We often talk about Japanese, but we rarely talk about how it is going for each of us. I am very interested to hear about how you feel about your "study" and your level. The questions are made for people who have finished RTK and are doing for want of a better word the AJATT method. However, if you are using other methods you are still very welcome to post. In fact, I would love to know how those using different methods are going (don't worry so much about the questions).

Note, the following questions are designed to get as much meaningful information as possible from each person. However, if there is something you want to say that doesn't quite fit into the questions, feel free to say it!

EDIT: Q13 added, thanks albion.

Questions!

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS not including RTK?

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to reaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

5. How many cards on average do you add to your deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do you get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

11. How confident are you of getting there?

12. From when you started RTK, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

13. How long have you been studying? Can you give a rough breakdown of how you spent that time? (new question)

My Answers.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS not including RTK?

I have about 2500 facts.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

I have put words that I wanted to know from KO books 1 and 2 and the kanzen master series grammar sentences ２級. I have also added about 500 facts from Japanese books and manga that I have read and a few from anime and TV.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to reaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

I almost always do both production and recognition, with production appearing first.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

I often do dictation. Otherwise I usually just write the part of the sentence that is new to me (word, grammar)

5. How many cards on average do you add to your deck per day? If life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

Don't have time to do it now, but plan to add about 20 cards a day.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do you get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

Again, don't have much time to do this now. I intend to get 8 hours whilst asleep and about 5 other hours on average each day (less on weekdays, more on the weekend).

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

I can function almost the same as a native speaker in most everyday situations and conversations. I will not be as eloquent, but it is rare an unknown word will pop up or I can't express what I want to say. I can have a converstion on certain specialised topics such as the economy. Whilst simplistic, I can still usually communicate what I want to say, but words I don't know will pretty reliably come up.

I am good at listening and if I don't have any vocab problems I can catch almost anything. My pronunciation and intonation are good, but sometimes I will get nervous and I can't quite enunciate the words properly. My biggest pron weakness is saying words like 範囲（はんい）where the ん sound kind of disappears.

My writing is good grammatically, but I don't know enough words to tie arguments together.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

Yes, I am, however when I have time again I am going to try and add audio captured from native sources. I have not tried this much before so it is untested.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

I am pretty much satisfied with my speaking ability, however one of my goals is to read many books, so I want to learn many more words. I also want to be able to string sentences together with more filler (like um and ar).

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

I want to be able to read a book aimed at the general public almost never using my dictionary. I want to be able to watch almost any TV show or drama and understand 99%. I want to be able to have conversation on a level that is almost indistinguishable from a native speaker.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

I am very confident. Particularly the reading part may take a while, but I love all the stuff I do with Japanese and I am confident of my methods so I think I will get there.

12. From when you started RTK, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do differently again if you could?

I would skip KO and Kanzen and just add sentences from immersion, particularly using audio from native material. (BTW, I don't want to talk about why this is. There is another thread about this and I don't want it to contaminate this thread. Feel free to talk about your regrets or whatever)

13. How long have you been studying? Can you give a rough breakdown of how you spent that time?

I have been studying for about 3.5 years.

1 year spent only doing 3 hours a week in crappy Englishy Japanese classes in Australia.
1 year spent using crappy methods whilst living in Japan and not getting very far.
1.5 years doing first RTK then AJATT, yet of this time have had only about 6 months where I wasn't way too busy with other stuff to do many sentences. Included in this time is 6 months of study at a school in Japan (YAMASA) but it was much less efficient than using that time for self study, so I consider it a negative.

1. 718 facts, most of them recognition. (Does not include Heisig, I have a separate RtK deck.)

2. Well, anything I find useful. Mainly from Kanzen Master 2級 atm, but I often take example sentences from dictionaries etc, trying to learn one compound for each kanji. I keep my sentences very short and to the point as often as possible.

3. I do recognition (kanji sentence to kana sentence) 99% of the time. I have some production cards since I'm taking a university test soon and I want to be able to boost my writing a bit extra before then. Overall, I find recognition to be the easiest, most fun and most effective way to go.

4. None what so ever. I sometimes read the sentence then look away and repeat it to make sure I'm actually concentrating though.

5. 5-10 a day. I will enter more now that summer vacation starts since I want to pass 1級 in December.

6. About 1 hour exposure each day or so, I think. I watch London Hearts regularly, and I read manga and novels.

7. My only real weakness is vocabulary. Since I lived in Japan for a year, my conversational abilities are about where I expect them to, my listening is definitely high level and my grammar feels almost perfect. My reading comprehension is high as well. Vocabulary is the only thing holding me back and unfortuantely, it's doing a very good job at it. SRSing has definitely helped me a lot though, I doubt the problem will persist for long.

8. Absolutely. SRSing more or less saved my Japanese, I really though I would loose my ability.

9. Hardly. I'm going for nativelike fluncy and I won't be fully satisfied until I'm at that level. I'm very content with my progress though.

10. See previous.

11. Quite confident. Pass 1kyuu, get a job in Japan, profit.

12. If I had to redo everything, I would probably have given the movie method a shot instead of RtK. For the rest... hmm.. maybe started to get decent exposure earlier. Overall though, I find my approach to work really well.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

~2700 (I added about 2400 since last March, I didn't really use the SRS that much before)

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

smart.fm core 2000, various sample sentences from dictionaries, currently working on Kanji Odyssey (~150 kanji done) and core 6000. I also have isolated words in my SRS but I focus more on sentences now.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

Strictly recognition.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

Just reading the sentence and making sure I understand it.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

I had to slow down due to my new job but 20-25. I'd like to do at least 30 but I haven't had enough time.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

Not enough. Unfortunately I often have to choose between SRS study and fun uh I mean exposure. Ideally I'd like to watch 45 minutes of dorama/anime each day. I try to read a few chapters of children's books or manga every night too.

Also I get to listen to jpod101 for 1h45 - 2h a day in the public transports.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

Still beginner. But I feel I start to understand the very easy in TV shows and part of the manga I'm reading.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

I was until I started my new job. Now it's not going as fast as I'd like but that's life.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

Nooooo! I still understand almost nothing. It's far from being satisfying.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

All the way Seriously I want to be able to effortlessly understand all tv and read novels easily. I'm less focused on getting great conversational skills since for me, Japanese is something that is experienced through various media and not directly talking to people.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

If I continue like I'm doing now it should be OK. But I'm afraid I'll get tired of not doing other things and stop.

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

I should have tried sentences earlier.

