Actual shower thoughts (yes, it was a long, scalding-hot shower ♬ ♪ ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و when I mentally (well, insofar as much as my namesake allows) worked through this ｗｗｗｗ):
OK, so how to begin…
Because of words + sentences/clozes ability on Bunpro cards, I think this might be a good idea for beginners (or maybe even intermediates abroad who have not worked through “daily life” type Japanese), and will be well-adapted to the Bunpro platform’s ability to leverage quizzing on both vocab as well as grammar (and voiced, no less!). This is a bit long (took me an hour to type!), but it’s a stream of consciousness, and I am very much of the “write once and ganbare” extraction. There’s a bit of all-over-the-place in the beginning to convey my points, but then some of it is repeated in a more structured format later on. Also, I am well-aware of community decks, and did not see one that seems to match this type of objective (especially when comparing similar words in sentence/usage context, as I will demonstrate), and maybe that’s something the team (or someone else) might work on, perhaps based on contributions in this thread, or I/we can just keep it as a thread here!
Alrighty, so, everyone learns stuff like お元気ですか or 帽子 (lol) or even 壁 (lmao) in N5/N4 and/or in their basic phrasebook before arriving, but how about things that are sometimes WAY more common/critical for tourists and people recently arrived in Japan for working/living?
Not to be presumptuous, but I think considering how Bunpro has such a fine team (along with natives to write and voice words/sentences), maybe something like a useful (don’t worry, I’m getting to it!) “how to Japan” deck with curated sentences to reinforce not only the vocab and grammar points but the differentiation between similar words, would be a good “killer app feature”?
And if not, maybe people can just contribute some fun ones here in this thread (idk if something like this is appropriate for this forum but I thought it would be cool!). And, worst case, some of you know my posts are lengthy/snoozefests, so just ignore it hahaha. But! just perhaps, even some of these things here could help people, so imma write it anyway!
Now, people have probably brought up the basic idea of a survival type vocab list a million times before, and I have thought of such lists (but not in conjunction with grammar to elucidate subtleties in vocab) a bunch before, but seeing this train vocab post (so direct your complaints to that user, tysm (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)) ignited (that’s a Bunfire pun, but this is more suited I think to the Japanese category as some of these words are useful to any beginners) something in me… and got me thinking, maybe I’ll formulate and suggest something here?
And, inb4 “why don’t you make a list yourself then, ばかやろう! 紳士様 OTL” well, my Japanese ability is abysmal a work in progress [insert a construction 危険！関係者以外立入り禁止 sign here], and I remember the first time I smoothly waltzed off a plane at Narita full of totally useful N5 Pimsleur phrase exchanges swirling in my head like “お元気ですか？” “おかげさまでございます、お心遣いに感謝申し上げます。ORZ” “元気です、お陰様です。” and “ネクタイ” (≧▽≦) which weren’t very helpful when I was trying to figure out which train to take (this was before the major push for tourism and English signage along the 東海道, though smartphone translations have since made signages easier (but more on this later)).
Also, when working through some early graded readers, it was difficult for me to really get into them, because they weren’t relevant to situations (or even basic vocab) that I found myself needing. A lot of words about different garments and stuff, for example, yet why not just go to the store and pick out the stuff you want and take it to the counter… do you really need to know オーバー (which is actually N3) over 単品 (not on any N list, even though you’ll see or use it your first day in Japan when getting food)?
which brings me to words like…
That speeds of trains post! And this is something I think where Bunpro’s sentences are helpful and can be descriptive to assist with differentiation and retention. If you use your smartphone to translate a sign, it will maybe say like local train, limited express, rapid express (not super helpful, right?), but a Bunpro sentence could teach like 普通電車はすべての駅に停まりますが、急行電車は主要な駅だけに停まります。 (demonstrates すべての prenoun adjectival and が contrastive) Or like 通勤電車は朝と夕方にすごく混みます。 Or 特急は快速急行より速いです。(demonstrating grammar of より, 速い [-い adj.]+です.
