I am cleaning out my house and realized something. Over the last 10 years or so of studying Japanese, I've accumulated a lot of study stuff in lots of random places:

1. Maybe 10 Japanese textbooks. Some are barely used - they were required for some very expensive classes but we didn't even use them!

2. Stacks of photocopies of textbook and book chapters

3. A huge binder full of worksheets and notes from classes

4. Computer - Anki, which I hardly use now

5. Online - Kanji at koohii, which I love but can't (for the goddamn life of me) figure out how to export to Anki (all of the instructions and plugins are outdated).

6. On my iphone - a nice dictionary and a flashcard game (iSokki). No anki because I'm not spending $25 to use it if I can't figure out how to upload my damn Koohii stacks. I'm a mess.

I get this panicky feeling like I *should* hold onto everything but I can't and it is just too chaotic. How do you organize your study materials? Can you give me some advice on how to consolidate things more efficiently? I just feel frazzled and this is generally ineffective.

First I'd say, define what it is you're doing right now, or for the next week. What are your current language learning tasks? This doesn't have to be enumerated (though that can help). Once you've defined that, put all of the materials not relevant to those tasks up on your shelves, and keep only what you need for your current projects available in your workspace.

In my case, right now, I'm switching between reading manga, reading a light novel, watching/re-watching a few shows, and listening to podcasts. The books I have next to me are the manga I'm reading, and two grammar references. Everything else is on the To Do shelf.

Re: notes - personally, I'd make it a long term project to go through these and type the most useful info into EverNote for future reference. Then burn the paper.

(And toss the textbooks in with them. Hahaha, just kidding.)

(Sort of)

[Zgarbas]

I still have my old textbooks in a corner, but then again I use them once a year. I find it very hard to use physical textbooks for some reason so it's not really their fault .
I don't keep notes since I can't read handwriting. What I have that is not a full textbook (college worksheets and what not) I keep around for a few months until they pile up and then I throw them away unless they have something really interesting on them.
I have a gargantuan folder of books, textbooks, lessons and podcasts on my computer, which I always mean to use but somehow rarely do.

Online it's different. i use my online resources constantly, since for some reason they're just so much more motivating to keep to. Same goes for anki (I also use ankidroid on my phone with separate decks since syncing is a headache). At work I just use my online resources.

For the record I also have the Dictionary of Grammar books on my phone, always intending to read them but rarely having the necessary motivation. (I also have the podcasts, but thanks to Samsung being idiotic I can't listen to stuff on it. Way to be an idiot, mister Smartphone).

So I know the feel. Basically I only use 2-3 resources on a regular basis, whilst having a gazillion stuff that I never use. However, I do intend on using them, it's just that I haven't managed to work out a system where I can keep to them yet .

I'd recommend selling your textbooks and getting some money to buy better things (anki mobile? The kanjibox app? Actual books/manga/subscriptions to stuff you like? Whatever you think best!). If they were expensive and aren't used they're likely to get you a good sum.
Throw away everything that is just bits of paper. Especially if they're already completed and/or known material. The binder should only have things that you would still be interested in looking at. I bet if you look at the pages one-by-one you'll realize that 90% of tem are not worth holding on to. Same goes for the photocopies.
Organize your anki so that it only has things you want or really need to be doing. Using anki to its fullest when you have only one deck is better than not using anki but having it filled with stuff.

Also, once every few months just set aside a few hours in a day to reorganize your study resources and/or program. You might rediscover a textbook you'll like, notice something about your skills(I was very happy after the first time I did this since I realized that already half of my worksheets seemed too easy to bother with. On the other hand, cleaning up after a really bad year helped me realize just how bad my Japanese had gotten when I didn't recognize something in the very first lesson of my first textbook. I got motivated by shame ). Spring cleaning can do wonders.

gaiaslastlaugh Wrote:First I'd say, define what it is you're doing right now, or for the next week. What are your current language learning tasks? This doesn't have to be enumerated (though that can help). Once you've defined that, put all of the materials not relevant to those tasks up on your shelves, and keep only what you need for your current projects available in your workspace.

This is a great tip except, my current tasks are

1. Review my basics. I've gotten very rusty and have forgotten fundamental things.

2. Continue with kanji.

Reviewing basics make me look at the piles and feel crazy again.

Yeah, I tend to amass digital resources for the same reason, Zgarbas. Easier to keep organized, and to take on the go. The downside is that I sometimes get overwhelmed. ("There's TOO MUCH to read and listen to!!") It helps me to define what my current short-term goals are - e.g., drill Anki vocab daily, finish a manga by EOW, read X pages in 「きみにしか聞こえない」. If I don't do that, I spent so much time flitting between tasks that I never finish anything. And my desk becomes as organized as eri401's.

The only textbooks I have right now are IAIJ and Read Real Japanese: New College Text (four volumes). The former is boring as hell as a textbook, but great as an intermediate grammar reference. It sits on my desk underneath JSPEC. The latter books are pretty much useless.

