Am I too early?

Japanese
#1

I started using Bunpro like 2 months after WK, plus I have prior experience with listening and reading, so I’m not great, but not that bad either. I can read basic sentences and know a few kanji (picked up from about 2 years of Duolingo - not the best way to learn but am easy way to keep my eyes used to reading), but I truly get the feeling of illiteracy when I use Bunpro. I can barely understand the words in a sentence, so I can’t figure out the context to fill in the needed word. I tried 3 days back-to-back, but it doesn’t change anything it’s still the same result, but getting worse.

What can I do?

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#2

Welcome to the forum!

I am sorry to hear that you are having difficulty, but what you are going through is not something that is unique to you, and is totally normal, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

With any language, you’ll need a certain amount of vocab knowledge before you can start to pick sentences apart piece by piece and really see what is going on. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t start learning grammar at the same time. It just means that you’ll need to take it a little bit slow.

Just like you mentioned, knowing the context of a sentence really helps with knowing what to put as the answer in Bunpro style questions. One of the reasons for this is that grammar structures usually follow specific words, such as adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc. So recognizing what is around the grammar point can also help you identify the grammar point itself.

If I was in your position, I would probably turn on furigana for everything to remove the mental load of needing to know how to read any kanji that you come across, and start learning vocab in conjunction with the grammar. The first few months are going to be difficult as you build a core of vocabulary, but as you build that core, the ‘context’ that you will need to search for within sentences will reduce more and more.

Edit - We are actually currently in the process of writing up a mini-course that will help to better guide users in how to use Bunpro when you’re still near the beginning of your learning journey. So I think that will probably be of help to you as well once we release it! :bowing_man:

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#3

Thanks for the advice on turning on furigana, I’ll definitely give it a try, and I’ll be looking out for the mini course.

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#4

I had a very similar sensation when I first tried Bunpro after starting Wanikani, and actually dropped Bunpro completely for about six months. I really relate to that feeling of illiteracy that you describe! But then once I came back after continuing with WK and various other things I dabbled in everything made a lot more sense. I just tried a bit of everything - the Tobira textbooks and the app just called ぶんぽう on the iOS app store helped with basic N5 grammar for me, but I think honestly it was just seeing the same things in a few different places that did the trick.

After coming back to Bunpro again I blasted through the rest of the N4-1 grammar and it just gradually got easier. I’m reasonably conversationally fluent after another couple of years and Bunpro helped a lot.

tl;dr, what you’re feeling is normal, just keep going, feel free to stop Bunpro and come back later, just make sure you’re always doing something you enjoy to keep studying little by little and it’ll come with time!

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#5

This isn’t something I’ve actually thought to do before, except the opposite. I’ve always had furigana on. When do you normally recommend turning it off?

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#6

That one is going to vary more person to person I would think. It’s not going to interfere with your grammar study at all by always having it on, but you are essentially also robbing yourself of the chance to do reading/kanji practice at the same time.

I would maybe start to turn things off if you start interacting with native material quite often and find that you can’t comfortably read things when there is no furigana.

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#7

Wait, I always just have the translation hint on for the sentences when I review them. And I never really worried about this… Is it bad that I have the hints on all the time??

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#8

Automatic furigana based on WaniKani is amazing. If there is no furigana, I know that I should be able to read it (90% of the time at least)

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#9

No, having hints on is perfectly fine. Just make sure you read everything and think about what you’re reading and you should be good to go.

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#10

Definitely not bad! I am a big advocate for having the hints and translation on for lower levels (N5/N4), and then having the hints on and translations off after that. I think it’s the most effective way to use Bunpro for grammar, as at higher levels there are many things which can look similar if you’re relying on the English translation, so you’re training yourself to think more in terms of Japanese than simple translation. Back when I was learning with Bunpro, I had translations off and would always first read the sentence and hint and think about it, then try to answer. If I was wrong then I’d check the translation to see if my understanding was off, then try again.

Despite people having preferences and opinions, there isn’t really a ‘wrong’ way to do things though; it will just come down to you personally and your goals. The reason all the possible settings and options are there in the first place is so that you can freely choose how you want to study in the best way for you and your goals.

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#11

I don’t have them on all the time but if I can’t work out what it says for all the good reasons mentioned then pressing the space bar gives me the hint i need.

i also love that linking with WaniKani means I only get Furigana on a subset of kanji (didn’t like the HUGE number of reviews it gave me though :slight_smile: )

Angela

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#12

at this stage, really do anything that makes it easier for you. turn on that furigana, take all the hints. consider switching to a mode, that feels the easiest for you. you can alway reset n5 later and redo it in a harder mode.

when i started bunpro, i didn’t have much grammar, but already had most of n5 vocab, and reading those sentences was still hard. i recommend getting a few more vocab in, by any means that you enjoy. maybe just flashcard style, even. (again, you can reset later for full sentences).

another thing to work on, that i highly recommend is, learning to deal with ambiguity, just not knowing things yet and making lots of mistakes. sentences full of words you dont know? not a problem, you aren’t supposed to know these yet. just look at the translation in the end, and see of you can match some words. it’s good practice even if you’re wrong, even if you don’t realize you’re wrong. just by training you to think and notice patterns, you’ll progress.

don’t worry too much. yeah, it’s hard. yeah, you make a lot of mistakes and don’t even know what’s correct. but that’s just part of the progress. it might feel like you’re too early, it might feel like you’re not cut out for this, but that’s basically what everybody goes through. you can safely ignore those doubts and reframe them as “the rookie part” of learning a language.

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