The biggest flaw of Bunpro (for beginner learners)

To be honest, I wish Bunpro was actually more persistent on using prior grammar points in new reviews. While I understand this would be detrimental to people using different textbook paths, It would reinforce learning a whole lot more.

Just for reference I am only using Bunpro’s path, therefore this opinion is highly biased towards my own benefit.

One big problem when you start learning Japanese is the question of when to leave the comfort zone of the textbook etc and jump into native materials. I distinctly remember the joy of comprehending even basic sentences or even just recognising a kanji. With this in mind, to those who are struggling to match their textbook or classroom experience with Bunpro I would like to offer the idea that the small differences between Bunpro and your textbook provide quite a valuable lesson in how it will feel to engage with real Japanese. Unless you are completely fluent, which even the best students will not be for many years, then you will have to get used to guessing at meaning, looking things up, double-checking, etc. Taking this first step with sentences inside of the Bunpro N5 (and N4) path means that you know the sentences are not too hard and that whatever it is you are missing is within reach. My suggestion would be to consider the difference between the Bunpro order and your textbook with this kind of mindset. It is a safe space in which you can stretch yourself a little but not have to worry that the concept itself is extremely advanced.

Besides this, it is extremely useful to use multiple sources for grammar explanations. If resources do not match then it is worthwhile thinking about why they don’t match. All beginner resources, as far as I know, give you a very incomplete picture of how Japanese grammar works (out of necessity) so when there is a difference between resources it is worth considering why. For example, basically everything in Tae Kim is what you will hear daily in Japan and/or if you are watching Japanese TV. The focus of that guide is to get you to understand what people around you are talking about. Some of the points are from higher N-levels but if you only use Japanese for daily conversation then the “advanced” points in Tae Kim are far easier to grasp than some more “basic” points that are limited to the written language or keigo. So when there is a mismatch between Tae Kim and, say, Bunpro it is because they have different focuses. My advice is to look at these differences and choose the explanation that you find to be most useful at that time but just keep some mental note that there is some other way of thinking about that grammar point. You can always revisit it later (and you probably will).

Last piece of advice that I think is relevant to the worries in this thread. You will not perfectly grasp a grammar point as a beginner. You will sometimes think you have but you almost certainly haven’t. This isn’t a put down but rather just a humbling reality. With that in mind, don’t worry about perfectly understanding every bit of grammar or every word. Get the rough idea and move on. When your rough understanding fails (wrong answer on a review, can’t understand a sentence but you know all the words, etc) then go back and read some explanations or ask someone more advanced, patch over your understanding, and move on. Just from textbooks or Bunpro, you will not reach a point where you are able to read or listen to Japanese and understand it properly. Those tools are there to give you footholds when you’re engaging with the real thing. In this respect, perfectionism is the enemy as you will never leave the world of textbooks and dive into the real thing.

This is basically what I would tell past self who was once in a similar position (trying to balance Genki and Tae Kim). Regardless, the main thing is just keep going. Happy studying!

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