Hey there, I am wondering if someone can elaborate on why BP uses such advanced vocab in their example sentences? I’m at N4, and the MAJORITY of the vocabulary used seems overly complicated. I can’t cite specific examples, but recently, I had a review sentence containing a Japanese word equivalent to “Ghostship”! When I say this, I am talking about reviewing sentences and the words surrounding the grammar point being reviewed. This has been a concern of mine for a long time, but I kind of go with the flow and figured there was some method to this madness, but I have sort of had it. I can’t understand why the terms aren’t comprehensible at the learner level. Please fill me in here because this is becoming an issue for me. It seems BP is the only one doing this, as I have sampled many other systems, and they build upon the vocabulary already learned. Sorry to pout, but this is getting out of control! I can sound out sentences, thanks to the furigana, but they are primarily nonsense at my level and seem far beyond where I am in my journey.
Sounds legit 
I have done no grammar here, so have not very related question: how does it works for you? How many words do you learn and how much time reviews take?
I mean is it effective, because for me it looks like Anki is much better because you can answer faster without typing in
Totally agree with this. It’s really frustrating because Japanese is such a context heavy language that when the vocab is weird it throws everything off. I prefer to be able to understand the whole sentence but sometimes I have to mentally section off the part with the grammar being tested and just focus on that.
The benefit is that you get different sentences every time. Anki only gives you the same sentence every time, so you don’t use the grammar in different context.
You can change Bunpro to reading mode so that you don’t have to type in the answer, which personally I think is better for beginner learners.
Kind of agree and disagree. It can be EXTREMELY frustrating, but if every grammar point you used in N4 was constructed with N4 vocab exclusively, the sentence structures and topics would quickly be extremely boring and repetitive.
I have generally found the Bunpro sentences to be pretty indicative of how people speak (more or less), in that general conversation features vocab and grammar from all the N levels. If you only featured N4 grammar and vocab together, those sentences would be useless once you had seen them once and understood them. If there is a mix or a little bit harder, you can get more mileage out of them at different stages in your learning journey. For that reason, I don’t think it would benefit the learner too much if the N levels were rigidly applied, especially since graded readers and textbooks are very easy to find at the N4 level.
As a solution, I would suggest the following:
Try to improve your vocab before progressing with grammar.
Don’t attempt to fully understand each sentence - just focus on the thing you are learning at that time.
Have more than one system for your learning (you may well already be doing this)
If it makes you feel better, I have generally found that Japanese language learning systems have a problem with steady progression. I studied in Japan for a bit, and even in specific classes for specific levels of Japanese, I was getting stupid sentences far beyond the course scope, which basically looked like the following when trying to translate:
‘Tanaka-san likes ___. He likes his ___so much, that he ____ at the ____ with ____ in order to _____’.
Wow, haven’t thought about this option! For vocab this sounds grate! I think I’ll try adding 5 words/and and see what will happen. Because my goal is 50/words day, but I don’t want to spend more then 3 hours/day on them
It could be possible that your vocab is behind your grammar a little bit at the present moment, as another user has suggested. This is not a bad thing at all, in fact I would say that it is far better than the reverse situation of knowing too many words but not how to put them together into a sentence.
When I first started using Bunpro, I was in the same position, and thought that a lot of words were completely pointless until they weren’t. I think I may have even made a topic about the same thing at one point!
I recommend adding the unknown words you come across to your vocab reviews, if they are words that you think that you would like to memorize for future use. There are many words that even if you don’t know them, you’ll automatically be able to figure out in the future with additional kanji study as well. 
I’ve passed N2 and am studying for N1 and it is the same for me, there are often words and grammar points that I’ve never studied in my example sentences. Even words that aren’t’ in the bunpro vocabulary at all! So I completely understand how frustrating it is when you want to concentrate on learning a single piece of grammar and all sorts of other stuff is being thrown at you. However, as a person that lives in Japan and works in Japanese I can tell you that when actually using the language, you will never ever ever be in a situation when you understand everything that is being said/you’re reading. So, learning to infer meaning and guess what the topic might be when you have only studied half the words is a super important skill. In fact I would say that is the skill which has both made it possible for me to use my language skills practically, and which has pushed them on the fastest. I hope this isn’t disheartening but I really recommend embracing and even enjoying the feeling of not quite ever having any idea what’s going on… because that feeling is not going anywhere any time soon!
Basically, bunpro is not kind but it is realistic 
I think if it’s just 1 “wildcard” word in a sentence it’s fine. One could mentally substitute it with ○○ or infer from context, or quickly look it up. E.g. I’ve checked 1 random review from my queue and this N2 grammar sentence uses 依存症, which is classified A2/rare, but 依存 is N1, a pretty common top 7700 word. So for me that’s a completely fine approach.
But having 2+ advanced words might be distracting from the actual target grammar/word.
The opposite approach of using only strictly n+1 sentences (where target grammar is the +1) is also not ideal. When I just started building my jpdb word deck, it would routinely suggest boring n+1 sentences like トムはメアリーが好きです, because all more interesting sentences were n+2 or worse. What sort of sentences would one even be able to make if strictly limited to 1100 words from bunpro N5 deck?
I also find it acts as a constant speed bump in the flow of learning, and also makes it difficult to remember the feel and meaning of the vocabulary or grammar point being taught, which should be the absolute highlight of the sentence with the rest of it being easily comfortable to read at the appropriate level.
Instead I find myself constantly going off on tangents trying to figure out the construction of the example sentence to get a feel for how the bit I actually want to get comfortable with slots into it.
