7 Things I’ve Learned Speed Running Jalup
Hey everyone! So cool to be able to submit and try and give back in a small way to the awesome community here. My name’s Bradley and I’m currently two months into my own language learning journey, but I’m 1/3rd of the way to my goal of learning it in 6 months. “Wait, 6 months!?” Yep, you heard that right, crazy stuff (like seriously crazy stuff which you can read on the blog linked above).
That said, I’ve spent a lot of time in Jalup (made it through beginner and kanji kingdom), and I’ve found some quirks (or features :P) that make it more powerful and want to share them for those who are starting or may be further along needing new ways to challenge themselves.
This isn’t an “I’m a guru” post, but a sharing of some techniques that helped me and I wished I was able to read at the start. So, without further ado, here are some tips to help make your journey easier and more enjoyable.
1. Learning Kanji Meaning First (No drawings, No sounds)
Truth be told, I didn’t want to learn kanji. I really was resistant to it and didn’t start until I was a month and a half in (which is like starting 9 months in for normal speeds). What helped me shift to “learning” them though was when a friend gave me a kanji book and the author wrote something along the lines of “learning kanji makes Japanese as accessible as any other language.”
It kind of blew my mind as I realized that if I could understand what a kanji was trying to tell me, the whole process would be as easy as if I was trying to learn Spanish. I got excited and started learning that day, but not 20 minutes in and I hit a wall, the same one I always did.
It’s too much info. Having to write it, pronounce it, and understand it all while trying to do that 2,049 more times!? Sure, (水) means water but (濃) means concentrated?? Oof. I wanted to give up there and just go back to slogging it with the sentences. But that quote nagged at me, I wanted to make it easier but what could I do to get through this hurdle?
Break it down. The basics of language learning say, “Massive input is needed for output”, which got me thinking, “Why try to output (draw or pronounce) them when I haven’t even seen them enough times to know what I’m looking at?” I then took it a step further. The only thing you need in the beginning is to know the meaning as you naturally learn the pronunciation and uses of the kanji through exposure (a fancy word for input).
So that’s what I did, and what I recommend. I learned the kanji and keyword and then in reviews would cover up the word and look only at the kanji and then would check if I got it right or not. Doing this gives you an anchor with the kanji so even though you know almost no Japanese, you have a foothold. Now, when you’re looking at a sentence for the first time and don’t know anything, you have the kanji (your new friend) sitting there saying “hey, remember I’m keyword ‘x’ so this sentence probably has something to do with that!” Fear eliminated.
2. Iterate on your Kanji Meanings
When you are learning Kanji (no matter the method), it’s important to see the building blocks but to know that just because a building block means “x” in one kanji, doesn’t mean it can’t also mean “y” in another.
Most stories we create, struggle because we don’t want to expand our building blocks to fit more use cases. However, kanji are wild and sometimes seeing the same “block” that worked for the first instance not working for others can be a sign that you should “update it”.
My moment of clarity came when I had been using the left hand “B” looking character to mean building in (防) “prevent,” (as in “prevent the building from falling on you”) but realized building wasn’t cutting it for a lot of the later ones.
In this case, I “updated” it to mean “mound” (specifically a small mound with a giant hole in the middle (think Thor’s hammer on earth)) and have found it works a lot better for other characters like (陥) “Fall into (a mound)”, (降) Descend (into the mound), or (陣) Military camp (thinking they’re camped at the top of a mound). At least, it’s way easier than “Fall into a building” or “Military camp in the building” ahaha.
These examples may not work for you and this isn’t really anything too profound, but it is a reminder that Japanese is weird and that what works for some kanji doesn’t work for all. So, keep trying new stuff to see what works!
3. Use the Search Bar!
This is a killer tip and one I wish was promoted more. At the top of Jalup is a search bar. For a while, I only used it to search for a kanji or specific sentence whenever I wanted to for various reasons. However, when I was deep in the trenches of Beginner, I felt extremely lost and was marking many sentences wrong (over and over and over).
