Fixing repeated vocabulary forgetting
Reduce the set, practise retrieval and distinguish reading, meaning and use.
Separate recognition from retrieval
Choosing a correct meaning is not the same as retrieving Japanese in speech. Use a learned situation or short cue, answer before showing the list, then check reading and the relevant meaning. Separate stable, slow and inaccessible words instead of reread the entire list after forgetting half.
Choose by current task and recurrence
Learn the sense needed now and add others when encountered. With ten intermediate words available for review, prioritise blockers, recurring words and words needed for your own response. Reduce new intake enough to retrieve old words instead of only increase exposure.
Recheck in a short changed context
Try kana or audio recognition, retrieve Japanese from a situation, then use it in a learned sentence. A reading gap needs word-reading practice; a particle gap needs combinations. Keep failed items for another check and avoid retesting every stable word daily.
Example
Original cue: wanting to borrow a book → retrieve 「借りる」, then 「図書館で本を借ります。」A response possible only after seeing the answer is not independent retrieval.
Check your understanding
Retrieve five lesson words from situational cues and log one actual error type.
Explanation
Recheck the failed skill, then a changed familiar context. Knowing every sense is not the target of this small task.
Find your question
- I forget half a long Standard Japanese word list the next day. Should I reduce the set or reread all of it?
- A word has several Chinese translations. Must I memorise every meaning the first time?
- I can recognise the meaning but cannot retrieve the Japanese word in an introduction. What task is missing?
- Intermediate vocabulary is overwhelming and I can review only ten words daily. How should I choose them?
- A word appears in several senses. Do I need to memorise every English definition the first time?