Or, if you’re looking for where to stay, for words like 畳 (N1 vocab, btw!), a sentence such as 1LDKの部屋は約6畳の広さで、約10平方メートル、約107平方フィートです。 can help someone remember the size conversions, along with the vocab (or some grammar points like 約 for estimation and の広さで for size extent). A bit better than standard N5 textbooks full of ネクタイを買いましたが、使いません。(yea, I know the grammatical construction here is still useful as a beginner going to a store or something). I will again emphasize that this is in no way intended to supplant basic vocab or grammar points, but rather to supplement as a standalone “super mega ultra benri” deck (that also could incorporate some basic grammars) for people intending to travel to Japan on vacation or for work.
What follows are a bunch of examples to further illustrate my point (disorganized, but some major examples front-loaded, and then groupings by category):
Everyone learns cigarette 吸うsmoking in N5 (‾́。‾́ )y~~, but what about real beer (ビール) or draft beer (生ビール) vs fake, tax-avoidance beer (発泡酒) (that a tourist with no or little Japanese might drink their first day on arrival without knowing the difference! and scanning with your phone probably won’t help!), or between real 100% milk from a cow (牛乳) vs generic or fake milk or condensed milk/rehydrated/soy milk/flavouring from concentrate or some other such catch-all (ミルク)! I joke when saying “fake” (no shade intended!), and if you like those (or don’t), that’s fine, too (I have consumed all of them!)! But they aren’t the same thing (except when considering 牛乳 being a subset of ミルク), and it’s something that people will encounter their first night in Japan, whereas they might never use ネクタイ unless they need to enquireinquire as to which コンビニ carries them because they forgot to bring one in their suitcase before their work orientation.
Another one is that students of N5 learn elevator and escalator and train platform/ホーム, but not stairs going up 上り (THIS IS N2 !!! maybe because you typically see it on signs as のぼり?!) , stairs going down 下り (THIS IS N3!!!)… approaching station 到着します (N3!) as in まもなく、◯◯に到着します。、 though exit to the left or right are N5 but are things I think should be in this sort of deck (左出口 vs 右出口) because you’ll often hear them in the phrase お出口は左/右側です 。which could be incorporated into some grammar point anyway.
単品 (item only) vs セット (combo set) (yes I am changing sometimes which words are in parentheses), and these can be reinforced with sentences (and grammar points!), like 単品だけください or then like セットにしてください using grammar point of て form + request. and when the server is like “ya done?” with ご注文は以上でよろしいですか and you reply with that’s all folks 以上です . Then things like お持ち帰りください (takeaway) versus 店内で食べる or just ここでお願いします. 以上です is N4, but you’ll use it day 1 (D1?)!
Some other food stuff is that beginners learn the words for チェック/ビル/付け/お会計 but not 食べ放題 or 飲み放題
Allergens like wheat and egg are learned, but what about some other major ones like mustardマスタード or peanut 落花生? This stuff isn’t focused on in Japanese learning materials and JLPT lists created for foreigners, I presume because of the Japanese writers of such materials not understanding the different needs/priorities of foreigners (where something like this can be extremely important) who have allergies that are uncommon in Japan (whereas something like soba蕎麦/そば allergy is more common in Japan than elsewhere), but even this is N2.
We learn the word for vending machine/自動販売機 (actually useful if in an building like a department store or hotel or office or lobby or something and there’s a sign pointing to where there are vending machines), hot 温かい (I’ve made this mistake before, even with the red colouring lol), and cold 冷たい, but not the vocab for separating trash, what about the words for like plastic bottles which sometimes will be ペットボトル instead of ＰＥＴボトル (and in some countries PET isn’t a common way to refer to plastic bottles anyway) versus metal cans缶 vs paper (at least 紙 is N5). You know, even “缶” is N3! Kind of important word though(?) Though for this there are some pictures, so maybe not critical. プラスチック (plastic) too.
地震警報 for earthquake or 津波警報 for tsunami are good to know for announcements in emergencies.
How to operate aircon in apartment… there’s basic stuff like 運転/停止 but even things like 除湿 or ドライモード are way more useful to know than ネクタイ (ok sorry for the necktie hate, don’t worry I like them, it’s just a good example!), even if it’s to accidentally not press them when you just want some AC (冷房) or 暖房!! (ok the rest of these words in this list are less subtle so it’s more of just survival Japanese that are useful but yes you can just use your phone to translate this stuff). But in the middle of summer, you don’t want to press 衣類乾燥 instead of 冷房!
