Satori Reader appreciation thread

Japanese Language Resources
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I don’t know of anything that would be less hassle than the Anki export or just using their system. why not try it yourself if you’re there anyway?

I used Satori’s srs while I was on it and loved having easy cards to review with embedded audio. It took me a bit to find a way that worked for me (I wrote a lot in the first reply here), basically only choosing the top eg 3 useful words I saw that day that appeared in a sentence where that is the only new word in the sentence for me.

My impression from their forums is a lot of people don’t like it because they try to add everything new and get overwhelmed. Having a method to choose fewer cards but at least cards I was more confident would be useful longer term helped me a lot.

Sorry I can’t help more!

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I completed a little while ago the second part of Kona’s adventures, 僕の生きる旅路. The entire Kona story is awesome, I would say it’s my favorite right now even though I also liked 壁の穴 (still didn’t read everything on Satori though but I don’t think I will like as much the other stories).

The characters are so endearing, and when you think that the story will go down there is an unexpected twist keeping you in. A lot of interesting words like 飛び蹴り and colloquial speech, the notes like always are really extensive and useful (I would have to read the story a second time to study and memorize more some vocab and grammar, I was reading it fast because I was more interested by the story itself :sweat_smile:)

The voice actor for Kona is so good, I really really like his voice
I just skipped some of the more emotional lines of Natsumi and Ken, I felt like sometimes it was a little bit forced, “too much” maybe… or it’s just a personal thing I don’t know, even in movies I never really like when some actors are overdoing the crying and the sad/serious voice
But globally the voice acting for all the series was really good

This one-year subscription also made me reflect about… well, subscriptions. I procrastined way too much, because of perfectionism ; I was putting pressure on myself thinking “I paid quite a big amount of money for this so I have to do this every day and complete everything, and memorize every important note”, so much that I ended up doing nothing for really long periods. I still plan to read every story but I think that mentally it would perhaps be better for me to use a monthly subscription when I am sure that I have a lot of time to apply to it. Something like “I give myself one month to finish this story and this other one” for example, and writing down on paper the important notes and vocab/grammar. Short but intense effort leading to a completed story, so I don’t have that stressful thought of “oh no I’m wasting my money what am I doing”. I guess we all have to find a rhythm that works for us, this or something else, like Akashelia who is reading a fixed number of 2 episodes per day if I remember correctly.

Right now I will take a break from it but overall I’m really satisfied by Satori and I will certainly get back to it in the future. I’m still amazed sometimes when I think about it, this website almost feels like a little miracle :joy: imagine going back 100 years ago and telling people that one day you will be able to learn Japanese with a luminous glass screen where you can just put your finger on every word to have its definition + an audio file for every sentence + hand-made commentary and answers to your questions. We are truly blessed as language students to live in this era :flushed_face:

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Love the way you put that, yes! Sometimes I think of my deceased grandparents and things I would like to show them if they were still around and Satori would be a really fun one

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This right here is why reading is so powerful! And why Satori is so valuable as a language learner who otherwise just wouldn’t be able to read easily enough to enjoy it. Glad you’re enjoying it too Kokinshu!

I’m reading through the jam maker at the moment and it has its more saccharine moments but the relationship between the two main characters is usually the right side of sweet, and it’s a fun read. Kona’s big adventure sounds like it might be my next stop…

Edit PS yes, the voice actors are so impressive!

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I agree with how lucky we are in this day and age to be able to learn with all the features that Satori Reader implemented. SR definitely helped reinforce the grammar I learned from textbooks that would otherwise be forgotten soon after.

It took me a while to get into the rhythm of reading through SR myself. I also did the 1 year subscription plan. At first, I tried to read about 4 episodes a day but now I do 1 or 2 per day. Even on days where I don’t feel like doing any learning besides WK/anki, I still make it a habit to do at least 1 episode to expose myself to the language.

I also enjoyed Kona’s story. I haven’t read the 2nd part yet as I’m trying to get through the shorter advanced stories before tackling the huge 2nd part (currently going through Fujiki and I love learning fantasy related words through it). I recently finished all of the beginner and intermediate stories except John and friends. The stories on SR aren’t exactly the most riveting but I never expected them to be; they are interesting enough though. I mainly read them for all the valuable grammar nuggets that would have taken me forever to learn on my own in the wild.

