Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful New Year celebration! The MaruMori team wishes you a very happy 2024, filled with a lot of Japanese studying and getting closer to your study goals!
On that note, did you set your study goals for 2024 yet? Now might be the perfect time to do just that!
We’re starting the new year with a bang as we just released our first adventure levels batch for N3! That means our usual bi-weekly schedule is on again.
If you are not familiar with our schedule, it means that we drop a new batch of adventure levels every two weeks, consisting of 5 new grammar lessons, 1 reading exercise, and 1 batch of vocabulary & kanji SRS unlocks.
As mentioned before, our grammar SRS content is also catching up to our N3 content pretty soon (in about a month if all goes well). When that happens, we’re going to focus on a few other things first (Mock Exams… anyone?), but we’ll likely also look into speeding up our adventure batch releases to a weekly schedule
In other news, the Holiday Sale is nearing its final days! So get it while it’s hot!
Rejoice! Another batch of grammar points has been uncovered in the Depths of Devotion.
Now you’ll be able to drill such useful and highly-coveted grammar as 「～てばかり（いる）」, 「～のに」, and everyone’s favourite compound particle, 「には」.
We’re now well over halfway through the N4 grammar SRS, and with the help of a flock of sea turtles, our pace for release moving forward is looking steady, smooth, and grammatical. If all goes according to plan, N4 will be fully completed and N3 grammar SRS will start to launch early next month. So prepare to be launched up above the surface by that giant pink octopus and into slightly drier (but not at all in a less interesting way) grammatical territory.
So, are these the grammar points that will finally push you over the edge into 日本語上手 territory? That’s for us to speculate aimlessly about, and for you to find out…
It is once again time to drop the grammar SRS (mic) on the proverbial grammar floor.
This batch brings with it such grammar as ～がり (describe your personality traits, huzzah!), ～たがる (describe third-person wants, joy!), and ～直す (fix your mistakes, bazinga!).
This is the fourth-last grammar SRS drop of N4, which means that in just three week’s time, it will be totally and utterly completed, and the team will be totally and utterly exhausted.
To everyone out there pushing through N4 content currently, keep going, you got this–we believe in you. Or as they say, 「頑張って、お兄ちゃん」. Happy studies!
Huzzah! Some brave adventurers have uncovered another N3 content batch in the Jungle of Tenacity. This batch is full of grammatical buried treasure such as ～によると (cite your sources like a pro), ～つう (quote super casually with your friends), and the behemoth that is ～という (the options are endless)!
And that’s not all! In this batch’s reading exercise, learn the real way to refer to the toilet, check out someone’s diary entry about their part-time job at a 焼肉 restaurant, and OMG, did you hear about the Pizza Pat scandal???
All of this and more in the second N3 content batch… As always, happy studies!
Can you believe it’s been a week already since the last grammar SRS drop? Once more ‘round the sun in the blink of an eye… Or was it once more ‘round the moon?
Anyways, this batch of grammar contains such tantalizing points as さすが (compliment your friends!), 自分 (talk about yourself!), and the first of the deep-sea leviathans, 尊敬語, or “respectful speech” (… cower in terror!)
Just remember, it can be a lot, so if grammar’s ever getting you down, we’ve got your back. We’re in your corner. We’re here, making you your favorite tea.
Hi, I started free trial, dont know what content is gonna because it shows all blank for me, saying I have to do adventures.
But doing adventures it just shows this octopus games several times, is it gonna be only this octopus game typing the syllables to the very end of this advanture? Can I skip this entire hiragana drill?
What exactly do you mean by “it shows all blank for me”?
In your screenshot you are in the PRE-N5 area, where we teach users about mainly the kana scripts before moving onto actual grammar lessons around the start of N5. You don’t have to completely anything you already know, you can just skip anywhere you like. This goes for both regions (you can go to N5, N4 or N3 right away instead) and levels (you can do any adventure level you want at any time).
So yeah, you can definitely skip them!
Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions, I’ll gladly help you get on the way
The adventures is only hiragana, shouldn’t exist an option to mark all as complete? If this is what is causing for the n3 grammar not to show up there?
