Why aren't the later levels of grammar and vocab taught in Japanese?

Bunpro
#1

There’s probably a simple answer to this that I’m missing, but why is everything up to the end of N1 defined and explained solely in English?

Because from what I understand, by the end of N4/start of N3, at the very latest, someone making their way through both the JLPT grammar and vocab decks should have all the knowledge needed to start making the transition to monolingual explanations of new grammar and vocab, right?

So if that’s truly the case, then why are the grammar explanations and vocab definitions entirely in English, even all the way to the end of the N1 material? Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to be taught Japanese in the context of Japanese once a good foundation in the language has been built, or at the very least start giving explanations in Japanese that you know someone who has followed the decks up to that point would be able to understand in addition to the current English only explanations?

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#2

You’ll be pleased to know that the Grammar explanations have Japanese translations from N2!

Check the top right of this screenshot:

Screenshot 2026-09-07 at 11.14.56
Screenshot 2026-09-07 at 11.14.561876×770 106 KB

Adding them for N3 too might be nice though

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#3

…and now I have absolutely no idea how I missed that, as it’s super obvious now that you’ve pointed it out :sweat_smile: thank you so much, and I apologize for the trouble!

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#4

I don’t mind, I get to be the bearer of good news :clinking_glasses::joy:

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#5

I do think that the feasibility of explainable/understandable explanations for the N3 grammar points is something that would be worth looking into as well, honestly.

'm still in the middle of learning y’alls N4 grammar points, but I do have to say that I’ve gotten a subscription to the 例会学習国語辞典 and 例会学習漢字辞典 via the DONGRI S app - native 国語 and 漢字 dictionaries for elementary schoolers in Japan - and although dictionary Japanese is almost like a whole new dialect, I’ve been surprised at how understandable the definitions in them have been for my current level of knowledge lol

It’s what made me start wondering why the concept behind y’alls graded readers in the Reading Practice section hadn’t been applied to your later level grammar and vocab decks, although I see now that I was wrong about that assumption lol :sweat_smile:

Anyways, that’s just my $0.02 on a matter that I probably don’t have enough knowledge to actually accurately weigh in on lol

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#6

Just found out we do have it for N3!

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#7

Well that settles that, then - Bunpro’s amazing and I need new glasses :sweat_smile:

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#8

Going through the N1 deck here.

I’ve gotten plenty of advice from either fluent speakers or natives that reading explanations for grammar in Japanese is pretty much not worth the hassle. The first point brought up is that you’re trying to understand something that you may have never seen before, so you’re just adding more friction to a brand new concept you’re learning for some minimal Japanese exposure you can otherwise get from by reading other material.
The second is about recognising that what teaches you isn’t the article, but the spaced repetition across sentences! At least for me, I don’t particularly rely on rereading the same articles across most points. If there is one recall sentence I need, it’s the nuance tip.

Now I can have people disagree on this but I personally share that sentiment too and I’m willing to comment it here. It’s not like articles become a big deal on high level points too, on N1 they’re very often short! And sometimes, I wish they had some more zeal to them too, because I find them comparable to other grammar points that aren’t linked…

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#10

There is no real reason to learn grammar in japanese.

Monolingual dictionaries are useful because they provide a lot of context and nuance, but the fact that they are in japanese is actually pretty unimportant.

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#11

I have learned grammar in Japanese in Shinkanzen Master, and then again in English using Bunpro

I find this dual approach works well. I do think it’s useful to learn Japanese in Japanese to some extent, but I highly value being able to confirm my understanding in English

I learn Japanese entirely in Japanese also in my classes, so being able to double check in English on Bunpro is really useful for me, and I often use it as a reference library

I don’t think I’ll use the Japanese versions of the grammar lessons any time soon, but it’s great that they’re there

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#12

In English is fine for me because I don’t have all my day and my energy to study Japanese, the less time I spend to get the concept, the better I can understand it when reading somewhere else.

