Where do you get your vocabulary and kanji/flashcards?

[JaJaJackson]

Just wondering where you guys formulate your vocabulary lists? All from Jpod lessons? Do you write them in a notebook or what? And where can I get something that'll help me print out flashcards? I saw Anki but I wasn't sure if I could put Japanese character and kanji on there..

[QuackingShoe]

Not only can you put Japanese in anki, that's what it was originally designed for I beliiiieve (hencee it being called anki 暗記?)
Also, it actually comes with a deck of kanji in the order and with the keywords of the Remembering the Kanji book by James Heisig. If you're curious about that, there's a sample PDF of the book somewhere online that you can find. I recommend it, and also recommend www.kanji.koohii.com in conjunction with it. But whatever works for you. There are other decks available to be found.

For building vocabulary, one takes it from wherever one finds it. I watch Japanese television and listen to Japanese music and audio dramas and play Japanese videogames and read Japanese manga, and take sentences (and the individual vocabulary within) from there.

[debondtjan]

As a newbie and for my Kana learning: I just ordered the White Rabbit Press Kana flashcards. I looked at a couple samples and bought them immediately. Although I'm a software developer, I just hate studying or reading too much using a computer. I already sit a whole day in front of it, hence the cards that I can finally hold in my hands I do not have the time to print, cut & paste

If it proves to be successful (which I think it certainly will be) I'll probably buy the Kanji flashcard volume(s) next.

I also took a look at the ANKI software, which also proves to be very useful when I don't have my cards with me. But again, I'll minimize that use for now.

[Javizy]

For kanji I use the Anki deck that Quack mentioned, since I used Heisig's book to learn them. For vocabulary, I use so-called sentence mining, which involves finding a sentence with vocabulary, kanji, or grammar that you want to learn, and making a Flashcard out of it. At the moment, I take them from Google News, my idiom dictionary, and the upper intermediate lessons.

I think anybody who wants to learn to read any time soon should make use of both Heisig and sentence mining. If you start building your Anki deck from the beginning using sentences from newbie lessons and developing from there, you'll put yourself in a great position. I started quite late, but the benefits from just 300 sentences so far are amazing.

I don't like reading at the computer either. I print the PDF's, and have a bunch of reference volumes and workbooks, but there is no written alternative to what Anki can provide. Anybody with ambitions to progress quickly should make it a part of their daily routine. You can use it on your phone, so you can fit it in anywhere.

[JaJaJackson]

Arigatou. So do you recommend I buy the book or just use the deck? Sentence mining seems good, what website or dictionary do you use to translate it? Usually hearing something I get it wrong written, also..
I'd love to play imported Japanese games, but are there any with just kana?

[wccrawford]

Arigatou. So do you recommend I buy the book or just use the deck? Sentence mining seems good, what website or dictionary do you use to translate it? Usually hearing something I get it wrong written, also..
I'd love to play imported Japanese games, but are there any with just kana?

Buy the book. Besides the pride of ownership, it also has a lot of info you won't find on this site, especially the 'how and why' of the method.

As for JP Games, there are a few DS ones. The Rockman series has kana, and I think all the Pokemons do, too. The newest Zelda has kanji, but you can apparently tap on them to get the kana. (I haven't done it myself.) I don't know of any for PC off the top of my head.

[QuackingShoe]

Yeah, games aimed very specifically to children who may be too young to read are kana only. I don't have a list, though. The only one I know for certain was already mentioned, Pokemon. Also, apparently all of the old famicom (NES) games had to use kana because of whatever kind of limitation. Splash screens etc could of course have kanji, since they were individually drawn, but there was no actual font to use as far as I know.