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Jalup Advanced — 67 Comments

  1. I’ll be buying the whole Advanced set (or as much of it as is ready) when I finish the Intermediate later this year. Thanks for all your hard work Adam! :)

  2. This is making me want to do more new cards so that I can get to this deck faster haha (being still in the first half of the beginner)! Although, that would give more reviews… who knows! Point is, thank you for all those!

  3. I didn’t start my Japanese journey until the end of last year. My only formal studying has been through Heisig’s Kana book, Adshap’s RTK/Beginner/Intermediate decks, and a couple of grammar guides (Tae Kim & Japanese the Manga Way) for reference.

    I finished the RTK deck in May along with the Beginner deck. I am on the last stage of the Intermediate deck now and can tell you Adshap has made the transition into J-J very doable if you follow his decks (the J-E-J Bridge method helped a lot as well).

    I wouldn’t be anywhere near my current level, enjoying all sorts of native material, if it weren’t for all of Adshap’s hard work on these decks.

    • 少し見たことがあって同義語じゃないと思います。説明してみます。

      (他人の家や空間に)入る時に「お邪魔します」を使えます。(仕事や話から)出る時に「失礼します」を使えます。また、自分の行きたい所の途中で他人がいるとちょっと失礼に「邪魔」を使えます。

      他の使い方がありますけどまだよく分かりません。アダムさんが僕よりも説明できると思います。

      • そうか、僕の間違い。鬼塚先生(GTO,2012)を入る時に「お邪魔します」と言いました。今は分かります。ありがとう、マットさん。良い説明!

    • weblio辞書から:

      邪魔:
      ① さまたげること。さまたげになるさま。また,その物。
      ② (「おじゃまする」の形で)他家を訪問すること。

      失礼:
      ① 礼儀を欠く振る舞いをする・こと(さま)。失敬。無作法。
      ② 「失礼します」の形で,目上の人の居る場所に入ったり,退出したりする時に言う挨拶の言葉。

      Looking at the primary meanings it is clear that they are not synonyms (「邪魔」 roughly means “inconvenience” while 「失礼」 is more like “disrespect”).
      The secondary meanings of 「お邪魔します」 and 「失礼します」 are a lot closer, both being usable when you are meeting someone, but they seem to have key differences.
      「お邪魔します」is for when you are visiting someone at their place, while 「失礼します」 seems reserved for when you are talking to someone above your level, and usable also as a parting greeting.

      • Yeah I kind of only picked it up from immersion and could tell they were both to do with pardoning oneself (exiting versus entering). This has made it a lot clearer. My japanese isn’t the best so I had a little trouble pulling the difference out because I only understood definition 2 for お邪魔。

        Thanks for the clarification!

    • It’s a really great series. I have got 30 cards left in this advanced deck and I can feel myself improving little by little everyday.

      I hope these sell, if not today then in the long run. I can’t imagine why Japanese learners wouldn’t be interested in these, they have streamlined learning Japanese for me. No time wasting on card creation or getting frustrated with having 4-5 words in a sentence/definition you don’t know. Not to mention each card is explained in an interesting, non-sterile way. Yet it still uses many dictionary phrases/words to prime you for the actual dictionary itself.

      And because Adshap is cherry-picking the vocabulary, we are getting a well rounded base to start immersing and making cards of our own. The only downside with this deck is that I feel very much in a comfort zone, and even though I’ve done a few 100 cards from the One deck, it’s to varying short-term success (compared to JALUP premades) and I still much prefer/enjoy JALUP series. They are such a joy to use comparatively.

      I just hope they are selling, or will sell. I can’t imagine Adshap will be motivated to create anymore pre-mades if there is no monetary benefit. JALUP is a business after all. Personally, these decks have been invaluable to me, and I don’t think I would’ve ever gone J-J without them. I would happily pay any reasonable fee to get more of these, they are that important of a resource to me. Alas, I am only one person, so my opinion/money only counts for so much. Hopefully some other people get to experience how useful these are as a learning tool.

