(2016-01-03, 8:27 pm)FlameseeK Wrote: Hi there everyone. So, I just started doing Core on Jan 1 and it's been pretty efficient so far. I'm going at a really fast pace since I've already finished Genki 2, so I'll probably get to 1k words today unless there isn't enough time. However, that brings me to an important question.
A couple of weeks ago, I made a thread asking whether I should do Core or if extensive reading alone was fine. But a lot of people recommended doing Core. Now that I've started, I want to keep going acquiring as much "essential" vocabulary as possible before getting into the stuff I'd like to read. But people told me that for anime and visual novels, which is what I want to be able to read asap, just doing core 2-3k and srsing vocabulary from these sources would be better.
Is there any good list/deck of high frenquency in anime/visual novels out there? Or is it possible to make one? I'd really like to learn more than these 2k-3k core words in advance, because I believe preparation pays off big time if done right. Finishing RTK allowed my vocabulary acquisition to blast off to an insane extent now that I don't have to worry about kanji shape. It would have been painful to stop everytime I learned a new word just to decipher kanji over and over again. The same applies to vocabulary - I'd rather lower that "extra work" as much as possible by doing it beforehand. That way, things will be more enjoyable once I get started.
Ps: I don't know if this is considered a "small question" because I'm usually prolix as it gets... sorry about that and please let me know if it would be better to post this back in the thread I made a while ago. Thanks.
If I understand what you are asking and what you want...
I'd hazard a guess that the first 2K would be common to just about everything. I wouldn't shy away from the 6K either.
However if you are utterly narrow focused on just reading a certain style of book or listening to a certain style of TV/Movie the most time optimal thing would be 2K and then every time you encounter a new word throw it into ANKI. For a while your reading/viewing will be a very slow grind but odds are the words you will be picking up with me exactly what you need and things will speed up. If I were say only interested in books on Japanese military history or tentacle erotica and absolutely nothing else, I'd probably go that way.
Extensive reading seems to work some people but I don't think 2K words would really make it pay off. I think I'd personally rather wait till 6 or even 8K words but that is me. Other way just too many words you are not getting and trying to fill in with context. Too much missing. Also at say 8 words a minute production or perhaps 15 for recognition it wouldn't take overtly long.
Doesn't Genki 1 and 2 have 1700 words combined, didn't you use ANKI for that vocab. If you got those words in your head already, probably little point to doing a 2K core maybe.
Have you looked into this book "Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure"
Seems well reviewed, not really answering your vocab question, just seems up your ally.
Much of this is based not on personal experience but based on the way to many hours spent reading other people's opinions on language. Be forewarned.