Konnichiyall! How’s your studying going these days?
Today I’ve got some advice for you to up your Japanese Language self-study game. Recently, I’ve heard from several learners that they have a lot of trouble with all the memorization that goes into learning Japanese. And man, I feel that, because Japanese can sometimes feel like nothing but memorization.
So how can you make learning all that new kanji and vocabulary faster, easier, and more fun?
Double Up Your Studying
Before you come for me, I don’t mean double your study time. No, trust me, I get that most of us don’t have the time and energy to be studying constantly. We’re balancing jobs, school, relationships, kids, health, other hobbies, and whatever else around here, and I don’t think we should ever beat ourselves up for not spending more time hitting the books. This is supposed to be fun!
Rather, I’m suggesting doubling up on your study methods. Or at least considering adding a new one to your regimen, even if it means sacrificing a bit of time or progress on the other(s).
I don’t say this because expanding our study resources will broaden the range of new material we learn, though that is of course one of the benefits! Rather, I suggest this because using more than one method can be extremely beneficial for reinforcing and engraining what we’ve already learned.
For example, let’s say I study new vocabulary on WaniKani. WaniKani’s spaced repetition system is wonderful for memorizing lots of content quickly. However, at the same time that I’m training my brain to recognize a new word or kanji through repetition, I’m also, to some extent, training it to recall this word in the context of WaniKani. Therefore, when I run into this word outside of the website, whether it's in a book, in a conversation, or wherever, I might stumble for a bit, thinking ‘that seems so familiar, but what is it?’. Sometimes, I might even think that I haven’t learned the word or kanji at all, until I search it and facepalm.
So, how do we fix this? Well, fortunately and sometimes unfortunately (i.e. when I embarrass myself in conversations), that stumble is the fix.
After we go through this experience of running into a word in a different situation than we usually do, our brains have learned that they need to be able to extract that information in various situations. Only remembering when I'm sitting in front of the computer, wearing a red sweater, drinking coffee, and looking at the word in a certain font isn't going to cut it anymore. In the same way that WaniKani and other spaced repetition systems teach our brains the importance of new knowledge with repetition, we can also trick our brains into thinking that information is more important with diversifying contexts.
By broadening the contexts in which we expose our brains to the same information, we can really level up our abilities to catch, recall, and produce words and grammar that we’ve learned.
So what method should I add to my regimen next?
This trick can work with literally any pair of methods, but the best one for you will be determined by your level and your goals.
Language input is most effective when it’s approximately 80% understandable. That is to say, for a beginner, anime isn’t going to provide as many of these study connections, because most of the words and grammar you encounter you won’t have learned yet. And vice versa, an advanced level student isn’t going to want to pair something too easy for the same reason. We’re going for optimally challenged, but not totally lost or completely relaxed, either.
Here are some example ideas for additional study methods to add to your regimen, based on what aspect of your language learning you’re aiming to level up.
Listening
If you want to improve listening skills and the ability to catch the words you’re learning when they’re spoken, my go-to recommendation for learners at the beginner to intermediate level is always podcasts. You can see my Japanese Language Learning Podcast recommendations in this post!
For advanced learners, you’ve heard it a million times, but I recommend listening content made for native speakers. If you’re somewhere between intermediate and advanced, Terrace House and anime in the daily life genre are a great bridge for making the leap between learner content and stuff made for a Japanese-speaking audience. Watch with Japanese subtitles on for simultaneous kanji and ear training.
Reading
If you’re struggling with reading kanji and vocabulary you’ve learned, I’d recommend something that puts learned words into a bit of context, like Japanese Duolingo or NHK News Easy for beginner and intermediate students. In a search for some graded readers, I also came across this website called Tadoku (which literally means read a lot) that has a large library of free graded readers organized by level. You can even search by genre!
For advanced learners, again, light novels and manga. Fiction has been shown to be more helpful than nonfiction when it comes to naturally grammar acquisition, so I recommend finding an interesting story. As a bridge between the intermediate and advanced level, Young Adult books (at least the ones that don't have any supernatural elements) tend to have less difficult kanji and simpler writing styles.
I'm currently reading this one about a high school baseball club manager. It's very cute and it's appropriately challenging for me kanji and vocabulary-wise. I'm currently on level 37 on WaniKani, so roughly N2 level for comparison.
One note for anyone currently living in Japan - I definitely recommend checking out your local library for infinite free reading material!
Writing
If you’re drilling kanji on paper but can’t seem to remember the kanji after that, I recommend keeping a diary in Japanese. Even just a few sentences per entry is fine. Every day is best, but you can shoot for 2-3 times a week if every day isn’t realistic for you (it certainly hasn't been for me). This will put the kanji that are most relevant to your life into personal context, and after a few repetitions you’ll be able to write them without searching.
Speaking
Any of these study methods should heighten your ability to remember and produce words you’ve already learned when you’re speaking Japanese. However, I’m also a big proponent of talking to yourself when learning a language. You can try talking about a certain prompt that relates to some of the vocabulary you’re learning (for example, set a timer for two minutes and say as much as you can about travel, or your hobby, or your favorite anime, etc.). Alternatively, you can narrate your actions while cleaning or going through your morning routine. In your head, ‘talk’ about what you see on the street as you’re commuting. Basically, just have fun with some good old 独り言（ひとりごと; hitorigoto; talking to yourself). And remember, it’s okay to make mistakes and to not know things - one mistake at a time will get you to where you want to be.
Alternatively, if you're willing to pay for cheap ($3-$10 USD) private lessons, I've had a wonderful experience on italki. After using my 3 free trial lessons, I was able to find an amazing teacher for me, and I've been talking to her for an hour a week for almost a year now! There are so many teachers out there, so when you need some speaking practice with actual Japanese people, I highly suggest italki! USE MY ITALKI AFFILIATE LINK TO GET $10 USD IN FREE CREDITS!
Do you want more on how to self-study Japanese from the beginner level? Here are some of my go-to study and practice methods:
That's all for today! All of the methods discussed here are great alone, and even better when paired together! I hope that this post gave you some motivation, ideas, and a springboard to get started. If you have any questions or suggestions of your own, I'd love to here about them in a comment!
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またね！
Great advice! Studying methods can vary from person to person, so a different setting or context where you use Japanese can do wonders for reinforcement. I also like how you offer different approaches to the methods itself :)
Personally I like watching news segments on YouTube, bc most of their spoken content is subtitled/written on screen and easier to contextualize in real life.