      The convenience and thoughtlessness required to learn cards this way can’t be understated. It’s just so easy to learn new J-J words off these things. It’s like all the negatives of J-J and anki card creation have been eradicated. In my opinion the price for entry is relatively minuscule, especially when looking at alternatives.

      It probably isn’t sustainable to keep expecting these decks. And I definitely won’t stop doing J-J, because I’ve been more than enabled to use the one deck. But the guaranteed pleasure and ease I know I’ll receive is enough for me to always long for the alternative. Even if this is the last series that is ever released, it’ll always remain the most important learning tool I ever received and utilized.

      I guess this is just a really long-winded way of me saying thank you, because I know the money earned from these decks isn’t worth the hours Adshap puts into it. He’s doing it because he wants his JALUPers to have the most comfortable transition into J-J possible. That means a lot to me, and I know everyone that uses, and that will use these decks (and sticks with them), will agree. As extreme as this sounds, these decks have transformed my Japanese journey and in some part, my life, for the better. It’s my dream after to learn Japanese after all, and these decks are making it a reality.

      So thank you, Adam. I won’t forget the lengths you’ve gone to so that we, as a community, can breeze onto the path to fluency. I’ll always gratefully support this site in anyway I can because of it.

      • Just wanted to second this, these decks have been extremely helpful, I’m about halfway through this last one so far.

        As I’ve experienced it, it seems the beginner deck sets the groundwork for grammar and vocab, the intermediate deck focuses on making the transition to J-J, then this deck is geared toward continuing that base, but also giving the tools and knowledge necessary to continue independently afterward, touching on things like keigo, uncommon kanji readings, more advanced grammar, etc.

        I’ve tried adding new cards on my own at various times throughout the times I’ve been studying, and the thing I’ve noticed that keeps improving the most has been the speed at which I can read and work through and add cards. One of the frustrations I had before was working on branches and definitions and feeling like I wasn’t getting very far because I would spend hours and only add a few cards. I think it was worth the struggle and effort, but these decks have helped bridge that gap so that its much more enjoyable to sit down and feel like I’m getting somewhere. Its definitely true that studying makes studying more fun!

        At the same time, its also really nice to have cards already to work on when I’m in school and don’t have as much time as I would like to for adding new ones.

        I think its also important because it seems around this time that progress seems to slow down, by which I mean its easier to see how much one is improving at the beginning when each new word or concept is common and the steps seem big, where now I can study the same number of words or time and not see such a noticeable difference in overall understanding (its definitely there, just harder to see sometimes!), so its nice to have the extra motivation and push that keeps things moving forward.

        Thanks for your hard work Adam, it is much appreciated, and look forward to continuing with the next sets.

      • Well said, James. These decks really are amazing :)

        I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I imagine anyone who did the Intermediate will also do the Advanced, funds permitting. I for one am planning on buying the Advanced set as soon as I finish the Intermediate later this year. I’m sure others are in the same boat, along with still others yet to discover this site and everything it has to offer.

        But I’m definitely hopeful that the sales reach a point where they justify the creation of additional content (perhaps the “theme” decks I mentioned in the Future of JALUP thread?). I’d gladly continue to support the site beyond purchasing the Advanced series, if there’s an opportunity to do so :)

      • I feel so much of what you’re feeling here. These decks have helped me more than anything. I tried to make my own sentences in the beginning and kept putting in incorrect sentences and never understood their individual parts at all. I think these decks have prepared us Japanese-infants to walk out into the Japanese world much more easily and not be frightened by everything we hear/read.

        I’m working on the Intermediate deck and I can say that it is getting much easier to understand J-J, even though there is the occasionally sentence here and there where I don’t understand the whole thing (yet). I find that after enough reps and continuing immersion/other sentences, the meaning will click and you can keep going.

        I haven’t purchased the Advanced decks yet (I might wait until I can buy the bundle of 4), but I definitely will be buying it and soaking it in.

