Study method / tips

Bunpro
#1

Hello everyone!

I have tried the trial for Bunpro for about a month now and am really liking it. While I like the customizabilty, it can also feel a bit intimidating in how many different options there are.

How do you usually review grammar and vocab? Hints off, and trying to read the sentence, or just checking the translation/hint (Or something in between) ?

Furthermore, does anyone have any tips regarding the Genki decks? Do you just finish a chapter in Genki and then immediately add it into the reviews, or do you set a daily amount, adding things for review at a slower rate than your textbook progress? I’ve used the offical grammar and vocab decks with 2 new grammar points and 8 words each day but got the first Genki book yesterday. I’m also using Wanikani and tried the integration, so now I have 250+ reviews to catch up to lol

2 Likes
#2

regarding the adding things quickly: Really don’t.

At 3 grammar points a day you’ll finish:
N5 in 43 days
N4 after another 59
N3 after another 79
N2 after another 72
N1 after another 62

that’s less than a year, just 315 days. That’s not enough time to let the whole material sink in and build confidence in using it.
and if you add things too fast, you will be massively overwhelmed at some point. It looks slow at first, but SRS stages will start overlapping, and you will get hundreds and hundreds of reviews.

learning Japanese is a marathon, not a sprint.

The grammar points I’m the least confident in using in actual conversations are the ones I rushed through.

For example, I’ve added 1.7 grammar points and 9.1 words a day on average since I started learning Japanese ca. 6 months ago. That’s barely half the speed I mentioned before. At this comparatively ridiculously low speed, after 6 months I am able to hold casual conversations in Japanese, and watch certain (simpler) movies without subtitles. Yet at that speed, I also have days with hundreds of reviews already, because it piles up.

7 Likes
#3

Yeah, I started with 5 grammar points daily on N5 because I had used Duolingo for about 1 1/2 years before but quickly got overwhelmed and lowered it to 2. I Have thought about just doing one a day as well. The marathon part is very true, I have deliberately paced myself on Wanikani as to not burn out in the long run even though I often feel I am able to do more. That balance is harder to find on Bunpro as grammar concepts are genereally harder to learn than just words/kanji for me.

Would you recommend resetting the N5 grammar and redoing it at a slower pace?

2 Likes
#4

I’m asking myself the same question, so far I haven’t.

I think someday I’ll go through the whole N5 + N4 Grammar deck and try to honestly ask myself “which ones of those have I never used outside of Bunpro” and reset them.

But sadly I can’t answer your question because I haven’t decided yet either.

2 Likes
#5

Thanks for your input :smiley:

I think I will let the SRS take care of that. When I go through the Genki textbook, I will be reviewing a lot of the grammar brought up by Bunpro as well which should reinforce my understanding.

1 Like
#6

Or a reeeeealy long sprint

2 Likes
#7

When you have days like this, I’d strongly suggest using this time to do extra practice which won’t come back in the form of SRS reviews later.

Some solid suggestions for N5/N4 would be to do extra study with a textbook (do your Genki study), get extra practice of weaker grammar (use the Bunpro cram feature), start to build a habit of reading/listening now even if most things make no sense (start to try graded readers or comprehensible input youtube channels, or even start to try understand easier native materials).

For grammar, I think hints first, translation off (you can reveal it if you get stuck), serious attempt at reading the sentence is the best way. However, it takes a lot of mental effort. For vocab, I think reading mode is good as the trade-off for speed feels worth it (but make sure to always try to seriously read and understand the entire sentence, even if pass/fail is based on the target word only). Different settings work best for different people and goals so play around and see how it feels.

Let us know how it is goes and good luck!

Edit:

If you would like to avoid overlapping reviews like this then you can choose to set Wanikani to mastered in the settings. Of course, if you want to double-up these reviews then you can leave it as is!

5 Likes
#8

I know I’m not the person that asked the question, but this comment convinced me to try out reading mode for vocab reviews - manual input has been feeling like a LOT of effort lately, so I’m happy to have found this suggestion when I did :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#9

Thank you for the super detailed answer and all the tips!

Would you recommend Japanese hint first or the translated ones (nuance translation I think?)

I really like the integration as I found that I could read a lot of the kanji vocab when I saw it, but it was much harder to produce the words myself. Just wish I did the integration earlier so it would be more spaced out.

1 Like
#10

Yeah, sometimes you just feel too tired to write even if I hear the answer in my head

1 Like
#11

this is really just me and not general advice, but the main reason I moved from Anki to Bunpro for vocab (as opposed to just grammar) is the immense value that the fill-in mode provides.
It’s more effort but it forces me to actually come up with an Answer.
On Anki, with recognition only, sometimes I caught myself going brainless-rush-mode and not even trying.
It never happened on Bunpro

3 Likes
#12

So when it comes to resetting thats personal preference. What Ive done before was did all of N5 and continued with N4 vocab and stopped grammer as I continued to study for the JLPT, mostly to get a feel for the environment I would be in for harder levels. About 2 weeks before the test, I reset all the grammer that was not the basic particles and did 5 a day with my reviews and increased my reading.