And I second your love/recommendation of KanjiBox. One of my favorite apps. A great alternative to Anki for drilling kanji, IMO.

eri401 Wrote:

gaiaslastlaugh Wrote:First I'd say, define what it is you're doing right now, or for the next week. What are your current language learning tasks? This doesn't have to be enumerated (though that can help). Once you've defined that, put all of the materials not relevant to those tasks up on your shelves, and keep only what you need for your current projects available in your workspace.

This is a great tip except, my current tasks are

1. Review my basics. I've gotten very rusty and have forgotten fundamental things.

2. Continue with kanji.

Reviewing basics make me look at the piles and feel crazy again.

Then I'd say pick one or two resources that you really love, and use those as opposed to the stack of crazy-making, unorganized notes. At least until you can work through the notes and convert them into a form that's less stress-inducing.

hm.. I'd say that since you want to review basics, take the introductory textbook you want to work with and put everything else away. if you've got PILES of paper,photocopies,worksheets etc... You're most likely not going to have the time or want to go through each page one by one. I'm like that as well, I keep all my papers, always saying that I"ll get to them and organize them, but it's overwhelming. In the end, I don't have time, it's inefficient spending my 'studying' time going through them instead of studying.. etc. Same thing with the 10 textbooks lol. grab a new notebook, your pencil, a dictionary, the internet, and one textbook you want to work with, and just start from chapter 1 (or whatever)

eri401 Wrote:I am cleaning out my house and realized something. Over the last 10 years or so of studying Japanese, I've accumulated a lot of study stuff in lots of random places:

1. Maybe 10 Japanese textbooks. Some are barely used - they were required for some very expensive classes but we didn't even use them!

2. Stacks of photocopies of textbook and book chapters

3. A huge binder full of worksheets and notes from classes

4. Computer - Anki, which I hardly use now

5. Online - Kanji at koohii, which I love but can't (for the goddamn life of me) figure out how to export to Anki (all of the instructions and plugins are outdated).

6. On my iphone - a nice dictionary and a flashcard game (iSokki). No anki because I'm not spending $25 to use it if I can't figure out how to upload my damn Koohii stacks. I'm a mess.

I get this panicky feeling like I *should* hold onto everything but I can't and it is just too chaotic. How do you organize your study materials? Can you give me some advice on how to consolidate things more efficiently? I just feel frazzled and this is generally ineffective.

I can totally relate to #2 and unfortunately for me, all of them are inside #3 (the big binder).

#4 (Anki) can be used for more than RTK. You can do vocab, sub2srs, Core, etc. Pretty versatile tool imo

#5- I do love this site and what it has to offer but I don't personally study here. I use Anki instead.

#6- I too have an iPhone and use it to review on Anki. Not the app, but Ankiweb. I just have my decks synced to Ankiweb so I can study on the go. If you have decks that have audio/video then the Anki app might be better (don't know, never used it).

For #5 and 6 you mentioned you were having problems with importing your progress to Anki. When you did the importing, was the problem that when you opened it deck it assumed you had no progress at all? As if this was a newly created deck? Or was it that everything was out of its place in addition to the lack of progress?

In regards to your piles of materials, I agree with everyone else. Just get the few materials you find essential and just use those. The rest you can sell and use that money for whatever your heart desires.

To answer the main thread question: Most of my Japanese study material is online or digital (in my laptop) so there is no "physical" clutter. But it doesn't mean I'm free from "clutter" lol. My bookmarks are a mess so yea

I am most organized when I log things I do or learn into Microsoft Onenote 2007. I thought about blogging my Japanese progress but there are so many of those already. Plus I don't bring anything new to the language learning community. It's just a backlog. You don't have to do this digitally either. You can easily do this on a regular notebook (compositions I recommend because they're sturdy and pages won't fall off). Just list the few things you want to accomplish.

On the 1st page I have a list of accomplishments
Example: Anime/Drama
Watch all of [insert name of anime/drama] series, Progress: in progress; 6 out 8 episodes already watched

Anki
Finish ______ deck, Progress: In progress; 25% in

Then I have other pages for each day talking about the progress. Like diary entries. It's not only a good way to be organized in your "to-dos", but a great motivator too! Whenever I feel like I haven't gotten any better, I can look back at older entry pages and see how much I have accomplished.

Here is a video on how the program works: http://youtu.be/j5bHf_pV-ZM
More info about the product: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenot...aspx?CTT=1

td;lr >_< I'm sorry for the long post

[Zgarbas]

Seconding the tracking progress via some sort of system . I use Excel, though.

Zgarbas Wrote:Seconding the tracking progress via some sort of system . I use Excel, though.

Can you explain how you use excel?

RawrPk Wrote:For #5 and 6 you mentioned you were having problems with importing your progress to Anki. When you did the importing, was the problem that when you opened it deck it assumed you had no progress at all? As if this was a newly created deck? Or was it that everything was out of its place in addition to the lack of progress?

My problem is far more basic - my export list does not upload and open in anki. I'd be willing to redo my review counts as long as I can save all my stories.

I've followed all of the instructions here and on anki's feedback pages but it just doesn't work. And so many hours have been wasted on trying to find the solution that its just been put on the backburner.