1. I have around 11000 facts in total, though it should be noted that about 3500 are still unseen, and about 3000 of the seen cards are Heisig ones, leaving me with ~4500 seen sentence cards.

2. All example sentences from the smart.fm Core 2000 and 6000 lists, quite a few examples from UBJG and All About Particles (though I have since deleted some that felt redundant), and some interesting sentences I've come across while reading other material.

3. I only do recognition for sentences at the moment.

4. I don't use any special techniques, as such.

5. I always add 20 cards per day, although I plan to add 40 or 50 per day this summer.

6. I get very little exposure to the language, unfortunately. I try to read novels/manga or play games in Japanese when I have the time, but way too often, a whole day goes by without any Japanese other than the SRS reviews.

7. Lower intermediate, I'd say. My main strength is reading, as I have reached a point where I understand enough to enjoy a book. My listening comprehension is poor, as is my production ability (excluding kanji, of course).

8. I am satisfied with the techniques I am using, but not with my progress. If I were to spend more time doing exactly what I do now, I think it would work better.

9. I am by no means satisfied with my level.

10. I hope to become fluent in Japanese. Not necessarily on a native level, but I want to be able to read or listen to just about anything and understand it.

11. I'm confident that I'll get there eventually, though it may take longer than planned.

12. I shouldn't have merged my Heisig and sentence decks. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but less so now. Also, I used to do both production and recognition, and while I still think that's a good idea in some ways, the resulting workload stressed me to the point where I sometimes couldn't add any new cards for several days.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?
~7500 (I use SM so ~3500 are unique)

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?
From yesjapan site, japanespod101 site and japanese for busy people

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

I don't use anki and have tried but don't understand what production etc is
I use english -> kana (and kanji if I know it)
kana -> kanji and english
kanji -> kana and english

If I don't know the kanji I use do english <-> kana

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

nope

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

atm non. I did my second japanese course this year and gave it up. I have been struggling as I didn't like the course so did little japanese. So rather than treading water I have forgotten some of what I knew. So I am trying to get that sorted out. I am also stuck with RTK (which is also in the same 'deck'). I am @ 950 and seem to be forgetting whole batches. I am working on sorting out my technique.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

Normally I get a hour a day of popcasts while walking. And my SRS work. Its not been like that lately though (see #5)

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

Weakness - having problems with mnomics. I seem to get it in my head for a month or so and then it goes. I also seem to have to learn all the ways round eng <-> kana <-> kanji <-> sound or I can hear a word and not realise i know it.

strengths - dumb enough to still be doing it after all of this time. Each time I have time its dragging/not doing much I do tend to realise and sort it out. Though some of these times can drag a bits.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

NO! NO! And I have tried to sort out/ask in forums and not much help has come of it (noones fault). The moving to sentences went a bit wrong too.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

see # 8

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

I would like to be able to use web site/read books (I read a lot in english). So that I would be in a phase where I am using Japanese and so not need to 'learn' it.

Try and use japanese day to day when I can - shopping lists, to-do lists. Notes for myself etc

11. How confident are you of getting there?

12months ago I would have said very confident. ATM not so sure. I feel quite a bit of my SRS stuff is a struggle. I realised how much when I was sick for a week and couldn't concentrate. I loved not having to SRS. But I know its the best way to learn and I want to get back into it. Though I am doing it daily I am letting it too much effect my learning.

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

From the start I should have done kana -> english. I had to go back and redo that and still have some to do.

I do (waits for the shouting) keyword -> kanji. I know this is a sin. BUT I do have a problem where I just don't know what the kanji is even to an idea of what it is. Seems to me in the long term I will read kanji and have to know the kana/eng for it so best doing now.

I think more words I would have the vocab card and a sentence. I only started that later.

I also would have the kana reading on ALL kanji sentences. Its funny when you do an all kanji sentence you think you will never forget that kanji then months later you end up stopping to look it up.

Good question.
1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

Not counting this site, I have another ~1300, mostly vocab and now sentences being added.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?
I've been listening to the Easy Japanese mp3s and adding some of the conversation sentences. I also have been adding sentences from some simpler DS games I've been playing, as well as sentences from the game manual/packaging when they are interesting. Sentences are newer for me, being added since recently "finishing" RtK1. I'm about half way through the kana edition of "Japanese For Busy People" and when finished, I'll go back and mine that book using kanji.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

Currently the only production I'm doing are reviews on this site. I need to bulk up my input significantly first. Maybe by end of the year I'll start switching recognition sentences that are dead easy (where a "pass" might delay it for 1-2 years or whatever) to production sentences and delete the original one. I'm currently switching all my previously hiragana vocab cards to kanji as they come up.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.
Nope I just let the SRS do the work.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?
About 40-50 a week, mix of sentences and vocab. I need to beat down my study pile on this site significantly, once I do I can add more with the freed up time.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?
Audio, fewer than 8 hours per week. Reading, a few more definitely as I mine for sentences, mainly on video games.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.
Really I just need MORE MORE MORE.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?
Yes, given the rest of my life and time commitments. I'm not in a hurry.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?
Of course not.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?
Sky's the limit. Minimally, as good as my Spanish--I can have most conversations I want, even with a little awkwardness or fumbling, can understand most of what's going on on TV, including news, and am not shy about speaking.

11. How confident are you of getting there?
Very. It's just time.

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?
I would've just kicked myself in the behind much earlier to commit more fully. I've played with Japanese on and off since late '01. Only in the last year and a half have I taken it at all seriously.

AmberUK, seems most of your problems would solve themselves if you read up on AJATT and the techniques, you seem to be doing quite a lot of things wrong. I mean, you seem to mainly do english -> japanese, a BIG no-no when it comes to learning languages. Throw out english and go completely J-J.

Learn Anki, SM doesn't seem to be working for you.

You seem unable to make good mnemonics using the Heisig technique, so try the movie method.

Basically, like most people say, one has to find what works for them. You've tried for 12 months and realized that what you're doing isn't working. So try other things. Eventually you will find something you like and your progress with take a jump.

Tobberoth Wrote:AmberUK, seems most of your problems would solve themselves if you read up on AJATT and the techniques, you seem to be doing quite a lot of things wrong. I mean, you seem to mainly do english -> japanese, a BIG no-no when it comes to learning languages. Throw out english and go completely J-J.

Learn Anki, SM doesn't seem to be working for you.

You seem unable to make good mnemonics using the Heisig technique, so try the movie method.

