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I did the AJATT method way back in the day when it was relatively new. So heavily leaned on Anki, whilst also consuming loads of natural Japanese through music,

I did the AJATT method way back in the day when it was relatively new. So heavily leaned on Anki, whilst also consuming loads of natural Japanese through music, shows, games, conversation etc. In my experience doing both in tandem was the magic combination. Anki without native media is mildly pointless. Native media without Anki is super inefficient. Used in equal measure you find your access and understanding of native media continually ratchets up day by day every 3000 cards I would notice a very significant jump in my abilities when consuming native media and partaking in conversation. Nothing else has really come close for me out of all the other things I've tried.

martindbp 4y ago
That's essentially what I tried with Chinese, and I could sort of keep up with it before I had a kid but then I just can't find the time/energy to keep the backlog down AND watch new content, so for several years I stopped learning completely. I also want to minimize time spent in Anki because it's just not fun, you know? I know common wisdom says it _should_ be painful, that means you're learning, but I'm not so sure. Me and everyone I know learned English without much pain or Spaced Repetition Systems after all. It's a much easier language to learn than Japanese/Chinese though, but it makes me feel it shouldn't have to be this difficult.