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PSA!

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For those who’ve read Closeup: The Zama Nine Murders on Satori: the murderer was executed today :man_shrugging:

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I am going to drop another comment that I found to be useful.
While there a plenty and I could post all day long, I found something again.

Question

Maybe this isn’t the best place for this question, but when I was reading the sentence 食後に、走ったり歩いたりするのに、ちょうどいい距離だ, it got me thinking. I’ve seen “のに” used to mean “despite”, like AのにB means something along the lines of, “Despite A, B happens”, where B is somewhat unexpected. But other times, as here, the のに has this other meaning of “in order to”, or perhaps more granularly, where the に particle has the meaning of “for (a purpose)”, and the の was simply a nominalizer. Sometimes, I can intuitively feel which mean is intended, but most of the time, it feels pretty neutral, and I end up trying both meanings and seeing which makes more sense. Do you have any tips or tricks for deciphering these? Maybe some other grammatical clue that I just haven’t noticed yet?

Answer

Hello, Jay. Thanks for the question (and this is the perfect place for it)!

I think it’s true to say that in some sentences, you just have to wait until the end to determine which のに you are dealing with. Observing my own mind as I read through some のに sentences, I see that there is a period in which I hold both possibilities open. But there are some hints that can help point you in the right direction even before you get all the way through the sentence.

First, the “in order to” のに is always attached to a simple present tense verb. So if you see のに with a verb in any other form （言ったのに、泣いているのに）, then you know it must be the “despite” one.

彼女が泣いているのに笑うなんてひどいよ！
To laugh even though she is crying is horrible!

Also, as you point out, the “despite” のに requires something that runs contrary to the speaker’s expectations or wishes. So if the second half is totally congruent with the first part, you can know that it is the “in order to” one.

パンを焼くのに小麦粉を買った。
I bought flour in order to bake bread.

散歩に行くのにちょうどいい距離だ。
It’s the perfect distance for going on walks.

The “in order to” のに usually requires some sort of verb of action, not merely a state. If it is a state, that’s a very strong indication that it’s probably the “despite” のに. So, for example, by the time you read:

彼はお金がたくさんあるのに・・・
Even though he has lots of money…

まだ若いのに・・・
Even though (so-and-so) is still young…

…you can already begin to suspect that these are “despite” sentences and not “in order to” sentences.

I hope these pointers help!

With this help I correctly translated the sentence.

Time to go back reading again.

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There is a web version of Human Japanese:

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This awesome! It’s a great day especially with news of a second edition dojg releasing 25 July.

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Thanks, nice! I got an email about a sale, too, so a good time for anyone new to check it out.

great news, thank you for the heads up

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The day has come for its release:

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I can’t wait to reach this series. Let’s see how long it will take me now that I am almost done with beginner content. Actually no, I have to read the harder stories. And I am rereading actively again (taking to hart what you wrote @mitrac ) So let’s safely assume it’s going to be a while. I will read every harder stories, does anyone has experience with that ? Either way it’s an happy day.

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Yes, I’m almost done with every story on Satori Reader, I enjoyed the harder stories too :slight_smile: and still learning new things from time to time from the notes. Any specific question you have in mind?

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Ah that’s awesome work!

Couple of questions:

How much harder are the stories compared to normal ?

I am about to finish Akiko’s American Foreign Exchange and I am wondering if should directly go to the harder version or let my brain forget the plot and/or read after reading some intermediate stories?

In order of difficulty how would sort the stories of intermediate?

If you had the chance would you read both kona’s in succession? Reason being I could technically wait for them to pair up when I go to advanced.

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I think level of difficulty is very subjective. I had found Sakura and Suzuki’s long distance relationship very hard because of the casual language, but it is classified as “Beginner”. Other series might be harder because of new vocabulary (Trees of Happiness has a lot of business vocab, The Zama 9 Murders a lot of technical/criminal vocabulary for example) or because of grammar / long sentences.

I would say switch, new material should be refreshing! Doing Akiko’s American Foreign Exchange might get a bit repetitive, and it’s the longest one. You might get demotivated and miss out on the other stories.