Basically, like most people say, one has to find what works for them. You've tried for 12 months and realized that what you're doing isn't working. So try other things. Eventually you will find something you like and your progress with take a jump.

Hiya

I have read quite a bit on the AJATT web site (though to be honest I find/found it hard work).

I have tried moving across to sentences but it just didn't work. I would spend ages looking them up and to find sentences that you only don't know 1 point is hard. Most I found I didn't know some grammar AND some words. So i ended looking up on that etc etc. Though that was last year before I started on casual which might change things now.

I couldn't work out how to drop the English.

I am just trying atm to sort out the Heisig problem. Maybe the movie method will help. The problem is it seems fine in the shorter term - upto a month or so, plus while the SRS keeps them grouped enough that you know they all contain a certain primitive.

Is the problem really my SRS enough to have to redo all that work AND sort out the other problems I have????

How long have you guys been studying, on top of this?
I'm not following The Method, so I'd better not fill this out myself.

I'd guess I'm kind of a special case since I haven't finished RTK yet, but have kind of been immersed in Japanese since some years, and have started collecting sentences directly after I've discovered AJATT a 3/4 year ago ^^;

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

Approximately 3000 seen Japanese facts + 1200 RTK so far. Though my deck contains all kind of stuff ( school, art, ... maybe another 2000? ), so it's hard to say an exact number.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

tae kim, smart.fm, JLPT Grammar Example Sentences, various sentences picked from lyrics, dramas, anime, websites, books, magazines...

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

sentence -> reading & meaning ( eventually audio, picture, notes ) only

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

If there's audio I shadow the speaker.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

This amount always fluctuated very much. There's been days when I added no new cards and days when I added a hundred. Since some weeks I've been able to do 30 new cards every day.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

3-12 hours a day, maybe 7 on average I'd guess. Most of the time it's music, sometimes audio from my favorite dramas, often watching new dramas, occasionally reading manga, a book or random websites.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

Somewhere between intermediate and advanced. I'm able to understand & talk about everyday topics. Grammar isn't a problem anymore, as long as I know the vocabulary I'm able to understand any Japanese. But herein lies the problem, because there's still tons of advanced/specific vocabulary that I don't know yet.
Speaking and listening are rather my strengths, while I'm still quite slow & unsure when it comes to reading and writing.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

I'm constantly trying to improve my techniques, but I'm happy with my progress so far =)

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

happy but not satisfied.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

I want to able to use it just like a native speaker does.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

Very confident! How should I ever be able to get there if I don't fully believe in it?

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

I'm really quite happy with my progress, so I don't have much to complain about. Maybe the only thing is to rather stay away from pre-mined sentence decks. They're nice and all if you don't have time to add sentences yourself, but I feel like picking and adding sentences yourself let's you learn a whole lot more and easier and with more fun.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

> 3937 seen facts, 482 unseen. Taking off RTK.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

> Half from dictionary, about ~200 are names., others are from
> anime/dorama/newspapers. I have not kept track of data.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

> I do only recognition. My cards are full kanji, I have the readings
> and Japanese definitions in the answer field.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

> The movie method for unknown readings. I use no special review system for it.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

> At total, 8.5/day. With peaks of 80 cards/day and valleys of no cards at all.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

> 3-4 hours/day.
> Mainly from anime, doramas, Jmovies, newspapers, 2chan, 知恵袋, etc.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

> I can read the news, but I can't decipher them only by listening.
> I can read light novels, but I need the dictionary much more for
> them than for the news.
> I've took 5 months to read one light novel(ハルヒ涼宮の憂鬱),
> but now I'm at 30% of my second one (十二国記), after 1 week.
> I can read almost anything from Internet, with an
> occasional dictionary lookup, but I can only type simple posts.
> I can understand understand some doramas perfectly even without Jsubs,
> but there are still doramas than I can't understand even 30%
> and I can't speak much more than I can write.
> Same for anime.
> I'm playing trough FFIV remake for the DS with almost 100% understanding,
> if you take of the hiragana items.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

> Quite satisfied. The only painful part is the SRS review time.
> Adding news sentences is fun.
> Currently I only read, watch and listen things I like.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

> Nope. I'm not even close to my goals.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

> Native-like ability for listening, reading and writing.
> Strong oratory skills.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

> Strongly confident.

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

> I'd like to try the movie method instead of RTK.
> I'd avoid rikai-chan. It is more addictive than cigar.

13. How long have you been studying?
> 13 months, 15 days.

Great topic, hopefully I'll come back in 6 months and do a side by side comparison to today:

**Edit** Start RTK June 2007, which I mark as the time I started to really learn Japanese.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

--2600 Kanji (700 Movie Method onyomi), 2070 Vocabulary Cards, 750 Grammar Cards, about 300 Sentence method cards.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

--Grammar sentences from Tae Kim, Vocabulary sentences from iKnow. The sentence method sentences will come from J-dramas via subs2srs

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

On vocabulary and kanji cards I do production (or dictation) and recognition. On grammar and sentence method cards, I do recognition.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

Kanji I write out the kanji or go for basic meaning (not solely keyword) in addition to onyomi if I added movie method. Grammar and Sentence Method I type out the sentence to slow me down and make sure I know all parts, and practice typing in an IME. Vocabulary cards I write out the word being tested. I try to think of reason's I'd say the sentence if I can.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

I review/study a set time per day. I review what is due first, then add cards with remaining time. Too variable to give a good number.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

Constantly playing ripped audio. Trying to read manga, websites, Harry Potter for now. Need to watch more dramas, but it's difficult with my current living conditions.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

My reading and writing seems reasonable. My speaking and listening ability is atrocious, leading me to want to do sentence method. The success that the native Japanese have written about here recently using it with English is even more encouraging here.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

No, I waste too much time on English websites. Barring that, I think the techniques used are working.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

No.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

Be able to understand movies/dramas without Japanese subtitles, be able to read 200 pages an hour for manga and 20 pages an hour for Japanese novels with good comprehension. With that, I think I'll be able to speak and write better.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

Not very. But time will tell.

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

Hard to say, many things that help now did not exist last year, much less 2 years ago when I started. If the material existed and someone could guide me (instead of figuring it out along the way), it'd be: RTK Lite, Basic grammar and vocabulary, RTK, intermediate grammar, sentence method. In addition, I'd gather a lot of English movies and watch them in Japanese. I'd also do my cards similar to how it is now.

