Add your own how to here. Experts and amateurs welcome.

How I schedule new cards

# Find what works. How many new cards can you do in a session?
# Get excited! Create a 'one day new card session' to rule them all!
# Burn it down, then build it back. Let your reviews whittle down for the win.
# Rinse, repeat - white shirts for everyone.

Why?

# Free yourself! Scheduling one day frees you from the daily grind.
# Be assured in the knowledge that you won't be doing all that extra new card studied daily.
# Have a heavy start and a light end. Take the last 3 days of the week easy!
# Skip a week and keep control! Stop that overwhelm in its tracks.
# Schedule it and it shall come.
# Sentences love this. Big bursts for the win.

Disclaimer: Hey, hey... just my opinion! I'm leaven' tips, ya'll. You should too - sharing is caring.

Cool article on bullet points.

I have 3 primary decks:
-random stuff i pull
-vocab
-grammar

For random stuff, I add it during lunch, like 2 or 3 sentences from news articles/magazines, etc. and I review at night.
For vocab, I add it at night, and review it at lunch the next day. It used to be 5 kanji in KO2001, and is now one day of Nihongo So-Matome.
For grammar, I add 2 points of Kanzen Master it in the morning, and review it at lunch the same day.

There's no real logic to why or when I review, but I just do it anyway.

Even though I really shouldn't, I tend to shut down completely on weekends for some reason...

How I read books/manga with only lower intermediate knowledge.

1) Find an interesting book/manga. One that you actually want to read.
2) Read.
3) When you come across a word you don't know (and can't guess), figure out what category it goes in.
3a) Useless descriptive word - Ignore it
3b) Important word that gives insight into the plot - Look it up
3c) Useless descriptive word repeated over and over - Look it up
4) (Optional) Enter words from 3b and 3c into study program, like Anki or Renshuu.org.
5) Go back to step 2 unless bored. If bored, stop for a while and come back later or another day.

How to not feed an internet troll... JK

How to get music from youtube to your itunes.
1) Search and find a song you like on youtube.
2) Copy the FULL url (top bar).
3) Paste it into a mp3 converter. (http://www.video2mp3.net/)
4) Click convert, it will take a while and then you have to click another option before it completes.
5)You now have an MP3 version, just drop it into itunes and enjoy.

^ This whole process is legal but uploading or sharing mp3 files is not. I do not support pirating.

[ファブリス]

Admin: This thread idea was good. Keep the trolling/snarky comments to the Koohii Lounge, please.

Also, no torrent/share site downloads how-to's, as per forum rules (besides do you really need a how to for that?).


@gyuujuice: YouTube already imposes their own filtering for copyrighted content so I don't have any objections to YouTube downloads tips.

A great extension to download YouTube is "Download YouTube Videos as MP4" (and FLV). The Greasemonkey script works straight out of the box in Google Chrome. On Firefox it requires Greasemonkey.

There are also plugins for Chrome and Firefox based on the same userscript code. I couldn't believe how much Javascript was in those, they are full of bloatware and connect to all sort of sites for God knows what. Which led me to find the source and use the Greasemonkey script instead. On Google Chrome you don't even need to install Greasemonkey.

I'm using MP4's now on Mac they are great because you can just press space bar in the Finder and they play with the built in Quick View, without copying to my iTunes library (so I can back them up or organize them however I want). And of course you can easily move them to iTunes for your iPhone, iPad, etc. I'm guessing you can move the mp4 files to iTunes on Windows too.

Two tools to minimize your English reading time:

Spreeder

Quote:Spreeder.com is free online speed reading software designed to improve your reading speed and comprehension.

1) Copy text.
2) Set spread speed.
3) Sit back and take it in.

Useful for...
# Forums.
# Reviewing documents.

Summarizer
# Summarizes text.
# Highlights key points.
# Reasonably accurate (so-so).
# Doesn't handle cut and paste of text with pictures inserted well.
# Doesn't work with Japanese (15 odd languages - non-Asian.)

Useful for...
# Any document.
# Longer documents (news, etc.)

Ignore the following.
What I get out of these tools is a slight increase in amount read and a major decrease in time spent. What this means is that you get through the whole "I have to read all this in my native language and now I have to read this thing in my target language!!! Ah, I'm going to play Play Station instead." situation. It also trains you to skim for details or notice only what's important. All of this speeds you up and frees your time up for more important things, such as Japanese.

Just a note
Be honest with yourself, how much of the prattle that we read in our native language is actually important enough to read word for word? Personally, about 10% of the text I see on a weekly basis would be anything that I would consider important enough to see every single word in the text I am reading. Maybe you vary, but it is something to ask yourself.

Personal Experience:
# 2 anime
# 3 songs

b]Time Done:[/b]
3-4 weeks at 1 hour or less per day.

Outcome:
With proper preparation of the cards you can make massive strides in your hearing skill and listening comphrension, which affects your overall understanding.

Successes:
# Increasing my understanding of words when I hear them due to learning them from hearing rather than reading.
# Learned 20 or so grammar points I didn't know.
# Estimated improvement: 5% (up from 35%)

Challenges:
# Going back to sentences was hard.
# Getting the process right was hard.
# Sometimes you get stuff that isn't very useful or is outdated (ex. Aizen in Bleach uses a lot of grammar and vocabulary that you won't find in the dictionary. He is 1000s of years old, I think.)

