Do you write down your lessons on paper?

Absolutely. I’m a power-journaller, even. Paper is just the start.

I write down every lesson in a notebook going front to back and I write my review results in the same notebook going back to front. When they meet up, I start a new book. I jot down the readings in hiragana, make a note if WK wants the kanji to use a kun or on reading, if the kanji is a keisei compound, and what time I learnt it so I can optimise the SRS spacings.

As well as the physical notebook, I keep an online (private) journal which covers both grammar from Bunpro and “writables” (kanji and vocab) from here. For new kanji, I look up words which use it on WK but I also check Jisho. This helps me get a sense for whether the kanji has any extra meaning or shades of meaning, like how 脈 is introduced as vein but also means chain or thread, which explains why 山脈 means mountain range. For vocab I write down the meaning of each kanji and focus most on words which introduce new readings, or which have strange readings or non sequitur meanings. And I try look for connections between the words too - there are more than a few verbs in Japanese written with different kanji which have roughly the same meaning and same pronunciation: 表す (express) and 現す (show) for instance. Again, Jisho is helpful! :slight_smile:

I also log my failed reviews in the online journal and try to dig into the nature of the mistake, etc. If I thought something was X but it turned out to be Y, I’ll look up Y as well and make sure I’m clear on the difference.

Beyond the journal, I have a Google doc just for managing leeches - kanji and vocab reviews I seemingly fail to remember for very long. ( is one of them, ironically.) A WKer who reached level 60 not so long ago (sorry unsure who) had an excellent admonition about putting extra effort into attending to leeches once you get to the mid-20s levels so they don’t clog up your review queue. That and breaking lessons up into shorter sessions over more days was very good advice!

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