I'm now thinking there's no need to worry too much about intermediate grammar and RTK3 ahead of sentence method. If you activate iKnow sentences and RTK 3 kanji as you come across words in the sentence method, I'm sure you'll find the progress more enjoyable. But this is hindsight, and may be blurry. People who do sentence method seem to have better grasp of the language even if their passive vocabulary is lacking.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

900 in my sentences deck, 1000 in my listening deck (smart.fm audio), also 100 subs2srs cards for listening comprehension.

I had a 1600 sentence deck taken mainly from KO and various other books, which I stopped reviewing.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

Lately "Reibun de manabu kanji to kotoba" sentences. I switched to this for a change from KO. Also KM2 sentences. Listening comprehension cards from smart.fm. Random stuff that catches my attention.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

Mostly recognition: read & understand kanji sentence, or listen to and understand sentence. Also some kanji writing production.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

Not really.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

20 sentences on average. I'd like to do 40.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

Lately 2~3 hours per day, but there were long periods where I had very little.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

I'm still learning the intermediate level, but I've started seeing extended bouts of full understanding on doramas without subtitles. I'm reading Harry Potter - there's still a lot of words that I don't know, but it's enough to get the gyst of without looking anything up. Also I do quite well reading reports and presentations in my 分野 in Japanese. My spoken Japanese sucks - I don't speak very often.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

Yes, though I wish it didn't take so long to add things to an SRS. It often takes longer to type & look words up than it takes to study. Because of that, I might have days when I don't add anything new. On those days, rather than not add anything I usually profit from from the KM2 list where I can just quickly add some sentences.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

It's starting to get satisfying, but I want more!

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

I want to get to the point where Japanese is self sustainable, and learning is no longer necessary.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

I think I'll get there, but still a long way to go.

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

Hard to say.

time
Almost a year and a half since finishing RTK, but half of that time I didn't learn anything.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

212 Facts at the minute.. slacking yes.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

Using 'Japanese Sentence Patterns for effective communication' for sentences and grammer as a starting point. Iknow core 2000, although i dislike using iknow so thats a slow process. Any Sentences i see written on screen and said while watching tv shows etc, i like to verify that what i have written is exact, not at a level yet where i can hear a word and know what exactly what was meant from a list.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning)
Not really doing production at the minute, once my SRS fills up a bit more i will.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

I read the sentence outloud a few times trying to get the pacing correct, but thats about it.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? If life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

Trying to add 2 chapters of the 'Japanese Sentence...' a day, plus anything from Tv shows i find and if i have time a few things from iknow. 20-30 rough range.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

Watch and listen to about 2 TV shows a day, Podcasts occasionally. Always listening to Japanese music however, all i have in my car

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

There's not a lot to comment on, I can follow a basic conversation and not get lost, and i can read a few things by accident but certainly nothing to brag about.... ask me again in 3 months

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

I would be if i could stop the slacking.. argh i hate how much time i seem to waste.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

Silly question.. obviously not

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

As far as i can, Its not something im likely to give up on, whether i achieve fluency or "good enough" is subject to change, but i hope to get as good as i possibly can.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

I lack self confidence, so i try not to think about it and just hope at some point through enough hard word and effort i'll wake up one day and "be there."

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do differently again if you could?

I'd have worked my way through RTK faster anyway, that way i'd be much further ahead than i am and wouldn't have spent so long torturing myself with endless piles of reviews. I am going to do the Pure and Semi Pure groups in RTK 2 to speed up that part of reading. That shouldn't take long.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?
2050~ kanji (RTK1 plus a small handful of stray and obscure kanji), 830~ vocabulary sentence facts, 800~ grammar sentence facts (mostly from Tae Kim's guide, roughly half of them seen), and roughly 1000 old smart.fm sentences from Core 2000 1-3 and miscellaneous other junk that met a grisly demise by means of my delete key. They had it comin'.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?
Most of my vocab ones come from Smart.fm, just because it's so damn convenient. A small percentage come from dictionaries, a very small amount come directly from manga and games. Currently going through these here fine lists.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning)
Just recognition currently.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.
When I review vocab sentences, I have the key vocabulary word bolded - if I can recognize the reading of that word, I pass the card, even if I can't read another part of the sentence (with the focus of strictly learning kanji readings and vocab).

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? If life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?
Between 20-50, though this number fluctuates. A lot. Added 32 yesterday, though.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do you get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?
Not a ton, which is why I really can't say I'm doing any form of AJATT, as it's not really feasible nor realistic for me. I get in as much as I can every day, though, mostly in the form of dramas, audiobooks, games, Japanese websites and (more recently) anime - I probably average about 3 hours of immersion a day on top of my regular SRS reviews.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.
Listening: Dismal (improving, though)
Speaking: Ass (I really don't do much output yet)
Writing: Passable (thanks, RTK!)
Reading: Decent (my recent focus on vocab has had a tremendous impact)
Looking through some JLPT tests, I beat the everloving crap out of JLPT4 and I'm 90% sure I could pass JLPT3, so I'm probably in that massive chasm between 3 and 2 right now.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?
All things considered, I am. If I can keep up my momentum (and get in more listening immersion), I'll have made incredible progress over the span of only one year, come September. I'm also quite comfortable with my techniques (finally, after months of experimentation)... though I'm sure I'll change things up again not too far down the road.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?
Nope!

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?
Native level is my ultimate goal, though I'm fully aware that it'll take me the next several years before I'm anywhere close. Meanwhile, I'd like to reach a level where I'm able to comfortably translate Japanese to English.

11. How confident are you of getting there?
Unless something renders me physically unable and/or dead, I know I will.

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do differently again if you could?
Honestly? Nope. Everything I've done up to this point has taught me so much, and I have no regrets. There is no wrong way to learn, nor is there any single "best" way. Though, if I could have learned about SRS (the single most powerful tool available to any of us, I'm confident to say) a few years back, I can only imagine how far I'd be by now!
Edit: OK, so maybe I wouldn't have slacked so much on reviewing kanji. That's one thing I do regret, as drilling kanji was incredibly boring to me and it took months before I really got used to SRSing. Just gotta stick with it through the pain, sometimes...

13. How long have you been studying?
Since late August of 2008, roughly. Prior, I had elementary knowledge (kana, basic vocabulary and grammar, knew maybe two dozen kanji).

Yo, great thread!

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

Not sure - 335 cards. Some have 4-5, some just 1. Rough guess.....700?

Plus more if you count Katakana borrow words ,which pretty much instantly are learned (I rarely have definitions for these).

