Not sure how if it’s anywhere near what you’re after but my current grammar strategy is making anki cards from the sample sentences of the N3-N1 nihongo no mori videos.
I watch the video, and make a card with the sentence, definition of the grammar point and if needed I try to transcribe any explanations particular to a certain sentences if I don’t find it obvious.
Because I’m a sucker for doing tons of work (and because I find that audio tends to stick in my brain better) I’ve also taken it upon myself to add the audio from the youtube video… I guess all this work does serve to drill the stuff though.
So far I’ve found this to stick way better than other methods I’ve tried. Especially since this way, by the time the stuff is in anki, I’m drilling stuff I’ve already had properly explained.
The devs are very active on their thread - you can always mention something to them if you think they’re off, and you can also add notes and example sentences to each grammar point. But yeah, there’s value in making your own materials …
I tried that once…then I learned the difference between “Japanese people who speak a little English” and “Japanese people who speak no English”. But now you’ve gotten me thinking, maybe I should just make pure English cards and try and express that in Japanese.
Ah, don’t expect too much. I’ve seen your themes and they are very nice and definitely more than what I was trying to do. I was basically just cleaning up the theme that I had linked too because it was a bit too verbose and I think this could be done in an easier way. Maybe I can end up with a version that is less intimidating to someone not familiar with the topic.
I’ll post it in the Anki CSS thread when I’m done. Thanks for creating that, @konekush
I honestly regret buying RTK. I never got any use out of it, and I thought it was dreadfully boring. More power to anyone that did get use out of it though.
Wanikani’s a great tool. I can see it losing effectiveness if you force yourself into a certain timeframe, or don’t pace well, but if you’re okay going your own speed, it’s a monstrously effective tool for obtaining kanji and radicals. Even better if you pair it with other materials for writing practice, though that’s up to you if you just want to improve reading comprehension.
As others have said, you have to pay for it, but that’s because it’s not garbage. You have to pay for classes, and books, and other apps. People who teach or create study materials need to make a living too. I can’t imagine wanting to learn a language but bristling at the thought of paying for material.
All I can really offer is that I minored in Japanese, and am currently living in Japan and studying for the JLPT N3 with both WK and other material. Wanikani’s the best thing I’ve ever found for kanji, and has improved my reading ability immensely. Hope it winds up being as useful for you!
Not to say that free resources are bad though. There are many great resource that are entirely free (e.g. 文プロ) and very useful. I do appreciate when resources are free however because I wouldn’t be able to afford $200 for every Japanese resource I came across
Good point! Didn’t mean for that to be a universal condemnation of free resources, just to reinforce that it shouldn’t feel unreasonable to pay for good ones as well.
I also turn to plenty of free resources in my study, but I find I usually use them to supplement/review things I first learn from ones I’ve paid for.
(I also couldn’t afford $200 for every single one. But I’m okay paying for a few subscriptions and a round of books every once in a while because learning the language is important to me. Still cheaper than a college course, for comparison.)
Look, from your profile I noticed that you’re in a hurry to learn Japanese. I was too when I started 1 year ago. I still am. I know that feeling of wanting to go fast. I am indeed still going pretty fast. I’m part of the full speed team here on the forums. I don’t want to give the impression that I know it all. I do have yet to learn a lot. But I believe you should be careful in not falling into the “be fluent in 18 months” thing. That’s not how real life works, no matter what people tell you.
Check stuff for yourself. See what works best. But never fall into the trap of thinking x is the absolute truth because someone seems believable enough.
Be rational. Be curious. Don’t assume stuff. Dare to make questions
