I am currently on break from school and have pretty much all day to study Japanese but I've found that after say 2 hours of going through the core decks my brain is fried and I just can't do vocab anymore. I guess I could try to break it up and do 2 hours in the morning and 1 hour at some point in the afternoon.

What I'm asking is how would you suggest I spend the rest of the day studying? I mean I already watch a LOT of anime and Japanese movies and stuff but that is not really studying, it is more of a thing I do for fun.

So should I start to work through a book about particles or something because I don't really know what else to do. I can't do grammar while I'm doing vocab because all the new vocab throughout the examples confuses me and I can't focus on the grammar point.

Just in case it matters I put the audio files from the core decks into a playlist and listen to them all day on my iPod, not the most interesting thing ever but it helps with retention of vocab.
Also my level is not good enough to start reading yet there are just too many new words and particles and grammar points in almost every sentence to be able to get through even a paragraph.

So what other things could I do or is it just a matter of keeping up with this schedule until I get enough vocab to move on to other stuff?

And a last question, other then the odd word out after I finish core 6k and this list with the jlpt 1 vocab on it I will be able to read most general texts right? Assuming I work through a particle book and a basic grammar book?

Thanks for the help

Grammar is as (if not more) important as vocab. Worst case, study grammar and vocab at the same time in the same sentences.

Unfortunately despite being on break, I don't have your problem. My school-job continues throughout break and I still need internet/electronics for it.

Breaking up your time will help you not get bored. Get some manga, and even if you don't understand, just browse it and look at what you do. Reading manga you've already read in English helps you understand the gist even if you don't understand everything. Play DS games, etc. Japanese the Manga Way is a fun book that helps you learn grammar in manga contexts.

Edit: As for the reading...not likely. You're going to need more than a basic grammar background before you're able to read much. JLPT2 or JLPT1 will get you more comfortable with most stuff out there, although there will be plenty you won't know.

I would take a break every 20 minutes just stretch, or play a quick round of death match in BlackOps, anything not related to Japanese. Then come back for 20 mins of study, rinse repeat.

You should study vocab and grammar at the same time through sentences, and you should never study either in complete isolation. If you have them isolated in one Anki deck, but see them in context in a different deck, that's good too.

Like dokks said, time boxing is a good habit to get into. Study something for a little bit and take short breaks to let it all sink in.

You could also take breaks with other activities in Japanese, like sticking in some anime in the middle of your studies can keep things interesting. Maybe hit the commercial break in your show and go right back to studying.

Or maybe get physical. Such as listening to Japanese music while you take a jog.

Variety can go a long way to prevent your energy from being sucked dry.

My major problem is that due to the nature of my work, some days I have a lot of free time and others I have none. For example last week I had a lot of free time each day, so I did 3-4 days of 70 new kanji and Core6k sentences each day since I thought i'd be wasting the time if I didn't spend it learning kanji/sentences. This lead to huge burnout on Friday since I didn't have enough time to cope with all the extra reviews and I couldn't stomach adding even one all weekend until yesterday. I now again have a lot of free time this week, but I'm going to add 20 a day max.

I reccommend just doing a consistant amount each day that you think you can keep up indefinitely. Then on top of that read some easy manga/short stories or listen to a podcast or watch a j-drama. As long as you find some material thats just above your level, it's still studying.

About grammar, I'm of the opposite opinion of everyone in this thread. For me personally I find it useful to go over all the grammar points only once to get a feel for each one; then through exposure do I actually learn to internalize the grammar points. Stressing over difficult grammar points like particles is counter productive as grammar never needs to be perfect to be understood or to understand unlike words where you either know them or you don't. Some people swear by never learning grammar at all; if you know the meaning of each word and are given the general meaning of the sentence you can figure out the grammar by yourself over time and exposure. I don't agree that is is the best method however as I said earlier I think the most optimal way is to go over each grammar point once and memorize it though exposure.

Kewickviper Wrote:My major problem is that due to the nature of my work, some days I have a lot of free time and others I have none. For example last week I had a lot of free time each day, so I did 3-4 days of 70 new kanji and Core6k sentences each day since I thought i'd be wasting the time if I didn't spend it learning kanji/sentences. This lead to huge burnout on Friday since I didn't have enough time to cope with all the extra reviews and I couldn't stomach adding even one all weekend until yesterday. I now again have a lot of free time this week, but I'm going to add 20 a day max.

Keep in mind that your reviews in Anki will work themselves out in the long run as long as you don't do any new cards on days where you don't finish your reviews (i.e. always do your reviews before you start adding new cards).

Let's say you add a bunch of cards this week, then you don't study for two days. Well, the first day you go back you will have a bunch of reviews to do. So you do as many as you can. Then the next day you do as many as you can. Then the next day. Based on how Anki works, you will eventually get to a point where you finish your reviews for a day. It may take a week. It may even take a month. But as long as you are focusing on your reviews, you will eventually get to the bottom of your review pile.


One way you can make Anki work for you (instead of you being a slave to it) is to use the system in Anki 2 where it only lets you do a set number of cards a day. This keeps cards from piling up on you too high. I imagine you could also use this system to keep yourself from studying too many new cards a day.

EasyJapanezy Wrote:I am currently on break from school and have pretty much all day to study Japanese but I've found that after say 2 hours of going through the core decks my brain is fried and I just can't do vocab anymore.

If you really can't focus your mind after 2 hours of studying, that's a physical problem. Since you're doing it for 2 hours, it's not ADHD or anything like that, so it's probably a sleep problem. You need to sleep for a full 8 hours every night.

But if you just mean that you run out of willpower, then you should try some tricks: I like to impose 30 minute chunks of studying on myself, that are set in stone (meaning I never stop in the middle, always finish the 30 minutes, take a short break - but don't start anything I can't finish in five to ten minutes during that break, and then I decide whether I'm up for another 30 minutes or not). Trust me, it's a trick that works, after a 5 minute break you're far more likely to pick another 30 minutes of studying, than right after studying for 2 hours straight.

P.S. Another thing that helps me are self imposed deadlines. You should try one right away: set a realistic goal on how many facts you should finish until the end of the year, divide them by twelve, and that's your daily minimum. You can of course get ahead of schedule, which would result in a free day or two near the end of the year, which you will be able to dedicate entirely to grammar (or to getting ready for New Year's Eve, whichever you prefer).