RTK is done here at koohii.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

Sentences from Jpod101 (145). Sentences from smart.fm, KO (92) and Core 2000 (62). The other 36 cards are from random Idioms I run across, A few song lyrics, and I have a few from Soseki's [kana]夢十夜[/kana]. I will be getting more creative as I go.......

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

I think the cards are recognition style, but maybe my method is to do both (?) during reviews.

My sentences are Kanji -> Kana with dictionary definitions (in English), grammar notes when necessary and sometimes a picture. All of my cards have audio. I read the sentence and shadow the audio. If it is a new word (or words) that I need to hammer into my mind (or an old one that I forgot/can't pronounce) I click the play button many many times, practice writing it (usually in Kanji, but if I'm trying to learn to sound of the word I also write the kana) and shadow. As the cards mature and become easy to read, I do the "read it and look away and write it" thing. And when I REALLY know a card I just read it and move on (or if time is short).

I'm still not entirely clear what makes for production vs. recognition. If you read it (recognition) and know it's meaning, you still are producing it too (by remembering the pronunciation).

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

See above (oops).

One thing to add is I edit the cards as I go too, and do some side learning sometimes. I could be looking at the grammar, or practicing the reading/saying a word in a different tense/politeness level etc. Or if it's about a place like [kana]新宿[/kana], I might go read up about it on the web. It can break up the monotony, and I learn more about the fact in the card (thereby building more neural connections, and strengthening my recall in the future).

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? If life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

Right now 10 but this is a new level for me. I was averaging 3 per day over the course of the last few months but I began mining at about 1300 in RTK, so I was doing that while finishing RTK. I finished RTK at the end of March, but had heavy reviews for a few weeks, and really underachieved as far as adding new stuff (113 new cards last month-WEAK). So I am going with 10 a day for now, and hope to get into a groove, and then increase this number. I find if I add too many cards it really gets confusing. I am amazed at people’s massive numbers, but I hope I will have better aptitude for this as I become more familiar with the language/study/methods/tools/media, etc.


6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

I keep track of this. March=111 listening hours (3.58 per day)
April=162 (5.4)
May=199 (6.41)
My goal for this month is 300 hours (10 per day) or more.

Currently watching whatever movies/anime series I can get (that look good) from Netflix and the Public Library. I watch the movie once with its E-subs, then usually watch it or just have it on (passive listening while I SRS or do things in the house) a few more times. I also have a few anime DVD series (Ghost in the Shell SAC, 12 Kingdoms, Samurai Champloo) an a few J movies (nothing with J subs unfortunately, or the DVD player for it) Every now and then I'll checkout a dorama from an internet site, just for fun. ASAP I will get J-media with J subs (looking into this now).

Podcasts (listening to one as I type this)- many different ones. I also have some literature readings in MP3. I sometimes play these while I sleep (almost ALWAYS have people speaking Japanese in my dreams when I do this-it's cool, but sometimes they never shut up!). For sleep I prefer a soothing female narrator.

MP's of my anki sentences. I study the vocab this way, and do shadowing (for me-essential for remembering pronunciation). I also have the full conversations from the Jpod lessons I have mined, both normal and informal versions.

Jpod lessons and Pimsleur! I don't really count these for listening hours, but they are nice introductions to words I latter SRS. As dull as Pimsleur is....it's kind of fun LOL (and there I'm at an "advanced" level LOL)!

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

Newbie /Intermediate/Beginner. A new category (LOL). I’m like a rookie halfway through the first season……not total fresh meat, I’ve paid a few dues, I kind of know the lay of the land......but I’m still a baby.

Listening---weak, but improving all the time. Can catch the occasional sentence/phrase, and many words (to the point that through context I sometimes get the gist), but most of it is out of my reach (like 95% or more). I do have a familiarity with it though (the cadence, sound, and a cultural linguistic feel), that is growing.

Reading/Writing---Having done RTK has been a huge boost. Nearly all my sentences (and I know....there aren't too many) I can understand the meaning of. It's funny, I'm pretty bad at kanji to keyword recognition, but the Japanese/conjugations stick (so I don't sweat it). The hardest part is being able to remember the pronunciation of the word (I'm thinking of creating a mnemonic peg list type thing for kana to help here). I could probably add way more sentences to the SRS if understanding word meanings was my only standard.

I also feel really fluid with Hiragana, but Katakana is weak (appears way less in the SRS). Maybe reading the kana (and kanji) as I play the audio has helped here (I think I saw someone post about something similar to this in another thread). If time and SRSing doesn't fix my Katakana, I will go study it some more (no big deal). And Romaji is an eye soar for me. I have done live chats with Japanese, and some times I won't know a Romaji word they type for a minute, but if they use kana/kanji I get it right away.

I also have been lazy about stroke order, and drawing nice Kanji, but in the long term I will fix this too (as RTK reviews diminish I will apply more effort to this aspect.) Also plan to do RTK3 (at a leisurely pace).

Speaking is weak, weak, weak....but untested. I shadow a lot, and I think my pronunciation is probably decent, but have no experience practicing conversations with natives. This will change of course. Any "conversation" I could have right now would be pretty lame (need more vocab!). I want to get to an "intermediate" level before I skype or find a language exchange partner at the uni. Soon......

And grammar is pretty weak, but I do have a feel for it, and when I study it here and there it seems to stick. Not too worried about it, but I will be stepping up my efforts. So far with grammar I prefer to read about it here and there (using Tae Kim and Japanese in Mangaland), rather than SRS it specifically. And I do pseudo study it, looking at dictionary form/conjugations, etc., as I go. The Jpod lessons also build it gradually too.


8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

Yes and No! I am refining things all the time (many thanks to people in the forum). I have definitely been under achieving, but really getting a better and better feel for it as I go (and improving, getting more motivated). I think the techniques are pretty fantastic! But I am frustrated by my lack of computer knowledge. Many tools and the technical know how to implement them feel out of reach at present (the computer language people throw around in these forums baffles me!) I realize this can be overcome by educating myself about such things.....but I just want to study Japanese! In the future I hope to utilize these resources more and more (subs2srs for example). And I would love a ipod touch (soon)!


9. Are you satisfied with your level?

No! There are many small satisfying moments though.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

A fluid, fun command of the language, in all aspects. I would love to be able to freestyle in Japanese too!


11. How confident are you of getting there?

Mostly solid, but there are days where it waivers. At this point I think I just need to get into a consistent rhythm, and not worry about the results (or spend so much time in the Forum LOL). I'm in it for the long haul, the methods are sound (and evolving), and I'm far enough that I can see its working!


