I sometimes get discouraged to continue learning and I figured using a study log might help with that.
As of now I’m using Bunpro for grammar and some vocab and Wanikani for Kanji and how to use it (vocab)
My goal is to be able to read manga and get to N1 as soon as I can, while pacing myself in this learning journey. (maybe)
And I don’t know how much I’m gonna update this log but am shooting for every day.
forgot to update yesterday
I’ve decided to stop using Bunpro for now until I probably get a bit of a higher Wanikani level as advice from someone else because learning seemed less fun when using both. Felt like a chore.
So for now I’ll try to get my schedule for Wanikani ready and at least start burning some stuff.
Ended up changing my mind and am now using bunpro again nothing too interesting today working on pacing myself so i dont get bored and am just gettidg my schedule situated
Forgot to update the log yesterday.
New stuff today is that I’m doing a 1-week trip in April this year. Hopefully by then I’ll develop the grammar and vocab to be a bit above N5 at least, and am hoping that trip will improve my speaking skill.
Studying on Wanikani and Bunpro as usual but haven’t opened the textbook in a bit, will come back to it in the coming days but am relying more on bunpro for now on for grammar.
Whoops forgot to update this. Gonna change the updating goal to once a week.
As of today I have added more scripts to my setup and recently started using Smoldering Durtles. I feel like a real power user now.
Bunpro lessons are going a bit fast for me and grammer does a bit of time to sink in for me so I’m gonna just skip todays lessons and try to work on the other lessons I recently did. It makes me grateful that Wanikani won’t overwhelm me by even giving me the options for more lessons without making progress on my current stuff. To pace myself.
Right now I’m gonna head over to the Bunpro forums and try to look for some userscripts there that might make things more efficient.
If anyone has any suggestions on what I should use for my Japanese learning, anything even remotely related you find helpful, please let me know!
I also realized that I’m leveling up pretty slow. WAY slow. I’m gonna try and put most of my effort into leveling up efficiently now, while pacing myself so the language doesn’t become boring of course.
But theres my update for learning Japanese so far.
another update has arrived!
been focusing on how to level up faster now, NEED to keep pacing myself
On bunpro i stopped the vocab to go a bit more relaxed as far as bunpro reviews go, and to account for the insane speeding up ill be trying on Wanikani.
I reread the ultimate guide to Wanikani from 2018 and have now started looking into resources like a textbook and stuff to get more guided learning. Thats the update, and I’ll be at level 8 by next week.
Another thing I think is worth noting is that Bunpro started piling up vocab, and it felt like too much, so i stopped the vocab stuff on Bunpro but plan to continue in the future after I get things more settled and get a schedule with Wanikani and everything else. If I need to.
nvm Not if I need to, I will
I got level 8!
Didn’t / Forgot to take a screenshot of the level up banner, but I’m at level 8 now!
I started thinking about it when I saw the level up banner, about how long it would take, I got pretty overwhelmed knowing I’m level 8 of 60 and ALREADY 3 months in, but I need to remind myself that I’m getting the schedule together until around now and that I absolutely am not allowed to burn out, which means pacing myself and first getting the habit set up and continued.
I also switched Bunpro decks to Genki yesterday, also forget to say it in that last post, but I’m gonna get level 60 soon, I just need to lock in, and keep going.
Congrats!
One thing that can help here is to diversify a bit and realise that you don’t need to wait until level 60 to start getting some use of your Japanese skills. Like once you get into the level 10s and finish the Genki 1 content could be a good time to try out some kids books or manga
Thank you very much!
I’ll definitely diversify more, I feel like getting higher on Wanikani will improve my skills, but I need to remind myself that all it’s gonna improve is Kanji and some vocabulary. I’'m around halfway through Genki have am planning to join a beginner book club here soon as well.
My goal is to read manga and some anime, and hopefully by the time I have the opportunity to go to Japan in person, be actually able to test my skills and get the humbling I much need.
Decided just to add that bit so that I set my mind to it, the goal from my first post also remains but some friends introduced me to anime and that I guess is what’s new, so N1 also as stated before.
Didn’t sleep at all last night. Being tired usually makes me angrier when I get something wrong on Wanikani or Bunpro so gonna have to deal with that today.
But in study news;
Nothing too interesting, am going to start a vocab deck pretty soon on Bunpro again maybe the Genki one because someone recommended I should do vocab. I think the reviews on vocab piling up on top of what I’m already doing is more tiring, but I asked for more work to do and I got it. I haven’t finished a Genki lesson in some days, but I’ll make sure I finish the lesson soon and am making a deadline of within 2 days for myself.
Also haven’t been doing nihongo con teppei too much recently, because I was planning to do one a day but around episode 10 or so the grammar got a bit to complicated for me, or the vocab, just the combination of both. I also got great reading recommendations like satori reader. Still haven’t checked it out and am just using the Bunpro grammar one, my plan is to dig a bit deeper into vocabulary and I’ll start doing it. Would have been wise to just do vocab first before asking in the forums for more work and being a bit too confident with what I can do.
With all that said, I also need to pace myself so I don’t get burned out, this is the on thing I need to do in full and well, so I will make myself do this one thing and stay consistent. That’s the update for now though!
