Smnraphael's study log 📚

[smnraphael]

Hi everyone

This log is a way for me to stay committed, keep track of my progress, and maintain a history of my Japanese learning journey. I’m also starting this study log to meet others who are learning Japanese, as I don’t know anyone in my close circle who is really interested in Japan or learning Japanese.

Background
I’m a 27-year-old front-end engineer based in Paris, France . I lived in Japan for six months in 2022 while pursuing a dual degree in management between France and Nagoya. At that time, my Japanese level was low, around JLPT N5. I returned to France in August 2022 and studied Japanese every day for a few hours after work. In four months, I was able to finish Genki I & II and took the JLPT N4 in December, although I missed passing by just a few points.
After that, I lost motivation but still purchased the Wanikani lifetime subscription in December 2022. I reached level 10 but completely stopped studying afterward. However, I resumed studying from scratch on August 17 this year (2024) after resetting my Wanikani stats. I’m currently at level 8 and just started Bunpro today for grammar.
Since I work 80% from home, I can dedicate at least 2 hours a day to studying Japanese, saving time on commuting.

Resources
Wanikani
Bunpro
Tobira Beginner I & II + Anki for vocabulary (1,200+ cards)
Anki Core 2000 deck
Miku Real Japanese (Shadowing Masterclass)
Nihongo con Teppei (Podcast)
Youtube vlogs (I like 鈴木優香 since there are subtitles in every vlog so it helps even if I can’t really get everything yet. If you know other youtubeurs that do vlogs with subtitles, please share!)

Main Goals
Before May 2025 (I plan to go to Japan for tourism at this time):
Reach Wanikani level 30
Finish Bunpro JLPT N3 grammar points
Finish Tobira Beginner I & II
By the end of 2025:
Take the JLPT N3 in December
Life goals:
Pass the JLPT N1
Live and work in Japan

Study Routine
Wanikani: 30 new vocab lessons per day if no radicals/kanji are available, or complete all radicals/kanji when I unlock a new level.
Bunpro: 3 new lessons per day.
Tobira I: 3-4 lessons per month, along with Anki for vocabulary.
Nihongo con Teppei: 4-5 podcasts per day.
Youtube vlogs with subtitles: from 0 to 4h a day when I have nothing else to do.

Currently
Wanikani:
Start: 17/08/2024
Level 2: 21/08/2024
Level 3: 25/08/2024
Level 4: 01/09/2024
Level 5: 08/09/2024
Level 6: 16/09/2024
Level 7: 23/09/2024
Level 8: 30/09/2024
Level 9: 08/10/2024
Level 10: 23/10/2024
Level 11: 02/12/2024
Level 12: 18/12/2024
Level 13: TBA
…
Bunpro:
Start: 30/09/2024
JLPT N5: TBA
JLPT N4: TBA
…
Tobira beginner I:
Lesson 8

Thank you for reading!

[smnraphael]

December 24th update:

I fell behind on my studies starting from level 10 because my workload at work increased significantly, and the growing number of reviews and leeches prevented me from learning new lessons. As a result, I stagnated for 40 days at level 10, which felt very challenging. However, I managed not to give up and kept reviewing every day (but stopped learning new lessons). Once my workload at work decreased, I picked myself back up at the end of November.

The number of new lessons was overwhelming due to the accumulated vocabulary. Over the past two weeks, I’ve learned more than 500 lessons in total, including 50 lessons per day for the last four days. On some days recently, I had to go through more than 300 reviews, but I managed to push through. Despite the high volume, I maintained an accuracy of 93% on kanji and 95% on vocabulary. My apprentice card count went up to 260 at its peak, but it’s now slowly decreasing. Now I’m finally at 0 lessons and 0 reviews. I should reach level 13 in two days, completing it in about 7-8 days total. I plan to keep up this pace for the following levels.

Additionally, I’ve added some Anki decks since early December, including vocabulary from Tobira I & II (about 1,200 words in total) + Core 2000 deck. I review 10 words per day for each deck, which feels manageable for now, and I’ll adjust if needed. I also resumed using BunPro in early December at a pace of 3 lessons per day, and I’m about to finish the N5 grammar.

It was truly a challenging period to finally reach 0 lessons/reviews, but it’s definitely not sustainable in the long run. From now on, I’ll try to stick to a maximum of 20–25 lessons per day.