12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do differently again if you could?

Nothing major, but I’m so early in to the SRS that I don’t have much to reflect on. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't apply myself the last few moths as much as I could have (but that’s a motivation issue, and not because my method isn’t “fun” enough”). But I feel good about all the time spent researching and developing my personal "AJATT" method, and I think for the long term results it’s best to be efficient and avoid faulty methods, by figuring out what you can (from those who have been there), at the early stages.

I would like to add that at this point I'm going to try mining mostly from Jpod this month, as the lack of context in KO/smart.fm seems to make learning the words much harder for me (word up thermal!). I may still do some KO (I recognize it's value) but adding too many out of context sentences too fast becomes a train wreck in my head. It takes me much longer to mine from Jpod, but having the Mp3 of the entire conversation, as well as getting explanations about nuances and usage in the lesson is a major benefit for me (and thus more efficient-I think, as I seem to learn them faster). I'm hoping to see my 10 per day number go up, and eventually mine from raw native sources (need more tools). And the leap to a J-J dictionary is an exciting (and slightly daunting) goal in the middle distance.

A HUGE thank you to experienced posters in this forum for being so helpful!


14. How long have you been studying?

SrS was started 3 1/2 months ago. J study started slowly with Pimsleur last Sept-evolved to AJATT-RTK around Jan 1st, and is gaining steam! Some of this time has been spent figuring out how to do it best. Now I’m ready to fly!

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?
Currently only 239.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?
A few from Tae Kim's guide, some from Japanese in Mangaland, the rest mainly from manga, but also some from Densha Otoko (some of the lines that are spoken and written out). Mostly just "fun" sentences.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?
Only recognition.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.
Nope.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?
It varies a lot, but I'm trying to go for at least 10 a day. With holidays coming up, I'll probably up it to 20 per day.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?
Probably an hour or two each day. Mostly in the form of raw anime, but I also have my iPod full of Japanese music with me every time I leave my appartment.
I also plan on selling off all my Norwegian and English translated manga, and start buying the Japanese versions instead (only reading online at the moment).

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.
At the moment I'm able to follow very standard conversations in anime. It sometimes varies quite a bit. One moment I can understand fully what they're talking about, but in the next I'll be all "What are they talking about now? Gah, guess I just have to see what happens and figure it out from there...".
My biggest weakness at the moment is that I don't know that many readings for kanji yet. However, if I know one reading of a kanji used in the word, in combination with jisho.org's kanji radical lookup it's not that hard to look it up. From there it goes into the SRS.
I feel that one of my strengths at the moment is the ability to use a J-J dictionary. Again, here my weakness of not knowing kanji readings pwns me, but since it's all in text form it's not that hard to look up the unknowns.
I'm still waiting for output to occurr naturally, but I'm not really in a rush.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?
So far, yes. I could be more active on the immersion part though..

9. Are you satisfied with your level?
That depends. As mentioned above, when I understand a few sentences completely it feels awesome, but when I hear lots of unknown words it kinda brings me back to reality.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?
Native like fluency. Being able to talk about almost any subject that might interest me without hesitating.

11. How confident are you of getting there?
By the way things are going, it will take a while, but I will get there. However, I am in no rush to reach that goal. Obviously though, the sooner the better..

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?
I would probably read/watch raw manga/anime more while going through RTK. For the anime part, I should've dropped subs completely while doing RTK too.
I should also have immersed myself more from the beginning, and not just starting the immersion when I started sentences.

I've been following some of Nukemarine's strategies so I'll just copy and edit as necessary.


1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

Around 7000 with just over 3000 seen

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

--Grammar sentences from Tae Kim, Vocabulary sentences from iKnow. Subs2srs. Soon to add sentences from novels (to the front of the cue).

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

On vocabulary and kanji cards I do production (or dictation) and recognition. On grammar and sentence method cards, I do recognition.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

Kanji I write out the kanji or go for basic meaning (not solely keyword). Grammar and Sentence Method I, sometimes, type out the sentence to slow me down and make sure I know all parts. Vocabulary cards I write out the word being tested.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

I usually add in bulk, so a couple hundred one day, none for an entire week, and so on. I find that if I use iknow to learn the word then import it into anki life is easier.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

Was getting 4+ hours a day. Now barely getting 1-2 hours. Sources include dramas, random tv shows, and music.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

My level is voracious Noob. I give the appearance of having solid knowledge while most of the time I talk out of my ass. My weakness is milk as I am lactose intolerant. Also, I have no way to obtain a measure accurate enough to answer this question. I can read simple 昔話s though, (wrote one too).

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

Hell, no. I'm an insane perfectionist. If it can't be done to perfection it's not worth doing. I guess this could be one of my weaknesses, as I'm often depressed when I can fully understand a show one day, and struggle the next.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

Yes. I'm about as satisfied with it as any perfectionist would be .

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

Want to be Japanese 作家. Move to Japan and make japanese 小説 for Japanese 人. Marry cute Japanese 女性. Have Japanese 赤ちゃん who has Japanese 孫. All before I do
dying young at age of 二十一.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

I've already started so it's just a matter of time .

12. From when you started adding items to your SRS, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

I'd do the movie method first, and more shadowing. I love shadowing yet I do it very rarely.

1. How many facts do you have in your SRS?

Currently zero! I only finished RTK yesterday and right now I'm drilling hiragana & katakana.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

I'll start by adding everything from Tae Kim. Then I'll do Core 2000 and All About Particles. Then I'll either do Core 6000 or start mining my book of idioms.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else?

I plan to split it 50/50: 'kana w/audio --> Kanji' and the same item 'Kanji --> kana + audio'.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

Going from kana I'll write out the sentence. Going from kanji I'll dictate the sentence.

5. How many do you intend to add per day?

At least thirty. No more than fifty.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

I'm filling up my iPod all the time. I've ripped the audio from several drama & anime episodes and downloaded several podcasts. The goal is to get 50+ hours of native material on the iPod and leave it on shuffle all the time.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

n/a

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

Extremely satisfied with my progress through Heisig. I love the mnemonic method.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

After two laid back months I can write & recognise more than 2000 kanji. Awesome!

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

To the extent that I can make on the spot observations without having to think about doing anything wrong or forgetting anything. Reading is nice but conversation is where it's at.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

Hard to say. I have my doubts but right now I'm optimistic. It's definitely something I want to do, but I have a history of giving up on things half way through.