It doesn’t feel as structured as other tools or guides I’ve used. I know the ghost ship example, and it’s got to the point I’m subconsciously associating seeing that word in the English translation with what the answer is. It’s not a useful connection to make, but it’s what has naturally happened to me, just because the example sentence is above the level I’m at.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that a bit of vocabulary can have multiple semi-related secondary or less common meanings, with a clear primary one, but my introduction to using it is with some obscure secondary meaning, and my brain starts to associate it primarily with that, so when a new sentence pops up where the primary meaning or usage is required it doesn’t jump out at me.
From memory this happened with 交流 being learned at first for me as being associated with Alternating Current to the point it’s basically what I learned it as, and only later had to rewire how I thought about it to associate it with its more common/primary meaning.
It’s great that there are complex and alternative example sentences to see words used in, but I just feel they should come much later, or be level appropriate
Lastly learning a language, and learning to translate a language are two different things, and the example English translations that serve as the hint can have highlighted words meant to show which bit you need to figure out as things not shown at all in the vocabulary entry for it. After the answer is revealed it makes sense, but I wish there was some other way to offer the prompt that was perhaps closer to the literal translation, as that’s how I tend to think about speaking Japanese internally anyway. Even if the resultant English is then a bit clunky sounding.
It really is a very different skill for me personally to translate natural sounding sentences between two languages than it is just to think of them as seperate things linking to abstract thoughts. Add in some Americanisms to the English prompting sentences and sometimes it feels like I’m translating into my own English first before then trying to figure out how to say it in Japanese.
I now know why when I attended a Japanese language class in Japan, any use of English simply wasn’t allowed, and all the words and grammar I learned there really feel burned in compared to the ones I’ve subsequently learned by having them connect to an English word or grammar structure, instead of directly to a mental image or concept in my head, even if that meant a lot of gesturing from the teacher.
And it makes sense as that’s how we naturally learn a language. We don’t learn our primary one by relating it to an existing one and translating between them.
So I wish there was an option for a more ‘clunky’ literal translation as a hinting system. The nuance translation gets close.
Maybe I just need to get back into a classroom rather than trying to DIY it with apps.
I don’t know how others feel about this method, but as I do reviews, I use Yomitan to look up the meanings of words and kanji that I don’t know in the example sentences. Yomitan gives a simple “mouse over” popup with the meaning so it’s super simple. In this way, I am able to parse the intended meaning of the sentence and can then figure out the expected grammar part from there.
I am noticing that some of the vocab is used in many different sentences, and so I have learned vocab and kanji just by seeing them and looking them up many times. Yomitan also helps when the meaning of the vocab is not the one specific meaning that I learned in Wanikani. It helps me grasp those subtle shades of meanings as well as the common collocations with other words.
I’ve been using this since the time it was called “Yomichan” so I completely forget that not everyone knows this! Huge up from me.
On top of the other responses reframing the issue as a positive (which I actually agree with), there is another possibility here. With the OP mentioning terms like “ghostship” it might be that they are experiencing example sentences from sci-fi anime. Generally, bunpro has received a lot of praise for having anime references, but this can also be a downside at times.
I very much also recommend this! Lately, I’ve started using Bunpro on Kiwi Browser with Yomitan enabled, and I feel that the amount of vocab I learn has increased substantially. Quite often I’m able to learn 1 or 2 extra words from a single sentence, in addition to the “intended” one.
So basically, the large number of unknown words in example sentences became more of a help than a hindrance 
I highly recommend this to everyone!!
Wow! So you just use yomitan directly in bunpro?
I do that too and like morela said, it’s highly helpful ! It may be a bit overwhelming for some people though especially if you’re just starting.
Agree, it’s fine when there are a few new words to learn but when they’re all above n4 level it makes it so much harder to concentrate on and learn the grammar point. This is partially why I switched to MaruMori
Same issue. I’m more than halfway through N3 grammar, and have gone through Core 6K, Wanikani, and several thousand katakana words. Bunpro still has tons of words I’ve never seen before. I understand the need for variety, but with my vocabulary you’d think it would be sufficient. But it’s not, and I agree it’s frustrating.
Incomprehensible vocabulary is good actually…
But no, seriously. You’re not going to understand every little word in conversation (or realistically even half of them, 80% of the time if you’re N3, lol.) So having strange new words do help you catch on and understand. Plus exotic sentences and phrases are more likely to stand out. Look at the phrase “お前もう死んでいる” no one speaks like that, and it’s really funny, so you remember it. So spice it up a bit and go out of your comfort zone, and really in real life, use the wrong words! It’s honestly okay. Japanese people love seeing foriegners struggle.
Me who almost completed n5 grammar and know only about 300 words: 
I basically know 0 words from what they give
Thanks to the ghosts I learn at least some new words.
It was since the start of my journey so I’m fully adapted and don’t have to much struggles
I was/am in the same boat. Do not keep doing that, you will struggle with later grammar if you do not catch your vocabulary up. lol.
I understand wanting to collect all the lego before beginning a project, but it’s better to take them out of the box as you’re building. Go and finish the N5 and maybe N4 vocab decks then go onto N4 grammar. it will make things a lot easier, and you will reinforce the words via reading the sentences.
Sorry for the unsolicited advice, I just don’t want you to end up like me. knowing all the ways to use ところ but not enough vocabulary comprehension to practically use it.
Thanks for the advice)
I finish rtk in 15 days and then I’ll have 2 hours for vocab, so wouldn’t worry to much