Bens Japanese Learning Websites

Bens Japanese Language Learning Websites

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

While living in Japan I came across von Goethe's quote above and it struck a resonance within me. To me it meant that learning Japanese was not enough in itself, I must do something. After five months in Japan, after I had settled in, I wanted to be involved. I wanted to have an impact on people around me. I wanted to help people. I wanted to use my personal experiences to help others so that they can achieve what I did faster, easier, and far surpass what I did.

To some it sounds far fetched. To most it seems like a novel idea but not worth the effort, aka not worth spending time on something that doesn't make you income or further your career. 

But that's selfish. That line of thinking keeps the world where it is and I firmly believe that we need to leave the world a better place than we left it. Alright alright, I know, enough with the far fetched dreamy ideas. Talk is cheap, I know.

If you know me, and after reading some of this blog I think you guys do, you'll know that I talk a big talk; but that I try to walk that talk.

With those things in mind, and knowing that the knowledge and fluency of Japanese itself, self-contained within myself is worthless unless it can be of some benefit to others, I started simple. 

I set out to try help others learn Japanese faster and easier than I did. I programmed in my spare time and so I went to it. First I developed an online flashcard system, I added automated crossword puzzles, I added rpg-like leveling and rewards systems, I improved the user-experience and interface as much as I could, I developed an online Japanese verb conjugator, I started a forum, I started and continually wrote a language learning blog, and I programmed and worked on an online Japanese grammar practice question bank for people to review Japanese concepts that they had once learned, but had become rusty.

The tragic part of all this is that I immensely improved my programming skills, but because I did these things after my year in Japan, during my masters degree program in quantitative economics...my own Japanese learning suffered, a lot. I also feel I haven't helped anyone learn Japanese any faster or at all for that matter. After all, just use anki srs or Rocket Language Japanese..

So for now, they aren't going through any major growth stages as the opportunity cost of working on them much further is detrimental to progress on my thesis and transition into my career.

BUT,

Here they are, I particularly think my Japanese grammar practice site has more comparative advantage over the Japanese vocabulary site (even though I spent much more time on the vocab one).
  1. www.JPDrills.com
    • An online Japanese grammar practice site. 
      • Following my learn through practice philosophy, it generates a new Japanese exercise for a particular Japanese grammar element in various quiz styles (3 at the moment). Instead of general, "blanket term" Japanese quizzes that test on everything, it gives you laser-precision focus on your desired grammar point so that you can achieve mastery and feel 100% comfortable to use it in your next conversation.
  2. www.JPVocab.com
    • An online Japanese vocabulary building site.
      • Again, following my learn through practice philosophy, this site has a plethora of standard and not-so-standard Japanese flashcard decks. The thing that makes this site different from other vocab sites is that you can achieve mastery over any given set of words by having laser-precision focus in learning the meaning AND the kanji. Progress is achieved through levels that subsequently add more vocabulary to your working practice set. The levels decrease and increase based on your knowledge of Japanese words in any particular deck. In this way an equilibrium is achieved so that, unlike anki, you aren't overwhelmed with the sheer amount of vocabulary you have to practice. The levels will adjust themselves downwards, and decrease the amount of vocabulary you have in your working set of available words until you reach a set of words that you naturally feel confident in. The whole goal here is confidence. When you feel confident you don't feel overwhelmed. When you feel overwhelmed you don't practice. Consistent practice is king. It doesn't matter the method you use to learn Japanese, as long as you're consistent you'll make better progress than those who use the most efficient method once-per-month. So JPVocab.com manages your Japanese vocabulary confidence by adjusting the amount of words you are getting quizzed on so that you feel like you want to practice rather than be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of words you have to learn or the fact that you haven't studied the vocab set for a month and you've forgotten some words. The levels will self-adjust and bring the number of vocab down so that you can start with a working set of vocabulary you're confident in.

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