RawrPk Wrote:On the 1st page I have a list of accomplishments
Example: Anime/Drama
Watch all of [insert name of anime/drama] series, Progress: in progress; 6 out 8 episodes already watched
...

That is an interesting way to track your progress. Thank you for sharing. I don't know if I'd be faithful and update the journal, but it is important to keep myself focused on my goals and methods I think.

I'm terrible with this too, but mostly one and four. Half my bookcase is Japanese learning materials, and I have yet to go through probably 3/4 of them. At the same time, I keep amassing Japanese ebooks, podcasts, iPhone apps, etc. Anki seems to be the one thing that keeps me going at it day after day, so I try to make sure I'm always adding new cards from my textbooks at a steady pace. I hate when reviews pile up. That alone is enough motivation for me to keep going, but adding cards makes me feel like I'm at least making a little progress each day. I just wish there was an easy way to SRS entire dialogues.

eri401 Wrote:My problem is far more basic - my export list does not upload and open in anki. I'd be willing to redo my review counts as long as I can save all my stories.

I've followed all of the instructions here and on anki's feedback pages but it just doesn't work. And so many hours have been wasted on trying to find the solution that its just been put on the backburner.

I can help with getting your stories into Anki but not your progress. Just choose "Very Easy" for the ones you already know well I guess. Here are steps I did to get my stories from the site into a newly downloaded RTK deck:

1. Obviously export "My Stories" from koohii
2. Open Anki and download shared RTK deck I used "Heisigs Remember the Kanji (RTK) 13" for this test
3. Open deck> Edit > Browse Items > Card Layout> Fields Tab
4. In "Fields" tab, add 2 random fields (no need to rename them) and set up the fields in this order: Heisig number, Kanji, Keyword, Field 8(the random field I told you to add), Field 9 (other random field), Story, Stroke count, Lesson number, On-yomi
5. Exit the "Browse Items" section
6. File > Import> Choose "my_stories.csv" file (or whatever your export stories file was called) > Click Update
7. A popup will show up asking "Update your deck based on matching entries in the file". Don't change anything! Just press OK

These steps worked for me to import my stories into Anki. Hopefully these steps help. Wish I knew how to add progress too but I believe someone out there can lend a hand

Quote:That is an interesting way to track your progress. Thank you for sharing. I don't know if I'd be faithful and update the journal, but it is important to keep myself focused on my goals and methods I think.

I think so too. Like I said, you don't have to make it complicated like I did. It's as easy as writing down tid bits of what Japanese related thing you did. I like to write "Accomplishments for the day" and list things I did that were positive and contributed to my learning experience. It can be as simple as that

Or tracking using a spreadsheet like Zgarbas does is a good idea too

[Zgarbas]

eri401 Wrote:

Zgarbas Wrote:Seconding the tracking progress via some sort of system . I use Excel, though.

Can you explain how you use excel?

Here is a link to this month's progress chart
It's pretty basic, really =/. Just use a countdown timer to track progress and there you go. Of course, it will only track quantity rather than quality; for that you would need a far more complex formulas, maybe macros and syncronization between programs... But I never found that necessary. I also have a half-month report plus occasional curiosity reports (how many days were sub-par/average study time, etc). In case it's not obvious, the "Tinta" values are my month's target(individual hours per program+total program+daily minimum).

I find tracking my progress really helpful and I use Excel too. Here's what my charts look like: http://tinyurl.com/cbmbexj . When I pay attention to how much time exactly I spend on what, it helps me study more. This way I can see that I've spent all morning in front of the computer but only did 45 minutes of actual study - and then I pull myself together and do more work

@Zgarbas and @chillimuffin: Tracking time on a spreadsheet seems more efficient than bullet point list (what I do). Also you guys track time for even formal study time and Anki. I personally only tracked the time I am immersed in Japanese media i.e. ______ movie - 1 hour 35 minutes.

I can most likely start tracking my overall study time without too much effort. I like to use the Pomodoro Technique. Basically it's a technique where you give yourself 25 minutes of productive time. Here is more info: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

There are many Pomodoro timers out there. I personally use http://tomatoi.st/cpcw
You can change the cpcw portion to whatever you want (I used my 1st name) so that it keeps a history of how many pomodoros, short breaks and long breaks you did. I'm considering using a desktop timer but until I find 1 I like, this website timer is my go to. I can pretty much just calculate the #pomodoros x 25 and I'll have my time tracking answer

Thanks for showing your spreadsheet examples @Zgarbas and @chillimuffin! Because of you guys, I now know that tracking formal study time is just as important as tracking Japanese media immersion time. ^^

RawrPk Wrote:Also you guys track time for even formal study time and Anki.

In fact, I don't normally include Anki in my study journal. I only do that when I need these extra 5 or 10 minutes so I can enter a full hour instead of 50 minutes into my spreadsheet That's because I'm used to clearing my Anki reps everyday anyway and I don't feel the need to track this really. But adding Anki to your spreadsheet may work well for you. Good luck!