Vocab Learning Resources?

Japanese
#1

Hey there! What are some vocab study methods that work for you? I still can’t find something that works well with my learning style! I prefer quick mobile study methods i can pick up and do throughout the day, but haven’t found something for iOS. Due to this I’ve only been able to get to N4.

I’d love an app like bunpro for vocab, and I know they’re currently working on the vocab side, but until it’s more fleshed out I’m a bit stuck. I’ve tried anki but since I’m an iOS user the $20 price tag is a bit steep, and I don’t use desktop often enough for it to be useful. I really enjoyed Tori, but same problem.

If someone has alternatives, or even just a really good anki deck with audio that could warrant the $20, I’d be so happy to see the resource! My flashcard problem is I like having audio with accurate pitch-accent, and don’t have the focus to make my own decks. I’ve tried searching for them, but since there’s so many I get tired quickly.

Any help would be wonderful. My kanji and grammar game is so far ahead of my vocab due to this and I’d love to fix it. :sob::sob: Thank you in advance!

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#2

A good place to start the Japanese app, its built in flash card system will get you 90% of what you want and its free I’m pretty sure. Something a bit more involved would be Benkyo.

edit:

topic changed

#3

I use WaniKani for kanji/vocabulary. I admit though that for vocabulary, it’s not exactly the best tool. For Kanji, however, it has done wonders for me. I like that it’s structured and I don’t need to tweak any settings. I just have to show up everyday. The progress might not be as fast because of the lack of customization. But for someone with ADHD, the structure is what I’m really after. It’s quite costly but I think it’s worth it. Good luck!

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#4

I use Kitsun with the core 10k deck and I like that every card has an example sentence with native-voiced audio.

But as someone with ADD, I don’t really see the choice of app having much to do with that aspect. Everyone is different, but in my experience, the issue of maintaining enough motivation to stay focused is more about forming habits and building internal reward associations than it is about what tools you use. I know that trying a shiny new platform seems like “this time I’ll be motivated for sure,” but I’ve spent a LOT of money chasing that rabbit and it doesn’t last. Unfortunately, SRS systems don’t work if you keep switching to new ones every few months so it’s better to just find an app with a core deck you can live with and find some external way (like environment hacking, as the poster above mentioned) to keep at it.

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#5

The motivation is there, I just want to find something to help with vocab learning that fits the best methods I’ve found work for myself so it’s not falling behind the rest of my studies. I’ve removed ADHD from my post as to hopefully make it less about the disability and just about the resources.

I’ve tried to use the Japanese app and thought it would be a great resource, but for some reason my version does not play audio no matter what I do.

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#6

I’ve never found an app that I like for vocab, unlike grammar and kanji. The methods just don’t work well for me when it’s flashcards only and I have to supplement it. A better deck than the ones I’ve tried may be helpful though, so I’ll give Kitsune a try.

I do really like what BunPro is doing with their vocab and looking forward to it being more developed.

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#7

Just use Anki Web, its free.
You can also use the sync feature and access your deck on any device that has internet.

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#8

Just a quick question, but have you enabled beta here on Bunpro? We have lots of vocab decks ranging from N5 to N1 and beyond, all with lots of different review styles and context sentences written by native speakers already.

As a learner myself, finding reliable context sentences was one of the hardest things for me, so if that style of learning helps you, I think the vocabulary serivce here on Bunpro may be one of the best out there! We wouldn’t have made it at all if we had planned on doing it halfheartedly :bowing_man:

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#9

If only you actually released it!

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#10

Initially vocab is something I put aside as I learned how to recognize and write the kanji (RTK from Heisig in my case, WaniKani is very similar), but this was probably not necessarily had I come up with a system that worked for me early on. This is what I wound up doing:

Download Anki and find a vocabulary deck from the “Get Shared” option. I personally used Nayr’s Core 5k which is presumably the 5,000 most common words in Japanese gleaned from a variety of sources. Next, export the deck and arrange it in an Excel-like program. The columns should fit onto a single page and include all the most relevant info: The word in kanji, the word in kana, the part of speech, the definition, etc. Once this is done print it; it may be a lot of pages but it’ll be useful for a long time.

Now you have a physical study sheet that can accompany SRS in Anki. You can study the word in kanji and cover the reading/definition with your hand to see if you got everything correct. After enough studying you can then add the vocab in anki (or wherever, I suppose) at your own pace. 50 a day is probably feasible, with the occasional breaks to get a firmer foundation of the already learned vocab. I chose this method because I find studying Japanese entirely on a screen to be tedious and wanted actual paper to study from that I could mark up and annotate easily.

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#11

I just use the Bunpro Vocab deck on the iOS App via TestFlight and it’s pretty good. Obviously a personal suggestion I’ve made is to add support for vocab cramming and ghosts see here: Updated: Bunpro Vocab Cram Feature Request Thread (please pop a comment on it if the feature would be of use to you so that we can hopefully entice BunPro to move it up the priorities list)

Another suggestion is if you have any of the Tango Vocab Books, you can get the Anki Deck made by nukemarine so long as you have proof of purchase for the book. Note: this is an Anki Deck and I can’t comment on it’s content as I do not have the deck, however from the discord I am in for Japanese Learning (shout out to Tokini Andy folks) it is a thoroughly recommended resource for learning vocab.

I personally have been getting on fine with the Bunpro vocab decks so far, it needs a cram feature and support for ghosts but so far, considering it’s included in the sub, it’s the best resource I’ve been using.

#12

yaarrr Japanese language learners have more decks than a pirate armada :pirate_flag:

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#13

Oh, goodness, don’t remind me! At this point, I’m just pretending that Anki (and my hundreds of reviews) don’t exist anymore.

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#14

I used anki vocabulary when I first started, and eventually switched to a sentence deck with anki, to see new vocab in context. That burnt me out after a while though and I can barely look at Anki now. I mostly learn new vocab naturally now, through reading novels and news.

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#15

https://jpdb.io/ I quite like this one, when I reach finish N2 this is what I’m going to use in a quite hardcore way.

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