Tag: language

10,000 Words

TL;DR: Fluency is not about cramming grammar or speaking early. It is about vocabulary coverage. Around 10,000 words gets you to roughly 95% comprehension, where Japanese becomes comfortable and self sustaining. At a realistic pace of about 10 new words per day, or roughly 50 retained per week, most learners reach this level in about 4 years. Faster is possible, slower is fine. Consistency is what matters.

Why it = Fluency

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When I struggled with Japanese in the past, taking classes, watching anime, even trying to chat with native speakers, I always hit the same wall: I did not know enough words.

Grammar drills did not help. Speaking practice did not help. What I was really missing was vocabulary.

Research consistently shows that you need roughly 10,000 words to reach about 95% coverage of everyday Japanese. At that point, you can follow most conversations, watch anime or dramas raw, and read manga or light novels without constantly reaching for a dictionary.

That is why the 9to5 Japanese system is built around this milestone.

🎯 The 95% Rule

Linguists measure fluency not just by how many words you know, but by coverage, the percentage of words in a text or conversation you understand.

  • 95% coverage means you can follow the gist without constant strain.
  • 98% coverage means you can read or listen comfortably, almost like a native.

For Japanese, studies suggest that around 10,000 words puts you near that 95% mark. You will not understand everything, but you will understand enough to learn the rest naturally from context.

🧠 Why Vocabulary Matters More Than Grammar

Here is why hitting 10k works:

  • Grammar is finite. Japanese has a limited set of core grammar patterns. You can learn most of them early and refine them through exposure.
  • Vocabulary is not. Without words, grammar does nothing. You can know every conjugation and still understand nothing.
  • Words unlock input. The more words you know, the more Japanese becomes comprehensible. Comprehensible input is the engine of acquisition.

That is why this program prioritizes vocabulary first, letting grammar fall into place naturally.

🗓 The Path to 10k

So how do you realistically reach 10,000 words on a 9 to 5 schedule?

  • Kana Bootcamp, about one month to remove the biggest early bottleneck.
  • JP1K Starter Deck, about 1,000 words total with roughly 800 solidly retained.
  • Weekly loop, consistent mining, review, and immersion.

Many learners aim for 20 new words per day, or about 100 per week. In practice, some of those words fail early, get deleted, or simply do not stick yet.

What matters is net progress, not raw additions.

  • About 10 new words per day leads to roughly 50 retained words per week and is stable and sustainable.
  • About 20 new words per day is faster on paper but often creates higher churn.

This is why fluency typically falls in the 2 to 5 year window, with about 4 years being the most reliable path for working adults.

  • About 2 years: exceptional retention, heavy immersion, very low deletion.
  • About 4 years: roughly 50 retained words per week, low stress, high consistency.
  • About 5 years: missed weeks, lighter mining, still works.

🔁 The Reinforcement Loop

The 9to5 system does not just introduce words once. It cycles them through multiple contexts.

  • Monday through Friday: active recall through Anki.
  • Sunday: rewatch the episode raw and words start to pop out.
  • Following weeks: passive listening reinforces sound and usage.
  • Future immersion: the same words reappear naturally elsewhere.

This repeated, varied exposure is what builds durable vocabulary.

🚀 Why This Works

  • Contextual learning leads to better retention.
  • Spaced repetition strengthens long term memory.
  • Repetition with variation builds robust understanding.
  • Consistency allows the system to survive real life.

✅ The Promise

Hit 10,000 words, and you will have:

  • Roughly 95% coverage of everyday Japanese.
  • The ability to learn the rest directly from native media.
  • A foundation strong enough for speaking, writing, and nuance to grow naturally.

Fluency is not perfection. It is the point where Japanese stops being a puzzle. At 10,000 words, you are there.

10,000 words is the milestone.
The 9to5 Japanese routine is the roadmap.

➡️ Next up: The 2–5 Year Roadmap

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Saturday

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Saturday is the engine of the 9to5 Japanese routine.

This is the day you create next week’s cards. You sit down with one full episode, go through it line by line, and mine the sentences that matter.

In the beginning, you’ll pause constantly — sometimes pulling 100+ new cards in a single episode. But that number is front-loaded. It happens when almost everything is unknown. Over time, the number naturally tapers down. The more you learn, the fewer unknowns remain.

