明けましておめでとうございます!
I hope this is correct, I just fished it out of Google translate. In any case: Happy New Year. And seeing the last years progress, this year can only get better… I prognosed it, and so it happend:
I don’t want to get into details and excuses - fact remains, that I slowly but surely stopped learning - which is sad because I even prepared a log entry for my first burned item that I was really happy about; but due to time restrains, I first didn’t log here anymore and then didn’t learn. Let’s hope this will be different in 2023.
In 2023, my main focus will be consistency. I think I have some good learning methods and some good ideas, the most important part is now sticking to it. At the moment I am still on vacation, but for next week when work starts again, I’ll plan the following for every day:
-
Don’t miss any SRS reviews - this is the most important goal and the one I’ll try to keep even when times are bad. I have a smartphone, I have a good internet connection and ISP, it should be possible to hit my reviews wherever I am. WaniKani works pretty well in the browser (though I am irritated that they don’t have a smartphone app
one of the few sites that actually don’t have one), and for Anki I have the Android app and syncing between devices using their web service, which is a pretty neat thing. So on days that I am not on my computer at all, or travelling, etc. this should still be possible to keep. A 365 day review streak, that is the absolute minimum main goal I am committing to - even if it is just one item. And most of the days I am at home and at my computer anyways, so every break I can get from work and other stuff, I’d check the website and the Anki desktop app. -
I will try to follow my learning routine every day - for this, I’d minimum need my phone, and the absolute minimum of my learning routine would be to learn 10 new Kanji on WaniKani (that’s my current setting for my batch size, and up to now I am happy with it - I might reduce it to 5 when things get harder, but being at level 4, this is still fine). So I’d also aim for 365 days of minimum learning 5-10 WaniKani items; however the ideal learning day routine will look as follows:
My planned daily learning routine for 2023
- I’d do my SRS reviews first (Anki and WaniKani)
- I’d pick up my Genki books and follow the approach I had laid out here, i.e. on a typical day I would always start with review which is 0-4 exercises: one from the Genki Textbook for the Grammar point I learned yesterday, one from Seth Clydsdale’s website for the Grammar point from the day before yesterday, and one from the Genki Workbook for the Grammar Point I learned last week; and maybe the reading or writing exercise from the last lesson. Then I’ll pick out something new from the book: Either a dialogue, or a Grammar point, and work through it. This might include watching the ToKini Andy video for this section, or looking up further examples (e.g. at Tae Kim’s), but that’s not necessary.
- Vocabulary work: Picking out the next ~10 items and add them to Anki. This will take some time, because I am using pictures instead of translations, I’d try to use short example sentences instead of single words and I’ll add sound recordings to the cards, wherever possible. But this is part of the initial learning progress, as I miss the mnemonics that WaniKani provides. I’ll never do them beforehand in batches, or anything. Any new item will get it’s card when it is due to be learned, and then it’ll go the typical SRS route.
- Learn 5/10 new Items on WaniKani
Hopefully, this all will be possible in a 1~1.5 hr window. To be the most efficient, I’d need to be at my desk and have my computer with me; if I don’t, creating Anki cards will not be possible and needs to be skipped. The rest can also be done with a smart phone and me carrying the books along. So this should also be possible during work travels (which I already have two upcomming in the next weeks), or vacations. And if it isn’t (e.g. festivals with campsites), I’ll reduce it to the 5-10 new Items on WaniKani.
And at least for the beginning, that’s it. While I got really excited about the Level 0 Graded Readers, and Everyday reading/writing/listening challenges, I feel that adding those (now) will become a bit overwhelming again, and this might throw me off the tracks again. I’ll try to get this routine done, and if it works for couple of weeks/months and I get board, I’ll add to it. This doesn’t mean that I won’t listen to anything, or I won’t be writing or reading. But as a daily challenge in my routine this is too early I guess. But we’ll see each other there again, some time this year, so don’t be sad
I have a third goal, that I want to reach, and I hope I will:
- Take the test for JLPT N5 in the Summer. According to all the information I have, I’d learn all Kanji needed when I reach level 16 of WaniKani, though the last 6 levels each read 98.73% of Kanji (see screenshot below, source is wkstats.com), so I guess there is just a couple that only appear at level 16, and you know 98.73% of all Kanji needed at Level 10, which is already good enough. A level takes, in average something between 7-14 days, I am at beginning of level 4, so 7-13 Levels to go, i.e. between 7-14 and 26 weeks, which will put me at July this year. Also I have estimated, that working through Genki 1 should take something around 3 months (see quote below); and according to the sources, Genki 1 teaches you all you need for JLPT N5. So it is challenging but not unreasonable to reach the knowledge needed for JLPT N5 by summer, which would be perfect, because in the Summer they’ll always have the JLPT in Hamburg, which is a 2 hour drive, compared to Stuttgart (in the Winter) which is a 6 hour drive. Also, in Hamburg I have family I can stay with, in Stuttgart I’d need a hotel room.
Screenshot of wkstats.com
My estimation on how long it takes to finish Genki 1
So, that’s my 2023 Japanese learning New Years resolutions. Let’s see how it goes. I’ll try to keep this log up to date at least weekly, and with the next post I’ll show how the first week of this year went (I think I’ll keep my updates to Friday, that would fit quite well to my schedule).