Hello. New here. So not to long ago I started studying Japanese. Been using the method in the stickies. I don't have much time to study, but I have tried to learn every chance I get. For example, I have 5 minutes - go learn 5 and review 20 words.... But lately I noticed that total number of reviews I have to make has skyrocketed. For example, today I have 350 core6k and 500 RTK reviews. RTK is not that big of problem, I will catch up soon, but real problem is core6k. I have trouble remembering words. Any suggestions/tips?



Also, a few other questions:
1. Do you think that learning core6k, RTK 1-3 and Tae Kims grammar will be enough to start reading Light novels?
2. Where could I find premade Anime Anki decks? I tried subs2scr wikia but all links are down

Sparteh Wrote:I have 5 minutes - go learn 5 and review 20 words....

If you are having trouble keeping up with the reviews, simply don't add any new words before you've gone through all your reviews. You don't have to add new words every day if you simply don't have the time to do so, although it's less than ideal. It's no use adding words while you're having trouble remembering the words you already 'learned'.

Sparteh Wrote:Do you think that learning core6k, RTK 1-3 and Tae Kims grammar will be enough to start reading Light novels?

Should be enough for easy ones, but you might be lacking reading experience to dive right into it. The vocabulary in light novels and core6k can be very different. I worked my way up from reading easy manga, to harder manga and eventually light novels & adult novels. I didn't finish RTK or did Tae Kim though.

Sparteh Wrote:Where could I find premade Anime Anki decks? I tried subs2scr wikia but all links are down

I've only used my own created subs2srs decks so I'm afraid I can't really help with that.

This happens to me as well; and icore was correct. If you're doing 5/20 right now, and 25 is no-kidding your limit, change it to 1/24, then at least you have something new to look forward to, better yet, 1/(higher number than 25), when you get caught up, then cautiously bump up to 2-3/25. Make sense? (I'm taking my own advice.)

True, but you see I have this sort of challenge. I want to read my first Japanese Light Novel in Japanese during winter holiday. That is about 100 days from now My current progress is 19% Kanji and 11% vocab completed. Truly an insane challenge. Currently I am reducing amount I learn. Started to catch up with Kanji nicely. I think learning sentences from anime would make learning vocab easier.

So only thing what was left is Anime (since they are fun XD) decks.

It's really a math problem. If you add 5 cards per day, with 90% accuracy and anki set to default values, over time you should end up with roughly 50 reviews per day.. If your accuracy is less than 90% you will have more reviews. If you want to learn more, you have to spend more time so you can do all of your reviews, there's really no way around that.

btw, you say 11% vocabulary completed, but 19% of what? core? Not sure if you know, but even 100% of core will probably get you probably less than 50% coverage of the vocab in a LN. If you do core sentences too, maybe 60%. If possible, I'd study specifically the words you expect to find in the LN. Maybe mine vocab from the first few pages because much of it will show up again.

Rather than whether or not it's possible to read a LN, it's more a question of how long it will take and whether or not it will be fun, to which if you start too early the answer will be 'fricken ages' and 'no'.

As yogert909 said, to know 19% of Core does not mean you will know 19% of words used in a light novel.
Something you can do is to start searching a light novel you want to read, then focus on the vocabulary used on that novel and study it from Core, unsuspending words from the deck as you encounter them, or by frequency (check the "japanese text analysis tool" here on the forum)!
Once you start reading you will see that many words stick better just by the fact you are encountering in books (manga/anime etc..).
I tried to do the same of what you're doing but it was painfully difficult for me, words studied with core didn't stick for me. Maybe it was just me but I've read on this forum other users with the same issue.
Also consider that by reading you are costantly reviewing things you already know. I know this is what an SRS is supposed to do, but obviously nothing beats comprehensible input. You will see the same words a lot of time, you will see the same kanji used in words you don't know and kanji readings will stick way better than just by SRS.

PS: this is only imho!

I know that learning entire core won't be enough. My main idea is to create solid foundation. When I have it even if I understand 50% of LN that won't be a problem. In my 2nd LN I might understand 51%, 3rd LN 52%... After that everything will come with practice.The more you do something, the better you get. But every jorney begins with single step. In my case, it would be what I have listed above.

Sparteh Wrote:I know that learning entire core won't be enough. My main idea is to create solid foundation. When I have it even if I understand 50% of LN that won't be a problem. In my 2nd LN I might understand 51%, 3rd LN 52%... After that everything will come with practice.The more you do something, the better you get. But every jorney begins with single step. In my case, it would be what I have listed above.

After the first LN it would be more than 50%, I'm sure! Also consider that the more words you know, the easier it will be to learn new words, because you already know the kanji meanings/readings (exceptions too will be easier to remember).

It is so hard to find matching subs for Anki deck. Japanese and English subs don't match with each other at all

Along the same lines, does anyone have any suggestions, by way of a custom filter in Anki to manage the backlog? I'm overhauling my study routine and I find myself with a large backlog to deal with...

Sparteh Wrote:It is so hard to find matching subs for Anki deck. Japanese and English subs don't match with each other at all

You need to retime the subs to a movie in aeigsub then they should match.

repdetect2 Wrote:Along the same lines, does anyone have any suggestions, by way of a custom filter in Anki to manage the backlog? I'm overhauling my study routine and I find myself with a large backlog to deal with...

The answer depends on if you think you have time to catch up or not.

If you have time to catch up, you can make a filtered deck with 'prop:ivl<7 is:due' in the search field and turn on 'reschedule'. This will let you study all of your recently learned cards first so you don't forget them. Then if you have time, you can study the others until you catch up.

If you don't think you'll have time to catch up, it's the opposite strategy. You give up on the recently learned cards and study all of the older cards with 'prop:ivl>7 is:due' in the search box.

@yogert909 Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

@yogert909 Again, a little off topic but what do you suggest for custom steps during the learning phase? I would love to get you're feedback as you have made significant progress in what I call a short period of time.