Genki exercise?How to make them fun?

Hi,how are you doing,I hope you all have a fantastic day ^^
So,as the title say Genki has become a burden to me :\ ,not the grammar part (I really do like reading the grammar point or watch youtube video)
My biggest problem are the exercise (textbook and workbook) they are so boring to do and is really hard for me to do them.
I’m on chapter 21 (genki volume 2) so I almost finished genki,but I’m sure I will have the same problem with Quartet 1.
Some advice on how to make the exercise part fun?Or any other method for avoiding the exercise part?
My daily routine for japanese is:
1)wanikani
2)genki grammar point/vocab
3)wanikani
4) some manga reading in the evening in japanese.

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Truth is, I wouldn’t do the exercises. If I didn’t have fun, it would kill my motivation and drive me into burn-out.

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Hey! I am also at around chapter 20 and feel pretty much the same way. The excercises started becoming too much of a chore which made me dread learning.

What I did was to purerly read through the grammar section, watch it again explained by Tokini Andy on Youtube as he usually shares interesting insight and example sentences and then put things slowly into Bunpro for SRS but I think everyone has to figure out their own routine here.

I am not sure if you feel this way already if it makes sense to jump onto the next textbook as that would be essentially the same. Try different things and get a feel for what might work on how you can get the grammar part more digestible in your day-to-day routine.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

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Well… my goal is passing JLPT N2 and N1 as soon as I can. So I already accept the truth that excercise cannot be fun in any form or approach…

I mean I do a lot of immersion like TV shows, anime, manga, LN, and videogames. However, I still need to finish my daily excercise. I hate them but it’s ok…

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Perhaps, instead of doing the exercises in the book as-is, you can use the grammar that you learned and make your own sentences in something like the Japanese Sentence a Day Challenge thread. Or any other thread that focusses on Japanese output.

Some people write longer paragraphs and chat with each other a bit, and others post one or two sentences, sometimes related to whatever grammar study they’re focussing on at the time. It’s a way you can put your Japanese into practice, as is the goal of the Genki exercises, while not necessarily doing something that boring. People may also end up giving some feedback if they see something that’s not quite right.

Hope you’ll end up finding a more fun way to practice output. ^^

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I’m doing Minna no Nihongo, not Genki, so I’m not sure how it compares, but the thing that motivates me to do the exercises is because they give me the same satisfaction as taking something apart and putting it back together again. It’s satisfying to be able to read some Japanese with 100% comprehension. I find it really cool to see the sentences gradually build in complexity and realize that I’m able to actually understand them.

When I read manga or tweets, I have to look up a lot of words and grammar and am never fully confident in my comprehension, and that can make it hard to see my progress over time. But working through each MNN lesson is a tangible representation of the fact that I actually am learning and internalizing new grammar and vocab, and that feeling is very motivating for me, personally.

I guess it’s a different feeling than I get from reading manga/tweets/other Japanese for fun. If I’m reading for fun, it’s satisfying to understand because you’re rewarded by the content of the words. But the textbook isn’t boring to me because I’m not reading it because I’m motivated by a desire to understand the content; I’m reading it because I’m motivated by a desire to understand how the sentences work. If I’m able to figure them out, that gives me a dopamine rush, haha!

But if this mentality does nothing for you, then I don’t think there’s much harm in skipping the exercises, unless you find that you really struggle to retain the knowledge without them! Plenty of people are able to learn Japanese just fine without doing exercises.

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I’m currently doing Genki Chapter 22, so I’m also around where you’re at. What makes it fun or at least not too boring for me is writing the exercises out by hand. That kind of depends whether writing on paper is your thing or not though.

I do the exercises at a snail’s pace — one section (for example, IV A) per day — so I don’t get burned out. If you’re not feeling motivated to do those exercises anymore, I would recommend slowing down a little. Just a bit of practice per day goes a long way.

Good luck! I hope you can find a fun way to practise the grammar you learn :slight_smile:

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The exercises themselves aren’t fun to me, but being able to understand and use more Japanese as I progress is motivating. Same as revising vocab or kanji. The process of learning a language for the most part is hard work (at least to me), so I stopped expecting it to be fun.
If gamification motivates you, you could make a chart with all the genki levels and exercises and then colour them in when you did them. Visual representation of your work.
Also, a lot of things are more fun if you do them with other people. Maybe you can find a study buddy, or join a class, or get a teacher.

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Just don’t do them :man_shrugging:

@Pizh I would only force myself to do actual JLPT test questions, if that’s what you meant. I don’t really see how random exercises are needed for JLPT as a goal.

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I count Bunpro SRS system as excercise. They’re super duper boring for me. However, the results from drilling those Bunpro SRS are kinda show. My grammar skills are significantly improved. So I hate them but I love what they offer.

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Genki is great if you’re going through it with a native Japanese speaker. Otherwise find a different text book.

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