The Jalup cards have been designed so that you learn the basic grammar in J ⟷ E, because, as you pointed out, you just need english for that. The first 1.000 cards focus heavily on grammar, after which everything is in Japanese only. (After those 1000 cards you’ve finished all grammar in Genki 1+2 and some from Tobira)
All the J⟷J definitions use grammar/vocab that has been covered in the previous cards, so you should be able to understand them. Once you’ve reached the Japanese only stage, the decks slowly transition from “grammar heavy” to “vocab heavy”.
Getting you from J⟷E to J⟷J as fast as possible is what Jalup was designed to do, so if you do it on your own, it makes sense that you need to start a bit later.
All Jalup cards stick to the “+1” principle, the usage of grammar points often being introduced over multiple cards.
Pretty much exactly the same for me! I would like to do sentence mining at some point but rn there is just too little time in the day so I’m focusing on kanji (wanikani), grammar (lingodeer) and listening/speaking to a lesser extent. Would also agree that the Torii sentences are waaaay more useful than the WK ones for giving added reading comprehension. I also have the english defs blurred.
Would also very much agree with this. Looking up vocab isn’t a big deal for me, whereas not knowing grammar means sometimes fundamentally just not understanding what is being said. So I’m focusing on grammar now and just adding words slowly to Torii if I come across them enough for them to seem particularly useful.
I’m level 12 (so I have lessons for level 12) but on the forums it appears that I’m level 11. I figured out the level in the forum only increases once you finish the level on Wanikani.
Example: Level 10 increases to level 11 on Wanikani == level 9 increases to level 10 on forums
I have to admit I don’t do any particular form of vocab study at all, and that often makes me feel like the odd one out. I’ve tried it here and there a few times but I really find it so boring. Wanikani is basically my main source I guess. For all textbooks I’ve done so far I’ve just gone through the chapters, most of the vocabulary appear often enough in their texts and workbooks that they stick and if they don’t stick oh well. I’ve found myself encountering a lot of those words later on and they tend to stick a lot better the second time.
I started learning vocabulary with memrise - but I quickly noticed that it would make more sense to start with Kanji. The first level was all written in Kana, but soon first Kanji started popping up. But memrize didn’t do a good job of actually teaching the kanji, it’s meaning and reading or (ironically) how to memorize it properly.
So now I’ve paused my memrise adventures in order to do a somewhat solid Kanj foundation first.
Yep, this is exactly my take from learning to speak other languages. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for monolingual dictionaries but a bit later than many of these “trendy” immersion programs recommend. I don’t base it on any research, just my own language learning process.
I prefer to spent the intermediate stage with reading, listening, watching something more interesting than on top of it also keep “drowning” in a new vocabulary from dictionaries early on… Basically, I prefer growing my vocabulary more naturally rather than through dictionaries. There comes a point though, when switching to J-J dictionary start making more sense, when I’m understanding 80-90% of what I’m reading there, I’m all in… Just saying what worked for me;)
I did not liked memrise at all, dropped it after 1 month. For me, WK + Torii (Kana only) works better. There’s a lot kana only vocab that WK does not teach, a lot of really commom words.
Mhh… It works for me?
I do read how the grammar points work in the textbook of my choice (DBJG/Genki/Tobira) once a new one is introduced, so it’s a lot more like Bunpro in that regard. Though, I have to say, for things like は・が、a thousand sentences were a lot more useful for developing an understanding than every article I ever read about them
It actually goes quite a bit into Tobira as well. If I had to name a number, I’d say it has introduced almost all Genki 2 grammar after about 800 cards. But you solidify those further in the following 200 cards because the grammar is being used in the sentences.
I can definitely apply it, as in if I read sentences elsewhere, e.g. the shadowing book I’m using, I understand the sentences without any problems.
If I’m going from my experience with other languages, I switched even earlier To be fair, it was a lot easier, but I did english only before I knew how to spell grammar. (Might be a touch over exaggerated.) Kind of rough to compare though, as I haven’t learned any other “Category 4” languages.
I’m not on the other side yet - Adam usually says after 700-800 of J-J cards it’ll feel normal again - but I’m pretty sure a large part of why it seems so hard is just “Doing it on your own” vs “Doing it with pre-made material”. I really wouldn’t want to learn kanji without WaniKani, it’d be bothersome, creating everything on your own.
This is the main reason I’m doing it this ‘early’. I have someone holding my hand.
I like his arguments on why it makes sense to switch sooner rather than later.
Personally I don’t think the hard part of switching to J-J truly ever disappears. It just gets a little easier.
I’m okay with wrestling this bear now, hoping I’ll think it was worth it 2-3 months from now
Interested in how others are managing pace - are you starting to change things up at all? I’m starting to actively slow myself down because I’ve read way too many people on the forum talking about having hundreds and hundreds of reviews a day and I do not want that!
Level 10 is this first time in a while I’ve not done any reordering to do the radicals for the new level before the previous levels vocab - I’ve also been pretty strict about not been letting myself get past more than 100 apprentice items at any time. For that reason it looks like it will be more like a 10 day level up rather than my usual 8…but that doesn’t seem too terrible if it reduces stress saves me from burning out later!
How are others doing it, are you also slowing down? Anyone going at max speed?
To be fair, it was a lot easier, but I did english only before I knew how to spell grammar. (Might be a touch over exaggerated.) Kind of rough to compare though, as I haven’t learned any other “Category 4” languages.