I finished Core 6K at the end of January. As of that time, 73% of the cards in my deck were mature and 23% were in the "young and learning" category. The time it took me to do this was 583 hours, or a little over an hour per day for 543 days.
I obviously went through this at a comfortable pace and I kept that pace till the very end. (It was sometimes tempting to do otherwise, but Mae West said "Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly" and I agree with her.)
By the time I finished, I had read the first 12 comics of よつばと! (Yotsuba&!) plus a book on art by James Gurney called カラー&ライト (Color and Light).
Given the vocabulary that working through Core 6k allowed, I could read the above-mentioned comics and books—although there were many parts (especially with the book on art) where my understanding was either fuzzy or non-existent.
Given the comprehensible listening exposure that working through Core 6K allowed, I could also watch Japanese anime and drama shows without subtitles—although again not yet with full comprehension.
Part of the reason I could do the above was a grammar deck I made for myself of all the sentences in the new Kanzen Master books for JLPT N2 and N1, with definitions of all the words I didn’t know (perfectly and without any hesitation) into English.
But, that aside, Core6k was the biggest help here, as I am still making my way through this deck and don’t expect to finish for another two months.
As for my post-Core 6K plans, these are inspired mostly by Dr. Dunlap. More specifically, while finishing the above deck, I am going to read a novel. And after that, I'm going to read another. And after that, still another. (You get the point.)
I've already started this new part of my journey, at a comfortable pace of 10 pages per day, so just want to add that although I am adding a lot of new cards to Anki, most of their meanings make sense almost immediately upon looking them up (and sometimes in a way that makes me want to slap my forehead).
This sort of thing happened in a limited way around 3000 cards into the Core deck and I'm sure this will be much more the case 3000 cards after it. In any case, I wanted to share my experience for those who are making their way through the deck now.
Although I can’t compare it to other pre-made decks, this one has proven effective for me and very worthwhile. It probably will for you, too. So keep at it!
I obviously went through this at a comfortable pace and I kept that pace till the very end. (It was sometimes tempting to do otherwise, but Mae West said "Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly" and I agree with her.)
By the time I finished, I had read the first 12 comics of よつばと! (Yotsuba&!) plus a book on art by James Gurney called カラー&ライト (Color and Light).
Given the vocabulary that working through Core 6k allowed, I could read the above-mentioned comics and books—although there were many parts (especially with the book on art) where my understanding was either fuzzy or non-existent.
Given the comprehensible listening exposure that working through Core 6K allowed, I could also watch Japanese anime and drama shows without subtitles—although again not yet with full comprehension.
Part of the reason I could do the above was a grammar deck I made for myself of all the sentences in the new Kanzen Master books for JLPT N2 and N1, with definitions of all the words I didn’t know (perfectly and without any hesitation) into English.
But, that aside, Core6k was the biggest help here, as I am still making my way through this deck and don’t expect to finish for another two months.
As for my post-Core 6K plans, these are inspired mostly by Dr. Dunlap. More specifically, while finishing the above deck, I am going to read a novel. And after that, I'm going to read another. And after that, still another. (You get the point.)
I've already started this new part of my journey, at a comfortable pace of 10 pages per day, so just want to add that although I am adding a lot of new cards to Anki, most of their meanings make sense almost immediately upon looking them up (and sometimes in a way that makes me want to slap my forehead).
This sort of thing happened in a limited way around 3000 cards into the Core deck and I'm sure this will be much more the case 3000 cards after it. In any case, I wanted to share my experience for those who are making their way through the deck now.
Although I can’t compare it to other pre-made decks, this one has proven effective for me and very worthwhile. It probably will for you, too. So keep at it!