        • I’m glad a lot of people here feel the same way! It’s also good to see others voicing this opinion, I’m sure it means a lot to Adam!

  4. Thank you everyone one for the very kind and supportive words. This continued support and great community really helps motivate me to move forward with everything on this site.

    The more I’ve worked on these decks, the more I’ve come to really enjoy the process and the results they are producing, and the more I really want to make these decks as excellent as possible.

    As my time is limited, being just one person, this limits how much I can create.

    However, I have thought about the possibility of a continuation. As Matt mentions, an Anime Language Theme Package seems like an absolute perfect expansion. I feel like this is an area where there aren’t a lot of resources, and it could prove to make a major difference for all the people learning Japanese out there that want to enjoy anime.

    But time is becoming more of an issue these days as the site’s needs are constantly expanding.

    One possible solution I’ve considered is to Kick Starter it. In addition to people receiving the deck once it is finished, there could be higher reward tiers, like being able to choose an anime where a portion of the package would come from. Also stretch goals like an increased number of cards or hiring some pro voice actors to record audio in anime voices is a possibility.

    To make it appeal to more people, I would do both a J-E (which anyone could use including people who don’t even know about this site) and J-J version (which would continue right off the Jalup Advanced 1000), in PDF and Anki formats.

    I would be able to use the raised money to devote my full time to this, heavily speeding up the creation time (maybe a few months for a 1000 card package) instead of just sporadically finding the free time I have available.

    Though I’m not sure if there is enough interest in this to make a successful Kick Starter campaign.

    Or who knows, maybe I’ll just get around to this one day after the advanced decks.

    Anyway, thanks again as always for the meaningful thoughts, ideas, and feedback.

    • I’d love to see anime language focused decks.
      I’ve had some trouble understanding manga where male delinquents are the main characters especially. The slanginess of the words and phrases they use makes it difficult to look them up.
      I guess the main one I’ve had trouble with is 今日から俺は. A lot of it is quite difficult to understand. There’s an anime of it too but I haven’t tried watching it without subs yet, lol…

      I’d support a Kickstarter project. I’m sure you could make something great if you had enough people support it.

      I’m somewhere in intermediate deck 2 at the moment. Finally starting to get used to J-J. It took me a while for my brain to start processing it. The decks are a great help though :-)

      • This site has been mentioned on here before but if you select “Scrapper” from character expressions, it has a bunch of expressions…as well as the weird grammatical forms that anime tough guys use.

        http://anime-manga.jp/

        • Thanks for that link :-D

          I’ve been having a look through the phrases and they seem like they’ll be really helpful ^.^
          I’ll have a good look through that site today. I’ve seen it before but I didn’t pay it much attention -_-‘

    • I think most understand that you have finite resources available towards the maintenance and progress of JALUP. At the very least, we have been enabled by the JALUP 3000 to wield the One Deck with comparative ease. Of course, many of us have our reasons for preferring more custom JALUP decks. However, the custom decks already available and the One deck are definitely capable of carrying anyone here to fluency.

      I understand that you have other ideas for the site, need to make a living, and have a life outisde of JALUP. Regardless of further decisions, the tools and advice given thus far are more than adequate.

      With that said, I’d be more than up for something like a Kickstarter deck if it helps you accelerate the pace in which you’re able to release the decks. I think the biggest problem with these decks isn’t their accessibility, or usefulness. I think these decks just need more exposure. I can only imagine a widely accessed, mainstream site -such as kickstarter- would be great way in getting said exposure. Though it’s hard to gauge interest in theory, I know.

      Alternatively, if you are able to squeeze custom decks out here and there in between the hustle and bustle that composes your life, there’s no reason why that can’t work too. It’s not like there’s no other study tool to use (like the One deck) while we wait. Of course, it would be ideal for the decks to come out at a similar pace to our study journeys. But, I think most would surmise that this mightn’t be a realistic outcome.