That’s not a bug — that’s the system working.

🌅 Morning (~30 min): Reviews Only

Clear your Anki reviews.

No new cards release on Saturdays — the morning session is deliberately light.

This leaves you fresh for the evening mining session.

🌙 Evening (~2 hrs): The Mining Session

Stick to one show at a time
Mine from one series until you finish the season. Same voices, same setting, same world — repetition strengthens memory when you rewatch on Sunday or listen to audio during the week.

Line by line, not by count

  • Open the episode with MPVacious.
  • Work through each subtitle line.
  • If you understand it, skip. That’s progress.
  • If you hit unknowns, pause and mine.

What to mine (T1/T2 rule)

  • T1: 1 unknown word → always mine.
  • T2: 2 unknowns → okay if simple.
  • Never T3+: skip if 3+ unknowns. Too dense.

Clean your cards before saving

  • One clear definition.
  • Fix readings.
  • Delete junk lines.
  • Save and move on.

📊 How Many Cards Should You Expect?

  • Early phase (800–2k words):
    Nearly every line is unknown → ~100 cards/episode.
  • Middle phase (2k–6k words):
    Recognition grows, you skip more → 40–70 cards/episode.
  • Late phase (6k–10k words):
    Coverage is high, you pause rarely → 20–40 cards/episode.

This taper is good. It means your vocabulary is filling in. 100/week is only in the beginning — after that, it slows, but that’s because you’re already understanding more.

⏳ Why Not Chase a Quota?

Your weekly number isn’t the goal. The act of mining is.

If you get 100, great. If you only get 25, also great — because it means the show is becoming more comprehensible.

The point is to show up every Saturday, mine carefully, and let the numbers fall where they may.

📦 After Mining

Once imported, those cards sit in your deck.

Starting Monday, Anki releases ~20/day automatically. You don’t touch them until reviews appear.

⌨️ The Hotkeys I Use

  • l → Pause at the end of each dialog line.
  • hh → Repeat the last line.

At the start, you’ll pause almost every line. Later, you’ll let whole stretches play without stopping. That shift is itself proof of progress.

🎥 Streams & VODs

Every Saturday I livestream my mining session so you can see exactly how it works: the pauses, the lookups, the card cleanup.

All sessions are saved as VODs on my YouTube channel:
🔗 Watch on YouTube

Follow along live, or mine your own episode side by side with me.

🧠 Why Saturday Works

  • One session powers your Anki reviews for the whole week.
  • Quality control up front keeps your deck lean.
  • Numbers taper naturally as your vocabulary grows.
  • Streams and VODs show the real process in action.

Saturday is the engine. Put in the work once, and the rest of the week runs smoothly.

➡️ Next up: Monday–Friday: The Workweek Routine

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Kana Bootcamp

Your Month‑Long Kana Foundation

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Read how to set up Anki (including the Mortician plugin)

Why Kana?

The Japanese writing system uses three scripts: kanji (characters of Chinese origin), hiragana and katakana, collectively known as kana. Each kana syllabary has 46 basic characters—71 if you include diacritics and small kana—and unlike kanji they represent sounds rather than meanings. Kana were created during the Heian period by simplifying kanji: hiragana emerged from cursive script and is used for native words and grammar, while katakana was created by Buddhist monks to transliterate foreign words and emphasize certain terms. Because Japanese sentences mix kanji and kana, mastering both syllabaries is essential before moving on to vocabulary and grammar.

Why a Month?

Some guides claim you can learn all kana in two days. While it’s possible to memorize the characters quickly, that approach isn’t realistic or necessary for busy learners. This Bootcamp spreads the workload over one month so you can learn kana thoroughly and retain them long term. By the end of this course, you should recognize kana instantly without hesitation and be ready to progress to vocabulary and sentence mining.

🎯 The Goal

  • Learn all hiragana and katakana (including small kana, voiced marks and combinations).
  • Recognize each symbol instantly without hesitation.
  • Retain around 80% or more of your cards in Anki.
  • Build a lasting foundation that supports all future Japanese study.

