掲示板 Forums - Something extra to help you memorise vocabs
Top > 日本語を勉強しましょう / Let's study Japanese! > Anything About Japanese
Hi! 
I just decided to share something I started doing during my vocabulary 復習 sessions. The main point here is to have a simple note file on your computer where you'll add a few words while you go through the quizzes on Renshuu. Here's a picture for reference. 
I'll throw some bullet points now to try to explain how I use this.
1) "So, what words do you add to this file?"
- Words I couldn't remember
- Words I fancy (because why not)
- Words I remembered but which made me struggle.
- Words I remembered, but I somehow feel like they could have got me offguard at another moment.
- Other words containing a given 漢字, which might help remembering its reading, other readings or even simply other words containing said 漢字. If you're particularly confident about a reading, you can just leave only the 漢字 on the left.
- New words of the day. You can easily create sections for these by putting an extra line both at the top and at the bottom, so you'll recognise these "new words" areas quickly.
- EXTRA: if you're writing verbs, and you'd like to have both the transitive and intransitive form close to each other, make sure to keep the same pattern at all times to avoid confusion (either TR・INTR or viceversa).
2) "What's up with the formatting?"
- Yes, the gap between the 漢字 and the readings is key here. This way you can easily hide the readings by moving the window of the note file on the side of your screen, so you won't be able to cheat even if you wanted to.
3) Is this a file you keep adding stuff in?
- No, it isn't. The point here is to add some words as you go through the daily quizzes as you see fit, save it and then reopen it sometimes later as an extra 練習. After you're done with said extra 練習, just select everything > Delete > Save and close. Next time you'll start from a blank slate with the same file, and you'll add some words again with the same criteria explained in point 1).
UPDATES 
4) While you're going through the words you've added to this txt file, you can mark those you still didn't remember or struggled with with an asterisk and then come back to those before deleting everything and saving.
Also, if you're struggling with words written in ひらがな or カタカナ, you can write the meaning on the left instead and then "hide" the word in Japanese on the right side of the document.
Hopefully that was clear enough!
Hope this helps! 
ps: thank you for the Supporter 好き!!!
Oh fun one
You could also use it at the end of quizz to quickly add a few sentences in another schedules for extra practice around the problematic words. Or the word you like. Or a secondary word schedules for the kanji whose meaning or readings are still not stable (a support schedule with to go through quickly).
Or also browsing the dictionary/sentences. Just taking some time after a quizz can "unlock" some words/kanji by understanding a single detail. No need to always plan additional review. I often do that with kanji for example. But one day before the quizz. Like I often browse the words that use a particular kanji to try to understanding the general or main meaning. Because the translation often shower you with meaning you don't need or are too rare and just useless even for japanese. It's doing its job as a "bilingual dictionary" but when you're learning, it's just... the worse x). At some point, I was so annoyed, I change the definition ("translation") of a few hundred kanji by removing everything except one or two words. It didn't cover everything but I was never able to remember everything to begin with. Still can't. Ask me all the definitions ("translations") of 掛ける and I won't be able to answer you (even if I'm able to use it).
Anyway, I'm getting off track 
Thanks for sharing! =p
Just curious, what program and font is that? It looks cool
Also, I'll be sure to try out this method in the future!
Just curious, what program and font is that? It looks cool
Also, I'll be sure to try out this method in the future!
The program is the standard "Notes" from Windows, the one which saves txt files. Nothing fancy
About the font, you can change the default one and size easily if you're planning to use the same software.
The UI is in Italian, but should be fairly understandable still. Of course, any other software which allows you to make a wide window to create the gap between the 漢字 and the furiganas will do the job. 
Hope this helps!
Also, it's because I'm using Word 97, a part of the only software suite I use on other machines for portability, and I don't have restrictions on using it. The downside is there's no way I can get furigana, so I'm adapting.