      • The only problem with Kickstarter is that it takes a chunk of the funds (something like 12.5%?), so for it to be worthwhile you need to get significant value out of using it. If the value isn’t there, then you might as well just do a pre-order on JALUP, with a cancellation/refund if the minimum order count isn’t met.

  5. Don’t have much money to spend even on learning atm, but if an advanced stage 1-4 bundle deal is ever released I’ll buy it no matter what.

  6. Wow, you knocked this last one out in no time at all. Nice!

    I’ll be starting the Advanced in November, so I’ll pick up the whole set then. Thanks again for all your hard work! =)

    • I was doing a little bit of 4 at the same time I was doing 3 (which is why 3 took so long), as there were some things I wanted to make sure I’d get through before the end of Advanced.

      Good luck with advanced! You are almost to the end!

  7. It is an amazing amount of work you have done and it has produced one of the best resources out there for creating independent learners for Japanese. Thanks for leading the way to freedom. (read ability to hold our own in Japanese)

  8. Wahh that was quick.
    I’m somewhere in intermediate deck 4 at the moment. Finding that I know most of the words so far so I’m clicking 4 days after one read with most of them so far. By the end of the advanced decks are most of the kanji covered? I need to figure out whether getting the advanced set will be worth the purchase.
    Thanks for all your hard work~~

    • It’s hard to say. Every single card contains something new not found in the previous decks. However I’m assuming you are coming in with a good amount of outside studying, so it’s hard to know what exactly you already know. As always, there is a lot of variety in these decks.

      But hey, even if there are some words you do already know, maybe seeing the Japanese definitions help you cement them even further (and maybe correct what might’ve been a more vague English definition).

      I haven’t done a full kanji count yet, but many of the important kanji you need to know will have been covered after this last 1000.

      • Thanks for the info~
        I find it hard to know where I’m up to, because my studying has been all over the place since I started, haha -_-‘
        I’ve got 80 cards left now in Intermediate 4. Beginning to get more cards now I don’t know words in which is nice~ I think I will get the Advanced bundle when I’m done. I hate to leave things incomplete.

  9. Awesome! I’m still doing some RTK and I have the full beginner pack. I wish I could afford all of these! I broke my bank by getting that and then I saw the kanji supplement (which I haven’t been able to afford). Keep up the great work! I’ll keep an eye on here and on my bank and hopefully I can afford the rest of your amazing work!

  10. far out! Someone’s been working hard. I’m kinda glad i didn’t rush through stage 3 so I can enjoy the last of it at an unhurried pace. Thanks so much Adam! Can’t wait to see what you have in stall for us down the track, as well as what’s already been revealed.

    • Thanks for the continued support throughout them all!

      I’m currently in the process of making a decision about the possible continuation of these decks. Haven’t firmly decided just yet though.

      • I know there are a lot of factors that go into making that decision, but if you feel there’s value in continuing to make them, I’ll happily continue to buy them :)

      • I hope you continue to make these! Such a great option for people who want to expand their vocabulary with Anki, but don’t have the time (or desire) to create their own cards on large scale. Thank you so much for these decks, and all else you’ve done!
        Aside – I’m curious if you have anything to say about quantity of one’s vocab and correlation to their Japanese level..for example would a level 10 have, say, 250 words in their vocab, a level 20, 500 words, etc? Of course there are factors besides quantity, but I’m thinking in generalities; and for a word to be “in one’s vocab” they would need to be able to use that word properly in a sentence, not just recognize it written or spoken. Thoughts?

        • Check out the level guide here:

          http://japaneselevelup.com/what-level-are-you/

          It lists the amount of sentences (which is the equivalent of new vocabulary) per level.

          I think being in one’s vocabulary would be the ability to understand it. Even in your own native language, your passive vocabulary highly outnumbers your active vocabulary.

