Aikibujin wrote:

Based on previous studies, and my own knowledge of linguistics, I would imagine the greatest benefit of the TextFugu content you haven’t completed yet is the grammar aspect.

So yeah, I think it would be very beneficial for you to not worry too much about getting the vocab solid and instead focus on the grammar and usage rules. Once you are comfortable with creating any sentences you want, you can then expand your vocabulary, which will continue even after you are considered fluent anyway.

And yes you would benefit from learning your vocab through WaniKani instead, as you are only learning them once, instead of learning the same thing in two different ways.

As long as you have enough vocab to practice your grammar, Kanji and grammar is what you really want to focus on, especially if something else is dragging you down.

I also recommend starting a blog on http://lang-8.com/ so you can practice.

-Cheers

Thanks for the advice! I agree with you… I suppose I was just hesitant to follow my own gut when the almighty Fugu seemed to stress the importance of knowing the vocab before continuing, haha. Now I feel a little more confident doing so.

As for learning them two different ways when using WaniKani in conjunction with other stuff, I actually find that really beneficial. Something really clicks in my brain when I see something on WaniKani that I already knew the spoken word of, or sort-of knew. Kinda like when you’re familiar with certain words from songs, games, anime etc. but learning it in WaniKani gives you a fuller picture, and a deeper understanding of those words. I like that feeling a lot!

Given that, maybe I’ll treat TextFugu words as “get familiar with, but don’t stress it too much”. Then when I see more of those pop up on WaniKani, being somewhat familiar will give me that extra boost to solidify it.

Grammar is something I definitely need a lot of work on, so onward in TextFugu it is!

About Lang-8, I’m already a member actually :D buuuut… I’ve kinda been neglecting it lately. I got discouraged when I couldn’t come up with much to say, and spent almost all of my time correcting English instead of attempting Japanese. I hope to get back in it soon, when I get rolling with TextFugu again, I suppose.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by  Jamuko.

Jamuko wrote:

As for learning them two different ways when using WaniKani in conjunction with other stuff, I actually find that really beneficial. Something really clicks in my brain when I see something on WaniKani that I already knew the spoken word of, or sort-of knew. Kinda like when you’re familiar with certain words from songs, games, anime etc. but learning it in WaniKani gives you a fuller picture, and a deeper understanding of those words. I like that feeling a lot!

Indeed. So far TF has been behind WK for me, so almost all the vocab on TF I’ve already learnt or know of it. When I “re-meet” it on TF I get that feeling of familiarity and a little boost in confidence. I’m a big believer in learning from multiple sources, especially when it comes to the ‘net, as no one source is perfect and each source brings something different to the table. At the moment I’m doing:

Wanikani
Textfugu and it’s Anki decks
Memrise: Tae Kim Grammar course
Japanese From Zero (Book)
and I’m thinking of getting a tutor, an hour a week, to help me with pronunciation, conversation and reading.

So far, it’s working for me each source is reinforcing the others. The variety of styles are also helping my memory as usually it is crap.

So true Aikibujin, if I relied on Anki I would be so confused, I really don’t like the way the TF decks are set out. I’ve organized them as per your post, which helps a bit but Anki is already complaining that I have to many decks and I’ve only just started Season 3!. I’m really starting to hate Anki, it’s so clunky and unappealing to look at. I might even write my own SRS… I like the concept of batches of lessons, like in WK and Memrise, before testing.

This is why WK is my primary source for Kanji & Vocab, the others can then strengthen my learning and supplement with a few extra K & V which I can cope with.

Aikibujin wrote:

So yeah, I think it would be very beneficial for you to not worry too much about getting the vocab solid and instead focus on the grammar and usage rules. Once you are comfortable with creating any sentences you want, you can then expand your vocabulary, which will continue even after you are considered fluent anyway.

I’m finding already, with what little grammar I have, that my K/V retention is improving as I am using it in a context, and in turn that is strengthening retention. It’s like a “vicious circle” the grammar and the vocab are chasing and feeding each other :) So I’m getting hungrier for more grammar, that’s why I started the Tae Kim course as well.

I am pleased to say that I just completed season 4! From everything I’ve read, season 5 sounds like a beast though.

This is pretty much my outlook on TF so far (for those of you who get this sort of thing).

for( int currentSeason = 1; currentSeason < TextFugu.Seasons.length + 1; currentSeason++ ) {
Torabisu.learnStuff();
Anki.addCards( currentSeason.cards );
Torabisu.studyTheCrapOutOfThem( currentSeason.cards );
Torabisu.weep();
Torabisu.skillLevel['Japanese']++;
}