It wasn’t because I was dumb, but my brain hadn’t had the time or exposure needed to distinguish between certain verb endings or “add-ons” (like たく being “want”). So, rather than give up, I said “what can I do?” Search bar! That’s what I can do.
If you type into the search bar “casual” you’ll get all the casual endings, or “polite” for polite ones. you can even search “たく” to find it used in several places. The best part of this, is that you’re seeking clarity on a specific area and you get lots of examples that you have to puzzle together. (Yay for games!) It’ll help you understand, and you feel like you accomplished something; wins all around.
4. The Listening Section is Also the Speed-Reading Section
If you mute the listening section and look at your phone, random Japanese phrases (that you’ve learned) appear really quickly. You can mess with the settings to decide how long before you see the next one (like a 5 second shadow period) and even limit how many are shuffled in (range of 25?) and then have at.
You’ll be speed-reading in no time.
And if you don’t know how to say something, just turn up the volume…they say it for you!! Haha. As a bonus, you building your reading skills increases all your others.
5. Use the Buttons Right!
Adam does a great job going in-depth about the app here but I really wanted to highlight two buttons in the app: Good and bad. Specifically, did you know there are 4?? If you hold the two, you unlock “see sooner” by holding the red one, and “see much later” by holding the green one.
Why is this useful? Most of us know 食 (to eat), which means that when we see it in Kanji Kingdom, we don’t need to see it as frequently as the others that we’re learning. What to do? Hurl it into the future by holding that green button! Best part is, like a good SRS does, it’ll bring it back up, so even if you shouldn’t have, you’ll see it again.
And for those we struggle with, it’s good to see them sooner, more practice, right? So, hold that red button and you’ll get more out of Jalup and your studies. (If you use anki, lucky you, this tip is already there and working for you!!)
6. Trust the System
You are starting a journey that many have gone on before. You know nothing. I say it as a friend encouraging you to throw aside your pride and to trust that what is recommended, is for a reason.
I personally struggled with this as I refused to want to learn the Kanji the “traditional way” of attaching an English word to them. It seemed dirty especially when I wanted to get to J-J faster. The funny thing is though, in me learning the meanings (as I recommended above and did myself) it’s made it significantly easier and more fun to study.
I realized that no one before us looks back to give advice saying, “you’re dumb and should stay there”. No, they give advice to say, “I thought that’d be faster too, but it wasn’t, do this.”
Jalup was designed with you in mind. Trust that it was designed to make you fluent and that on the days you think it won’t, it will. Trust those who are fluent to help get you there. They’re here for you (and me haha, we’re getting there together!)
7: Have Fun!!
All these tips help to speed it up and get more out of your study time but remember to have fun! It’s a process, not just a goal, and one that when you’ve finished, you’ll wish you could start over. Use these tips to speed it up or improve that process, but don’t forget that you’re here to have fun. Enjoy what it is you’re learning. Enjoy it so you can look back and smile. You will become fluent.
Wrap Up
Hopefully these tips help and encourage you to try new things. What are some quirks you’ve found? Let me know below (I need all the hacks I can get :P) And if you want to cheer me on feel free to hop over to my Language Challenge. Thanks! and “Keep Moving Forward” – Disney.
I like to write things ?. Fun things, challenging things, stupid things, and all the things in-between. Such as how “things” suddenly sounds weird in your head cause I pointed it out.
With your 5th point you just blew my mind! I went through all of the jalup app without knowing (笑笑笑笑笑笑笑笑笑笑笑)! This is so incredibly useful! :)
Great post, I did the Kanji the same way as you did. The anchoring effect is real and it works, but I like to keep in mind that at some point I will want to learn to write all (well, lets say the one I encounter often enough) of them as well. But for me doing recognition only eased the burden enough to push through them. Just keep in mind that by being forced to produce you can form a much stronger connection to a kanji so that can be really useful for some of the ones which keep eluding your mind (at least that worked for me).
Also, your 6th point, especially in combination with the last one, is one which cannot be stressed enough. Keep the faith, you *will* get rewarded.