          • I agree – there are far more words in English and Japanese that I understand, than I actually use. It’s interesting to me that you regard higher the ability to recognize language passively than use it actively. Is there a specific reason for that? I’m big on effective communication, so I have a hard time when I can’t convey something in the way I want – something which happens quite frequently! =)

            • It’s not that it is higher (obviously being in your active vocabulary means you know it better), I just think that it is enough to consider it in “one’s vocabulary” if you can just understand it passively.

              This holds more weight the higher you go. For example, in English or Japanese, I can read an article about somewhat complex finance and understand it, but I probably wouldn’t be able to reproduce it in the same way. I still consider all those finance words part of my vocabulary.

      • Don’t toy with a man’s emotions! You know I’m all for these decks. At the end of the day that decision is yours to make. I’d honestly keep buying these decks up to fluency. My efficiency is so much greater because of these decks. It lets me add more vocabulary at a time and review sentences faster. Which gives me time for the things I enjoy most, immersion. But I also understand if it’s not feasible for you to continue with this series. So here’s to hoping *fingers crossed*

        But either way, thanks for everything thus far. Instrumental on its own!

      • 30 from the premades, and 10-30 when using the one deck/my own cards. Been adding nothing this week though cause of study commitments.

      • I’m doing intermediate kanji assist now and I’m really liking it, but I’m doing it at the same time with RTK. (which really takes a while to get used to). Mnemonics are too good to pass by imo.

        I hope it does get released.

    • You’ll be in a good position to meet the One Deck challenge (it won’t be easy, but it won’t feel as overwhelming). However, I still recommend going through the sentences that are easier first (suspending or deleting what is too complex).

      You have a lot of cards to work with and you should try to learn sentences that only have one or at most two unknowns, and the ones with definitions for the most part you understand.

  11. Would it be possible to start this deck without starting J-J? I’m currently around the 1000 J-E sentence mark and making J-J cards is incredibly painful and boring for me and saps all my desire to study out of me. I can’t afford this or the intermediate package for a few months so should I continue with J-E sentences until I can afford the advanced package or just get the Intermediate package anyway even if it’s below my level? (I’ll be about 4000-5000 sentences in by the time I can buy either)

    • I think if you are at 4000-5000 J-E, you can use Tanuki deck, it’s free but nowhere near the quality of Jalup Decks.

    • Yeah, I mean there is no requirement to use Intermediate before Advanced. However just know that they are connected and built specifically off each other. Otherwise as Manan suggests, you might want to try a free J-J deck out there rather than stick with J-E for so long.

  12. I finished Japanese Level Up Advanced a day ago.
    Some cards were tough. Almost all “Loan Words” were easy. Overall everything was smooth(er).

    Everything I wrote in the review of Intermediate still applies to this deck. With that said, here are some additional Pros and Cons.

    PROS
    Note:- I sent about 12 email to Adam during course of my journey [~9 weeks], discussing about my progress and problems, and they were all answered in a day tops.

    ->Better definitions…or maybe I am getting better at J-J.

    CONS:- [Start being a baby in 3…2…1..]
    Adam is only a human being, so there are a few mistakes in this deck. I found 6 VERY MINOR problems.
    The decks “mentions” both forms but explain only one. [Dunno why, since many, many other pairs like this are explained pretty damn well]
    1. 乗る and 載る。
    2. 目指す and 目差す [probably a typing error. I think the second is only used in 魚の目差す]
    Only these two.
    Then 4 words [out of 1000+] are not explained at all:-
    3. 許す
    4. 拒否
    5. なぜか。なぜなれば。
    6. There is no mention of 春 as an indicator of youth, and yet it is mentioned in a definition for 青春。
    [I hope the later Expert stages mention these. As an Easter Egg. Like in an RPG. Then people would ask question like, “Do I have to play Intermediate and Advanced to enjoy Expert?”. Bad Joke. I’ll stop now.]

    Aside from these 6, any other problemのはずがない。
    A small rant.The most difficult words for me are those which have no Kanji. きっぱり。さっぱり…they just drain the 活力 out of me.

    とにかく This is by far the best tool for leveling up your Japanese. I feel I am at level ~35 [after giving the Test Your Might].