12. Are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?

I could've done RTK in half the time if I wasn't such a procrastinator. Oh well.

I have tweaked the questions to make them a bit more open and updated my answers with the tweaked questions as well. I have fixed a few spelling mistakes. I have also modified the introduction as I want people who are not using "the AJATT method" to post. Thanks for all the replies so far. It has been very interesting for me.

Yukamina,

Quote:How long have you guys been studying, on top of this?
I'm not following The Method, so I'd better not fill this out myself.

Please do! The questions were designed for people using "The Method", since most people here do, but everyone is welcome to post. I would like to know what your methods are and how they are working out for you. I will edit the main post.

Nukemarine,

Quote:8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

No, I waste too much time on English websites. Barring that, I think the techniques used are working.

There is a firefox addon called Leechblock that allows you to block certain sites at certain times. Maybe this would be useful for you.

TaylorSan,

Quote:I'm still not entirely clear what makes for production vs. recognition. If you read it (recognition) and know it's meaning, you still are producing it too (by remembering the pronunciation).

Sorry, I made a typo in the question, now fixed. It should be kanji to reading. It is implied that if you forget the meaning for production to recognition you fail the card.

Yes, it is not a perfect description. The idea is of the 2 ways you can do a card, which involves the most production. Producing the kanji from the hiragana/audio involves aruguably more production than going from kanji to reading.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS not including RTK?

Probably about 10,000 total, but the deck I mostly use lately has around 5000.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

No sentences at all.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to reaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

Recognition only (Kanji→reading & meaning). I stopped doing RTK reviewing, but I was doing that as production of course. (keyword→kanji, written on paper).

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

I use a remote control, sit back, and try to get through it as fast as possible.

5. How many cards on average do you add to your deck per day? If life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

Not many lately due to catching up from taking a break, but normally 100+.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

I normally have Japanese music playing all day. All of the websites I use that can be set to Japanese are set so. I talk with my girlfriend in Japanese for a few hours a day. When I was in Edmonton, all of my friends either were Japanese or spoke some level of Japanese. I plan on reading for a few hours a day once I'm done with my massive backlog of expired cards thx to a 1.5month break.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

High level reading, writing, listening, speaking skills. Passed JLPT2 last year with ~94% with a minimum of specific study. Proctor of the test asked me wtf I was doing taking 2kyuu (she was a Japan-raised Korean friend of mine). Also have a lot of knowledge about Japanese linguistics, classical Japanese, and very technical grammar skills thanks to that.

Weak-point would be speaking in 丁寧語／敬語. I always end up unintentionally reverting to plain form pretty quickly. I don't get anywhere near enough practice at it since I'm everyone's 先輩 My one prof in Canada who I speak with in Japanese doesn't want me to use 丁寧語 with her, and we're coworkers now anyways.

I should also probably read a lot more than I do, but I've never been big on reading even in my native language.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

I guess... I never really used anything I would call a technique though. Japanese girlfriend technique? All-Output-All-The-Time? Go to a university with a good language program technique?

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

Nope. I'm never satisfied. Maybe once I've passed 漢字検定１級.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

See above. I'm a pro freelance translator atm, looking for an in-house job for some stability (and a visa). I'm also thinking about teaching Japanese at the highschool or university level if I end up back in Canada. Japanese is my career so I should never stop trying to improve.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

I'm already part-way there. 不景気 isn't helping the next step though.

12. From when you started RTK, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do differently again if you could?

I probably would have done RTK with Japanese keywords if I could go back in time. I'd also use SRS from the beginning. I only found out about it once I was already finished taking 5th year Japanese.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS not including RTK? 4,058 (I do RTK on this site.) I don't suspend cards, I don't tag them. If it's in the deck, that means I'm testing it.

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS? I started out with UBJG, but I quit about halfway through, because it got boring. Then I attacked Genki I and II. I scanned the answer keys, and used the idea of "if you see it often enough, you'll remember it" to reinforce grammar concepts. So I'd put the answers to exercises into Anki if I thought they did a good job of rehashing a point. I also put the first book of KO in, and a bunch stuff from online dictionaries, as well as whatever I run across that I feel like stuffing in it.

I'm picky about what I put in the deck. I try to stick to i+1.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to reaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)? I only do production if there are kanji in the sentence that need to be produced. I also don't bother with production for some grammar. I'm planning on moving to cloze deletion for grammar, rather than production, so it would be cloze and recognition.

There is no order. There is only chaos in my deck, so that it imitates life. Order is not allowed, because any order allows you to game the answers.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc. I read the sentence out loud. Then I grok test it. (Do I understand all of it?) Then I see if I can break down the written bits depending on whether its production or recognition. (Can I write out the kanji I need to write out/do I know the readings I need to read?) If I do it really fast, it's 4. Fast, it's 3. Slow, it's 2. Miss anything = fail.

I don't bother with kanji I know cold. I only test kanji I'm weak with. I don't use a pencil/paper. I use a finger and the air. It's surprisingly quick, once you get it down.

5. How many cards on average do you add to your deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day? I add cards in spurts. So I'll go a week and add 2-300 cards in a week, then go a week without adding any. If I add cards every single day, the deck becomes unmanageable. Life also gets in the way, too. When I'm on deadline, I'll sometimes go a day without reviewing. Not often, though.

Right now, I'm in the middle of working on my German, so Japanese is going into "maintenance mode." I'll keep working on my Japanese, but I need to give German priority for a while.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form? 3-4 hours a day. I watch TV-Japan, listen to podcasts, read manga, light novels, etc. KeyholeTV is handy. Livestation isn't bad, too.

I make rules. My rules are simple things: no reading for pleasure in English. No watching subtitles in English. Etc. So I read manga or a LN before bed, or when I want to just read.

But now, DW-TV is on more than NHK, because German is in priority mode.

The iPhone is handy for when I'm driving. I'll plug it into the car stereo, and listen to whatever I have on there. Nothing in English. It's all either German or Japanese.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses. Somewhere in the no-man's-land between JLPT 3 and 2. Right now, my weakness is grammar, because I've over-obsessed on kanji, so I'm taking a break from KO.

My other weakness is speaking, because it's hard to find Japanese convo partners around here. The only ones are other Americans who are trying to learn.

I can plow through a LN in about a week. So reading isn't too bad, if I'm focused.

For German, I'm lucky because I have lots of German relatives who are more than happy to bombard me in German... which is good for German, but not so good for Japanese.

