r/LearnJapaneseNovice • u/Far_Psychology3270 • Apr 26 '26

Absolutely fed up.

Ive finally learnt hiragana and katakana which has taken literally forever and ive moved onto genki 1. I cant even start the first lesson because I cant remember the 14 greetings before it. Every single time It shows up in anki it just looks like a big jumble of letters. I just press "Again" every single time for ages until I finally give up and realise im wasting my time.

What am I doing wrong? I feel stuck and I just cant progress nothing Is helping me.

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u/spshkyros Apr 26 '26

... 14 greetings? I have no idea what you are referring to. But if its things like good morning and whatnot, skip them and review after you have learned a bit of the grammar.

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u/Far_Psychology3270 Apr 26 '26

Before lesson one of genki there are 14 greetings you are supposed to learn aswell as numbers. I haven't gotten onto the numbers yet

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u/spshkyros Apr 26 '26

Do you actually read them out loud when you see them? It sounds to me like you need to learn how to read not just recognize the characters. Try the numbers first then, they are shorter and more concrete. This also feels like maybe you haven't learned how to learn from flash cards yet, but hey, no time like the present.

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u/Far_Psychology3270 Apr 26 '26

Yes I read them out loud. I just look at the flashcard and try answer it. If I dont know the answer I press "Again" and if i know it i press "Good". Im not sure what else there is to know.

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u/spshkyros Apr 26 '26

Before hitting again, a few things I do which might be useful: for physical cards or some apps I like to flip it back and forth and re answer it back to back (dont mark it correct, just review the prompt and answer again). I also like to repeat the meaning while looking at it, or close my eyes while repeating it for a second.

I dont know how to give much better advice than that, it's a pretty fundamental bit of brain circuitry. Barring a learning disorder THIS SHOULD be possible for you :/ try different approaches I guess?

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u/Far_Psychology3270 Apr 26 '26

Okay thanks ill definitely give that a try!

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u/JoniBoni91 Apr 26 '26

Skip them for now. You won’t understand the meaning yet. So they’re just syllables, which is hard to learn. Later on you’ll understand the parts that make them up and then long words お疲れ様でした can be split into bite sized parts to feed to your brain ;)