I’ve realized that I really suck at taking notes when it comes to BunPro and Japanese grammar in general. I’m doing Genki 1 on the side and I’m experiencing the same problem.
I barely have motivation to do lessons because I don’t feel like putting in a lot of effort to write half a page of notes on a particle I’ll totally forget anywhere from 1-7 days from now.
It’s not like it’s the SRS system either because WaniKani has been a breeze for me. What gives?
Learning grammar is different compared to learning kanji / vocab.
Considering how different Japanese sentence structure is to English, learning Japanese grammar takes more time.
Don’t worry and write what feels the least amount of friction for you to progress further. When you have better understanding of Japanese you will probably re-write everything anyway 
Some ideas:
Think of making notes as an experiment. That way you can see what note writing ideas you like and which you don’t. eg using lots of colours, long explanations, 4+ example sentences . printing stuff from the internet and sticking it, leave space for extra notes in the future
Read through Genki 1 first and then continue going through it properly. Hopefully this will give your mind time to start making connections between grammar points and how Japanese sentences are structured.
Thank you much!
I don’t. Not sure if that is a helpful answer or not , but it is the truth.
I don’t really think you need to put in that much effort on lessons. Personally I just read the write-up and the example sentences once through and that’s it.
It’s difficult at the beginning because the breadth of knowledge you have is limited, but I think the most important thing is to stop thinking of Japanese in terms of English as soon as practicable. This is somewhat related to the other thread about including Japanese grammar terms inside the English explanations, but no matter how much people try to figure out ways to draw parallels between the two languages, they are quite different and I’ve seen a lot of people struggle because of this.
The point I was trying to make within that tangent was that I think the best way to learn, at least the concrete basics, is simply repetition and exposure, the same way you learned your first language. I don’t really think it’s worth memorizing every minute detail until you are into the realm of more obscure literary grammar.
I don’t take notes either. Everything I need is already written out on BunPro and it’s organized better than handwritten notes. BunPro already did the heavy lifting for us. So if keeping notes is something that is preventing you from studying, see what happens when you study without taking notes. You only need to take notes if that’s something that will help you.
I used to write down the entire reading/meaning explanation for every WaniKani item I got wrong more than once. It made me dread reviews and all it got me was hand cramps and a six notebooks that I filled from cover to cover and never open. These days, I only write things down when I come across a point that’s really tripping me up.
I have some lists of sentences and grammar prompts that I mix often up, like this:
教える必要がなかった。元々知っていたと見える。
動詞＋と見える
An expression that makes a conclusion about the way that something appears.
彼女は幸せそう、に見える。
動詞＋に見える
An expression that strictly highlights the way something looks, or can be viewed.
Sometimes I keep lists of words or kanji that are similar and confuse me like this:
Confusing Conjunctions
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| それに | besides, in addition, moreover |
| しかも | moreover, furthermore, nevertheless, and yet |
| その上 | in addition, furthermore, above which, on top of which |
| 尚 | furthermore, still, yet, more, still more, in addition, greater, further |
| それでも | but still, and yet, nevertheless, even so, notwithstanding |
| すると | thereupon, hereupon |
| それで | and, thereupon, because of that |
| そこで | so, accordingly, now, then, thereupon, therefore |
How do you take your notes on the BunPro?
I take mine with a kiss 
(I only have musical notes, too lazy to take written notes, so actually I’ll just have the kiss, thanks 
).
since you have Genki, why not check out this website
several people have recommended it as a resource to complement Genki textbooks
I don’t take notes either. However, I made an Anki deck for grammar points I’ve found that I miss continuously or just have a hard time with in general. In case it’s one I forget, the card is just asking me to explain the grammar point (and maybe its conjugations). In case it’s two I mix up, I present the two at the same time on a single card and just ask me to explain the difference between them.
Take it slow and use multiple sources. I’ve been doing WK full speed and I’m at level 21 right now, but I barely finished bunpro N5 two days ago (by finished I mean that I have started all items, not that I’ve mastered them all obviously). Grammar is a lot trickier to learn than kanji or vocab.
I didn’t really like Genki myself, I ended up using Tae Kim’s grammar + Cure Dolly’s videos + Bunpro itself.
If you feel like you make too many mistakes then stop adding new entries (or reduce the amount) and focus on what you already have.
If you mix up two similar grammar point (a common issue for me), remove one of them and focus on learning the other for a few days, then once you’re familiar enough with it add the other one back. I find that it really helps.
I don’t take notes per se, but I’ve never been a note-taker, even in school…
I have never found taking notes to actually improve my Japanese grammar (either comprehension or output) and, personally, have always found just doing careful lookups/Google searches when confronted with something I don’t understand to be far better as there is context surrounding the lookup. It is very hard advice to take at the start but just be comfortable letting yourself forget things, even basic things, and they’ll eventually stick. Learning a language from scratch as an adult is extremely humbling (especially if you plan on speaking) and it helps to swallow that pill early on. My own experience was using notes as a form of procrastination, like “If only I make perfect notes now then I will understand this perfectly”.
However, that is just my personal experience. The biggest cause of failure when learning Japanese is giving up. If you find note taking enjoyable and something that keeps you engaged and builds a study habit then do whatever you enjoy doing the most or find most valuable. Just don’t stress about understanding something perfectly the first time (or even the 10th). Learning to recognise grammar so that you can look it up or think about it is the first step, not understanding it perfectly.
The beginning is in many ways the hardest part. Good luck and just keep going!