So, a few days ago I finally added all the items from the N5 deck into my review pool. I added them slowly and I do really think its a good deck, but I have a few things about it that I would like to bring up.
On page 1 there are a bunch of words that start with お and that is in theory fine, but most of those words are then repeated through out the deck just without the お. And frankly having the words with お in the deck is pointless. We all are learning japanese and we all know that お in front of it makes it polite. It is pointless and these are the words that I have found which are on page 1 that are later repeated in the deck:
Older brother, Older sister, Temple, Bento, New Year, Festival, Candy, Sake, Money, Rich Person, Bath.
I really think we could get rid of the お versions of all those words and not be hurt at all. An exception I would say is mother and father in the お part of page 1 because those also add a suffix so they actually have a reason to be a separate point.
A lot of the topics are repeated for barely any reason at all. When they could simply be combined into one point. The examples I have found that I think could benefit being combined are:
何 Page 4 one point is なん/prefix the other is なに/pronoun but they both mean the exact same thing.
年 Page 6 one point is とし/noun the other is ねん noun. I don’t think we need a repeat of this word just because it has two readings when you could just show both readings during a review. Also this topic isn’t given until Page 6 of the deck but it is first used in Page 3 of the deck in the 一年生 group. So if it is going to be taught alone, that should be done before other words use it.
引き出し Page 6 technically there isn’t anything wrong with this point in this deck. But as soon as you enter the N4 deck it is repeated but you add an お and use a different form of it. That just seems like a poor way to show this points multiple meanings.
https://jisho.org/word/引き出し
家 Page 6 いえ/うち both writings could be in one point
Some (not all just some) colours are also basically repeated. There will be one version of the colour then right after will be colourい to show it can be an adjective. I think everyone who can read already knows that colours can be adjective and the repeat is pointless. Especially since this is a grammar site and you already teach that grammar. Examples are:
白/白い Page 9
茶色/茶色い Page 10
赤/赤い Page 10
青/青い Page 11
黄色/黄色い Page 11
黒/黒い Page 11
I don’t think anything would be lost by removing 1 version or combining like colours.
Alright now on page 2 you give the vocab/phrase タバコを吸う, which I think is totally fine. But then you don’t give the vocab point 吸うuntil page 5. I think it would make sense to kind of group those together.
Points that use 茶 are really scattered. 茶 is first used in page 5 for 喫茶店 but 茶 isn’t given until page 10 (if you ignore the お version which I am). It would make sense to me if 茶(10), 喫茶店(5),
紅茶(9), and 茶碗(10) were all grouped together.
On page 8 点 doesn’t show its definition on the list or its on private page.
On page 8 we are given the vocab 横. Which I think is super good, you tell us what horizontal is. But you don’t include it’s sister word vertical. I think the addition of vertical should be added to this deck as it is also an N5 point.
https://jisho.org/word/縦
And that’s it. Think the decks really good, but I think it hasn’t been polished up before. And maybe there are reasons for things to be the way they are, I don’t know. Just my thoughts. Let me know if you guys think I’m just being an opinionated snob.
When I’m referring to pages I’m referring to the pages located Bunpro N5 [Vocab] - Japanese Grammar Explained | Bunpro here
