Custom Core Vocab Deck
Once you know many kanji and have a handle on basic grammar you require a set of vocabulary.
If your just beginning learning Japanese, creating flashcards for literally every piece of vocabulary within an anime as you go along is super slow and cumbersome.
Which is probably why there are "Core Vocabulary Decks" available which have between 1000 - 15000 words the average being 6000.
Now the most asked question by members of various Japanese learning forums and chat sites who have spent many months completing one of these decks is:
How much vocabulary is required to read manga, watch anime?
This is because after completing one of these decks they end up having to look up every other word they encounter.
Why is this and what can be done about it? These are the questions we will be exploring here with an miraculous piece of open source software I discovered.
Japanese Text Analysis Tool
Vocab Deck Wordlists
Tae Kim Vocabulary Deck
- source: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/grammar_guide.pdf
- download: https://mega.nz/#!ZVIQwAAb!CV8YOGHZI_xz8IuCb78HEe33BXR7qXApkSPXKhwQ5xA
- vocab list: Taekim.txt
- words: 1072
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
43.33% |
24.58% |
| Made in Abyss |
50.49% |
28.52% |
| CLANNAD |
48.84% |
30.81% |
| Hinamatsuri |
44.60% |
29.66% |
Nayr's Genki Annihilation Complete v1
- source: All the genki textbook vocabulary
- download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/oxj5xcbfxcc9qa5/Nayrs_Genki_Annihilation_-_Complete_v1.apkg/file
- vocab list: Genki.txt
- words: 1166 (w/particles)
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
41.54% |
27.23% |
| Made in Abyss |
53.03% |
25.37% |
| CLANNAD |
52.85% |
28.01% |
| Hinamatsuri |
47.96% |
27.28% |
VN Core 1250 v3
- source: Based on frequency derived from visual novels
- download: https://mega.nz/#!GiAQzY7C!ZDTQH1Kl23E-UaVAWJWFKPe4Jx_Qk1moAvj2OnPNPto
- vocab list: VNCore.txt
- words: 1303
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
42.29% |
32.19% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
48.42173913% |
38.07391304% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
Japanese Visual Novel, Anime, Manga, LN Vocab - V2K:
- source: Described on authors ankiweb page below
- download: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1434910726
- vocab list: V2K.txt
- words: 1988
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
48.6356% |
43.2808% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
57.48086957% |
51.9% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
Matt's JLPT Tango Core N4 & N5 Combined:
- source: JLPT Tango Books N5 & N4 - it's in i+1 format
- download: https://mega.nz/file/pPQSSaoY#mBCQ-s5LSi602FZSFIvzxQ4vMpSrhX0cFLJXS_P_zSQ
- download: https://mega.nz/file/0GBgRa7L#H92emGQQizBaPGWGhaoT8AjXJWNsTulwYSvkM20KA0g
- vocab list: MattTango.txt
- words: N5: 1152 + N4: 2323 = TOTAL: 3475 (w/particles)
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
53.6364% |
36.244% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
63.28826087% |
42.64826087% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
QuizMaster's Improved Core3k
- source: iKnow data
- download: Mentioned on animecards.site: Pass the N5 vocab admission test in his discord, see the pinned messages in chat
- vocab list: QMCore3k.txt
- words: 4048 (from sentences)
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
49.6948% |
38.286% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
60.38347826% |
45.92434783% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
Anonymous Core 5000:
- source: A Frequency Dictionary of Japanese
- download: https://mega.nz/#!iIk0BKbY!3VAygAPWyxoD1oZmyIe8m_lNNBnuz9YkjHDl_dEho_A
- vocab list: AnonCore5k.txt
- words: 5025 (w/particles)
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
61.2684% |
48.8408% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
73.50608696% |
57.45565217% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
Nayr's Core 5000:
- source: A Frequency Dictionary of Japanese, Audio from native speaking wife.
- download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/srgy6alqsqb52dg/Core5000_v2.5.apkg?dl=0
- vocab list: Nayrs.txt
- words: 6460 (w/particles)
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
61.2684% |
48.8408% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
68.27086957% |
56.57391304% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
Core 2k/6k 2-Step Japanese Vocabulary:
- source: iKnow data
- download: https://mega.nz/#!8ExFyDZb!VkUQAJRB7YdHmqNAXxTwsNgzhXe6764ijfGpyeXTm2w
- vocab list: Core6k.txt
- words: 7266 (w/particles, vocab taken from sentences)
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
57.882% |
47.7628% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
66.86782609% |
55.53913043% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
JapanesePod101 Vocabulary
- source: Every single Jpod101 Podcast pdf
- download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/3fp9f5trbzsseqi/JapanesePod101+Vocabulary.apkg
- vocab list: JPod101.txt
- words: 7441 (but originally there were 14451 "words"! then I realized many were phrases so I passed it through the frequency list generator)
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
71.768% |
60.034% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
83.55521739% |
65.92304348% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
Combined JLPT N1-N5 Vocabulary
- source: http://www.thbz.org/kanjimots/jlpt.php3
- download: https://mega.nz/#!PjZCnCaT!qh2avtrLw-fHdY3kSmUbO3ElwA13ZxYxS5ra3gF1ho8
- download: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/403899625
- vocab list: JLPT.txt
- words: ~9k
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
% |
% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
% |
% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |
Core 2k/6k/10k "Further Optimized" (10k words)
- source: iKnow data
- download: https://mega.nz/file/BYJwxSBY#9ZO17Pi68KhBEjDB4xklb2iK7yxel5PNW8j2LkYkVCc
- vocab list: Core10k.txt
- words: 11345 (w/particles, vocab taken from sentences)
| アニメ |
「How much of the time will you understand something」 |
「How much unique vocabulary was actually understood」 |
| Toradora! |
62.2088% |
51.8148% |
| Made in Abyss |
% |
% |
| CLANNAD |
68.86130435% |
59.61434783% |
| Hinamatsuri |
% |
% |