Guides
Short field notes for adult learners. Pick one bottleneck, then change one habit.
How to use SRS without burning out
Treat review capacity as a fixed budget. Finish due work before adding material, and let the queue shrink when life gets crowded.
9 min readIs WaniKani enough to learn Japanese?
WaniKani is a strong answer to a missing kanji plan. It is not a complete Japanese course. Pair it with grammar and input, and keep the review queue honest.
7 min readJapanese flashcards on iPhone
On iPhone, pick one review owner. Inku is prepared Japanese cards. AnkiMobile is for decks you already own. A browser drill is enough for a first kana week.
8 min readJapanese study plans for 15, 30, and 60 minutes a day
Use an ordinary weekday, not a Sunday burst. Fifteen minutes keeps the path alive. Thirty minutes is the default. Sixty minutes adds a second input or production block, not a second course.
8 min readLearn kana in two weeks
Learn hiragana in week one and katakana in week two. Use one drill and one review loop. Two weeks is a schedule, not a guarantee.
8 min readToo many Japanese apps. What to drop
Name the job each app claims. Keep one owner per job. Drop the rest for two weeks before you buy a replacement.
7 min readWhat to use after Duolingo for Japanese
After Duolingo, keep at most a five-minute streak. Give the week to one course, Jisho, and a page or audio segment you will actually finish.
7 min readWhat to use after Genki
Finishing Genki is a course handoff, not a license to buy five new apps. Add input you can finish. Add Tobira only if chapters will actually happen.
7 min readHow to combine a textbook, SRS, reading, and listening
Four jobs, one week. The textbook sequences. SRS remembers. Reading and listening give the language somewhere to live. None of them should become a second course.
9 min readHow to move from beginner apps to intermediate Japanese
Intermediate Japanese starts when apps stop being the whole method. Keep the review habit that still fits. Replace extra beginner products with pages and audio you finish.
8 min read