Hello, hope you’re doing well, whoever you are reading this. Due to my Japanese learning goals for 2024 I have decided to stop using Bunpro. I thought I’d write my thoughts on it as someone who has been using it for a couple of years and got to about halfway through the N1 lessons (from 0). Also some general rambling about my own Japanese learning journey for the sake of context.
First, how/why/when did I use Bunpro?
When I started learning Japanese I was in a very big hurry and I rushed through Genki 1 and 2 without understanding much and then forced myself to start engaging with native media and doing vocab with JPDB. I tried a kanji recognition deck for maybe 100 kanji but hated it. I started Bunpro in the first month or two of starting studying but I didn’t really start until after I had “finished” the Genkis. I was gonna be moving to Japan about in about half a year so I was in a very naive hurry. I added all of N5 through to the around the end of N3 on Bunpro and had about 4k vocab cards on JPDB when I came to Japan after those 6 months. My level was cringe inducingly bad (still is…苦笑), especially as I had never spoken before, but I am now very glad that I pushed to get those basics somewhat in my head before I got here. In the first month of being here I realised my grasp on basic grammar was nowhere near as good as I had fooled myself into thinking so I reset my Bunpro to zero and started again. The focus from then on was roughly going in the JLPT order and adding only things I already had seen, already understood somewhat, or things I thought were conceptually easy enough to learn without much bother. As my level has increased I have found that “mining” grammar points becomes harder and harder, in the end perhaps taking a week at a time to find new ones (as they appear on Bunpro). I would guess about 70 of the N1 grammar points I haven’t seen (or have no memory of) and it would take me a year to “catch them all”. Not only that but grammar, for me, became fairly easy to pick up at a certain point, normally with only seeing a pattern two or three times being enough for it to enter my passive knowledge (not active). On top of that, I have no special interest in the JLPT nor do I need to be producing the majority of N1 grammar points, especially the remaining ones. My retention rate has also always averaged over 95% since I reset, I think. Basically I was starting to see less and less reward for using Bunpro, especially as my goals don’t really align with the use case for it much anymore.
Positive feedback:
90% of the grammar explanations are good or great or better, striking a balance between informative, interesting, and not waffling but not too short. I especially like the fact that there are more detailed explanations even for N2 and N1 grammar which normally is taught using a single line explanation or just synonyms with a nuance note. That approach is servicable but it is nice to read a bit more about these things, with example sentences, as Bunpro offers.
The cloze type question, including nuance hints and the bounce back hint things, are the biggest strength of Bunpro in my opinion. They get you to think about the nuance of the grammar.
The Bunpro staff and their responsiveness to user feedback is great. Okay, sometimes bugs or errors can hang in limbo for a while but on the whole they are extrmely responsive and seem to be made up of people who are seriously dedicated to improving Bunpro as a service and also people who care about the Japanese language and learning/teaching Japanese.
The resource sections are great. I use them as a reference sometimes still now.
Neutral feedback:
I have no interest in doing vocab on Bunpro and wish that the development of vocab was put on the backburner for longer however I understand that many users wanted/want it and that it is probably also a good business decision for Bunpro so consider this just a personal opinion rather than anything else.
I think Bunpro could market itself better. I guess this is on hold until more features are out of beta.
Negative (but constructive) feedback:
About 10% of grammar explanations are below the standard of the others and could probably do with being re-written or tidied up. I know you guys on the content team probably know this though.
The SRS itself, as in the algorithm, is very bad. I only used Bunpro for about 10-20 minutes a day almost the whole time I used it but at least half that time was on reviews which were way way way too easy. A proper SRS system would stop this from happening. Equally the lack of “fuzz” or whatever it is called means you can’t work through a large backlog all at once as it will keep coming back as a lump later on (or a series of lumps). I know Wanikani uses a similar system but that system is also bad so it is not an excuse. Developing a great SRS algorithm, especially for something as complex as grammar, would be a lifetime’s work however that doesn’t mean the algorithm can’t be at least a bit more advanced than it is.
A better onboarding process, both for Japanese itself and for Bunpro, for complete beginners would go a long way (I know you guys probably know this but it is worth saying).
A wider range of advanced grammar. I know you guys have a lot, more than most, but more things outside of the JLPT would be helpful. I know N0 is probably coming “soon” so this is likely already not an issue behind the scenes.
More “meta” information about the Japanese language and grammar, preferably outside of the SRS itself, would help things feel a lot smoother as an all in one resource.
What am I doing for grammar now then?
I have basically reset everything I was doing in regards to Japanese. I am qutting Bunpro (about halfway through N1 as mentioned above) and quitting JPDB (10k+ vocab cards) and starting again on Anki with the new scheduler. I am learning grammar now simply by adding sentences with elements I am not firm on. For vocab, I am moving to a monolingual set up and being a lot more selective about what I mine. I have learnt Japanese at a solid pace, better than most, for the last two years. However…I would really like to get to a lower advanced level by the end of 2024 so I would like to try and go all in on it. I want my SRS to be simple, in one place, taking less than 30 minutes a day and I want to just use Japanese as much as I possibly can without going insane. I am at a level where I can learn from Japanese in Japanese so I think I am ready for my next step. I want to go from a learner of Japanese to an undisputed user of Japanese.
Why might I come back to Bunpro?
If I do the N1, which I have a pact to do it with some friends at the end of next year, I may need to use it to get in any unclear grammar points and to cram before the test. Hopefully I won’t need it but if I do then I will be back. I was toying with doing the N1 in the summer (in which case I would have stuck with Bunpro) but the prospect of studying specifically for a test brings out my annoyingly defiant 15 year old self (“I don’t want to study and you can’t make me!”). Also I still use Bunpro as a reference or place to search for grammar I see in the wild. Unfortunately this is less and less the case as many things I search for now aren’t on Bunpro but it is still something I check nine times out of ten when doing lookups.
Final review of Bunpro
8/10 - Excellent. I would highly recommend Bunpro to someone who is around the level of having just finished Genki 1 or read through Tae Kim a few times. It is a great way to get you to engage with the grammar you are seeing in media/real life and it has been essential in making sure that grammar is one part of Japanese I have never had to worry about too much. I would also recommend it to anyone who needs to study up before a specific JLPT level as it is very comprehensive and will make sure you get enough exposure to your weak points.
Thank you to the Bunpro team and to everyone who has helped me on this forum.
P.S.
I enjoy talking about grammar on this forum so I don’t plan to stop participating in grammar related discussions here. I am not sure I will be super active as my goals for next year are slightly antithetical to using an English-language forum. Besides, I have slowly found myself going from someone who didn’t know the answer to the questions posted here to becoming someone who knows the answers and thus I find myself learning less and less here as time goes on. Still, I’ll be on the watch for those juicy impossible nuance questions! Also any “Fluent in 4 months” posts
I love those ones 笑
Happy studying everyone!
(I didn’t proof read this so please forgive me for any glaring typos etc)
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. I regard you as one of the most knowledgeable people in this forum, who I have learnt from, so not having you here anymore feels like a loss. Hopefully next year BunPro will add more content that will inevitably reel you back in