my japanese learning diary

[hakonohakoda]

Update: these are not perfect but im enjoying this so much

[hakonohakoda]

Back after a bit of a break!

I think I'll also change things up a little bit. So far my japanese learning has mostly been me clicking on apps but I thought I would try to join the aesthetics notes people. Here is the first japanese notes I've made (since hiragana and katakana sometimes still confuse me)

[hakonohakoda]

Stats 4th of March

This week was insane for me for non japanese related reasons so progress was a bit slower. I also reached the point where I've not managed to finish my reviews daily. I started off strong with managing the grammar like I had planned but things kind of spiralled downward as time passed. I did watch a lot of japanese videos to calm down in the evenings so that part went great.

Plans for next week: keep up the current pace of new terms per day (20 new words and 5 kanji) and catch up on the reviews

[hakonohakoda]

It has now been a bit over a week since my first post! My stats currently:

And in comparison the stats last week:

The change really isn't huge. I've now hit a point in my learning where my reviews are starting to take a considerable time and the amount of new stuff I'm learning is gradually slowing down. I'm hoping this is a momentary annoyance and not a sign of things to come in the future too.

I posted my first post on the 15th and today is the 24th. So the above difference is what I added in these 9 days.

Honest review of studies so far: the amount of new words I'm studying has dropped considerably. I'm still getting around 90% correct on all vocab questions but because the amounts of reviews I have are now nearing 700 daily I'm wary of adding too many new words a day.

Surprisingly the kanji has been the most manageable and the most steady progress so far. I was expecting the kanji to be the hardest part but it has so far been the easiest. I'm adding 5 new kanji a day and the pace seems more than manageable currently. Of course the new kanji does get added to the vocabulary I'm studying automatically too so this is also in turn bloating those decks. But as a standalone the kanji are looking great.

For grammar... the grammar is a headache. It takes by far the most time. I've now finished the N5 grammar and I'm not planning on adding N4 into this anytime soon. To be completely honest most days I don't even finish all my grammar reviews. They're a true headache and this is definitely a point where I have to step up a bit. Or a lot. It's a thing I absolutely need to work on. I'll see about adding new stuff once I can wrestle these reviews into manageable daily reviews once again.

About my other study methods... Well. I'm fully aware I should be reading.I had a good reading habit going a while ago reading a small picture book a day basically. This week though? I have read 0 things. It's definitely something to work on with the grammar.

On better news I've kept up my daily japanese listening! My current favourite podcast is nihongo con teppei. A very easy to understand and entertaining podcast entirely in japanese. I've also kept up my habit of watching japanese streams too. Naturally I don't understand a lot but gameplay videos/streams are still somewhat possible to follow along with. Oh and I have been listening to japanese music. But personally i don't find that very helpful in learning the language. I generally just vibe with music instead of trying to understand the lyrics.

But this is it for this week! I make no promises on getting he reading habit back next week but I will definitely work on the grammar reviews! Let's hope that I'll have done a bit better with them next week!

To end with some small questions: are you also studying japanese? How far along are you and what are you focusing on currently? I'm very very curious to know!

[hakonohakoda]

Hello everyone! Welcome to my japanese learning diary!

Some ground facts: I've been studying Japanese on and off for a long long period of time with varying success. Finally last December I hit my first measurable goal. I passed the N5! (Very much unofficially with an app- mind you)

I was happy with my success and made a plan to pass the N4 in the next 3-4 months and the N3 around this time next year. These were vague goals I hadn't committed to very much. However as I shared these plans my friend laughed at me and told me there was no way I could do it. So me, being a reasonable adult absolutely ignored his opinion and continued on my merry way happily.

Who am I kidding? I took offence and upped my arrogance x100. One thing led to another and we now have a gamble going. According to that I absolutely must pass by February 12th 2024.

It has been a couple of days and to answer the question of do I regret this? Absolutely. But I'm a woman of my word and this is now a thing that will happen. Come hell or high water.

Currently my study plan is to study vocab, kanji and grammar in renshuu. I'm also reading a small picture book a day at tadoku.org as well as listening to beginner podcasts. I'm also watching japanese gaming streams but to be completely honest my understanding of them is less than 10% and mostly I do it for fun. Let's just call it passive learning :D

I'm a big fan of statistics so I'll share some here.

These are my current renshuu stats. 1075 words, 117 kanji and 63... grammar? I don't think they are seperate grammar points. To be completely honest with you I've no idea what this means.

To compare to what you need to know for N3

~650 kanji

~3750 vocab words

So im around a 4th or 5th of the way there. It will be a long journey ahead. Possible? Yes absolutely. Lots of hard work, long hours and frustration? Also yes. Absolutely.

But with this said I'm off to wrestle my daily reviews into submission! Thank you for reading and if you are interested in seeing where this journey will end up in make sure to hit that follow button!