How Do You Juggle Multiple Apps/Resources?

Japanese
#1

Hello everyone!
I am about a month into my Japanese learning journey. I had one previous attempt at it a few years ago, but did not make it very far.

While I’m extra motivated right now, I had loaded myself up with several resources for learning Japanese. I do plan on dropping some and trying out different resources as I go, but here’s what I’ve been using so far:

  • Duolingo
  • Genki 1 textbook (2nd edition)
  • Bunpro (of course!)
  • WaniKani
  • Anki
  • Lingo Legend
  • A couple of kana dedicated learning apps

Genki, Bunpro, Duo, and Lingo Legend have learning paths where you learn certain things in a certain order. Sometimes they overlap, like learning kana is step one, and, for example, AはBです is generally among the first sentences you learn. But, past the starter stuff, they begin focusing on separate things (in terms of vocab).

They are different enough that if I do 1 lesson a day with all of them, I can be learning 20+ new words every day. Which is great for “progress” but I feel like I’ll struggle to remember them all in a week or two. I’m already planning on dropping Duo soon, to focus on resources I like better…

But I got wondering how others might leverage multiple resources without burning out. I know there are settings to control how many new things you learn, do you just tweak those in each resource to find a balance? Do you have a schedule where you mainly use 1 resource each day? Is 1 main resource with some supporting ones good enough? Am I just a scrub who can’t learn quick enough? :laughing:

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#2

Be clear what you want out of each one of those, and make sure that the value it provides justifies its place. You should be done with kana apps shortly, if you really still need them at all. Duolingo seems like it’s almost entirely redundant. WaniKani is great, if you want to go that route, but that should also place limits on how you use BunPro and Anki (not using BunPro for vocab, and using Anki only for what’s not in WK). You can use BunPro to complement Genki by using the Genki decks, and not just defaulting to the JPLT decks.

I know that tool creep is real, but it will eat up all your time if you aren’t intentional about what you want out of each of them.

Edit: I’ll also mention what is notably absent from your list is anything to do with listening. I made the mistake of ignoring this, and I’m halfway through WK, 2/3 through Bunpro’s N4 deck and can barely follow simple N5 conversations. It’s really an entirely different skill than recognizing written text, and it’s probably good to make sure you plan to get that in sooner rather than later.

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#3

I got overwhelmed by all the tools and MPKelley is right, have an intention of what you want out of each app you use. I ended up resting a lot of the apps I use to refocus on what I wanted out of each one. I use WaniKani, BunPro, Todai, and Anki when I have some spare time.

I did use Doulingo to practice when I first started but stopped once I had a good understanding with hiragana and katakana.

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#4

I realize now that my previous post didn’t answer your actual question.
With any SRS system, you are in control of your own destiny by controlling the rate you learn new items. The more you learn, the more reviews you have. In WK, the rule of thumb is that your number of daily reviews will be about 2x the number of items you have in the apprentice stage. If you are trying to move through WK quickly at all, you will need to do reviews at least twice a day, about 12 hours apart. Personally I try to clear my deck in the morning, either before work, or on the bus, and then try to do it again in the evening.

If the number of reviews gets overwhelming, just slow down or pause lessons, but DON’T let reviews just pile up if you can help it (sometimes you can’t help it). Letting reviews pile up works against the whole point of an SRS, which is to bring items up to you just before you forget them. The intervals are important, and accumulating reviews works against that.

You are in control of how much material you have to do everyday, so be realistic with the lessons. I know that early on, you just want to learn it all at once, and that’s fine for a while, but ease off as soon as the reviews start getting to the edge of what you can keep on tops of.

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#5

I’m glad you understand motivation is fleeting and you risk burning out. Create a plan, follow it as much as possible, turn it into a routine like showering (assuming you’re not French), a time of day where you can fully focus on this task.
Do it consistently, and you won’t need to rely on motivation.
And like others said, figure out what you want out of each resource, and how they build upon each other towards your objective. And don’t forget to read and consume content in Japanese, even if it’s slow and you don’t understand a lot. You’ll get there. But consistency is the most important.

