The new table has been integrated and hopefully it works out well 
If there are any recommendation on the forrmating, it’ll be much appreciated 
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Reflection of the day:
Cure dolly is a gem and a gold mine. I think her videos are gonna influence my journey of learning Japanese a lot and teach me a lot about myself and how to grow as a learner.
Even though I’m still at the beginning of her videos, I found that some videos I understand in one go, while others I need to re-watch 2 or 3 times, in order to fully understand and comprehend everything. I think going over every videos a couple of times in the long run might be the right choice and strategy
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First day of trying out the new table format and hoping everything works out well
Today I also reached a 700 streak on Wanikani 
Time flies by faster than one thinks 
, but here’s for a bright future
I’m not sure if there are certain ways, which allow more formatting options for the table 
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Thought of the day:
I saw yesterday that Satori is having a Black Friday sale and I’m considering it 
I also think I’ll be waiting for bunpro sale maybe, but still not decided.
So many choices to make and not many brain cells to use 
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Reflection/thought of the day:
there was a time (a very long period), when I just give up on the Renshuu review after two or three reviews, because I’m getting them wrong 
When I tried the more active approach and kept persisting plus encountering the words through different apps per se, the results got a bit better. Instead of just giving up and blame the errors on different things, just taking the approach of trying to learn from them and keep pushing through helped giving me some progress, even if it’s step by step. Me getting a 100% on 40 words is no easy feat for me and I felt proud of myself. It could’ve been luck, it could’ve been other things, but all that matters to me is this small victory
A quote from myself to myself: the light can only be reached by pushing through the darkness towards it. Just sitting down in the darkness and wishing for the light to come closer isn’t the way to go. Step by step no matter how big or small. This is the way
On another note, I think I’ll go for 1 year subscription for Satori reader and take advantage of the sale. I’m still not sure about Bunpro, but considering the price, I might go for it, but I just need some time to consider it
This week and next week are gonna be hectic for me, but we’ll see how things go 
P.S. after working hard to rebuild my broken streak on Lumosity and getting to 285 days, the streak broke again yesterday, because I didn’t do the exercises in the usual time and I forgot later on to do them There seems to be some magic around this number for my streak to break
Well, now to build it again
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A small ramble:
Sometimes there are words that I struggle with in general, due to either them being hard or me not having the mental capacity at time to go through them. In such cases, the passive approach of just doing them and banking the hope on repetitions over time might help. Yesterday I was doing a usual review on Busuu and one of the words I struggled with was “metro”, which is ちかてつ. I got that wrong a lot of times before, but yesterday for the first time, it just clicked in my head and tried to remember the word and voilà I got it right . Sometimes you just have to have blind faith in the process and keep on going, knowing that at some point in the future all the hard work will pay off
On another note, after a lot of thinking and consideration (which took about 2 seconds, since my mind was exhausted and didn’t want to go through the process of thinking ), I bought 1 year subscription to Satori reader and a lifetime subscription to Bunpro. Now, some might think that might not have been a wise decision, but decisions made by me aren’t quite wise .
Jokes aside, the reasoning for Satori reader was that I enjoyed the stories I’ve read so far (and the method I’m currently using to go through the story) and I can see from the four stories I already read how much love and passion went into making a story and trying to explain everything and deliver everything in the easiest way possible. I think it’s a good choice in the long run, but I might do some reflection in a year and see how things go. (another plus is supporting the amazing people behind it too .
The choice regarding Bunpro wasn’t easy to make. The downside is that I didn’t already have much experience with it to really be able to estimate whether it’s worth it or not, but I took a look and saw that they also have decks for different things (which reminded me of old Memrise) and thought that if things didn’t work out well with the grammar, I can try the other different things they offer until I find something I like. Another point was that the price wasn’t too much for a lifetime experience and I think that sealed the deal for me
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I’ve found that sometimes a word just needs to be brute forced. There are many examples of that for me in French, and previously in Japanese. I find that adjusting the example sentence can help, which Migaku makes easy (its sentences are AI generated). Adjusting the illustration can help. And it’s always true that continuing to fail the card and only pass it when you truly remember it will eventually cause that click, but it truly can take a long time.
For Bunpro, I recommend only doing 3 cards per day and disabling ghost reviews.
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Sometimes what helps me is to give the word more time for me to really “digest” it and maybe develop a better understanding of it , but sometimes brute force might be the only way
I remember on the Huberman lab podcast, he mentioned that we’re wired in a way that we’re most susceptible to learning right after we make a mistake (this is a very crude version and I apologize for any mistakes in it) and the usual problem is us giving up right after we make a mistake.