🗓 The Bootcamp Schedule (4 Weeks)

WeekFocusDaily Task
Weeks 1–2Study ~20 new cards per weekday (Mon–Fri)Reviews 15–30 min each morning
Weeks 3–4Reviews only (no unseen kana)Reviews 15–30 min each morning

👉 Weekends are for reviews only.
👉 You don’t manually add kana; you simply study the deck in order.

✅ The Deck We’ll Use

We’ll use the shared Anki deck:
🔗 Ankidrone Kana Recognition

How to use it:

  1. Import the deck into Anki.
  2. Make sure each card shows kana → reading; test audio if available.
  3. Apply these Anki settings (see the setup guide for details):
    • 20 new cards/day (Mon–Fri).
    • Graduating interval = 2 days.
    • Leech rules: Mortician plug‑in set to 3 lapses for review cards and 5 lapses for new cards (auto‑delete, no notifications).
    • Custom hotkeys: h = Again, k = Good.

🧩 What “Mature” Means

In Anki, cards pass through stages. Learning cards are new; young cards appear every few days to weeks; mature cards appear every 3 weeks or more and represent long‑term memory. For Kana Bootcamp, you don’t need 100% mature cards. Once roughly 80% of kana feel instant, you can move on—continued exposure during later study will mature the rest naturally.

🧘 Keep It Simple — No Stress

During this month:

  • No other exposure is necessary.
  • You can watch anime or listen to Japanese for enjoyment, but don’t treat it as study.
  • Your only job is to memorize kana.

Learning kana is like learning an alphabet. Once it’s automatic, you can focus on vocabulary, grammar and immersion.

⏱ Daily Time Commitment

  • Weeks 1–2: 20 new kana/day (Mon–Fri) plus reviews (~15–30 min).
  • Weekends: Reviews only (~10–15 min).
  • Weeks 3–4: Reviews only (~15–30 min).

👉 Total: about 2–3 hours per week for one month.

🚀 After Bootcamp

When kana feels natural, it’s time to build your vocabulary. The next step in the 9 to 5 Japanese system is the JP1K Starter Deck, a frequency‑based set of roughly 1,000 words that prepares you for mining real content. You’ll add about 20 new words per weekday—so roughly 100 words per week—and take weekends off from new cards to focus on reviews. This balanced pace allows working adults to make steady progress without burnout. After about 10 weeks, you’ll have seen almost all 1,000 cards and can expect to retain around 800 of them comfortably.

The “100‑words‑per‑week” philosophy mirrors the Bootcamp rhythm: weekdays are for learning new material, and weekends are for review. This pattern sets you up for the full 9 to 5 system, where Saturday becomes your mining day and Sunday is for reinforcement. By the time you complete JP1K, you’ll have a solid core vocabulary and be ready to start the weekly loop of mining, rewatching and immersion.

👉 To begin the next phase, check out The Starter Deck – Using JP1K for 1,000 Words Before Mining. It outlines the 20 new cards/day schedule, weekend review routine, and why a core vocabulary makes sentence mining more productive. After finishing JP1K, you’ll transition to the Weekly Hub Overview, where you begin the mining loop (Saturday mining, Sunday reinforcement, weekday immersion).

✅ Kana Bootcamp Checklist

  • Import the Ankidrone Kana Recognition deck into Anki.
  • Study approximately 20 new cards per weekday for two weeks.
  • Weeks 3–4: reviews only.
  • Recognize kana instantly without hesitation.

Take the month easy. Learn kana. Don’t stress about anything else. Once kana is automatic, follow the 100‑words‑per‑week philosophy to build your core vocabulary. After that, you’re ready for mining — and then the real fun begins.

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How to Set Up Anki

Anki: The Backbone of 9to5 Japanese

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TL;DR: Anki is the engine that makes 9to5 Japanese work, but only if it stays lean. The goal is not to cram. The goal is steady progress with low stress. Most people should start around 10 new cards per day and adjust weekly based on what they mined. Aim for about 50 retained words per week over the long run. That pace keeps retention high, keeps reviews manageable, and makes it easier to stay consistent.

Anki is the engine that drives this system.
It’s how you review mined words, track vocabulary, and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.

But Anki does not work out of the box.
You need the right settings and the right add ons, or you will drown in reviews and burn out.