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#6

I’ve fought that problem trying to balance wanting to make progress but also realizing while I am working I can’t dedicate a ton of time.

I settled on using WK up to 50 reviews a day. If I ever have a day lower than that I learn new items to fill the gap

I plan to use Bunpro to aim for a review queue of 25 and will learn if I am lower than that cap.

Soon I plan to research to try and get more listening immersion and eventually attempt to read a basic book.

While its not fast, it is a sustainable habit I can keep up with and since I am an older student there is no short-term goal I really have I just want to get to N2 level to better be able to take in the culture when I visit again in future trips

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#7

Currently I only have 1 resource for vocab which is Anki and mining, and I learn grammar in the wild and daily from bunpro. Premade courses and decks will stop being useful to you around the 4k frequency range (or at least highly inefficient).

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#8

My daily reviews is about 700-900, based on 4 different sources: Anki, Bunpro, Kanji Study app and my notebooks (learned words from textbooks).

I have been doing this for at least 500+ day, and I have to say: it DOES NOT getting any easier. Everyday is a grind, everyday looking at estimated review for the following days is a pain, but I think trying to complete the reviews as soon as possible a day is best.

I kind of having lots of time to dedicate to learning Japanese, but 1 hour per day is super already, you should just try to limit your daily review at first, and then trying your best to complete the daily quota, don’t let it spill over and piling up like mountains.

All in all, I think discipline and/or routine are essential here.

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#9

I’ve found that I need to balance tools that I really enjoy using and tools that I know will help me, but I don’t necessarily jump out of bed every morning to do them, so I don’t let them consume too much time. The KanjiStudy app+Immersion (reading/watching/playing/etc) are things I actively enjoy, while Anki and Bunpro I tolerate but I keep them at around 30minutes combined.

My husband has found really great success with WaniKani, meanwhile I can’t stand it lol. If a platform doesn’t feel right, you can try other alternatives out.

I’m currently prepping for the JLPT so I made myself a temporary study schedule where I’m doing different Shinkanzen Master books and also keeping that at around 30 minutes. I made my schedule to be that I’m only studying for 60 days and then I’m done. I did all the planning prior so I just open my calendar, see what pages I scheduled myself to do, and do them when I’m able. I work better when I plan to do “x page of book” rather than “x minutes of book”, I’d recommend trying that for Genki I if measuring in time leads to you struggling to do the thing.

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#10

I definitely need to bring in a resource for listening comprehension. My main goal is to read in Japanese (starting with simple manga series but eventually novels), but I do plan to visit Japan (at some point), so I want to be able to hold some sort of conversation. So building a listening habit now is a good point!

I have been keeping my reviews in Bunpro and and WK cleared, but only adding new lessons in Bunpro (I’m on the month trail, so I’m focusing more on Bunpro right now).

I really like the wording of “a sustainable habit”. I’m definitely not on the young side (mid-30s). I have no timeline, so once my initial energy runs out, I think I’ll shoot for sustainable.

#11

I’m going to put Todai on the list of things to try out (once I have room for a new one). I’ll need to work on the intentionally part, I’m kind of scatter-shooting at this point.

#12

Thanks for all the replies! I didn’t expect to get them so quickly! I wanted to reply to everyone individually… I’m still new to the forums, but a helpful hint told me to reply to several posts at once.

So, I think my overall impression from everyone is that

  1. Keep reviews cleared as a baseline
  2. Control the number of lessons/new words
  3. Set intentions per resource (such as, I use x for grammar, y for reading, etc)
  4. Make a plan/routine that I can sustainably maintain while balancing life (important for when my initial motivation runs out)
  5. Find ways to enjoy native content - I do read NHK easier news posts but need to bring in some listening content

That is so many!! Do you feel like you really know the older ones and they are quick to do?

I like this idea! I feel like I get too focused on finishing the chapter as a whole, which feels like I’m trying to cram so much in during my planed study time. But, a page, two pages? Much more realistic.

