Is Bunpro worth it?
I saw they also have an integration with WaniKani.
Do they also run sales once a year on teh lifetime subscsription as the do with WaniKani?
Is there an offer for lifetime WaniKani users?
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The integration is one way: they optionally load the WK info in order to customize the furigana and I also think thereās some kind of integration to skip known WK vocab in the bunpro vocab decks (although I havenāt played with that at all so Iām not sure how it works precisely).
I think so, yes.
Not that Iām aware of.
I got good value out of it for basic grammar (N5 to N3, roughly). I gave up on N2, N1 and beyond because I found the SRS system a little annoying to use for more ānicheā grammar points. At that point there are just so many ways of saying roughly the same thing that itās just annoying to trial-and-error your way through every review as you keep being told āyes that works but thatās not the grammar we are looking forā. I still find the grammatical explanations and examples very decent but you get that for free, you only pay to unlock the SRS.
They also have vocab decks but Iām a bit of a hater for pure frequency-based vocab decks which I think are inefficient and frustrating to use, so I wouldnāt recommend that. I may be in a minority here however, I know that frequency decks are pretty popular generally.
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I canāt add much more than strong agreement to this reply. ANY grammar studies are good studies, imo, especially getting started, but an SRS just doesnāt seem to work for me after a short while.
This actually surprised me, though, as I remain convinced that grammar proficiency (which I lack) is mostly quantity over quality. It seems like something that should be more efficient with an SRS, but I think in practice more reading and more conversation is the only real answer.
This nails it on the head for me.
An SRS like wanikani is fantastic to memorize atomic things like kanji, but grammar feels different.
As rule oriented as Japanese grammar can be, itās somehow more like programming/music/dance/games ā there are ārulesā but they can be stretched so far that āwrongā (less idiomatic) answers seem like they should work, even if there is only one correct answer. In my experience with Bunpro, you start memorizing specific examples more than the underlying ārulesā they are attempting to teach. YMMV
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Iāve used Bunpro on and off and enjoy it. I got the lifetime package on an annual discount.
For me, most grammar points are pretty easy when I first learn them, I just forget them quickly. So Bunpro helps me get the reps in. If you struggle to pick out the right grammar points for each answer when there are similar options, you can always switch to an Anki-style review format where you read a sentence and just answer whether it was easy or hard.
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I did the free trial period last month and decided to hold off on purchasing the lifetime until the year end sale because Iād rather spend my time reading than doing more srs drills. I already bought the full set of Japanese grammar books so Iām still kind of on the fence about spending more money on grammar. Like others have pointed out, Iām not really sure SRS is the best method for studying grammar. 
Iāve already finished Genki 1 and 2 btw. If I had not done that already then I would be more inclined to go all in on bunpro.
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No. After being invited by the creator to try it after they updated it, I still find grammar to be completely useless to use in an SRS format. Just read the rules, try to internalize them a bit. Read some more and move on.
After you get above the N4/3 levels, things start blurring together and it just doesnāt work.
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I tried it for a while and it was kind of overwhelming. The interface is busy and I donāt get motivated doing it. Grammar study is different from vocab study so itās a bit harder to use SRS for grammar. If you already tried the free version you can decide whether you like it or not.
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I think that Bunpro is very useful for grammar, but you need to switch to āread & gradeā for grammar. It shows you a sentence, you translate it in your head, reveal answer, and grade yourself. You need to be honest with the result, but it works much better than typing answers.
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I didnāt even know that was an option. Iāll have to try that for now advanced grammar, that sounds much more practical and enjoyable.
Parroting a lot of the points and ideas already expressed here in this thread, but I think Bunpro excels at:
- Adding vocabulary (especially the many blindspots of WK)
- Introducing grammar concepts
- Housing detailed grammar explanations and example sentences
- Community support (custom decks)
- Generally keeping track of a proficiency level
Under these circumstances the UI and UX is a lot better, progress feels more tangible, and is more enjoyable/useful (to me) than something like Anki. 5 bucks a month is also not bad at all.
For actually learning Grammar using its SRS system, it leaves quite a bit to be desired and is a little too situational for me to really fall in love with it. At its best itās an appreciated and legitimately valuable tool to have (positive) repetitive content to memorize the ideas. At its worst (and fairly often) itās too vague on what it asks of you- and you just have to tank incorrect guesses because it actually wants X grammar idea instead of the Y, almost identical grammar idea without any real explanation beyond āyouāre supposed to do this actually, so do it!ā and it gets old quick.
I donāt know the exact fix to this as Japanese grammar is so nuanced and large, but at the same time I donāt think you can or should rely on the SRS side of things here (for grammar atleast) for learning. Iād almost see that as a ābonus featureā to its content database that you can search and refer to alongside learning elsewhere and/or take your own notes with. I like Bunpro, use Bunpro, and donāt regret Bunpro- but itās a little bit of an oddball especially compared to how focused something like WK is.
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I will mention that MaruMori is a solid alternative to Bunpro that also covers the kanji/vocab/grammar lane. I personally found it a much better fit for me, but naturally we all have our different learning styles and preferences. It also has a free trial where you can do the entire introductory region and the first ten tiles (plus one unlock a day) in the other regions.
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I just tried Marumori and it does seem better than Bunpro at first glance. However, its like double the cost for Lifetime, 300$ do seem quite a lot. I guess Iāll wait for sale on each and then decide which one I go for.
Iām back for a few months of testing in after updating the review style to āread & gradeā. The experience is much nicer and feels better. Parsing sentences is good training and I like having this service to be strict on the sentence syntax and rules understanding as opposed to jpbd where I can be strict on the vocab part.
But I think what most changes is that now after 6 month I know more than 75% of the N5 vocab deck and Iām actually spending my focus on the grammar points and not parsing example sentences vocab. Iām not doing the vocab decks of the service though.
I kinda like their explanations even though I find them too fragmented sometimes, I find difficult to have an overview ? The SRS daily lessons format is nice for me because I wouldnāt work on it otherwise.
To summarize I think it can be worth but after some time to already have enough material to focus solely on improving your grammar comprehension. Itās much more useful to learn or better understand grammar pattern already encountered multiple times while trying to read that to discover them on the service.
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Hi,
I didnāt know what Bunpro was so I did a bit of Googling. Someone asked about a lifetime subscription above. On their website it says that the first 30 days are free and then it is $5 a month after that. But there is also a $150 lifemtime membership. I use Wanikani and I am up to level 17 and I really need some grammar help so I am thinking about giving it a try. While I can recommend Wanikani for anyone who wants to learn to read Kanji, I have no opinion yet on Bunpro. But I thought the pricing information might be helpful. Have a great day!
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Personally I was annoyed by how difficult it was at times to tell which grammar point was needed, and the hints didnāt help. Iāve learned since then that apparently there are other modes that might be better suited that I never tried.
But I did end up on MaruMori, which also has grammar SRS. It has the fill in style of BunPro and a sentence builder style, for two different exercise types. The hints are far more hinty, often using puns, which is much more my style. It does cost more, but it has other features that are (to me) worth it.
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