How fast should I learn?

[pathias]

I just purchased the premium package today. I was wondering, how fast should I take the lessons? One each day maybe; would that be too slow?

I want to learn Japanese fairly quickly, but don't want to go too fast and forget the lessons.

[jkid]

pathias-san,
I would say taking things nice and slow is a good option at least to begin with. Making use of all the review materials in the learning centre as part of your premium membership will allow you to make sure all the vocab/grammar points get stuck in your head. As you find yourself easily able to remember vocab etc from previous lessons, you might like to do more than one lesson a day. It all depends on your schedule and how fast you can learn. The great thing about JPOD is that it allows you to learn at your own pace - so just experiment until you find a study regime that suits your goals and schedule.

By the way, welcome to the forums! If you have any other questions the community here will be more than happy to answer them. Best of luck with your studies!

[mieth]

That depends entirely on you and your schedule and how fast you think fast is. I recommend listening to say 6 pods on day one. Day two stagger by 1 lesson and listen to 2-7. continue this all the way through and you will make sure no miss very little. But ultimately this isnt a question you can really ask other people. There are no rules when it comes to this stuff. Use the time you have available as a guide and adjust accordingly.

[pathias]

Thank you!

[zakojanai]

A lot of this depends on the time you can spend with it, but I see no reason you couldn't do a lesson (or more) a day. Just make sure you're doing more than just listening to the podcast. Do the PDFs and use the stuff in the learning center. And then find some way to reinforce what you did that day at a later date. Do something like make flash cards of the vocabulary or kanji or grammar points. Another thing you might want to try is making a list of the vocabulary you learn on Smart.fm The lists on that website will repeat the vocabulary at regular intervals to keep you from forgetting them.

But the most important thing to do is find some way to use what you're learned. Start a Japanese blog or journal, post here in Japanese, find a friend on Skype or Myspace, or even in "real life"(this is the best option, but hardest to do if not in Japan or university). Good luck!

[Javizy]

If you use an SRS program and make a flashcard for each grammar point, you can rest assured you won't forget it, and so you're only limited by the time available to study, and how much you feel confident in processing per day. Make the question side of the flashcard a natural example sentence containing the expression (ideally pulled straight from the PDF), and the answer side a definition of the point and some short notes to help you understand it. If the point has multiple meanings, then break them up into separate cards with separate example sentences. The more concise the points are, the better SRS reviewing works. You could also add a translation for the sentences, since you're still a beginner. At least, that's what I'd do

[untmdsprt]

I've heard a good study technique is to devote an hour to studying, then a 15 min break of something totally unrelated. Then go back to another hour, and another break. This will give your brain a rest in between so you don't get tired and then stop studying altogether.

Don't try to cram in anything either. It won't work!