What's your fave Japanese resource that you tried before and didn't vibe with at the time, but have since returned to and now love?

Japanese
#1

I’ve just re-discovered kaijugation and am currently obsessed with it. I tried it a while back and didn’t quite get it, so I used it maybe once and then completely forgot about it. But the other day I stumbled across it again and spent some time figuring it out a bit more, and now I can’t stop using it. I’m hooked, it’s all I think about atm :joy:

It’s been really fun to be able to take a conjugation I know I could improve on, practice it at the most basic level, and gradually introduce more complexity to the reviews. I can see the way I’m improving, and it’s doing wonders for my motivation. It’s also fun to be able to target a conjugation I’m a bit wobbly with and isolate it for practice, and I find with this it doesn’t take me long before I feel like I’m starting to get it.

But now I’m wondering what else I’ve missed out on :laughing: So, what’s a Japanese learning resource that you tried using previously that didn’t do anything for you for whatever reason at the time, but that you’ve since tried again and now love?

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#2

Anki. Used to write it off for usability. Forced myself to use it and it’s got a pretty decent interface on Android.

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#3

This going to sound stupid but mine is Manga. I said back when I started learning Japanese that I didn’t want to read much manga due to space as well as money spent on something that I didn’t feel I would get much out of, yet it has proven me very wrong on that last point.

I read all 23 volumes of Demon Slayer at the tail end of last year and decided that this year I would work through 175 volumes across 25 different series (a mix of different genres as well) that I now own as a way to increase my vocabulary, get better at recognising grammar patterns and some Kanji readings. I’ve noticed a lot of words popping up that seem to be pretty common across different genres and I’ve also realised that as I cover more and more of them, my reading speed increases as well as my ability to form better sentences coming more naturally. My tutor and language exchange partner has even commented on the change across the last month or so.
Covered 55 manga across 15 different series and various genres so far since January.

I’m quite sure the same could be said of reading any book types, anime or even news articles but I didn’t expect to get as much out of it as I have done recently.

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#4

My teacher brought one day a dictionary of Japanese onomatopoeias, which at the time seemed too much for something I thought wouldn’t really help me improve in my learning journey.

Oh boy was I wrong, I started to study this type of material more intently since I discovered that it is actually very common to use them for daily conversation.

For some it might be pretty obvious, but back then I thought it was just to represent silly sounds like “Pow”, “Boom”, and “Shazam”!

It turns out that some of them cover a broad amount of meanings.

Anyway, one day she decided to bring it to class once again and unlike the first time I was looking forward to check it out with more attention :slight_smile:

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#5

At around what time level did you start reading? Were it tedious in the beginning? Any particular strategies to recommend?:grin:

I’m planning to try start reading manga as soon as I’m finished with n5 grammar. I know it will be difficult but I’m hyped to start

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#6

@aPaincake (sorry, I didn’t tag the reply properly )

I started reading after finishing Minna No Nihongo red book set but I started with the tadoku free readers and did a binge of those to get used to reading Japanese that wasn’t textbook Japanese. That was back in around August of 2022. I then read Miraa san (the MNN red novel that goes with the text book) and understood very little of it. I read my first manga a few months later. Naruto volume 1.

I knew the story, sort of knew some of the words and it took me hours. iirc, that first volume took me about 6-8 hours across 3 days with a dictionary trying to figure out what I didn’t know.

I chose it because it was of interest to me and that was a massive motivation that kept me going even though it was difficult. The following year I read a few more as well as some much harder books (Kino no tabi and Zoo book 1 by Otsuichi) again understanding very little except what I already knew of the stories.

Proper reading for me probably started around 2024 (then had a massive burnout after trying to read and understand Bocchan) and then took off last year when I could read a bit smoother. My grammar understanding is probably now around high N4 - beginner N3 but it was my lack of vocabulary that I felt held me back since I was mostly just reading textbooks otherwise and not really doing any vocabulary practice except Wanikani which I’m not going through very quickly.

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#7

I tried a bit of kanji writing early on, but wrote it off as difficult and not worth my time (all that time could be spent studying more vocab?). Not like I am ever going to need to write by hand when I don’t even live in Japan, right? I think this was the right decision since you don’t need to learn how to write in order to read or speak, but priorities change and I want to try drawing+習字 as a hobby.

Already knowing how to read and being able to listen to a various amount of TV shows without much effort I found it can be both fun and time-effective at this point. I put on an episodic TV show where I am not too bothered about missing out on some details here and there and just draw while half paying attention to the show, pausing the drawing when a lot is happening that I don’t want to miss. I’m getting plenty of immersion while learning to draw kanji. Also training my rusty finer hand movements again which will come in handy for other things.

I’m using a monolingual kanji deck for people who can already read. No keywords, it just shows you a few words with a 〇 on the missing kanji you need to draw.
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1146619527 仮名
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/536709674 常用漢字
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1439997872 表外漢字
Using a fountain pen and paper to get real writing practice (I don’t think using a finger on an app is going to magically make my writing look right) and just pass/fail it in anki after flipping. How many times I draw each kanji depends on how difficult I find them. I edited the decks to add 新楷書 and ペン字 fonts as references to write naturally.
The first few hundred kanji were extremely difficult to draw from memory, but eventually the stroke order and radicals settle in naturally and picking up new ones becomes easier. As a short term goal I just want to learn how to draw the 教育漢字 this year, maybe I’ll do the other half of the 常用漢字 in a span of 2-3 years at a slower pace.

