Any easy way to learn grammar?

Bunpro seems interesting, but I haven’t yet tried it out.

Lately I’ve been trying a different approach: subjecting my brain to as much input as possible. This is because when WK was my only resource, the progress was slow. When I started iKnow, the pace picked up considerably. I think iKnow’s example sentences were the key: they are read aloud and there’s also translations. (And lately they’ve added new sentences - almost every vocabulary item has now two sentences from what I’ve seen.)

My mistake was to focus too much on WK and neglect everything else. I have Genki 1, but I haven’t yet finished it. I’m probably beyond it’s level now, since most of content seems familiar from other contexts, but since last week I have started this: I go through every larger text segment in the book. This means dialogues and reading comprehension exercises.

I also listen to them. I don’t know why opening the CD seemed such a pain to me, but once I did that and transferred the files to my phone, it has felt really useful and fun. Right now I have Genki 2’s audio files on my phone as well (textbook and workbook).

In Genki 1 I have skipped the exercises that really are not useful for me anymore. If it’s something that I kind of know but am not sure about (currently「頭が痛いんです」「映画を見ないほうがいいです」), I listen to the CD, look at the material and repeat aloud. I don’t write anything down.

This way I can reach quickly the material that’s two my level (probably the latter half of Genki 2), after which I will do the exercises more thoroughly. I will then move on to Tobira.

Another textbook I’m just ploughing through is Bunka 1 and 2. It also starts from scratch, but there’s lots of texts and dialogues you can read and listen to.

I believe this kind of extensive method (going through lots of stuff and letting it just stick) is more effective than intensive (focusing on something small and trying to remember it). I will report the results later.

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So far to date I’ve tried 文プロ, Anki, Genki and Memrise. I find that Genki is the best option for me. Its big, kind of dull and having to use a pencil and struggle with handwriting is tough but the sheer amount of information there is so great.

Bunpro on the other hand, I tried it and initially thought it was great, but eventually found that SRS with no mnemonics or fancy levels and levelling up just doesn’t do it for me. Without those mnemonics it takes me about 2 weeks just to get something to the equivalent of apprentice 3 on WK, even then I struggle to remember what it is.

I usually just look stuff up as I come across it or realize I dont know how to express something in japanese. When I find something while reading, it helps it stick better and I can better make sure I understand the meaning of the grammar point. If the sentence doesn’t really make sense, I’m probably missing something.

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