Ah, I see! What you are looking at is your “main study list” for Grammar. As mentioned in the description on your screenshot, this study list (think of it as a deck of SRS flashcards) gets filled as you mark grammar lessons as done in adventure. So if you complete an N4 grammar lesson (and it has grammar SRS homework attached), the corresponding grammar SRS items (cards) will get added to this study list.
Currently, we have released the first batches of N3 grammar lessons in Adventure, but as we’re catching up with Grammar SRS, those lessons do not have SRS homework attached to them just yet. But we’ll get there shortly! This Friday we release the second-last batch of N4 grammar SRS items. So N3 grammar SRS homework will be added for the first 10 N3 grammar lessons in about 2 weeks. Then the week after we will be caught up and release them in tandem. So from that point onwards, completing an N3 grammar lesson will immediately give you the SRS homework for it.
As a side note: if you do not wish to read the grammar lessons, you can also just go to the grammar library and add grammar points (SRS) to your personal study lists manually But again, for N3 grammar SRS you will have to wait a just little bit longer
If you want to go to the N3 Region to check the Grammar Lessons, you can click on the following island on the overworld map:
Quick Study (Cram), Level Markers in the Dictionary, and a whole bunch of bugfixes and smaller features!
Hello! It’s time to round up a few development updates into a new changelog entry! Let’s get into it:
Quick Study (Cramming/Drilling)
We’ve added ways for you to study any vocabulary or kanji you want at any time! You can start a quick study session by selecting items on the manage items page of a study list (quick tip: hold shift while selecting to select a whole range of items!) and by entering the number of repetitions you wish to do for each item.
Once in a session, you will have to correctly review each selected item the number of repetitions you entered. With this you can really drill yourself on these items! Essentially doing the same thing as cramming before an exam.
We’ve also added a new button to the results page of a lesson session and the results page of a review session, so you can easily start a new quick study session with either the items you just learned or the items you just failed. Especially the latter is a great way to get some extra practice in on the items you might struggle with (did anyone say leeches?).
Level & Suspended Markers on the Dictionary pages
Sometimes, when looking up words or kanji in the dictionary, you might be wondering if you already learned this before or if you should add it to a study list. After learning many items, it can be difficult to keep track of what exactly you already learned or not. Or perhaps what you have suspended in the past.
We’ve added some simple but effective new markers to each dictionary entry that indicate the current level (if learned) and whether an item is suspended or not:
As you can see, it even shows per form what their current level is and whether it is suspended. Handy when you’ve learned a form different from the main dictionary form!
We’ve also updated the Grammar Library to show whether an item is suspended or not too:
Kana Minigame - Added a “show kana chart” button to the start sections, so that you can remind yourself which kana is which before starting.
Kana Minigame - Added alternative inputs (such as “sya” vs “sha” for しゃ) as correct input answers.
Home - Lessons & Reviews Modal - The button colors now change to grey if no lessons or reviews are available. Making it easier to see if you have work to do*.*
Grammar SRS - Unscramble - Removed most of the whitespace on top for mobile resolutions.
Bug Fixes
Manage Items - Tooltip - The tooltip would sometimes stretch to 100% width when hovering over row data. This has been fixed.
Manage Items - Column sorting and then selecting items while holding shift now works properly.
Friends - Details Page - No longer shows the hidden level
Kana Minigame - Hints modal is no longer empty at tenten and later drills. It now shows all kana.
Premade Study Lists Overview - Fixed a layout issue when the selected category is empty.
Grammar Lessons - H4 titles now also properly resizes based on your text size setting.
Grammar Lessons - Fixed the padding for the Grammar SRS homework section and adjusted the text to be more clear.
Friends - You can now accept pending requests of other users if they become friend #15 (the max) in your friends list.
Hark! The penultimate grammar SRS batch of the Depths of Devotion is upon us! What brave adventurers will conquer the remaining challenges of the Depths, and make it safely to the Jungle of Tenacity? Only time, and perhaps the EXP leaderboards will tell…
In this batch, you’ll encounter the second deep-sea leviathan, 謙譲語, or “humble language” (I hope you’ve been reviewing those special verb charts!), use ～ながら to say “while” (great for when you’re watching Netflix while also “doing your reviews”), and learn how to nominalize adjectives using everyone’s favorite kana: さ and み (hurray for words like “bitterness” and uh,… “pain-ness”?).