Sentences can include grammar points to reinforce concepts, vocab, and grammar all together, like 外がとても暑いので、冷房のボタンを押してエアコンをつけました。 where we’ve got 〜ので, て-form, or can do it like 外がとても暑いから、冷房のボタンを押してエアコンをつけました。 to illustrate use of から. or if you’re in a fancyズボン building, エアコンがついて、部屋が涼しくなりました。to demonstrate て result construction + なる verb, while contrasting つく intransitive from the つける transitive earlier.
Basic stuff like coin laundry コインランドリー, how to dry clothes… ソフト温風 vs 高温, and 乾燥 and 脱水のみ
At a hotel, N5 includes cleaning/cleaning service kind of as 掃除, but asking for ドライクリーニング or ランドリーサービス, or 宅急便 (somewhere between N4/N3?) for your belongings being sent to a different place. Or asking for a グレードアップ (room upgrade) at the front desk.
Even though it’s katakana from English, レンタカー for a car rental is considered N1 (!!!)… I rented a vehicle my first time in Japan, and most people I know have done the same (and if not on their first trip, their second!, and people working for example teaching or factory jobs often need vehicles because you’re not in the middle of a major city/metropolis!), so even just recognizing this as a phrase is kinda good I think. And, there are people on Bunpro (and elsewhere!) who might not have such ease with interpreting these loan words if they do not possess English ability). Which makes it seem ridiculous that a basic thing such as レンタカー is relegated to N1. The rationale I surmise is because it’s gairaigo and situational, but it’s a situation that people with zero to low Japanese ability find themselves in! It’s not like some formal business setting situation. This is where I think some of the JEES overlords might not have the clearest perception of how foreigners interact with the Japanese language as beginners when they are tourists or new workers. This applies to other gairaigo words like those ones for ドライクリーニング, which is fine for speakers of English, but it’s N1! (so non-English students of Japanese or tourists won’t know it) And people do travel with some nice clothes for dinner or going out, and new workers have at least a suit (with a ネクタイ ヽ(>∀<☆)ノ )!!!
テイクアウト is easy once you become comfortable with how loanword phonologies work when shifting into Japanese, but for someone new to the language, or who does not have command of English, a word like this for finding a quick to-go food place is useful!
割引 (discount) is N2, but that’s good to know for shopping… same with 中古 (second-hand) or リサイクルショップ which can be a strange compound word to foreigners, but is/are important so people can find (or avoid) these types of shops. Even if someone uses a phone to translate, “recycle shop” isn’t going to be that helpful to a beginner who might not really “get” how gairaigo and wasei-eigo terms are formulated (takes a bit of time). Like, do I… recycle things there? Well yes, but also no tosses bag of ＰＥＴボトルs and 缶s inside. But a vocab + sentence like リサイクルショップの割引フィギュアは新品よりずっと安かった。take your pick of より, ずっと, or 安かった past casual construction for the grammar point, while the sentence demonstrates to the learner the actual meaning of recycle shop (and they learn the word for discount).
And when you’re out are you paying by (N4/3 level!!) 現金 cash or カード, and when you’re hit with the 袋は要りますか do you reply with はい、全部同じ袋に入れてもらって大丈夫です or 袋を別々にして入れてくださいますか because you need an extra 袋 for all the 缶s and ＰＥＴボトルs that are still rapidly filling up your hotel room even after you dumped your last bag at the リサイクルショップ.
Some other odds and ends were coming to mind, but I was afraid I was going to run out of hot water on my small heater tank, but N5 learns 靴 for shoes but not 列 for queuing like at a restaurant or building or event or theme park.
Anyyyyyyyyway, ok if you made it to the bottom here, 大変申し訳ございませんでした (｡•́‿•̀｡)
If there are any ideas for words like this, I’d like to hear them, too! Or if this seems like an interesting proposal or something. Happy studying! 