Good luck on your speedrun. I am always amazed what runners can find in those games, and Japanese learning is in desperate need of some glitches (although immersion kinda feels like one)
Thanks, Yass!
Glad to hear I’m not alone with the Kanji struggle :P I do plan to learn to produce them, but I wanted to focus more on the sentences and getting into more fun things quicker as I need lots of input. I’ll keep the production method in mind though as there are still some that won’t stick, so hopefully writing them out helps.
Haha, I shared #5 thinking “Hmm, everyone already knows this, but I’ll share anyway.” so I’m glad I was wrong and that it blew your mind!! (Blew mine too when I read the post Adam wrote haha)
I’ll keep you updated! I already have a few more tips that are helping with intermediate and have made the overall process much easier. Looking forward to sharing those soon.
Appreciate the support in the meantime :)
Jalup decks (beginner + intermediate) dont have enough vocabulary even for N3, right?
So what are you doing for that?
See this post for reference on what Jalup deck levels prepare you for what JLPT levels (the comments section provides some great insight!)
https://japaneselevelup.com/levels-jlpt-jalup-decks-prepare/
I used Jalup up until it costed money. I don’t have enough money to spend on it, but I did learn a lot from it. I was on Jalup beginner and I am level 5, what do you recommend I do?
Hey Sakura!
A couple of thoughts:
1) You can buy Beginner (cheaper) and if you find that to not be helpful continuing forward, Adam has a generous return policy in which you can email him for a refund.
2) Depending on your goals, Jalup may not be worth it. I’m shooting for fluency and being able to speak and think in Japanese. A lofty goal with a heavy tool needed hence my investment. If you’re just looking to have fun and dabble, there are many great free/cheaper tools to check out.
Even learning the kanji is free and that can be enough to satisfy your Japanese thirst. While you look into those other options, you can use it as a time to save money to buy Jalup, and also to test your resolve: Do you really want it?.
3) I personally think it’s worth the investment, but it’s hard to tell you to commit that money when life is hard. I will say, doing the math, it’s fairly equivalent in cost for most products (over an extended period of time), but Adam is against subscriptions as they often don’t produce results and are just money grabs (speaking for him here, so he can definitely pitch in if I miss-spoke).
All that said, my recommendation is that if you really want to learn Japanese, save up and get Jalup. It’s not impossible elsewhere, it’s just significantly easier with Jalup. I won’t lie though, Jalup is hard and isn’t for everyone (though it sounds like you liked it), but neither is Japanese. And that’s okay.
You decide what’s right for you, even if that’s getting a Genki textbook and watching anime. There’s no right or wrong way for you to become fluent, and Jalup isn’t here to tell you you’ll fail without it. It’s here to help but knows it’s worth its weight and does charge for it.
I wish you the best (and hope to see you in the comments again with progress!) as we all walk together trying to help each other out :) 頑張っている (Do your best/Good luck)
Its impossible to be anywhere near fluent in six months even if you immerse 24/7. You’re just setting yourself up for disappointment. Not trying to negative but six months is just so unrealistic. A year from now when u can’t even understand a kids anime or simple tv drama you’ll be in tears. Set realistic goals, these kinda posts just hurt yourself and other learners. Also someone who has been learning japanese for two months has no right to give advice to other learners. How are you goibg to give advice about a goal you havent (and wont in six months ) achieved yet, it just hurts new learners. Ive been learning languages for 17 years so trust me i know what im talking about. Adam used to openly be against these type of posts smh
Hey Chow Yun Fat!
Thanks for reading my article and commenting :)
Sorry to hear you feel the way you do. I didn’t want to come off as a “guru” with my tips here, but I felt that they were relevant as I had uncovered them spending the numerous hours I did clearing Beginner and Kanji Kingdom. I think that’s why Adam, who also used to be very gung-ho until his recent perspective changes, felt that this would be a good article for those who are joining the party as late as I am.
