Unfortunately Core 6k is rather dry so instead of trying to turn that into something fun you might just want to rescale the amount of new cards you do so you can also spend time doing things that would be fun and you can still learn from (i.e. reading light novels, manga, watching dramas, whatever).

Unless you have a chunk of time where you are willing to have no life and put yourself through hell for 2-3~ months to complete it, which from recent personal experience I can tell you is not fun at all.

Good question. I think if you are using Anki, you could add the plug-in "Anki-Emperor" to spice things up in general. There are a few threads about it on the forum.

Maybe you should ask yourself first if the learning process itself really has to be that fun? Think of how fun it will be in the end once you have learned all 6000 words, it's an investment for the future.

And even if it's boring, it's still such a convenient way to build your vocabulary. Someone else did half the work for you, and all you have to do is what Anki tells you every day. Personally I love it so far.

I'm ~5k into Core6k, and I can really see the results as I've gotten into more native materials. For me, Core6k is a thing whose results are fun, but whose process isn't. So what I do is try to distract myself instead.

1. Timeboxing: For my recognition reviews, I watch 5 minutes of an exciting show, review for 5 minutes, and repeat until done. I also try to best my past review numbers - it's usually 70 to 100 reviews per 5 minutes. I test myself on the word in the sentence, not the sentence itself.
2. Coffee: I bribe myself with coffee. It makes me jittery, which makes me review faster.
3. Music: I play high BPM music when I review.
4. Outside environment: I always try doing my production reviews outside (in cafes, libraries, bookshops, etc), because the surroundings make me feel like I should be working. Also, cafes sell coffee. :o

I tried playing dramas in the background while reviewing, but that just makes me go slower. Maybe it'll work for others though?

Reviewing right after a good night of sleep, or right after a nap makes reviews less tedious.

Then stop doing core. That's what ajatt says. I personally never knew Abt the existence of core till I got to advanced japanese at which it's useless. All the words in that deck is common so I would suggest doing stuff in Japanese ie what other ppl said like stuff with j subs, song lyrics, anything u want to read with rikaichan or rikaisama. I personally think its such a waste of time learning via core bc the words  are jus so common. I had fun learning the common daily conversation japanese via talk variety shows. U dont have to use fancy grammar or fancy words to make laughter happen. Check out YouTube. I'm pretty sure I learned all the words in core via having fun in Japanese faster than if I used core... Bc I would've probably just stopped bc it's so boring and dry like everyone said

Last edited by howtwosavealif3 (2013 March 18, 8:18 pm)

Thanks for all of the replies, after reading anritsi's post I think one of my main problems might be my mindset. Saying doing the Core 6k isn't entertaining probably doesn't help me enjoy it anymore than I currently am. I see a few posters have made up various ways that help themselves, and I clearly need to put some more positive thinking into ways that can help me.

As someone who's currently 1k into the Core 6k when would be a good time to start viewing native material? I know some say now is the best time, but I would like some extra opinions on this.

Hyperborea wrote:

uisukii wrote:

Look at sex: even when people are told NOT to do it, they manage to find multiple positions and partners to enjoy themselves with doing it. Use your imagination a little.

Hmmm, how to combine sex and Core 6K???? That would sure make Core 6K more fun.

Partner holds up a flash-card and you get spanked if the card is failed? *thinks* but that might lead to a dependance on failing cards... sorry, erhm, back to the subject afoot.

In my (vast, sorry to say) experience, procrastination is the direct effect of not having manageable goals.

But , with Japanese, I've been doing really well since about November of last year. It's been a nice experience, hopefully I can use what I learned for other things as well. (I believe that by JaLUp standards, I've been power leveling, for most of this time - I slowed down lately, but on purpose - I find that it's no longer necessary to power level, I'm happy with a slower progress because I can already enjoy a lot of things in Japanese).

How have I been able to do so well? I set a reasonable daily goal for myself (right now, I'm only doing SRS-ing 4 hours a day, and that includes adding new cards, and sometimes I even cheat and include time spent reading), and then do the reviews right as I wake up (I do timeboxes, but 25-30 minute timeboxes with only short breaks in between them). This way, I spend most of the day happily going about my business, instead of thinking about having to do reviews. More importantly, I also set a reasonable goal as far as the chunk of work I'm planning on getting done, over time. For most people, "I'm gonna finish Core6k" is not such a reasonable goal. If you haven't toiled away at the same task for 200+ days, all by yourself before, then setting such a massive goal now, with this, is just setting yourself up for failure.