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using? If I say "yes," then I'll be complacent. So no, I'm not satisfied. I'm always trying to figure out what I can do better, or if there's a resource I can use that will help me better. I have groaning bookshelves that will attest to this attempt. >_<

9. Are you satisfied with your level? No, I want to be higher than I am. So I keep working at it.

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese? I want to go to 11.

11. How confident are you of getting there? I'm stubborn. I want to nail down this language, so I don't plan on quitting. There are other languages I need to know as well, however.

I don't think I'll get there by next week, tho.

12. From when you started RTK, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could? Tough question.

For starters: Waste less time on message boards, spend more time studying.

For Anki cards: I would have taken the principle of Keep Cards Short more to heart.

I'm not so sure I would have done KO the way I'm doing it now. But I'm already halfway done with it, so there you go. KO conflicts with Keep Cards Short, and the sentences are funky. In spite of that, it's useful. I probably would have just used the vocab, and hunted down *much* shorter sentences from other sources.

I also wouldn't obsess so much over kanji. Yeah, they're important, but there's a lot more to Japanese than kanji. Seriously.

I used Genki because we used it in grad school. (I started Japanese in grad school because my fellowship covered it in summer school. Whee.) But I would rather have used Minna no Nihongo. Monolingual for the win.

I've corrected this problem in my German study by using a monolingual text-- Delfin, which is all in German. No English. (Whee.) Delfin kind of sucks for one reason-- they screw you over on the cost. 25 Euros here and there really adds up fast. But the exercises are good, even if the art is hideous. (Why do all German textbooks have wretched art? It's like there's a Purity Law for textbooks that requires it...)

Also, it's a lot easier to go monolingual than people think-- just stop looking at the English translations. Boom! There ya go. Monolingual.

13. How long have you been at it? I didn't see this question, but since people have been adding it, I'll add it. I first started Japanese in graduate school in the summer of 2003, because my fellowship would pay for it. I took 2 semesters' worth in a summer, then went on and took 2 regular semesters. I audited 2 more semesters after I graduated, then got busy with Real Life, and dropped Japanese pretty much for 2-3 years.

I dabbled with it a bit here and there, but I could never find a good way to get back on track with it. And once you stop going to class, and stop reviewing, that's it. It goes. I pretty much forgot a lot of it.

I started over mostly from scratch in summer of 2007. I started futzing with Anki around December of 2007, I think, which is why my deck is the size it is.

Going to Japan in fall, 2007, really helped motivate me. I was halfway through RTK then (well, halfway through an attempt that would end in failure, I would need to start from scratch again when I got back), and I had revived some of my Japanese, enough to get by, but the desire to be able to communicate better has been pushing me along.

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS?

~6,500. 3,000 RTK, ~1,500 sentences, ~1,000 kanji readings, ~900 world capitals, flags and maps. ~100 "others".

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?

Various. The first 500 or so were from mostly music, but I've deleted most of them. The other 1,500 or 2,000 or so I collected were mostly from doramas. I delete a LOT of sentences

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to meaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?

Just recognition.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.

Uh... role-playing, I guess? No, not really.

5. How many cards on average do you add to you deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?

~15-20.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?

Daily, about 3 hours. Mostly dramas and watching J-tv on YouTube.

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.

From January - April I barely studied, which I guess is where most of my weakness comes from. Overall, I'm happy with what I've done so far, and this thread sort of helped me realize it, thanks

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?

Deffo', and I love my techniques ^^ just got to keep off the Korean music that always ends up in the "あなたへお進め" box on YouTube. 　

9. Are you satisfied with your level?

Naw, I want native level and I want it now >

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?

To be able to switch my life between English and Japanese whenever I'm in the mood. So native-level.

11. How confident are you of getting there?

Very. It's got to happen eventually right?

12. From when you started RTK, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?
Start heisig sooner. I also wish I didn't force myself to read all that boring manga, or force myself to read all those boring news reports and podcasts. Both of which lead to my slump January - April, or spend 12 hours trying to finish Step 3 Core 2000 on iKnow. Basically, I wish I didn't bore myself to death.

Also, I wish I did NOT get addicted to Korean music x_x

Good idea, pretty popular thread~

1. How many facts (production and recognition are only 1 fact) do you have in your SRS not including RTK?
8777 facts (4393 sentences)

2. What sentences have you and are you putting into your SRS?
Anything I find that I know is written by a native speaker and is interesting, and doesn't contain really rare words, that if I used, would make me sound like I'm a foreigner who's trying too hard. Sources = news, manga, literature, iKnow core 6000, magazine articles, every once in awhile jdramas.

3. Do you do production (audio/hiragana to kanji) and/or recognition (kanji to reaning) or something else? Is there an order (eg production and then recognition)?
Recognition ---> production.

4. Do you use any kind of special techniques when you review an item with your SRS? eg. dictation, role playing etc.
If audio is included in the sentence I will shadow it 1-5 times depending on how new it is.

5. How many cards on average do you add to your deck per day? Or if life is getting in the way of this, once things settle down how many do you intend to add per day?
I used to add between 10 and 30 cards per day but recently I cut down and add between 5-15.

6. How much exposure (immersion) to Japanese do get (or intend to get) on average each day or week? In what form?
Usually about 20 per day. I only work 4-5 hours per day.
9 hours out of those 20 hours I'm either asleep or half asleep, but thanks to that, I have dreams in Japanese sometimes. I have an ipod designated to sleep (with audio books of literature) and have actually retained a good amount, mainly because a lot of that time is rolling around in the morning not wanting to get up :B

7. Describe your level including any strengths and weaknesses.
Strength - reading, kanji production
Average - 熟語 memorization, written/typed Japanese (in chatrooms/email and stuff like that), listening
Weakness - speaking D: and numbers/dates/place names/people names, blahhhh

8. Are you satisfied with your progress and the techniques you are using?
Yes because I can notice the improvement. Every couple months I hit a point where I can actually feel a "level up" in Japanese.

9. Are you satisfied with your level?
Not quite I'm satisfied with certain areas, like kanji memorization. But overall I've a long ways to go~

10. How far do you want to go with Japanese?
As far as possible?

11. How confident are you of getting there?
Somewhere around 95% confident, maybe a little closer to 90%...

12. From when you started RTK, aside from your process evolving bit by bit, are there any major things you would do again differently if you could?
I can't pinpoint anything I'd want to change. The only thing is that I wish I would've cut down on my work hours months earlier.