[Zgarbas]

So after I finished everything iKnow had to offer I was looking for a new place to do my studies, and I rediscovered renshuu.org. I noticed that there isn't much about it here, or on the Internet in general, so I decided to make a thread pointing towards it . I really like the place; I know I found it a few years ago when I was a beginner and it wasn't too good back then, but they've really grown over the years.

Pros:
- Grammar quizzing!
- Lots of lists made for particular textbooks and/or levels and split into various sub-parts.
- Really customizable system so you can practice any particular thing you like
- The quizzes have you typing in your answers
- Vocab quizzes allow multiple answers for synonyms and such (a quirk I had with iKnow was that they'd ask me for "Woman" and I'd say 女性　when they wanted 女 and mark my answer as incorrect). Basically, if it's correct they'll say "that's good but try another" until you find the one they're quizzing you about. It also helps you figure out if something you thought about as a synonym might not actually be one.
- Grammar library+a sentence for each grammar point system.
- Topic suggestions so you type in some ideas and get corrected on them.
- Kanji quizzes regarding 部首 and stroke order.
- Good for practicing using the IME (I tend to just press enter after words and miss out on what compounds the IME introduced, making some terrible mistakes).
- Complex SRS system.
- on/kun kanji quiz.

Cons:
- Listening is sub-par.
- You won't always get comments/corrections on your sentences, lang8 style.
- There will be the occasional mistake of theirs or ambiguous definition, but if you spot it the admins usually correct it asap (and if they don't they explain why).
- You get a good part of this stuff for free, but it only gets really good once you go pro (about 20$/6months). They do have a one-week trial when signing up, so if you have enough e-mail addresses you can work around that though.
- Like most ready-made resources, it's best for N3 and below.
- They sometimes don't explain exactly how the system works and you have to figure it out yourself. They explain most of what's important though.

Thanks for sharing this site. It'll definitely be useful

Do you use the Pro version?

[Zgarbas]

Yeah, I thought it was worth it.

Are the grammar lessons tied in to the SRS? I've really been neglecting grammar lately and can use a pick me up. You believe the grammar leads you to N3 level? I use iKnow! as well and it has been eating up all my time. I'm currently at Core 4000 step 3 (so 3300 words so far). The compound words have gotten harder to remember in the last few hundred and the number of synonyms have been increasing. It's interesting that the vocab quizes in Renshuu can detect synonyms. But is the vocabulary anything above core 6k? I would think if you wanted to continue pre-made vocabulary learning, you would move onto core 10,000 or something similar.

Quote:I use iKnow! as well and it has been eating up all my time. I'm currently at Core 4000 step 3 (so 3300 words so far). The compound words have gotten harder to remember in the last few hundred and the number of synonyms have been increasing.

How do you like iknow! ? I'm starting on core1000 step 1. does it really take you 7 weeks go through it and do you find that the vocab sticks?

Miyumera Wrote:How do you like iknow! ? I'm starting on core1000 step 1. does it really take you 7 weeks go through it and do you find that the vocab sticks?

I like it and it seems to stick in your head more because a. you need to type in the answer and b. is it production based. It seems that many people using Anki are for the most part using it in recognition mode (looking at the Japanese word and coming up with the meaning). It seems harder, at least for me, to see the definition and come up with the Japanese word from memory. And with all the synonyms to keep track of, it gets hairy. It took me 3 months to finish Core 2000(Core 1000 & Core 2000 in iKnow! speak). Core 3000 only took me a month. But I am spending a lot of time on it and it seems that some of the compounds are getting harder to remember. I also write the japanese word down on paper when answering the questions which takes even more time. I hope it is worth it in the end. Let me know if you have any more questions about iKnow!.

Yeah i started with iknow and I like it too since there's audio. I tried the anki deck but it's so dry, and boring and 6000 words is a lot to go through already. I find writing the sentences down too helps with learning the kanji of vocab introduced through sentences and shadowing the audio helps practice pronounciation.

[Zgarbas]

PotbellyPig Wrote:Are the grammar lessons tied in to the SRS? I've really been neglecting grammar lately and can use a pick me up. You believe the grammar leads you to N3 level? I use iKnow! as well and it has been eating up all my time. I'm currently at Core 4000 step 3 (so 3300 words so far). The compound words have gotten harder to remember in the last few hundred and the number of synonyms have been increasing. It's interesting that the vocab quizes in Renshuu can detect synonyms. But is the vocabulary anything above core 6k? I would think if you wanted to continue pre-made vocabulary learning, you would move onto core 10,000 or something similar.

No, the grammar quizzes are a different section. Basically the grammar bits+sentence making is the important side of their grammar program, the rest is sheer randomized conjugation. Since I tend to be good in theory+recognition but surprisingly awful in production it works for me. Grammar points are for all JLPT levels, but past N3ish level they are pretty scarce. Neat explanations+invitation to make sentences+other sentences. No implementing it in the review system though. Various grammar bits that are vocab related are already in the vocabulary section though.

Vocab doesn't care about the core 6k frequency list and is focues on varied lists, some official, some user-made. Official ones are focused on textbook content and/or JLPT official lists (before they stopped making them). I get quite a few terms that weren't in the core6k, yeah.

P.S. Miyumera, don't worry about timing. If you feel like you can learn more then learn more, if you feel stumped then don't feel forced to do more than you can. Especially since you're a beginner . Some people take years to do core6k, others take months. It took me less time to do core 2k-6k than it took me to do core1k for various reasons.