Pro Tips:
# Have audio and video on your card.
# Kanji with no furigana on front is best. Furigana on back for checking. (Trust your ears.)
# Have an English translation if you are not intermediate or above!
# Have a picture on the front of the scene (super simple to do and no extra effort).
# Do your test gloss first. Don't look up new words unless you have to when repping - this is a part of the production stage. Use 'Translator Aggregater' for faster results.
# Pad the video so you can see the whole picture of how it fits in.

Process them like this:
1) Video x1;
2) Audio + sentence (until you can hear the words and follow the Kanji);
3) Check back (furigana, meanings, etc.);
4) Rate as needed.
ー Additional step: Record unknown word in your word book (see below).

Notes:
A book you have words with sentences that you read when you have time - it's more useful than an SRS in that there's no spacing and you avoid double entries as your subs2sr deck has this vocab in a VASTLY better format than having another deck would. You can also rub things out when you start to feel comfortable with them in your deck (computers can't really do everything).

Extra

Subs2srs is honestly the way to go for listening. Why not try it as below? Even a high beginner can process an anime using the speed settings on Windows Media Player.

# Use Mylyrics and Windows Media Player.
１）Set WMP to half speed (Enhancements>Media Speed)
２）Listen for end of sentence pauses.
３）Mark point.
４）Speed up as needed.

*A 30 minute anime will take 45-60 minutes tops.

Wink!
[ color=color]text[/color] < remove the space between '[' and 'c' to get it working.

How to process cards.

Basics
1. Edit 'X' number of cards adding vocabulary and so on.
2. Review your cards pass everything you understand.
3. Mark any that you don't or re-review if you are mostly sure you understand, but need one more try.
4. Tidy up marked cards and add extra details - anything needed to make it easier to understand.

Concept
# Based around GTD sorting and processing. http://tufuga.net/wp-content/uploads/201...ncept.jpeg
# You don't squeeze your work flow to a trickle fighting cards you don't understand.
# You separate out what is not working, improve it then test it again.

Why I am liking this
I get peeved over having to go over and over the same few cards again and again. If I'm not getting it then the card needs changing or deleting. This allows me to do that. It also allows me to schedule my excess workload at a time when it is more convenient, rather than focusing on it during my reps.

Sort of cool trick using the Japanese model in Anki.


How To
Just put a number next to the word surrounded by [square brackets] you want it to appear and it will appear above as furigana. Nice way to break down something you don't get, or have stolen from the internet in my case.

Note: I understand all of the vocabulary, except the last grammar structure, I just need to see it in a more clear format to really 'feel' the meaning.

Using the fan boards to help you get a better understanding of your anime

What
A great way to find a transcript or 'anime/manga' spoiler translation for what you are working on is to just Google one or two lines. You usually get a result from some fan board, which if the show is big enough will give you a lot of insight in to what's going on.

Example
Try the below one or two of the below:
シー『ハッ』
Shii: "Hah!"

ダルイ『オ～スッ』
Darui: "Ossu"

雷影『ついて来い！！』
Raikage: "Follow me!"

わざわざ部屋の窓割って勢いよく出ていく。(笑)ちょっと松岡修三みたい(笑)
He goes out of his way to make a gaping hole in the room, in his rush to get out. (lol kinda like Shuuzou Matsuoka)

秘書？『ハァ～また…！』
Personal assistant(?): "*Huff* Not again!"

シー『行くぞ ダルイ』
Shii: "Let's go Darui"

ダルイ『イヤ…オレは普通にトビラから降りるわ…追い付くから先行っといて…』
Darui: "Uh no. Usually I leave through the door...now you're tellin' me to go on ahead just so we can catch up to him.."

What did you find?
Me, I found several even better results than the ones I started with. Anyway, next time you need help: pray the manga is similar enough to have some line for line dialogue. You'll be happy with what you find.

Subs2srs Tip:
If you are taking something from a music video on a tube site, search for "English Subs". When you put it through Subs2srs get the program to generate snapshots. You can then put these on the back of the card. This saves you time typing the English in to your subtitles output or changing a synced file.

Why?
It's not for everyone, but, for me, I find if I have the English on the back I can understand the connections more easily. I never really memorize the English, but the first few times it helps me to really get what the card might be trying to say.

Why Songs?
Well, sometimes they can be difficult, but most times I have found song cards are great bang for buck. They are short and easy to time (if they don't have a timed subtitle file already available in Japanese!) There is usually only 30-50 lines tops, which isn't much compared to something like Bakaman episode 1 that has over 250 lines. That means less time checking vocabulary or looking up grammar. Also, if you follow one or two bands like me, you will find they use the same vocabulary and structures a lot. This cuts down on time and is great for adding new vocabulary.

If you haven't done a song card yet, I would recommend trying it. It is really worth your time.

Links
Really easy example (Note Romanji could be ignored. You should replace this with a lyrics file from online that has full Kanji and let Anki and your ear decide the reading.)
A bit harder (fast song)