(zoom in on pics for clear view)
This summer I decided I was finally going to take Japanese seriously. It's been a long time coming and I'm beyond glad that I've started this journey. I'd like to preface this by saying of course I didn't fully master/mature these words, however, I am able to now recognize them while immersing and know their definition.
My goal was simple: learn as much Japanese as I possibly could before my fall semester starts later in august. I have already taken two semesters of elementary Japanese at university, so I had a decent grammar foundation, but I wanted to massively expand my vocabulary and become much more comfortable with native content. On day one, I promised to myself to finally do Anki every single day, no excuses. So far I've managed to keep up with it. My current goal is to reach 4,110 cards under review by August 24.
What Deck am I running? (Kaishi and Core 2k/6k)
I haven't really seen many people talk about combining the two most popular beginner decks and for some reason when i began i thought it would be cool to just have one giant deck, so I downloaded both Kaishi and Core 2k/6k and with a little bit of workaround i combined them and removed any duplicates so that there is only one version of those words. The result was a single deck that starts with Kaishi's vocabulary while continuing into thousands of additional words from Core, all without duplicate cards.
I started at 20 new cards a day but after a while I realized I was handling the workload much better than I expected, so I increased it to 50. Eventually I started experimenting with 60, 80, and even 100 new cards on certain days. I even spent about a week doing 100/day just to see if I could keep up. Eventually I settled on 70 new cards a day, which has been my default ever since but every once in a while, if I have a completely free day, I'll just sit down and knock out 100–200 new cards because I genuinely enjoy seeing the deck grow. Is there anyone else that has felt the same way or does this?
I edit a lot of my cards
One thing I've found surprisingly helpful is customizing cards as I learn. If a definition doesn't really click in English, I'll rewrite it using something that makes more intuitive sense to me (usually using Jisho as a reference). Whenever I run into words that all seem to translate to the same thing, I'll spend a few minutes looking up the differences in nuance, frequency, common situations they're used in, and related vocabulary. I also regularly look up kanji breakdowns, sentence grammar, and whatever else I'm confused about.
This basically led me to code a stylized popup into my Anki cards where I keep these notes, so whenever I review the card later I can immediately remind myself why a particular word is used the way it is. I'll attach a screenshot because it's probably easier to explain visually. If anyone is interested in how to do this i wouldn't mind explaining/helping.
Overall I'd say my anki studying is about 90% reviewing and 10% editing, but those edits have made the deck feel much more personal and effective.
Immersion
Outside of Anki, most of my time goes toward immersion.
My routine is pretty simple:
- Wake up (and go to work)
- Finish my Anki reviews
- Immerse in native content
- Look up words or grammar whenever I'm curious
I usually do at least two hours of active immersion every day, although my goal is closer to 3–5 hours. I also do passive listening when I can, but I don't really track it.
Right now I'm watching:
- Gokusen
- Tensura (rewatching)
- You and I Are Polar Opposites
I've also started reading また、同じ夢を見ていた, which is my first reading-focused immersion project. My favorite YouTube channel to immerse in is Bite Size Japanese Podcast. It feels like almost every word I'm actively learning somehow shows up there. The host speaks clearly, at a comfortable pace, and the episodes are organized by topic and approximate JLPT level, so it's become one of my favorite listening resources.
For video content I usually use Japanese subtitles whenever possible from jimaku so I can quickly look up or mine words with Yomitan. Most of the new grammar I learn nowadays actually comes from immersion and looking things up on the spot rather than studying grammar in isolation. I still occasionally use Bunpro or Tae Kim, but exposure has become my main teacher.
Motivation
I've wanted to learn Japanese for years. I grew up watching anime, so I've probably accumulated thousands of hours of listening without even realizing it. One funny thing I've noticed recently is that whenever I learn a new word in Anki, I'll randomly remember an anime scene where I heard it years ago. That has made the language feel surprisingly familiar, and I lowkey blame that for me being able to quickly learn and remember a lot of vocab. The biggest thing keeping me consistent though is seeing real progress.
When I first started, I was constantly wondering if the process actually worked. But I can genuinely feel myself understanding more every week because Im learning so many words. That feeling is too addictive and has kept me grinding...
Mindset
The biggest change since starting hasn't really been my Japanese but my mindset. I've become much more willing to trust the process. Instead of wondering whether every study session is effective, I just show up every day and keep stacking reviews, vocabulary, and immersion. Looking back over the last month, the improvement is obvious enough that it's become much easier to stay motivated.
Goals
Short term:
- Reach 4,110 cards under review by August 24
- Be as prepared as possible for a Japanese exchange student event my university is hosting in October
Long term:
I just want to reach a level where I can consume whatever Japanese media I want without relying on English, and eventually become good enough that I can comfortably maintain Japanese while learning other languages in the future.
I'm curious if anyone else has combined Kaishi and Core like this, or if you've found another workflow that's worked well for you. Also if anyone has any resource, immersion or study tips and recommendations please share them because I'm constantly looking to improve the efficiency and enjoyability of my studying.