Haven’t really been attaching screenshots so I guess I might as well save some for the log. I might as well have a detailed log 
Currently all from Wanikani
Got a lot more to go but I’ll get there.
Was confused about sentence structures earlier so am going to add this resource from somebody who helped on that topic just to the log: (just for reference)
Have been pretty tired recently but am keeping up the studying. I have slowed down grammar a bit to make sure I’ve got everything I already have in my Bunpro reviews down. As far as Wanikani goes, I’ve decided to take it at my own pace which seems to be around 10 days and I just finished adding all level 8 kanji to my reviews.
Have been feeling very uncertain about Japan and studying Japanese recently, but I’ll keep on doing it, I just feel like the interest I had some months ago has kind slowed down, and I’ve become a bit lazier. Despite that, I know I’ll have interest once again in something I step away from, knowing me at least, and this is going to be the one thing which I promise to myself that I won’t stop. So as long as I’m not too interested, I’m gonna keep going no matter what, maybe just a bit slower though. And when I do get interested, I’ll pick up the pace, I’ll make sure that happens.
So, as for the log, have been getting kind of confused and not doing too good on the grammar side of things, have been getting around ~50 - 60 percent accuracy on those reviews, but I’ve just gotta keep drilling it in anyway, and eventually things will click.
As for Wanikani, my old items from around level 6 or 7, especially vocabulary which I once was doing quite well on, hasn’t clicked and I’ve been forgetting them. I think that’s because I wanted speed over accuracy and I just tried to tell myself these items will go away after I clear this level without realizing. Because of that, I’m going to try to devote myself to a little bit more on the accuracy side of things and not go full speed; hey the reason I’m here is to learn anyway, I think I got too deep into leveling up quick. But I shouldn’t be too worried anyway considering I think it’s realistic at my current pace to reach level 30 within the year I started so within around 8 months or so and be able to read roughly 89% of Kanji on Wikipedia Japanese. WIth that being said I’m also not saying I’m just going to quit at level 30, I’m just reminding myself that going slow will be as fulfilling as going fast anyway.
With that being said, I am kind of excited to use my current skill ~N5 or so soon when I go to Japan this early April, and get the humbling which I deserve. So that’s also on the radar. Anyway, that’s one of many updates to this blog, going for N1 as fast and as realistic as I can do and will hit it is what I’m just gonna say here so I can remind myself of what needs to be done.
I finished Genki lesson 9. Considering the speed which I am doing Genki lessons at, I decided to order the volume two book so when I finish volume one, I have the book ready for me. I also decided what textbook path to go on after Genki and landed on Quartet, an intermediate grammar book from the Japan times and after reading an article on Tofugu, I made up my mind. I ordered both volumes of Quartet and the 2nd volume of Genki. The reason why I did everything at once was so that I had ZERO excuse to stop studying whatsoever. If I’m buying these books, I am USING them, and mastering them. With that said, that puts more pressure on me, but this is what I wanted to do, and I’m interested in, so I’ll make it happen, and it will happen.
With that said, I think when I end N5 would be a good place to start trying to read sites maybe like NHK news easy, or using Satori reader. I might not be able to understand everything, but I do have a starting point. I wanna be able to read Manga comfortably, and practicing reading early with these sites should help me out.
Now, with all of that, I am going to make sure I do not get burned out, I’m gonna try and limit it a bit so that I don’t get ahead of myself doing overtime and getting burned out, that will not happen on my watch.
And so, as of today, I’ve made some future decisions on how I will be taking my grammar/textbook journey with Quartet, gonna be ready to add myself to this Quartet Casual Study Group - #92 by jablekanji post. I don’t really expect to finish the 2nd volume of Genki and even move onto Quartet too soon, keeping in mind I am on lesson 9 of volume 1 of Genki, but when I do, I’m absolutely ready and don’t need to worry about the intermediate textbook I’ll choose then. I’m gonna be posting that I’ve moved onto Quartet on this log soon, and for now, it’s time to finish up the first volume of Genki 1, and keep going, Will be N3, read manga, and have conversations in Japan soon, just gotta not be too ambitious or get burned out.
Gonna add another paragraph and type it out so I can really drill the fact into myself to not be too ambitious, but don’t burn out, get my own pace together. Will guarantee I do at least 1.5 or 2 Genki lessons per week, and 1 at the minimum just gotta keep going. As for Wanikani and Bunpro, will be doing Bunpro alongside the textbook I am using, and I’ll be doing 15 lessons (or max) every day on Wanikani unless under extreme circumstances. With that being said, Let’s take things consistently and relaxed, slow, and learn.
Just finished re-reading the final lesson on Genki volume 1 edition 3. Throughout Genki I’ve been doing some of the practice stuff but not all. This is because I’ve been using Bunpro for recall and SRS, practice in general. By the time I master items on Bunpro, I’m usually perfectly fine forming sentences and recalling them.
I’ve finished the Genki 1 grammar deck and added Genki 2 to actively learning, second textbook should arrive today. I’ll probably definitely check it out and maybe do the first chapter, I might not actually do the first chapter but might just skim it today and do it tomorrow or within the next couple days.