Trying different way till you find what works best for you is usually the way to go
For Bunpro, I’m trying to do the available daily reviews and whenever I have the time and mental capacity to do a new grammar point. I might adjust that in the future, but that’s my current capacity
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Achievement of the day:
today I reached level 10 on Wanikani (finally it took ages and I can’t wait for the email )
I’m glad that I was able to knock out this goal off of my list for this year 
I don’t think I can reach level 11 by the end of the year, because I can already sense a turbulence in the force
I was also on the verge of getting another 100% review on Renshuu, but I clicked on the word containing や instead of ゃ my brain succeeded on tricking me . However, I’m glad that the basic vocabulary is starting to stick (hopefully) after many repetitions
I also think I like the new table format I’m using better than the older one, but will see if any further adjustments might be needed in the future
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If I am desperate to remember, I might use flash cards, or AB questions, with near immediate repetition (rather than spaced with time intervals like srs, just something to break attention) to ensure the item lands somewhere in short term memory, hopefully more than a few hours.
I used to make weak mnemonics, but revise often. More like I don’t intend to use those mnemonics to get to long term, just make it additive with other methods to bring to medium term.
Typing or writing (or drawing) for B side, while showing only A side hiding B, may matter as well. Hiding Kanji or Jukugo → try to write it and spot mistakes → hiding again while showing the A side → try to write better.
Well, it’s a way, but it can be quite stressful. Writing out (with ink or typing) rather than imagining may make it less stressful. But all of this might not make long term memory (or at least I intend not to – they are just AB questions rather than comprehensive or communicative in/out).
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Those are interesting and creative ways to try and absorb the information.
I think you nailed it with the short-term and long-term memory perspective. I think usually the struggle comes from trying to get the word from the short-term to the long-term memory, and I think you found creative ways of achieving that. Sometimes my subconscious brings me a different word or mnemonics, which I can relate to that word to help or on a very rare occasion, my mind gives me a big revelation of how to learn it using a story or experience, which I experienced before per se.
So many ways to achieve the same goal
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That podcast is very valuable. His explanation of the cognitive role of failure was crucial for me. I wish I’d learned that when I was younger.
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Indeed. I’m trying to go through all the episodes and the amount of knowledge shared (especially when he has guests) is insane. I’m really glad that I started listening to that podcast
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Thought of the day:
As the end of the year draws near, there’s a lot to do and my calendar has just been busy with things I want and especially things I don’t want
In such situations, I might not push hard on myself with the learning, so that I can get the needed rest. However, I’ll do my best to keep the balance and still ensure a more active than passive approach of learning the language
Keeping things to a minimum from time to time helps also giving us the feeling of a small break and to recharge and feel recovered after a small while. At least that’s how I sometimes feel, so here’s o all those little breaks
A small reflection on the month of November is that I’m glad I started logging things and I’m glad that I switched to the second version of the table. I think the active approach is way better than the passive approach (duh ), but from time to time, the passive approach could help giving the feeling of rest. Here’s to hopefully an amazing December
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Reflection of the day:
As I was doing the Renshuu review today, my mind was scattered in different places. As a result, I did a couple of obvious mistakes, which I wouldn’t usually do
It felt strange to do these mistakes, but somehow logical, since there are different things my mind is trying to think about and figure out. This is something to learn from for the future 
On another topic, I’ve been reading how Migaku had a crazy special offer and that it was the first time they offered a price that low. I thought about it (which took me a couple of minutes and a couple of days before that) and I reached the conclusion, that it might be better for the future and the long run to have a subscription there. The price was also another point, which wasn’t a lot considering it was a lifetime subscription per se. Hence, the decision was made and a lifetime subscription has been bought.
Am I gonna start using it immediately? I’m not sure. I need to not overwhelm myself with the amount of things I use, in order to keep things in balance and enjoy the process of learning. I’ll try to figure it out slowly and see how I can use it to help. Again, this is something for the long run and doesn’t need to be integrated immediately , but we shall see
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I ordered two books last week and they arrived today
I’m not sure when I’ll start with them (and I’m pretty sure that I bought then to add them to my overgrowing book collection 
), but they seem quite interesting and could be fun reading them (I guess and hope )
When the day comes, they shall be read, but until then, we shall wait
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One of the nice features about Migaku is the ability to import word lists. So even if you aren’t using it at the moment, you could periodically import Wanikani words. If you go to wkstats, you can copy the vocab lists in the items page. Then paste into Migaku.
Also, as a lifetime subscriber you can access the Early Access version of their app and extension.
They also have very helpful YouTube videos that are worth a watch.
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Crazy how much success Chris has had. I remember when he started in his little apartment while teaching English.
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So, I can theoretically have all the words from here in there and just do random reviews for the words? Interesting.
Wait, is it another app then? or are the features also in the same app (I have the android app and I don’t know if that makes a difference)
I’ll try to give their videos a watch, but I’ll have to find them first
A small update: I have found the app, but we’ll see how it goes
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I don’t think I’m familiar with the author to be honest. I just checked what was written about the book (I think, since the intention to buy it was last year) and thought it would be a good idea to buy it
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