So IF you reset, I suggest its for tests to constantly be using the grammer that you’ll be tested on so its super duper fresh. Then continue with the next level. Also as every says its a long, long tedious process. Unless you are a literal child, it’ll take ~about~ two years to be fully conversational and even then. So dont be afraid to take a few weeks off from the new grammer and yea, spend that time reviewing again, freshly a few chapters of Genki and redo the questions or go back and re-read books. Im prepping for the N3 and got Genki 2 out hitting those questions again and actively writing down the answers this time in the workbook instead of just talking them out.

Im also on my fourth reading of Yotsubato. I understand a tad better every single time and that transfers to everything else. Taking a break from something new and just giving yourself time to actually comprehend goes miles.

2 Likes
#13

Yep. I don’t work on the vocab tool myself so I think I can get away with saying that the fill-in mode is very useful without sounding too biased. The extra work really does help :muscle:

1 Like
#14

I am quite far along on the Japanese journey (almost 8 years, passed N2 after 5 attempts) but I exclusively use the reading mode for both grammar and vocab. All new vocab items start at Beginner 3, so I don’t get stuck in SRS doom loops.
Occasionally I cram the listening mode.

My criteria for a correct answer is that I have to translate the sentence correctly, and have correct furigana readings and identify any grammar points I’m learning. Bunpro sentences contain vocab and grammar not in the same level you are studying, so I don’t think having this strict criteria is suitable for a beginner. You could loosen up the criteria, such as using the example sentence, trying to translate, but mark as a pass if you got the vocab right. Alternatively require understanding of the sentence, but permit 1-2 errors.

I find this method is a great alternative to sentence mining. I don’t have to write out a sentence, and Bunpro provides ~10 sentences to keep the context varied. The sentences are always for me on the boundary of comfortable and learning something new. This makes it a great blend of SRS and immersion, I am constantly exposing myself to unfamiliar structures and sentences, but having immediate feedback on where I make mistakes. I’ve not been doing this approach for very long, but for me this is very useful at this time.

2 Likes
#15

This is why I only use the reading mode. I think it is true that typing has higher retention, but I also think it’s slower and grows output skills more than comprehension. It also can be a bit frustrating with similar grammar points, but it’s good if you want that precision when writing.

In my experience being good at comprehension has made learning output easier. It still takes dedicated time to learn, but it feels more like revising existing content than climbing a steep hill.

1 Like
#16

on the marathon note…
does anyone know how to change the daily number of points? :sob: i can no longer handle 20 vocab points every day

#17

I also do reading mode for vocab, with a personal built-in criteria. For beginner items as long as I get the meaning even by displaying furigana it’s fine. For adept I got to know either the meaning without furigana or the reading. Starting seasoned, I’ll mark it wrong if I don’t know both the furigana and the meaning.

From time to time I’ll also mark a sentence wrong if I found it particularly interesting and want to see it again haha. But yeah, at an advanced level it makes a lot of sense to aim for full understanding

1 Like
#18

On the app click the three right dots on the learn queue and the menu should pop up. Note my custom deck screen shows an error when I do this.

Screenshot_20251020-134302
Screenshot_20251020-1343021080Ă—2392 288 KB

Screenshot_20251020-134242
Screenshot_20251020-1342421080Ă—2392 176 KB

Turns out 50 is the limit Bunpro senpai allows…

1 Like
#19

This seems pretty reasonable. If you read each sentence even with furigana that’s a pretty good source of immersion even if you don’t understand it. I would imagine if you have the N3 vocab under your belt you should be able to start going for full translation of sentences with some leniency.

I think providing you are consistent with self-assessment and don’t go easy on yourself SRS works it’s magic. I always try to remind myself every mistake in SRS is a mistake you don’t make for real.

Funnily, I actually turn off seeing the SRS level during reviewing because I find myself meta-gaming it, or being more lenient on a high level point.

1 Like
#20

I actually decided to reset the grammar after all, seeing my horrendous stats for grammar made me realize I had bitten off more than I could chew. I will go through it again alongside Genki and really try to internalize the concepts, especially all the verb stems…

I think it’s also really fun when you recognize a grammar point or word in the wild and you get that “aha” moment! Reading is something that I want to do more of, it has improved a lot since I first tried Bunpro, but it’s still kinda slow sometimes, especially katakana.

1 Like