I’m wondering if I’m doing this right. I’m going through the material and I’m a little bit into N4 grammar by now. With answers I struggle with, I find myself getting the same fill-in questions in my reviews, to the point where I’m just memorizing them by recognizing the sentence. I know SRS is a memorization method but am I actually learning like this? If I try to construct a sentence in my head, I find myself sorting through my mental file cabinet of similar example sentences. I don’t want to “Master” something I barely know how to use. Is this normal?
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I think it’s a question we all ask ourselves at some point.
For me, there’s no secret. Just like with Anki, we remember things we’ve learned in context.
The best way to deal with this might be to try making your own sentences, or through immersion (podcasts, anime), hearing these different grammar points repeatedly.
Repeated exposure to the language is, in my opinion, the best way to remember—whether it’s grammar or even vocabulary.
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Erm, just to say this really quick, I think just keep remembering sentences is also a great way to learn. We actually have to brute forced route learning in the beginnning to be able to connect ideas later.
You will understand when you remember enough.
Also: Japanese is more of a fixed pattern language, so knowing a word/grammar in its proper situation is really useful.
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For me personally, I ensure that when I do a review, I always recall the particulars of the grammar point and how it functions in the sentence, so I truly understand the sentence and can read it on its own (not just cause I saw a translation). I then adjust the result of the review based off of whether I feel I need more review of the grammar point or not (regardless of if I got the answer “right”)*. If you had to mark it as wrong, do a little review by clicking Info and to remember the point and why, so you’re not only SRSing the sentence by itself. After that, SRSing the sentence is OK because I know I know the grammar point.
As for only being able to remember some sentences and being confused irl by different sentences which might present different nuances than you’re used to, since you’ll still know the grammar point from review, you just need to get more exposure and think about the grammar and why, until you understand more of the nuances (round out your understanding). Sometimes this means reviewing the grammar point from different sources. Other times you may have to ask others. At the least, it’s less of a worry since you know you did memorize the grammar point in the review, so you have more of a base to build off of.
And as for constructing sentences by yourself. This also is just a skill that comes from exposure and understanding the different nuances you’re exposed to. It’s just typically a fact that people can understand more than they can write. By getting more exposure and understanding it, you’ll start to get the hang of nuances and the way it works, which in turn will enable you to more easily make your own sentences. The other half of that is of course, just practicing writing too, even if you get it wrong at times (maybe check out a Japanese learning discord and ask others to correct you). I like using graded readers to get more practice too. tadoku.org has a few free graded readers which can be helpful (I’m sure there’s many other sources as well).
Basically, you’re just trying to adapt yourself to the “Japanese way of thinking”, and that just comes with time/practice/exposure
* note, this only applies to grammar review. vocab review is pretty much almost always “if I got the card right I’m good”
Use AI, here’s a prompt I’ve been using, just copy paste it all into gemini / chatgpt / whatever:
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Role: You are a Japanese conversation partner and language debugger restricted to the grammar and vocabulary of Genki I, Chapters 1 through 12.
Vocabulary Whitelist: You must STRICTLY limit your output to vocabulary and grammar found in Genki I, Ch 1–12. Do not use N3/N2 grammar or complex keigo (honorifics) not yet introduced. only use hiragana and katagana no kanji. provide an english translation of the chat text below the chat text.
Allowed: Masu/Desu forms, Te-form, Short forms (casual speech), Comparisons, “Tsumori” (intention), “Naru” (becoming), Te-form add ons like let’s, shall we, do not, won’t you, is it okay to, must not, please do not.
Forbidden: Passive voice, Causative, Keigo (beyond basic masu/desu), complex conditionals (tara/reba).
Interaction Protocol (Diagnostic Mode):
Do not simply correct errors. If the user makes a mistake, act as a debugger.
Step A: Isolate the error (e.g., “Particle mismatch at index 2”).
Step B: Ask a diagnostic question to guide the user to the fix (e.g., “You used ‘ni’ here. Since the verb is ‘taberu’ (active), which particle marks the location of an action?”).
As the user progresses through conversations, compile a history of areas where the user can later focus with drills or repetition to improve and periodically let the user know the results of this report.
Respond naturally to the user’s input, then provide the “Debug Report” in a separate block at the bottom.
Tone: Objective, encouraging, and analytical.
Start slow and simple, adjust based on the users skill and ability. Where the user struggles, engage in a few drills before continuing the conversation.
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Lean into the fact that all of this (bunpro, anki) is spaced repetition and memorization, actively focus on memorization instead of learning. Go back to the AI to train conversation, recall, etc. Adjust the AI bot as needed.
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Hi there, I’m roughly at a similar level as you and had similar doubts recently. I think it’s okay to progress this way. I realized during my immersion practice that even though I’m weak at “producing” Japanese, it has started helping me tremendously with understanding it while immersing. Since I haven’t done much speaking or writing practice, I can’t say whether it works there as well, but I believe it will be a similar experience.
I guess Bunpro is great for learning the theory and building some basic skills, but when it comes to learning the real thing, nothing compares to actually reading, speaking, and writing. I suppose it’s a bit like driving a car all the theory in the world can’t substitute for sitting in a car yourself.
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