If you aren't progressing with Core6k at a fast rate, you really, really should consider changing your goals. Instead of Core6k, set it as a goal to do 500 or 1000 Core cards (frankly, 500 sounds like the best idea, for now), and then move on to something else (grammar sentences, maybe later decide to do another 500 core sentences, if you want). With 500 cards, you can set up a deadline that's close enough to give you the motivation you need. With 6000, you can't.

I'm not doing Core6k (nor am I using subs2srs) anymore , I'm making my own cards. I only did about 1000 Core cards, and another 700 Tae Kim sentences. Both of those I went through quickly, because they were manageable portions (smaller portions than RtK, which I had already completed in six weeks, so I knew I could do these faster that that). And, since I knew I was only doing 1000, it allowed me to be selective over WHICH 1000 I did. I was suspending new cards left and right, because I had plenty to choose from. That helped too.

As for what to do next, (production) cards you create yourself are far more enjoyable than pre-made decks. Right now, that's what I'm doing. I pick the words from reading materials, and then look up example sentences on Yahoo, but I don't have anything against subs2srs, you can try that too. I don't have a fixed goal as to how many cards I plan on doing, instead I'm going day-to-day, on this 3-4 hour schedule. But I do have a goal, to gradually reduce the amount of SRS-ing as I progress with being able to read. In two months, I won't still be doing 4 hours of SRSing a day. The fact that this schedule is limited in time keeps me motivated. Without it (if for instance I was planning to do this for 6 months or more, to the effect of thousands of cards), I seriously doubt I could actually be doing 4 hours/day even for the first week. I know myself, and I know that I need small goals or I'm lost.

It's better to do 4 hours/day for a single month, than not do anything but act like you're trying to, for 6 months or a year. And, contrary to popular belief, working from dusk till dawn is in fact not the key to personal success.

Last edited by Stansfield123 (2013 March 18, 9:49 pm)

I don't use core, I make my own cards. But, if I were a beginner again, I would probably use core similarly to the way I make my own cards now.

I have a book that I want to read, and I read along and every time I hit a word I don't know, I make a card.

If I was using core, well, first I'd get core 10,000 to have a bigger set of words. Then I'd suspend -all- of the words. Then I'd -unsuspend- a card for each word that I didn't know that I found in the work that I was trying to read.

Mind you, I only treat -one- book this way. If I read some manga or another book or watch an anime, I only look things up when they really badly trip me up and I don't usually add them to Anki unless a word I find is really compelling for some reason.

Now, you might think that what I just described doesn't sound like fun at all... but I fairly enjoy my reading even with the stop-and-start nature of it, and when I go to review in Anki, I'm very motivated because the words that are coming up are going to certainly make it easier to read exactly what I want to read. There's no question about it that I'm reviewing words that are going to make it possible to enjoyably comprehend something.

Your work doesn't have to be a book either; manga obviously, but also anime, movies, and dramas if you can get a subtitle file, or a song if you can find the lyrics, whatever; at one point my study-works were the 'books' found inside the Skyrim video game, which are conveniently short and sometimes entertaining, or at least useful for understanding my quests.

uisukii wrote:

Hyperborea wrote:

uisukii wrote:

Look at sex: even when people are told NOT to do it, they manage to find multiple positions and partners to enjoy themselves with doing it. Use your imagination a little.

Hmmm, how to combine sex and Core 6K???? That would sure make Core 6K more fun.

Partner holds up a flash-card and you get spanked if the card is failed? *thinks* but that might lead to a dependance on failing cards... sorry, erhm, back to the subject afoot.

Replace the images with some "interesting ones" and only show them on answering correctly? Or perhaps on the 'days reviews completed' screen

Last edited by RawToast (2013 March 19, 7:14 am)

Why must it be fun?

I love the fact that my progress is concrete and noticeable. It's not simply the case of suddenly one day "realizing" the progress I've made over a long period of time. I see it every day in the way I learn to instinctively recognize new readings, find new patterns in the way certain kanji is used (which in turn gives it a peculiar meaning outside words) and when I come across a word in native material that was unknown to me before, but now I can instantly recognize it.

Not to mention the fact I know my vocab is growing day by day, 20 words at a time - and more importantly my understanding of the Japanese language in the process. Seeing how the time spent reviewing and the learning of new words have decreased considerably since I started drilling the Core.

Yes, I know drilling vocab in Anki doesn't make me truly learn the words. What it does give me, though, is a meaning I can make use of to comprehend native materials and little by little all the nuances and meanings of the word come clear through effortless (since I don't have to look up every word anymore) and enjoyable activity of doing what I want to do in Japanese.

Anki ftw.

Last edited by Betelgeuzah (2013 March 19, 7:17 am)