#13

I personally use anki for vocab and kanji with bunpro for grammer and satori for reading.

What you don’t want to do is overwhelm yourself with reviews later from going too hard now while you have the motivation. I originally was learning from all three sources but as I started to feel burned out I pick one to focus on while just clearing review for the others. For example keep clearing reviews on anki without adding new material while I work my way through bunpro for grammer. Once I hit a milestone in grammer or start feeling burned out there I may switch to reading x amount a day on satori while just finishing reviews on bunpro and anki. This helps my adhd brain find “new” things to do while feeling a bit of accomplishment from seeing the daily reviews for other material go down as I felt I internalized them.

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#14

It’s fine to try out several resources in the beginning to see what you like and what works for you, but keeping up with a long list of resources can be tiring and lead to serious burn out. I mainly use Bunpro, Wanikani, renshuu, various textbooks that I use inconsistently, and random YT channels for listening comprehension. I’m lazy so when I get tired of focusing on one resource, I focus more on another. But don’t do what I do! Be consistent with whatever resource you’re using.

One last thing, after you feel like you have a good baseline of vocab and grammar, start reading native content. Yes, your first manga will knock you down and humble you, but it gets easier!

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#15

Erm, my daily review correct percentage ranging from 88-97%, so I’d say that my review is quite fast.

Most vocab review is just a flash card that I have to memorize correctly its meaning and kanas, so it’s like 15-20 seconds for a card at most. If I cannot recall a word after 1 mins, it’s gone from my mind :smiley: . Those vocab on Bunpro has a very good example sentence base that can really help with distinguishing different meanings of a word.

I would say that your review speed will increase with time and practices, much like every other thing in life haha. When I first start doing those number, it would usually took me like 6 hours/day. But now, if I can focus well enough, it should only take me 2 hours per day for those 700-900 reviews. And moreover, when you remember enough things, learning new words is actually becoming an easy tasks. I regularly added about 55 new words/day and 3 new Kanjis/day, and there is hardly any words that I cannot guess its base meaning anymore.

For example, my TRULY new words of the day is 刹那 - せつな - a moment; an instant, in which one Kanji I did not know, and both of them combine is also unguessable haha. But words like these are rare for me these day.

Keep learning and you’ll see how much easier it gets.

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#16

+1 and I highly recommend https://nihongo-jikan.com/

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#17

I have volume 1 of Yotsuba as my first “goal book”. I can’t wait to spend 3 hours to actually read it front to back, haha…

I would love to get to get there someday! How long have you been studying for?

This is now on my list of things to check out! Thanks :smiley:

#18

Haha, if only your first trip through manga went that quickly… I’m in a book club for book 1 of Yotsuba right now. I’m currently around 50 pages behind, if not more. I think my first 6 pages in that book took me around an hour to actually feel like I mostly understood the meaning. Not trying to scare you, but seriously. @Neon_Kitsune is right. For such a simple, childish book, it’s crazy how hard it is and how dumb you’ll feel while you’re still learning. I tell my friends that there are Manga that I will read in English in about 30 minutes that would likely take me a week to get through, if not more, in Japanese.

Now… Back to your original question.

Apologies in advance for the wall of text, I get verbose easily in text, and I’m very passionate about avoiding burnout in studying Japanese.

I’m currently balancing full time work and Japanese study. I’m currently primarily using WaniKani and Bunpro together, and within the last couple months I’ve started to add in some listening through some Youtube channels. I’ve already hit burnout once since restarting my learning journey this January. I have the luxury of working in a job where I can take some time throughout the workday and knock out some reviews here and there without getting myself into trouble. That being said, my daily total for reviews pretty much completely caps out at around 4-500 between the two sites. My overall patience is a finite resource, and I find that I have to manage that resource diligently to avoid getting frustrated. I have some tolerance for being wrong (I’m learning after all, if I’m right 100% of the time, then I’m not learning anything new) but it can get frustrating to get things wrong. Pay attention to that when you do your reviews. I find personally, that I have a very easy time keeping up and doing large batches on WaniKani, but my tolerance on Bunpro is significantly lower. I have all of my reviews here on Cloze style, which really forces you to recall the information, but can make things a bit harder (mostly in a good way). As such, I typically try to limit my review batches on here to 20 at a time, and do many small batches, instead of large batches.