Not sure if this can help, but when I add furiganas in my notes in general I just add those in an extra line on top and make the font tiny (7.5-8) compared to the size of the standard text below (12). Now that it's above, you can also move it as little as you can with a trick. Insert a blank space before the furigana you're moving. Now select said blank space and change the size of the font. This way, you'll be reducing only the size of the empty blank space, and it's quite useful to place the furiganas on top of the 漢字 with more precision. In the picture below I went from 7.5 to 5.5 to get the desired effect.
As an all purpose word editor, I often use WPS for taking "serious" notes. The base version it's free.
Hope this helps!
Also, it's because I'm using Word 97, a part of the only software suite I use on other machines for portability, and I don't have restrictions on using it. The downside is there's no way I can get furigana, so I'm adapting.
Not sure if this can help, but when I add furiganas in my notes in general I just add those in an extra line on top and make the font tiny (7.5-8) compared to the size of the standard text below (12). Now that it's above, you can also move it as little as you can with a trick. Insert a blank space before the furigana you're moving. Now select said blank space and change the size of the font. This way, you'll be reducing only the size of the empty blank space, and it's quite useful to place the furiganas on top of the 漢字 with more precision. In the picture below I went from 7.5 to 5.5 to get the desired effect.
As an all purpose word editor, I often use WPS for taking "serious" notes. The base version it's free.
Hope this helps!
The trouble with that is the way it's formatted, I need it to line up with the text for it, even if I assume that every other line is used to put in for "furigana". I can already figure out formatting, but this is much more tedious and laborious to do manually when I could just simply use kana in places on the same line or somewhere, or sparingly by relying more on me remembering readings.
Plus, that doesn't play well with cut and paste as it is. It's a process that just isn't automated. So I just try to avoid it as much as I can and worry less.
Happy to help!
There are a lot of small details like that can pile up over the years and that is the "best method" imo. A custom one based on personal preference, lifestyle, etc.
Oh yeah definitely. To be fair sometimes I don't even complete the review of this file in the same day. Sometimes the next one, another time I just delete it and start again from scratch cause it's late and/or I don't feel like it. But what I like about this method is that it forces you to type words multiple times, and since this is not a file where you keep adding stuff, but you reset quite often, you just keep doing it.
At first, I also had doc files I made for vocabs, but then I realised I never went back to those and it took me too much time. Different story for grammar, it's quite handy to come back to my notes when I have doubts. 漢字 mmh, I like the idea of having files where I type the readings and words nice and tidy, but when I review them I just use the app and go through the terms of a schedule usually. I do keep notes of vocabs and grammar I find in games/movies and so on though, as a separate thing.
"I realised I never went back to those and it took me too much time"
Yeah, well, I'm that for everything XD
I tried but no, not for me. I've probably have a few thousand notes accumulated from the last 10 years on my computer on various things (languages, science, philosophy, random thougth, book title, etc., etc.) and most of the time, I only reopen years later xD. Some of them even only contain 1 word sometimes...
I have a few that I reopen but only for a short time usually and I doesn't last more than a few days 90% of the time. Except fun one. I had one where I wrote a few french expression in kana in to teach them to Japanese. And since, Japanese keep asking that kind of things, I keep reopening it (very useful btw and it will probably happen often if you go to japanese communities online or language exchange communities xD).
But other than that, I'm more like the type of person to open 36 tab in my browser and a few books when I need to. Like, I don't really "study" grammar. Or even "pratice" anymore. It's more like I deep dive from to time when I notice a problem or someone tell there is a problem. And I spent a few hours each time. Like just grabbing one thing at the time instead. Hum... I'm lying a bit here. I do practice grammar but by studying sentences, not with grammar exercises. It's just not for me and also the "normal" grammar pace is just too fast.
Same for words or kanji now that I think about it. Basically, I'm more like "remove one problem at a time", don't bother if it's not problematic now and just focus on understanding the language intuitively for now. Otherwise, I get annoyed because most "school" grammar don't try to explain everything. And with word/kanji, it's kinda similar x). Anwyway, it's a personality problem
Added the following to the (1) section.
- Words I remembered but which made me struggle.
Top > 日本語を勉強しましょう / Let's study Japanese! > Anything About Japanese