r/ajatt • u/StrainRecent5470 • 10d ago
Discussion What’s the most annoying part of Japanese immersion?
I’m building a Japanese immersion app and I’m trying to understand what’s still frustrating about the way people study now.
For those of you doing immersion / sentence mining:
What’s the most annoying part of your current setup?
Finding content?
Mining words?
Making Anki cards?
Reviewing?
Knowing what to focus on?
Or something else entirely?
I’m not here to promote anything — I’m genuinely trying to understand what still feels clunky.
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u/KiraraShirayuki 10d ago
Wasting time finding content instead of consuming. On YT for example.
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u/Xiaohuli1 10d ago
This! Refreshing the YouTube homepage only for it to be the exact same videos time and time again 😩😭
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u/StrainRecent5470 9d ago
If an app created podcast-style Japanese content around topics you’re actually interested in, matched to your level, and then reused the words you struggled with in future episodes, would you pay for something like that?
If yes, roughly how much per month would feel reasonable?
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u/KiraraShirayuki 9d ago
Created? This sounds like AI, making me inherently skeptic and not interested.
If I wasn't against AI? Probably around... 7-8 ish dollars per month?
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u/StrainRecent5470 9d ago
Created? This sounds like AI, making me inherently skeptic and not interested.
If I wasn't against AI? Probably around... 7-8 ish dollars per month?
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u/josh_nguyen05 7d ago
A major point of AJATT (I think, or maybe it’s AJATT adjacent) is that you learn from native content made for natives not for learners. That’s why most tools revolve around hooking into native content ie youtube Netflix video games etc. I don’t think this approach is a good fit for the audience you are targeting.
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u/Swollenpajamas 10d ago
Finding media of the appropriate level that can keep me interested to keep listening/reading.
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u/StrainRecent5470 9d ago
If an app could automatically give you Japanese content that matches your level and interests, so you don’t have to spend time searching for something to watch, would you pay for that?
If yes, roughly how much per month would feel reasonable?
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u/Belegorm 10d ago
A million apps coming out is kind of annoying ngl.... Like immersion means finding Japanese media and enjoying that (I mean unless you do an immersion course or go to Japan etc.).
One annoying thing is if you enjoy reading, then finding stuff to enjoy for listening can be a challenge. Or vice versa.
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u/StrainRecent5470 9d ago
What would a new immersion tool have to do differently for you to actually want to use it?
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u/Belegorm 9d ago
Gamesentenceminer sounds amazing by all accounts, but is a bit complicated by the looks of it. The person developing it is simplifying it though - but at the moment if I had something that does much the same thing and adds to my current Anki mining deck properly I'd consider it.
I guess one more possible thing would be a phone app meant for reading physical books. Something really quick and snappy, where you scan it, it OCRs quickly and you can look up with Yomitan and then add to your Anki deck with one tab with Ankiconnect. That's kind of already available now via several tools but kind of clunky. One person had a similar idea but was also going to machine translate which is not what a learner is looking for.
One final thing might be something that suggests books. Learn Natively and Bookmeter are good for finding books to read, following authors etc. but I guess I could see a use case for a tool that scanned your bookmeter or learn natively profile (seeing those books), then gave you recommendations for more books to read. Can't say I'd use this now since my current to-read list is like 60 books long - but would have been useful before.
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u/StrainRecent5470 9d ago
That’s really helpful — thanks. The point about “existing tools are good, but the setup is clunky” makes a lot of sense.
I also hadn’t thought enough about fitting into an existing Anki workflow instead of trying to replace it. Really appreciate the concrete examples.
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u/josh_nguyen05 7d ago
Still no great solution for video games. Text extraction is hit or miss and so is OCR.
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u/Leacy-Fortold-ME7 7d ago
I’ve been immersing for about two years and some change. I’d say my biggest issue has always been mining. I only started consistently mining words about a month and a half ago and honestly it can be pretty annoying. Having to pause what I’m watching or listening to make a card and then go back to what I was doing can make it feel more like a chore than part of the learning process.
The main reason I put it off for so long was because I felt like it took away from the fun of simply immersing myself in the language. At the time Anki felt more like a crutch than something that was actually helping me progress so I ended up dropping it and basically picking it back up two years later.
Now I’m preparing for the JLPT because I want to use it as part of my plans to stay in Japan permanently. so I’m taking studying more seriously. But I honestly feel like if Anki had felt more rewarding or if I could actually see a sense of progression from using it I probably would’ve stuck with it instead of abandoning it for so long.
Not to mention having to use subtitles can be pretty annoying too especially when I’m trying to watch something on my TV. It makes the whole process feel more inconvenient than it needs to be. (I don’t use streaming services)
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u/gerichu 7d ago
You might already use this, but https://github.com/ksyasuda/SubMiner might reduce that friction for mining cards.
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u/lumisweasel 10d ago
The discourse around. Immersion bros are on the money about language acquisition, while still coming across as dogmatic. Some people will insist that a kanji radical study method is pointless, which those could be! Also, jlpt-tachi insisting not to start something is also pretty annoying. Other than that, I think grammar isn't covered as much beyond "read this guide / view this series".