If I keep my current pace, I don’t have room in my life for any more learning resources than that as a daily routine. I have Genki I sitting next to me, and it only really gets opened on weekends where I have very few plans and a lot of energy, which is a rare combination for me. So my personal advice: limit yourself to a small combination of resources that you feel like you benefit from, and that you can do daily. Keep the routine. Doing small things consistently is going to benefit you far more than doing big things inconsistently, or dropping altogether. It’s nuts how hard it is some nights to force myself to listen to just 10 minutes after a busy day.

And one final bit of advice: With SRS systems, the choices you make today and this week will haunt you for a lot longer than you might think. Take on too much too fast, and you won’t realize how much you piled on until you keep that up for a while and get yourself good and buried. My first burnout happened after 3 months of maintaining just WK and Bunpro daily, and at the time, I think I was only doing around 15 or so lessons on WK and around 15 on Bunpro each day. I’ve done a lot since then to work on consistency in my reviews, and working smaller batches throughout the day. These days I do 25 lessons a day on WaniKani, and that results in around 150-250 reviews a day when you stay consistent with everything. So GO SLOW. Going a little too slow but maintaining a routine is far better than burning out and dropping everything for a year. After my burnout, I’m happy to say that I’m maintaining a streak of over 120 days, but I have paid a lot more attention to what I take on as a result of that burnout.

#19

Most of my review time is Anki.

I configured Bunpro to learn one new item a day. When I start getting bored with it, I look through the Grammar Library page and add a bunch of the really easy ones.

In Bunpro terms that means it takes 6-7 months to complete one JLPT level, but that’s honestly not bad IMO.

#20

I juggle many apps and ressources… maybe too many, but so far it’s been going ok. I tried out Japanese on Duolingo a bit more than year ago out of curiosity and learned the basic kana and some basic words/sentences. This year I have decided to step it up massively and I do about 5h every day… I started in January of this year and have kept the same routine every day.

I wake up early and do all my Wanikani and Bunpro lessons. This is the core learning I do. On Bunpro, I did up to N4 grammar and vocab intensively and now I stopped learning new words in bunpro and just let the new words from Wanikani feed through, which in itself is already enough. I’m at level 30 in Wanikani. At lunchtime, I do 1-2h if I have time and in the evening I also manage to sneak in a couple of hours.

Duolingo, i need to keep my streak, so depending on the time I have, I’ll do a longer session in the morning or in the evening. I’m at level 60 now, but I’m trying to make all the previous sessions legendary before continuing. And I finished all the Kanjis in Duolingo too.

I also use Renshu to learn only kanji and have worked up to all N5-N2 kanjis. This I do when I have extra time, but it’s nice to refresh some kanjis and quite quick to do.

I got a tutor on Languatalk and we meet once a week doing a lesson of Minna No Nihongo, which is nice to talk. I prepare the lesson by introducing the new words on bunpro and do all the exercises in advance. In the lesson we only talk using the words/grammar concepts of the chapter. That’s a really fun 1 hour every week and I always look forward to it. We just started Shokyu 2 (Lesson 26)

Then at a nearby school they offer intermediate Japanese courses that are heavily subsidized. I joined in January and they were mid-way through the year and I was way below their level, but I joined nevertheless and now, I caught up with everyone. It’s 2h after work once a week and we do different stuff and it’s quite fun. We also do Minna no Mihongo but at a much slower pace than with the tutor. We are at Lesson 24 now.

I also got Genki initially, but haven’t really had time with all the other stuff I do and I also got Yotsubato, but I started reading and it was a bit too tedious, so I decided to wait until I get to N4/N3 before going back.