Combining this with a difficult handwritten subtitle font for my anime has been really useful for reading the little handwritten text that sometimes shows up in manga, and just reading in general.

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#8

Thanks for the reply! I’m working through a textbook on the side as well. I have looked at resources like tadoku but ended up trying Satori Reader and was pleasantly surprised because I could understand lots (even though it was lower level and I messed up a lot of tenses.).

Just looked up Bocchan and if you meant the one from 1906 I can certainly understand the burnout… I even somewhat struggle reading really old works in my native language due to the archaic words and spellings.

I’ve gathered that no matter when you start, you will have a hard and tedious time. That’s probably alleviated slightly by reading something you already know. I received a physical copy of Frieren I have been looking forward to starting even though it’s way ahead of my current level!

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#9

I did a few on Satori reader but went with Tadoku because it was free. They’re both good choices to start and it’s a great feeling when you start understanding without having to translate much.

Yeah, I trued reading the Kadokawa bunko version with Furigana but even that was tough. They are a good stepping stone once you’ve got the grammar down, but they aren’t easy reads.

If you would like a recommendation to make it a little easier, JPDB have a deck for Frieren that may make it easier to read if you study it a bit first. I read the 1st volume last year but struggled quite a bit with it because of the unknown vocab.

I’ve got the series down as a read for later this year as part of my Manga bingo card and I think either Learn Natively or the WaniKani forums has a book club for at least the first volume.

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#10

Migaku.

I bought it a while back but was so used to Anki from several years of using it, that it was just hard for me to make the transition. After several useful updates and forcing myself to ween off a bit on Anki, I finally was able to use it to it’s full potential. But this was after two years of already owning it. Anki, while still more customizable and open, just doesn’t have the convenient, built in features that Migaku does, so I think I would have a hard time going back to Anki if I had to.

Another one would be the book “Common Japanese Collocations”. When I first bought it, my vocab was just not there. But after a couple years of building up my vocab, this book was instrumental in expanding the usage of that vocabulary. I still feel that collocations are a very under-looked thing in Japanese learning.

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#11

Didn’t know about the deck! Have not really looked into jpdb much but it seems rather useful. The Wanikani bookclub is still ongoing but I have a while before I catch up, even if I would read in English. I think subsequent volumes will be easier for you with less new vocab as you get used to the way the author writes

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#12

I hear you, I recently got into 書道 too and I find it very relaxing.

I use a 14 inch chromebook with a stylus using the Chrome Canvas app with the fountain pen brush at max size. It works pretty well and saves paper.

Right now I’m just writing 四字熟語 (4 character idioms).
I like this website for finding new ones to write.

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#13

JPDB I’ve used a few times for decks, they also have a less complex system of difficulty for the books they do have logged.

I’m not quite there yet but even when I manage to re-read Frieren volume 1, it’ll take me a bit to get through it. The subsequent volumes will probably be slightly more difficult as they move through the series even though the common vocab will get easier to recognize. I’ve found that with a few series (Flying witch, Skull dragon’s Daughter, Summer Hikaru Died and Demon Slayer) so think it may be a trend.

I did notice the book club had an ongoing one for the other volumes which will be handy too.

I did find that for the first few books I read, I needed to get comfortable with not understanding everything and be patient with myself when I was struggling. It’s also a little easier motivation wise if you have a high interest in the story in general I found.

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#14

Oh wow, it’s so impressive that you’ve gotten through so many, congrats!

I think enjoyment is a big thing with something like reading. I’m sure like you say, books/anime/news articles/etc might help the same way. But if you’re enjoying what you’re reading, you’re more likely to do it more, and so have more opportunity to learn from it, and that’s the bit that’s important. I’m glad you’re getting so much out of it.

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#15

I was flicking through an onomatopoeic and mimetic word dictionary myself last weekend! I had the same thought, it’s so cool just how common they are in Japanese, and just how many concepts use onomatopoeia.

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#16

How come you find them more difficult as you progress the series?

And accepting not understanding 100% is hard for me as well. Even if I understand 95% I still get the urge to look up the remaining 5% just to know lol

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#17

That definitely helps.

Another thing I found was if I read short things like articles intensively (so looking up each vocab and grammar point I don’t know) and then reading longer things extensively (without looking things up except if I cannot understand even the gist of what’s going on) it helps quite a bit too but the extensive reading only really works if you know the majority of the material, or know the story already.

I tend to read a lot during work, between calls (extensive reading - also why I have physical books rather than ebooks because we’re not allowed phones/ tablets on desks) so I can get through a manga or two a day at the moment and a Kadokawa bunko with furigana in about a week or so (depending on how busy work is) so I do at times get through more than others. When I first started though, it would have taken me about 3-7 days to go through one manga volume and I’ve only really started reading in earnest from last year.

The story changes and becomes more complex so the grammar used can follow that pattern introducing new vocabulary that wasn’t already present.

For me as well though I found this easier after burning out a few times trying to read much more difficult books.
Manga also makes this easier as does reading something you already know the story of which I think is why books like Harry Potter, The Little Prince etc are popular among language learners.

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#18

ふむふむwww