That said, you’re not wrong, 6 months is crazy. But life is short and it ought to be crazy. I’m not delusional in believing I’ll have fully thought through and logical conversations, but I do believe that I can reach a point where I will be able to read Japanese (which is a reading fluency per sei) and have basic conversations. Fluency is a loose word with many definitions, and I agree that can be damaging to have an unrealistic thought of it. But to say this challenge is destructive and hurting the community is where I respectfully disagree.
Challenges force us to think outside of the box and find shortcuts. Things to help and speed up the process. In that, we can find tips like those mentioned above, that help others who don’t have the time to put in and discover the tricks. I’d also say that there’s a lot of self-growth and learning provided in trying to rush a language. It’s one thing to hear “it’s hard”, it’s another to have to wake up and see 400+ reviews and knowing that half of it is still hazy and your challenge has you add on another 100 that same day. That feeling isn’t easy to express with “it’s hard”.
Lastly, I am new to the scene, but I want to continue to learn and refine. If you have advice for learning that you feel is more tangible, then I would like to hear it. You’ve been learning languages for 17 years, and me three months. It’d be cool to see you write a post that I can use and put into practice as I follow in yours any many other people’s footsteps.
Wishing you the best!
-Bradley
I’ve posted myself and posted others’ power leveling stories for years on this site. Breaking the norms, learning faster than others claim you can, and attempting the seemingly impossible.
I do balance this out though with making sure to show the other side of these stories – the low chance of success, the high chance of burnout, and what the average person usually can accomplish. But I never discourage those trying to break barriers.
5 years ago an author here on the site talked about “overgoals”
https://japaneselevelup.com/level-40-8-months/
The concept is that you set incredibly high goals. And even if you don’t reach them, you still accomplish a whole lot. It’s a risky proposition, but comes with great reward.
Regardless of whether the result is success or failure, let people test their limits :)
I always set high goals as well and the result is amazing, but I had no job,no friends, I read khatzumotos AJATT and I did, 24/7 Japanese for a year and was no where near fluent, even after 3 hours study a day for 3 years prior, I get it set a high goal and reach 70% is better than someone who learns ten words a day, but u yourself said even with constant immersion takes 3-4 years to become fluent, I had the same drive, but these people saying they’ll be fluent in 6 months, it just doesn’t happen. Again I love this site and I need wasn’t trying to be a hater but so many people think of they can fully immerse for 3_6 months they will be fluent it’s bs. That’s why I prefer this site amd mattvsjapan cos they are more realistic. Those sites that say u can be fluent in 3_6 months are an insult, that’s the beginners high, Japanese has so many words and nuances, even under perfect circumstances it takes a few years, PS love this site, some of the articles have been life changing but the whole six-eigteen month lie I just can’t get behind
Thanks for posting this article. I found your first point super useful. I was breezing through the deck for the first few hundred Kanji as I had already experienced most of them before. But at the 400 odd mark I suddenly hit a wall and felt like hardly anything was sticking from a production point of view though I was recognizing relatively okay. So it was just frustrating me. And trying to produce the Kanji doesn’t seem to do anything for me for reinforcing it. Plus at this point in my learning journey I don’t see the benefit in being able to recall a Kanji from an English keyword. During immersion I feel the most important bit is seeing a Kanji and recognizing it and having a rough feeling of what it could possibly mean. Then secondly having an idea on the rough stroke order or a possible Japanese reading to help look up the word.
Tried your approach and I feel so much better about it again. My approach is the same to cover the sentence and move right to the back and see if I can recall the English keyword. I’ll also try and recall the Japanese reading but won’t mark it as a fail if I can’t recall it. Then I’ll check if I got the English keyword right and read the sentence making sure I can recall all the English keywords.
It would be nice if there was another KK display option to just display the Kanji in isolation on the front of the card. Then I could attempt to recall the stroke order (though I wouldn’t fail if I got it wrong). And I feel like just having the Kanji in isolation on the front might make it easier to recognize during immersion so you don’t get too tied to the sentences they show up in.