    • Immersion fixes everything eventually, anyways. So I wouldn’t look too much in them. What matters is moving forward.

    • Edit (8/16/2015): Adam corrected many i+1 errors. There are virtually 0 errors in this deck. This is “Perfection” (or as close you can get to it).

  13. I finished Advanced yesterday! やった!!!

    For those of you who finished Beginner and Intermediate, this is more of the same in a good way. Advanced is definitely easier than Intermediate because you’re just more used to J-J, but there were still some hard words in here! Those words about luck towards the end, geez!

    I was surprised by the verity of words I learned, but any strange words where I wonder if I’d ever see it in real life then pop up in my tv watching/manga reading a few days later. Use this to your advantage… don’t add too many of your own cards because the truly useful stuff is in this deck.

    I have to admit it took me 3 tries to finish this deck, but I think that was mostly because I hadn’t fully learned the intermediate deck and struggled to learn and retain meanings and readings. It took me a 2 month break from Japanese to just come at it fresh and blow through Advanced in a month and a half.

    Now, onto Expert and finishing the RTK deck… I will say as you get farther into these decks it’s much more useful to get RTK under your belt, and the nice part is that it’s (relatively) easy once you have a few thousand sentence cards under your belt!

    And THANK YOU TO THE JALUP LINE GROUP, who always helped answer my questions. You guys rock.

    • Is the JALUP Line Group still active? I submitted an application a while ago and got no reply, so I figured it might’ve been dead. Either that or I mis-spelled my email address.

      • It’s definitely active, maybe try applying again and spell your address correctly :)?

        Everyone is really nice on it and it’s worth joining if you’re able to.

            • Hmm, that’s weird. When I tried using that form the past two times it gave me a confirmation message saying the message was received. Both times I filled in my name and e-mail along with the links to 3 comments and the self-introduction and the captcha. I didn’t put anything in the fields for receipt # or group member that knows me because the form said only 2 out of 4 were required. Maybe that’s the problem? I just tried re-submitting it with some text put into the other two forms to see if that works.

    • Would you (or anyone else) say that it would be a good idea to take a break from new sentences in between decks, to focus on reviewing and solidifying the previous deck’s knowledge? IE finish Beginner, stop doing new cards for 1-4 weeks, do intermediate, stop adding new cards for 1-4 weeks, start advanced, etc?

      • I would, especially if you are having trouble with the previous deck. Stopping to take breathers can help a lot and just help all those things solidify in your head.

        When I take breaks from adding cards, I find that if I was diligent and studied all my due cards every day, within a week or two I get the desire to add cards again and just go for it. I did this a few times while going through Advanced.

        Make sure you dive into Japanese media during any break when adding cards, which will help you understand your cards better. For beginner stuff just pick something with a simple plot and that’s easy- I personally found Ore Monogatari and KouKou Debut to be great for this (same mangaka). I think I blasted through Ore Monogatari in two weeks when I was towards the end of my Beginner deck.

        • Thanks for your answer! I’m already blasting through media so that part wont be a problem haha, rewatching shows I have watched in dub / sub in the past that I’ve been meaning to rewatch, so this way I already know the plot, so I can focus on trying to pick up words here and there! haha

  14. I’m almost done with Jalup Advanced. It feels like my brain hasn’t converted to JJ, even though the cards have. I’m level 28 in XP navi.

    I have done some immersion, but it is daunting. I am looking foward to having Jalup Immersion by my side. I am relived to know you can double barrel Expert and Master once you finnish advanced. Reaching Jalup Master has been a covited goal since I bought Jalup about two years ago.

    I added JE definitions for 交渉 and 若干 because they were tripping me up. Bad JE habit, sorry. I have 4 Jalup leeches 成り行き、重要, 苦情, and … 季節

    out of 67 leeches-given 2360 of Jalup and 2858 Non-Jalup cards. Goes to show how much more effective studying is when you use a high quality deck. Thanks AdShap!

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