I'm sure there's a thread about this somewhere but I can't find it/am too lazy to dig it up.
I have about 500 Genki 1/2 sentences and I find they do their job very well with grammar and they do a good job with vocab too. However the time they take to enter into Anki and review is too much, in my opinion. Also, for vocab, why is it considered to be a good idea to give 1 sentence with that word in it when you could hear/read 100+ sentences with that word in it to get a feel for usage through immersion?
My current thoughts are that sentences are almost necessary for grammar but that vocab might be better learned on its own. I'm sorry for making so many threads revolving around these kinds of subjects but I'm kind of torn between methods here.
What I plan to do is keep adding sentences from textbooks for grammar and add vocab from native sources in its own deck which I assume will be more time-efficient. Of course, I could be totally wrong, so I'd really, really appreciate some advanced learners' opinions and experiences on this topic.
Please don't turn this thread into a flame war.

http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=3397

While you're waiting for response, you might want to use the search function a little more. You'd be surprised at just how much useful anecdotes, information and discussion has taken place over the past few years, all of which is easily accessible within a few clicks.

On a different note, if the process of entering sentences, etc. is taking "too much, in [your] opinion", perhaps you might benefit from reassessing your priorities? It takes a lot more time and effort to obtain a sense of fluency in Japanese than the time spent during study. For a point of comparison; we have it a lot faster, easier and simpler than people learning Japanese a mere ten years ago.

I should rephrase, I mean too much time in the sense that I could be learning vocab/reading etc. and probably be getting more out of it.
I spend a lot of time on Japanese each day, and I won't be giving up any time soon

Hirakana Wrote:I should rephrase, I mean too much time in the sense that I could be learning vocab/reading etc. and probably be getting more out of it.
I spend a lot of time on Japanese each day, and I won't be giving up any time soon

Enthusiasm is great. What do you find "clicks" more, in the sense of vocabulary retention: your current textbook or multimedia immersion?

If immersing yourself in certain media is more fruitful, maybe something such as subs2srs may be something you can use to "automate", in a sense, the entry aspect of Anki input, while still being able to keep a study routine like you have now, with the program, while using something you are more likely to spend more time reviewing?

Haven't tried subs2srs myself, but from what I've seen, it is an excellent tool for allowing your preferred Japanese watching material to also become a study aid.

Didn't want to start a new thread but...
is there an optimized Core 6k deck which is recognition ONLY?

You can make it recognition only by just changing which fields it displays to you in anki.

How do I do that?

After obtaining the deck, click Browse at the top of the main Anki screen, then click on the Core deck on the side, then press "Cards..." and make sure the Front Template displays only the fields you want it to (you can click on "Fields..." instead of "Cards..." to see all the field names.) Customize it to your liking! ^^

This is how I made vocab-only decks from the core series if you're interested in core specifically.

Downloaded the "Japanese Core 2000 Step __ Listening Sentence Vocab + Images" decks.

Tools > Manage Note Types... > delete all "iKnow! Sentences" note types

Browse > go to Step 01 deck > Cards > delete "Listening" and "Production" tabs, leaving only the "Reading" cards

Edit Front Template to:
<span style="font-size: 40px; ">{{Expression}}</span>

Edit Back Template to:
{{FrontSide}}

<hr id=answer>

<span style="font-size: 30px; ">{{Reading}}</span><br>{{Audio}}<br>
<span style="font-size: 15px; ">{{Meaning}}</span>

I'd also go to Fields > delete Image_URI unless you want to use the pictures.
Do the rest for the other decks and adjust new card steps to 1 5 10 (or something similar) in deck options.

Looks like:

友達
-----------------
ともだち
friend, companion

This isn't totally recognition, because you have to produce the reading (writing it down and/or pronouncing it properly). Having kanji on the front requires recognition by exercising your RTK knowledge backwards. Basically, it's recognition for meaning, and production for reading, which requires mnemonics. Two birds in one stone.

About listening and reading sentences, you could go to buonaparte's website and find the core files. I'll be partially shadowing all core2k sentences every day (it's just under 80 minutes of audio) for another ~40 days for the pronunciation practice and whatever neuronal goodies that come with doing that, because that's when I finish going through all core2k vocab based on the card format above. At that point progressive L-R would be a suitable step forward (documents for which you can also find on buonaparte's website -- I think they're in the same file as the audio anyway).

And of course, grammar needs to be studied seperately from core.

Try and sync your learning as much as possible.

For example, nearly all my learning stems from the Joyo kanji.

I pick the next kanji and put it into anki under the kanji deck. I then use that kanji to find words in the Japanese dictionary for each of its pronunciations.. From there, I choose 3 sentences which are slightly above my level which contain that word.

This way, you are constantly pushing yourself slightly higher and you can choose words which you think are useful and/or interested in. When I am reading online news, I also have the same method apart from the original kanji part.

Lastly, I also use lang8. I usually write and include the words I learnt about 4 days ago. I initially tried doing new words and writing about them on the same day. However I find it works better if I have a few days familiarity with them to aid moving from knowing -> using.

If you find that sentences are taking too long to enter, you could buy one of those PenPower scanner pens. I have the WorldScanPen BT, and it works incredibly well, and it seems even more accurate for Japanese than for Chinese. You can scan a whole sentence into Anki in about a second.

Try not to think of it as "sentences or immersion." It should be both, and your sentences should come from your immersion environment. Textbooks are OK too.

One of the most important things about context is the connotation, a lot of the time two different words can be translated to one word, but when read in context, the actual meaning is revealed.

I have a terrible problem with not sticking to my methods
So now I'm using a self-modified Optimized Core 6k, with the only cards being sentences with the word highlghted. I'll see where that takes me. Also I'll continue with my sentence deck, but at a slower pace.

There's nothing that says you have to stick to the same way of studying at all times. I think in the 2 years I've been in Taiwan, I've probably changed approaches in some way or another at least 100 times. And now I translate Chinese into English for a living, so I turned out OK. Don't be afraid to throw things out, try new things, etc. Experimentation is good.

I also tend to change my study methods every now and then. At first, I tried to finish the Core 6k. But now I am going through sentence cards because I felt I can kill 2 birds with one stone right away: I get to practice grammar points plus help retain vocab.