I don’t think I can do that because again I think it’s subjective, depend on what you personally have been exposed to so far. I would say though I had found the Seasons series surprisingly hard, even those from the “Easier” category. I have loved Koibito and Oku-Nikkou but can’t remember what I thought of The River Sanzu. I think Koibito would be easier than Oku-Nikkou because Oku-Nikkou has a bit more specialized vocab.

If you ask me personally, no I would not want to read them in succession because I didn’t like them :stuck_out_tongue: but I have seemed plenty of people who loved Kona, we all have different tastes, so I don’t know if you’re going to like it or not.

Hope that helps. I think the best is just to pick a new story and read the first couple of episodes, if you don’t like it / the level of difficulty is not right for you right now, switch to another one and maybe you’ll come back to that one at another time!

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Ah thank you!

Good points, you’re right Akiko’s American Foreign Exchange is long and indeed might get demotivated.

I am determined to read everything tho, for same reasons everyone likes Satori Reader. Will keep this thread updated.

Thanks again!

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Nice, thanks so much for posting! I remember Brian announcing a collaboration a year or more ago and I was so curious who it would be. I will be tempted to resubscribe at some point to try it out. I love how easy it is to learn on there and I know I would still learn a lot by reading more on Satori.

I read 3 of the intermediate stories:

The River Sanzu felt like the easiest (but the first 2 episodes were harder).

My favourite was Oku Nikkou. I don’t remember anymore, but perhaps it is a hair harder than Kona? Not sure thought, I wouldn’t worry too much. I suggest reading the first 10 episodes and see if something captures your attention or not.

Kona - I really liked Kona 1 after the lengthy intro. Now that I think of it, perhaps it is the hardest of the ones I read in the intermediate group, if only because the team wrote it earlier. The length of the episodes is more variable. I personally enjoyed that but it could throw you off if you got used to the more rhythmic and even pacing they achieved in more recent content. The voice acting on Kona 1 is absolutely breathtaking (1 guy!). One of their first stories, and a labor of love imo.

Kona 2 takes place well after Kona 1, so no need to read right away. I didn’t get into it actually and didn’t proceed past the beginning, but there are people who loved it. I suspect like many of their stories, some patience is required to get past the intro.

Of the hardest ones, yes they are a tad harder, but it didn’t feel weird to even drop back to an “easier” series after reading one. I read half of the first Fujiki, and then the 2nd one (Wedding of the Fox). I’ll probably still resubscribe someday and enjoy some of the new series that weren’t completed when I stopped my sub.

I agree with this! The difficulty is very subjective and also, sometimes in life you want something easy, and sometimes you want a challenge. Or short, or long, etc. It can be refreshing not to read them in a predetermined order as it can make it feel more adventurous!

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Thank you! This also helps a lot.

Will the thread updated with new series. It’s going to take a while as the new one will run for 2 years (give or take) and Yuyu No Nihongo till probably at least 100 episodes if I recall correctly.

John and Friends in Tokyo I am not sure about.

Not sure where I read this but 3 new episodes per week is the goal.

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Ah I have been planning to add an updated poll with all the new series. I’ll try to remember to do that next weekend when I do my club updates!

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Some more information on what will come to Satori Reader:

question

Hi :waving_hand:

The Gate of Years will hold its spot for almost two years. May I ask what’s the plan for the other two current series: YuYu and John?

By the way, (as beta is a month old now) is there a timeline for the third volume of Human Japanese ? Maybe incorporating Nutshell Grammar and getting a new Extra?

Reply

Hello, . We have a lot more content for both the “Yuyu” and “John and Friends” series, but we will probably also intersperse some other short stories in with them. We have two 15-episode stories from our team and one 12-ish episode story from Yuyu that we are very excited about.

Regarding the beta of Human Japanese Universal, we have a lot more work to do on that, so we will be busy tying up loose ends for a while now. But in terms of a “Human Japanese Advanced,” even though the format is a little different, we consider “Nutshell Grammar” to be the direct continuation from Human Japanese Intermediate. We do plan to write additional lessons for “Nutshell,” but we are getting close to what I would consider a completed ramp from zero up through complete introduction of the most important grammar patterns.

I hope this helps! We sincerely appreciate your support!

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Nice one. I recently saw an email for the beta thing, and that Human Japanese is now included in a Satori subscription. A bit late for me, but that is fantastic value.

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