I just found out about these Study logs and want to try it myself.
Learning Materials I already use
I started Aug/Sep 2024 with Duolingo. It was a great help for learning Hiragana and Katakana but the other lessons feel like torture because they are so slow and you have to do the same thing so many times. I have a streak of 73 now (05.11.2024). I’m still learning Katakana because there are so many extremely similar Katakanas.
In Okt 2024 I started a Volkshochschulkurs with the book Japanisch im Sauseschritt. 1 hour per week.
At the end of Oktober I found out about WaniKani and started learning Kanji
I just finished Lesson 1.1 of JapanesePod101. The next Lesson I’m doing is Lesson 1.
Learning Materials I want to use
Between the lessons of the Volkshochschulkurs I want to work with other books on my own. I already ordered Japanese from Zero 1. After I’ve finished Japanese from Zero 1 - 5 I want to continue with Quartet.
On YouTube I want to use the Videos of Japanese from Zero and the Genki-videos from ToKiniAndy.
I read about Bunpro but I haven’t tried it yet.
Reading Materials
I bought Yotsubato and downloaded the vocabulary list of Volume 1. I tried to translate as much as possible from Japanese (Hiragana + Katakana) to my native language as possible. In 6 month I will do that again and compare it. April 2025.
JLPT-test
I bought some books with JLPT-tests. I will try to do N5 in 6 month. April 2025.
I’m not sure yet If I will ever do the real Tests.
1 week only for learning vocabulary (maybe during the next Holidays)
Edit: from chapter 11 of JFZ it’s getting more difficult to answer the questions because I don’t know every vocabulary. So I will continue when I’m more comfortable with the vocabularies.
I translated a JLPT N5 vocabulary list as much as possible. In a few month I will do it again and have Something to compare it.
Realizations about my learning behaviour
I have Problems remembering the Japanese words (that I haven’t learned outside of WaniKani yet) for the Kanji. To remember the english meaning is a lot easier. Maybe it’s better to learn them first before I try to learn the Kanji. I have to make a vocabulary list of the problematic words. But without Kanji.
I nearly finished Japanese from Zero. I went through it very fast. Creating my own sentences is very exhausting and I stopped doing it. After Chapter 18 I will Go Back to Page 1 and create easier sentences with the words I haven’t learned yet. Because I prefer learning words while I use them instead of flashcards. That way I can also repeat the grammar to not forget it.
I don’t Like learning with Bunpro. Maybe in the Future as a tool to repeat what I have already learned out of textbooks.
Tips from other recources
On YouTube someone suggested Not to learn vocabularies from your native language to the target language. Only from the target language to the native language. Because it costs too much time and one native-language-Word can have several target-language-words (and the other way).
Mindmaps for learning vocabularies. I will try this and add Pictures where it is possible.
Edit: I Just finished the first round of Japanese from Zero Vol. 1.
To Do
Watching the YouTube Videos of Japanese from Zero
Reading the JLPT N5 vocabulary list
Buying Sou Matome N5 + N4, Genki 1+2, “A dictionary of Japanese Grammar”
Waiting for the new edition of JFZ Vol.2 and the translation to german
second round of Japanese from Zero Vol. 1. 14/18 (taking Notes about the important things) + I watched one Video
Genki 1+2 arrived
Sou Matome got damaged on the way. I have to Order it again.
Ordered: A dictionary of Japanese Grammar; Shinkanzen Master N4
I am using notion for studyplanning
I am taking the notes for JFZ 1 in Procreate. Without Romaji. Writing and Reading of Hiragana ist getting easier every day. While I Take notes I already Sort them by topic (e.g. particles, numbers, …).
Learning vocabularies deliberately is still Not a priority.
Today I realised that my Motivation ist getting Less. I am also more tired (probably because of the Winter) and am Not able to listen to Japanesepod 101 anymore. I Always fall asleep.
Japanese from Zero Vol. 2 Grammar summary + Katakana Ch.9/12. After that I will do the Grammar exercises.
“1000 Essential vocabulary for the JLPT N5” I already know 317 of 1047 words. I think I will continue with JFZ until Vol.5 and Proof how many vocabularies I know every time I Finished a book.
At the Moment I Just do the listening with the Main Goal to get used to Hearing Japanese. I haven’t used the Worksheets and the shadowing-option yet or learned vocabularies with JapanesePod101. Are the worksheets good?
I’m also thinking about pimsleur. But Not right now. That would be too much at the Same time.
The worksheets are ok. Personally I don’t use them, but I do read the lesson notes pretty extensively. I mostly use it for listening practice and as a second grammar course (I have another site that I use, I like having things explained from two sources because sometimes it doesn’t click right away)
I ordered some books on verasia.de because I want to try intensive Reading. Hopefully the Series of “a dictionary of … Japanese grammar” will be of a Lot of Help for that.
I already heard a few episodes of Level 2 of JapanesePod101 and realized that understanding the Dialogs is now more difficult because of the Lack of vocabularies. Maybe I should wait a bit before continuing and finally do Something to learn more words.
I don’t have any Problems with the srs of WaniKani, but I really hate Anki, because Anki doesn’t Show you both languages before Testing you.
I would recommend looking at the words in the lesson notes and then listening to the dialogue multiple days in a row (like 3x), then move on. It’s ok to not understand everything, as long as you’re able to understand it with the notes. There’s also the line-by-line dialogue.
Then once you’re done with level 2, you can re-listen to all of the dialogues to see what stuck! That’s what I did.
I found the Slideshow in the Overview (?) of the Levels. I will try to learn Level 1.1 and Level 1 first by playing it at least once per day for a week. After that I will continue with Level 2 (by Episode). First Slideshow then listening to the episode.
looking forward to seeing your progression! enjoy the journey 
