exercises in the workbook? Specially the ones in which you have to compose your own sentences. Are you using the last part of Genki main book in which you have additional readings? In Genki 2, there are lots of long texts to read there. When I reached WK level 60, I could read almost nothing even after finishing Genki 1. When I finished Genki 2, I could read more material but not the stuff I really wanted to read. Now, at Tobira chapter 11, reading is becoming more pleasurable. If you are using Genki at its fullest, my only other suggestion is for you to start reading every context sentence in WK when you do your reviews. I think there is a script to hide the English translation…

[nmilton2191]

Haha I know it does next to nothing for me, but that streak is addicting! The good thing is, I only use it for a bout 3 minutes a day (literally a single exercise). Going to check out Satori reader! Thanks for the reply.

[nmilton2191]

I’ve just never enjoyed reading in any language, so I haven’t gotten around to it. This post was to get some tips on starting.

And I know Duolingo is not great. I don’t invest much stock into at all (1 exercise a day that takes all of 2-3 minutes). Thanks for the reply!

[nmilton2191]

Interesting. Thanks for elaborating!