As we hurriedly prepare to finish the remaining N4 grammar SRS points, we look forward with excitement to the start of N3, and backward with satisfaction for everything we’ve accomplished so far. It’s been a long journey to get to this point. A journey filled with ups, downs, and sidewayses. We’d like to thank you all immensely for your continued feedback, and support of the site–we really could not do it without you.
Anyways, get out there, and get your grammar on! And as always, happy studies
P.S. A big congratulations to Matskye for winning the great EXP race of January '24. We bestow upon you this magical crown that carries the power to toast one piece of bread per day. Use it wisely.
Another day, another victory for da OG. Ahem, I mean, another two weeks, another N3 batch. Man, that really doesn’t have the same ring to it.
In this batch of brand-new N3 lessons, you’ll learn all about ～つもりで (express your intentions, with vigor!), じゃ・では (finally use it correctly! … Or will you?), and everyone’s favorite: 一体 (“what the heck” is this about???).
As for this batch’s reading exercise, we’ll be doing a deep-dive on “omiyage”, discussing the magic of the “kotatsu”, and checking in with Mike and his hairstyle disaster.
Come get your N3 goodness–NOW–in the Jungle of Tenacity. Happy studies everyone!
We’ve done it! We’ve completed the final Grammar SRS batch of N4! This concludes the Depths of Devotion and means we’ll be starting to release Grammar SRS for N3 very shortly.
This batch features awesome and useful grammar such as the “causative” form (make/let someone do something! ), the “passive-causative” form (FORCE someone to do something against their will), and ～し (the SUPER “and”).
A big thank you to everyone who sent in feedback and helped us improve our SRS questions over the past few months. I can’t believe we’re nearly caught up to current content already! It’s been a learning process for the team as well, as we figure out the best systems to create content, as well as the best ways to test you all on it.
What’s that? Did you say it’s the first grammar SRS drop of N3? I’ll believe it when I see it, thank you very much… hang on, is that べき? Y-y-you didn’t tell me べき was going to be here!
That’s right! The wait is over, N3 grammar SRS has arrived. The primordial batch features long-awaited points such as ～うちに (do stuff “while you have the chance”), なかなか (accidentally insult your friends!), and ～べき (she’s popular with all the grammar guys and gals).
I hope you are as excited to set off into the Jungle of Tenacity as we are to guide you through it! There are plenty of hidden temples to explore, mysterious groves to stumble upon, and grammatical treasures to unearth. So what are you waiting for? Let’s get drilling some grammar!
Happy studies and a happy N3 grammar SRS launch to all!
-MM Team
P.S. On Friday we’ll be caught up with our general adventure releases and will start releasing Grammar SRS homework in tandem with the newest lessons when they drop
It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means… there’s a 50/50 chance of new N3 content being dropped! It is now Thursday (but it went live earlier).
Luckily, this is an auspicious Tuesday Thursday and we have a batch of five, fresh lessons, some unlocks, and a reading exercise ready for you. In this batch, you’ll learn the differences between ～もの and ～こと, practice using という in longer phrases, and surpass everyone’s expectations using ～どころか. What’s more, hone your reading skills with an advertisement, a journal entry, and some hot gossip (in Japanese, of course).
Also, this Friday we’ll drop the second N3 grammar SRS batch, which will mean that grammar SRS is totally caught up with current content. From then on out you can expect grammar SRS points to drop simultaneously to their respective lessons. How great is that!
On this, the day of the Fri, I am pleased to announce that the grammar SRS gods have once again blessed us with a plentiful harvest. 10 new points await you in the Jungle of Tenacity, and my oh my, what points they are!
Practice giving strong advice and laying down rules with ～こと, do something similar (but with important differences) using ～ものだ, and hey, what exactly were the two possible meanings of ～つもりだった again? All of that and more await you, so what are you waiting for? Let’s SRS!
With that, we’ve officially caught grammar SRS up to current content! This means you can expect grammar SRS for each lesson to be released simultaneously, wahoo! Wishing you many happy studies.
), the “passive-causative” form (FORCE someone to do something against their will), and ～し (the SUPER “and”).
Y-y-you didn’t tell me べき was going to be here!