What kind of native content do you use to study on a regular basis in your personal routine? And about what level would you say you’re at and how difficult is the material for you at that level? I know there are a lot of native content articles/repositories, but I’m interested to see what users actually use frequently.
Also, in a typical day or week how much do you devote to WK/flashcards, grammar, and native content?
Personally, I use a lot of SRS sites (WK, Bunpro, Iknow.jp, and Kitsun.io), which kind of drowns out grammar and native content sometimes.
I pretty much only read light novels. I never got a whole lot into like articles and other stuff online, but SoL/romcom light novels will always have a special place in my weeb heart. Its hard to give a good idea of my level, but the novels themselves aren’t particularly difficult. Id go as far as to say that half the time, the one im reading doesn’t feel any more difficult than reading in english. Now, its worth mentioning that its the 16th book of a series that I’ve learned thousands of words from so I’m very familiar with the vocab and writing style. Really I should read harder stuff but the story kinda be gettin juicy
Apart from that I watch clips of anime that keep getting recommended to me and vtubers sometimes. Like 5-10 minute clips usually and again they’re really not all that hard to understand. Vtubers are probably for the hardest just because unlike anime, their speech is actually normal speed all the time.
A day I think I spend 1.5-2 hrs on srs and making new cards and 2+ hours on native content. Some days I’m lazier than others on the immersion doe
I probably only spend 20-30 minutes a day on SRS. Native content varies… audio books, manga, video games, lets plays, sometimes anime. I also watch news broadcasts from time to time… typically the 30/40 minute ANN wrap-ups on youtube.
When I’m actually being active with Japanese, as I am right now, I spend 1-2 hours a day on native content, probably. If I find a game I like, it can be considerably more.
I don’t spend any time intentionally studying grammar.
My only active studying is through Wanikani, which I’d say I put about an hour or sometimes two hours a day. I’ve been trying to consume more native content for immersion instead of studying because I don’t like studying, and also I’m at the point where I think I stand more to benefit from immersion.
For native content I watch an episode of anime or a drama with no subtitles while eating breakfast. I’m almost done with Teasing Master Takagi and previously I watched Space Dandy and a few dramas. I heard they speak very naturally in Teasing Master Takagi, and Space Dandy I chose just because I love it and can have a fun time even if I don’t fully understand what’s going on. I’m not fully consistent with this yet, but I try to read the Initial D manga for at least 30 minutes before I go to sleep. Again, I choose content that I really enjoy because it gets me excited to actually read/watch it. While I’m showering, washing dishes, cooking, walking, or any other free moment I’m usually listen to the podcast “Let’s learn Japanese from small talk!”. They pretty much speak only in Japanese, and sometimes say the English equivalent for some terms, and I have a good time listening.
I read manga and books most days. Anywhere from 30 minutes to 2+ hours depending on how tired I am and how interesting I find the things I’m reading. When I’m reading a volume of 本好き I can read 2 hours without much issue. I’m still trying to get into other books/series to the same degree, since I’m not reading as consistently when I’m reading other stuff.
I just recently started watching anime with Japanese subtitles. Before it was 100% Japanese audio with English subtitles. Now it’s about 50/50 (meaning different shows, I’m not going back and forth in a single show). I occasionally skip a day, but I’d say most days I’m watching one episode, sometimes two.
I probably spend only 15-ish minutes on SRS most days. When I’m actually writing up new cards it can take a long time, but I haven’t done that for a few weeks now. I need to get back to that, but a bug in Amazon’s kindle/reader stuff has made that harder unfortunately.
I guess I’m probably upper intermediate in terms of reading ability, definitely lower for listening and near-zero for output.
I’m between N4/N3 level. I spend around 30-60 minutes on SRS each day (WK, Torri and my own flashcards), 5 minutes practicing writing kanji on the Kanji Study app, and around an hour watching YouTube. Some of the vloggers I watch are subtitled content only (e.g. Howell vlog) whereas others speak (e.g. Kaho’s Tozan Diary) , so it’s a mixture of reading and listening practice. That’s about as much as I can realistically fit in on a weekday.
I also have a 1-to-1 class once a week for an hour and at the weekend I’ll spend 3-5 hours per day doing homework/other grammar books and a bit of reading.
Once a week I walk out to the bakery (30 minute round trip) and I usually listen to the 4989 American life podcast on the way.
I was doing more than this before covid as I had 3 hours of commuting time each day.
I tend to change my routine around a lot, but as of right now:
Native contents: I read at least four pages a day in Japanese books. Though I’ve recently started experimenting with buying Japanese translations of the books I was planning to read in English. Since reading is kind of what I do for fun nowadays this means I often read end up reading over 20 pages a day.
I also have one hour of conversation practice on italki every weak.
SRS-wise I’m doing WK perhaps an hour and a half each day (I aim for 240 items spread over four sessions. I hope to reduce this quite a lot as I catch up with the reviews though).
Personally, I think of native content more as a reward for study than a part of it.
I think enthusiasm goes a really long way towards making material accessible, maybe even more than actual comprehension level, and there’s enough great books, manga, shows, movies, vtubers, sports, etc. out there that there’s probably something for anyone to get excited about, even if it’s just a new way to experience something they already love in English.
It’s been really thrilling for me recently to get to a level where reading a book in Japanese doesn’t feel any less casual than reading in English (although the speed isn’t quite there and obviously I still have lots to learn), but even starting out when the options were more limited to graded readers and yotsuba, the fun was more important to me than the study. I’ve probably learned way more from native material over time than study material, but if I clocked all that time as a study routine I’d seem like a workaholic when really I just… have interests I enjoy.
N1 level; been reading written-for-Japanese-adults books in Japanese for a few years.
I have two main focuses right now:
reading more quickly and with ever-increasing comprehension (so speed but also nuance)
listening comprehension
For the first one, it’s simple, I just read as much as possible. Right now I’m not trying to challenge myself in terms of reading material, only to read as much as I can. For the second one, it’s simple, I just listen (/watch) as much as possible without subtitles. I watch things because I enjoy them, but the sheer quantity in which I watch them is a study pursuit. I gave up watching things in English and with English subtitles so that I could get as much listening practice in as possible, and I make goals that involve variety shows, dramas, and anime to up the amount I take in.
My SRS (Anki) use is sustained by (as in, I’m constantly creating new cards from) and feeds into (as in, my ability in reading and listening is improved by) my consumption of native material.
Also, in terms of time spent on SRS vs native material, 99% of the time when I’m doing flashcards I’m also watching something without subtitles.
This is the feeling I want to get from reading, I just to have to find the right stuff. As a kid I got really good at reading and english in general by reading a looooot, and I hope that if I can get into the same habits with japanese, my skills will take off. Hopefully lol
It’s probably a little SRS overkill, but I find it easier to cement SRS as a habit over more substantive studying methods. They also have slightly different focus, since iknow.jp has audio and sentence building exercises, and on kitsun.io I use a JLPT N5 set and a verb conjugation set. There is some overlap on vocabulary, but I find that it A) helps me memorize those words and B) they are quickly phased out by the SRS system since I always answer them correctly.