This guide pulls from Tatsumoto’s setup guide and his add on list, adapted specifically for the 9to5 Japanese routine.

✅ Why Setup Matters

  • Bad settings means wasted time, review floods, and burnout.
  • Good settings means lean decks, smooth reviews, and vocabulary that sticks.

Anki should feel invisible. With the right setup, it becomes a quiet, steady force that pushes you toward fluency. No micromanaging required.

🛠 Step 1: Install Anki

  1. Download the latest stable version from apps.ankiweb.net.
  2. Create an AnkiWeb account and enable sync.
    • This keeps your cards safe and lets you review on phone or tablet.
  3. Install the desktop version first, then sync your mobile device afterward.
  4. Bookmark your Anki add ons folder:
    • Windows: %APPDATA%\Anki2\addons21
    • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Anki2/addons21
    • Linux: ~/.local/share/Anki2/addons21

⚙️ Step 2: Core Settings

Create a new options group just for Japanese.

SettingValueWhy It Helps
New cards per dayStart at 10 (Monday through Friday). Adjust weekly (see below).Matches the retention first pace of 9to5 Japanese.
Review capVery high (9999)Always clear reviews daily, no hidden backlog.
Learning steps1 10 (minutes)Enough spacing to reinforce without overwhelm.
Graduating interval2 daysKeeps day two reviews lighter and avoids overexposure.
Leech threshold3 (reviews) and 5 (new)Catches sticky words quickly.
Leech actionSuspend and tag (Mortician handles deletion later)Keeps your deck lean.
Ease and starting ease130 to 140 percentHelps avoid ease hell where intervals shrink too fast.

📊 Daily New Cards Rule

Each Saturday you will mine one full episode. Do not chase a perfect number. Prioritize good sentences and long term retention.

  • Typical target: mine about 50 solid cards for the week.
  • Daily rule: divide your mined cards by 5 and use that as your new cards per day for Monday through Friday.

Example: you mine 55 cards, then 55 ÷ 5 = 11. Set new cards per day to 11 next week.

This way your workload adjusts naturally. Over time, your reviews stay manageable, which frees more time for raw immersion and makes it easier to stay consistent.

🔌 Step 3: Must Have Plugins

The full list is on Tatsumoto’s site: Useful Anki Add ons.
Here are the essentials for 9to5 Japanese:

Core Deck Management

Card Creation and Mining

Productivity and Review

Install add ons like this: Tools > Add ons > Get Add ons, then paste the code from each link. Restart Anki to activate.

📆 Step 4: The Sunday Adjustment

By default, Anki releases new cards daily. In 9to5 Japanese, Sunday is review only.

Workflow:

  1. Saturday night, Deck Options, set New cards per day to 0.
  2. Monday morning, reset New cards per day to your weekly number divided by 5.

Quick and simple. Keeps Sunday clear for reinforcement.

🥊 Step 5: Fighting Backlogs

Backlogs kill motivation.
Here is how to handle them:

What is a backlog?

  • Cards pile up past their due date.
  • Anki prioritizes the oldest cards, so you waste time hammering old failures.

Filtered Deck Solution

  1. Press F, or go to Tools, then Create Filtered Deck.
  2. Use this search:
deck:Japanese is:due -prop:due>-1 -rated:1 -is:learn
  • deck:Japanese is your deck name
  • is:due is due cards only
  • -prop:due>-1 excludes today’s cards
  • -rated:1 excludes cards already reviewed today
  • -is:learn excludes learning cards
  1. Do today’s reviews first.
  2. Then chip away at backlog in small sessions.

Alternative: suspend is:due -prop:due=0 and unsuspend in batches later.

Rule: Backlog lives in its own deck. Today stays clean.

🧩 Workflow Rules

  • Clear reviews before new cards.
  • Do not chase perfection. Chase momentum.
  • Mortician deletes junk, Sunday keeps the week balanced, and filtered decks keep stress away.

🚀 Next Steps

Now that Anki is fully set up:

  1. Kana Bootcamp, hiragana and katakana in one month
  2. The Starter Deck, 1,000 words before mining
  3. The Weekly Hub Overview, your long term routine

Set it up once. Review daily. Let the math handle the rest.

That is Anki, 9to5 style.

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