Because if it was 100% in Japanese:

  1. I would be too lazy to even start, thinking I must be in good shape to get ready to do my Japanese lesson in Japanese. Basically, procrastinating.
  2. What would happen is, if I am still motivated, I would just use Google Translate or use LLMs to translate anyway.
#13

Tbh you get used to learning Japanese in Japanese once you get over the hump (I say this as someone who not so long ago would have had similar objections)

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#14

Honestly, my experience so far has been that encountering grammar and vocabulary in the context of actual writing has helped me the most, especially when it comes to matters like increasing the speed at which I read and understand written Japanese and helping the things that I learn stay in my memory instead of forgetting them. Encountering the things I learn in the context of writing has helped me more than even anki/SRS drills.

The problem is that, unless your knowledge and understanding of the language is already at a near-native level, it’s hard to find plenty of comprehensible input for the level that you’re at.

That’s why I thought Bunpro providing even more comprehensible input in the form of toggleable monolingual grammar explanations and vocab definitions might have been a good idea, because it’s a fairly safe assumption that someone starting the N3 grammar and vocab decks, for example, would already have gone through the N5 and N4 decks on the website and thus the authors would be able to write comprehensible input under those constraints.

Because honestly, aren’t we all learning Japanese so we’d be able to actually read and speak it easily one day? More practice, especially through material that it’s safe to assume that learners up to that point would already know, should help with that goal, right?

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#15

I wouldn’t be sure about this “it’s a fairly safe assumption”. You can have hints only in Japanese even from N5 lvl, and I’m pretty sure that they are much beyond this lvl. But of course maybe someone from Bunpro content team would give us insight how they prepared Japanese explanation content.

edit:
From my perspective it nice to have it but I’m not sure how useful it is on N3 or even lower N4. I’m study Japanese through my second language (English), my English is maybe on B2 after years of constantly exposure and using it in a work. If I would have any need to improve it, for sure I would use native level material, even for grammar. But as someone mentioned earlier, if you are not on very high level already, adding additional layer of difficulty on top of understanding unknown grammar is no worth the effort.

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#16

I meant something more along the lines of in terms of determining valid constraints for writing explanations and definitions in Japanese, tbh. For example, here are some definitions and examples I came up with for some early N4 vocab terms using only grammar and vocab from the N5 decks here on Bunpro:

慣れる【なれる】
1) 同じことをたくさんして、上手になる。
例 運転に慣れる。
2) 同じことをたくさんしたり、同じ所に長い時間いたりして、それが普通になる。
例 新しい学校に慣れる。
3) 動物は、最初は人を怖いと思う。後は怖いと思わない。それも「慣れる」と言う。
例 人に慣れた犬。

免許【めんきょ】
1) 国が「これをしてもいい」と決めるのが免許です。
例 車の免許を取る。

匂い【におい】
1) 鼻で感じるのが匂い。いい匂いも、悪い匂いもある。
例 花の匂い。

プレゼント
1) 人に物をあげます。それを「プレゼントする」と言います。あげた物もプレゼントです。
例 誕生日のプレゼント。

And here are some early N4 grammar explanations using only vocab from the N5 vocab deck and earlier grammar points.

～にくい
するのが難しい。
例 この漢字は読みにくい。

～づらい
するのが難しくて、自分が「大変だ」と感じる。
例 先生に「分かりません」と言いづらい。

ということ
前の言葉を全部、一つの「こと」にする言い方。
例 毎日日本語を勉強するということは大切です。

～ば
「前のことを本当だ」と考えて、その時のことを言う言い方。
例 時間があれば、本を読みます。

～なら
「前のことを本当だ」と考えれば、そのことの話をする言い方。
例 日本語を勉強するなら、この本がいいです。

Granted, I did use actual dictionary entries from a couple of monolingual dictionaries for reference, including one intended for grade schoolers, but the idea isn’t to import native level material - it’s to take the “graded reader” concept and make lots of short, optional comprehensible input while assuming quite reasonable constraints IMO, if that makes any sense.

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