Am I slow?

It’s been a month and a half and I’m not even done with N5 yet, is this pacing any good? Or should I try to study harder

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Probably it is ok. Depending on your knowledge before BunPro, how you use it, and what your goals are.

You need to keep in mind that those levels and exp stuff is really confusing. You have for example people being at your level that already pass N2 or N1 and are/were doing just some prep work for the test, or people that already study Japanese for years or even weirdos like me that use BunPro in totally unintended way and overwork themselves to insane degree.

To say if you are slow or not there would be more data necessary. Best indicator is probably your feeling. Two of them: (1) do you feel it is meaningful and you are going in good direction (what is “good direction” is subjective) and (2) do you have a feeling that you are outside of your comfort zone just enough to making a bit hard, but not too hard.

So in short: what is slow or fast is up to you :hugs: But your pace seems to be normal for most people.

There is no much utility in compering yourself to others though. :hugs:

(It is obviously just my opinion, since we are dealing with matter that is subjective by definition. If it works for you then it works.)

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Not at all. BunPro is best used alongside a textbook and N5 would be the whole of Genki I plus some of Genki II. You’d have to be doing a chapter every few days to do N5 in a month and a half, which is about a zillion times faster than any classroom would be doing it.

I think I started in the Summer with Genki I and I’m three chapters into Genki II right now. That has gotten me N5 and about 30 grammar points of N4 in about six months.

Sure you can blitz grammar points and add stuff like crazy, or you could go through all the ‘readings’ links and actually read and try and understand all of them, plus look up YouTube lessons for that grammar point etc. I can spend a whole session just on one grammar point.

Go at whatever pace you feel comfortable. Slow might actually mean you are doing additional reading and may retain the information better.

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I just finished N5 after 50 days. Since then i have not added new grammar because I wanted to trully master it before I continue. So i don’t think you’re to slow. Many people recommed to take it slower so that the grammar will stick with you.
I personally have yet to start any Nç because i want to first beet all the goasts left ower from n5.

So if you think your slow I think I’m at snails pace.

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If you are looking for some opinions about how people study I can provide you with a few links to threads that I found useful (if you ignore my inputs then you have only clever people there xD). There is quite a lot people with lots of useful experiences here, so you can take advantage of that.

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I take group lessons from a native tutor once a week (for an hour) to practice pronunciation and reinforce grammatical concepts. To be fair the class is designed for people with zero knowledge of the language so quite a bit of time was spent teaching hiragana, katakana, etc, but after 30 weeks we’re still on Chapter 6 of Minna no Nihongo 1, so I’d say no, you’re doing just fine.

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I came here to find some encouragement, and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s just rly great to see people of all skill levels come together to gently yell at someone who needs it. i just , ヽ(´;ω;`)ノ I just have a lot of feELngs rn

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I think it is possible you are falling a victim to Dunning-Kruger effect. There is a lot of material on the internet explaining this concept in not really useful way (as an excuse to show beginner where their place is if they dare to disagree on something xD), but it is actually motivating idea if you are aware how it works on you and stop caring how it works on others (it is their problem so no need to care :joy:).

Idea is simple:

Most people focus on the idea that somebody else is at the “peak of Mount Stupid” since that frees them from the need to think if beginner accidentally have made a good point without knowing it. But for you the most important part is the “Valley of Despair”.

Normal emotional reaction is as the name suggests. You had a break through, life was good, and then you notice there is more questions than answers. You feel demotivated. But what is the reality? You just make huuuge jump forward, your understanding improved. You should celebrate getting here, and you goal should be to get to the “peak of mount stupid” as soon as possible so you can fall again, and improve again. And repeat as many times as you need (after that you can stay at the peak to the rest of you life. Who cares you still know close to nothing and can’t even write haiku or read classical Japanese? If you can use your Japanese for your needs then it is good enough)

It is a little bit painful process, but good food needs a bit of pepper :hugs:

Here you have somebody smarter than me speaking about it and his Japanese learning adventure:

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Took me 120 days to finish N5 it is fine. I heard that in japanese the beginning is the toughest but after that you will be adding little bit each time. I am almost done with N4 and i totally agree with that statement. I doesn’t matter how long it takes IMO

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Hey, in my opinion that’s not too slow. I just started learning Japanese and thusly BunPro a bit over a month ago and I’m also not finished with the N5 material. It all depends on what your goals are and what your situation is. As for me: I work full time and had a pipe break in my apartment that’s been a huge hassle - and I still manage to study every day!

You should set yourself a managable goal and look at the progress that you already made. Don’t belittle your studies.

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I’ve been at it for 6 months with Genki 1/2 every day, and before that 2 months of Kanji with WaniKani and 3 weeks of daily in-person classes. Here’s my Bunpro status:

907

So no, you’re not “slow” at Grammer. At least you’re faster than me :wink:

That being said, I don’t think you should compare yourself to others at all! Unless you have a specific goal you need to reach, just go as fast as feels good and productive for you. This is not a competition. If you are learning Japanese properly, you are probably in it for the long run anyway.

PS: Since I don’t know what else you do: You probably also want to learn vocab, do exercises, read stuff and try to talk. Focusing on just one aspect will make you feel like you progress in the beginning, and then later you’ll realize that you still can’t do much.

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I will just drop it here.

I would consider learning N5 and N4 impossible for myself without her help. Her voice is a pain and she likes to do some weird role playing and dramatical statements, but don’t let her fool you: she knows what she is doing and she just don’t like to deal with people that judge other over such a silly things (I can’t think of other reason why she do what she can to not grow her channel).

It was of huge value to me. I don’t know if it will works for you guys. But I would try it as a background noise just to have a look.

Should not hurt. :hugs:

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Nothing wrong with hitting “cram” to see if you can handle more or not!

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“Are you aware that rushing toward a goal is a sublimated death wish? It’s no coincidence we call them 'deadlines.” - Tom Robbins

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Fear of death is second strongest motivation though. Only fear of social embarrassment can top it. :hugs:

I personally consider this to be better framework for self improvement at anything:

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We have a sloth club over at WK that I’m a proud member of! I study for ~1.5 hours every day but its spread across multiple difference places (WK, Bunpro, Anki, books, iTalki, HelloTalk…) so for me going “slow” in an application is perfect pace (otherwise the reviews will burn me out). Long story short, go at whatever pace you can to keep it up daily! :slight_smile:

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Life gets in the way. I’ve been subbed for 2 and a half years now and am barely halfway through N3. :wink:

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You may enjoy this interview on Marty Friedman, where sidestepping textbooks and going into pressure situations was the most important learning tool (such as doing Japanese television).

Not exactly something everyone can do though. But I agree, having some sort of pressure can produce a lot of growth in short period of time. Failing or not is sort of secondary, because the experience is so valuable.

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No you are not, and don’t listen to anyone who says otherwise.

Frankly, even if you finish all of the N5 content in 6 weeks, you don’t know it. You won’t be anywhere near a level where you could use and understand all of that grammar at anything close to a native pace.

Take your time. Aiming for speed is a recipe for failure when it comes to grammar.

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Im very suspicious of this channel. I’ve heard people who don’t speak Japanese that can pronounce konnichiha better than this person.

Edit: it’s just flat out creepy.

Edit: had a flick through some of their videos. Wow its all very clickbaity isnt it? Reminds me a lot of that charlatan over at fluentin3months.com who advertised themselves as revolutionary when really it was anything but.

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