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Introducing Refold JP1K - Learn Kanji & Vocab at the Same Time (Patreon)

Published:
2021-02-05 19:51:43
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

We're proud to announce the first version of Refold JP1K: an Anki deck for Japanese learners designed to teach kanji recognition ability and the most common 1,000 words at the same time. At last, RTK and all of its offshoots may be obsolete.

Check out the video above to learn about the deck (skip to 9:06 to hear how the deck is structured). Detailed instructions for reviewing the deck are also included within the deck itself.

The deck is designed for newcomers to Japanese (it assumes you know hiragana and katakana, but that's it). If you've already gone through RRTK and know more than 1,000 words, you aren't likely to benefit from the deck. 

But, if your vocabulary is below 1,000 words, we recommend dropping RRTK and the Tango decks and switching over to the JP1K!

Download the deck here!

Follow up video here. 

If you try the deck out, please put any feedback or corrections you have in the jp1k-feedback channel of the Refold Japanese discord server. This is the first version of the deck, so there are probably some errors here and there. 

Files

Previews only

Refold JP1K - Learn Kanji & Vocab at the Same Time

Link to download the deck: https://refold.link/jp1k_youtube TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:31 - "Kanji fluency"—the true goal of learning kanji 4:14 - How the current kanji learning methods work 9:06 - How JP1K is structured 10:14 - The logic behind JP1K

Comments

Anonymous

I recently started the RRTK deck, I like it, and I was planning to buy the recommended book so to get my hands into the N5 vocab deck. Would you suggest dissing them and all and starting this new deck?

refold
>>53004876

If you just recently started RRTK, then yes, I recommend switching over to this deck!

Robert Klevens

I just did the first two hundred from this deck. I stumbled on about 4 of them and only one I didn't know at all which was 嬢. This is great practice.

Avola Kat

Awesome! That answers my q&a question.

Anonymous

Hi Matt, I have finished Rrtk and I am just starting a tango deck (4days in). Iv been struggling with what you accurately described as the brute forceness of it. Even though I have completed rrtk would you still recommend using this deck instead of doing a tango deck to learn the readings?

Anonymous

I was just this morning thinking I wanted to find a new deck to learn the 1K vocab! Thanks ill download now

Anonymous

If I am able to get the meaning of the word from the furigana and not the kanji should I still rate the card as correct? or only when I get the meaning from the kanji itself?

Anonymous
>>53014398

I'm also in the same boat as this - Completed RRTK but started the Tango N5 and am unsure of whether to focus on this deck instead

Anonymous

So, there's no "stories" and using the component parts to build the kanji like with rtk? And you shouldn't do the tango n5 or n4 decks? I can see this replacing rtk, but why should it replace tango? Tango is full sentence and grammar.

Dan Pinder

Matt, all the Refold roll-out videos and new guide have been great, but I would like to humbly request that you to do a Q&A solely dedicated to MIA refugees who have followed you here, with regards to methodology, which could probably be done with a cheat sheet. Many of us are somewhere along that path and it's frustrating and a bit demotivating to have to go about reading the pages and pages of Refold manifesto to see what's changed (your detailed writing style is fantastic, but also tends toward long-windedness), when what is desired is a moment of special attention that gives those of us who came from MIA the info we need to pivot successfully, with the brevity and efficiency I believe we have earned, as patrons. Please consider it.

refold
>>53017968

As long as you correctly recall the meaning, mark the card good. It doesn't matter how you recalled it. The whole point of the deck is that it cultivates kanji recognition ability over time. The assumption is that, at the start, you won't have kanji recognition ability yet (otherwise, you wouldn't need the deck). Thus, it's unrealistic to expect that you will be able to recall the meaning just from the kanji right off the bat.

refold
>>53032277

In Refold, we recommend learning the most common words in the language and reading a grammar guide, and then jumping into sentence mining. If you read a grammar guide like Tae Kim and complete the JP1K deck, I think that would leave you in a perfectly fine place to jump right into sentence mining. In this way, the tango decks become unnecessary. It's nice that the tango decks have example sentences (and in the future we will update the JP1K to contain examples sentences as well), but they're not completely necessary. Either way, fully grasping the nuance of what words mean is going to take a lot of immersion

refold
>>53037328

I'll consider this, but I'll also give you my initial reaction: -The writing style on Refold is completely different that the writing style on the MIA website. It's incomparably more concise. -Stage 1 of Refold is the same as the beginning of MIA, so you can start reading the Refold website from Stage 2 -Reading Refold Stages 2 and 3 should take you 2 hours MAX, probably much less. -Refold Stages 2 and 3 contain so many new frameworks and concepts that a "how to do Refold for MIAers" video would probably end up simply being a "How to do Refold Stages 2 and 3" video. There will be a video version of the Refold guide up in the future, but I'm not sure exactly when that will be

Anonymous

I'm trying to switch from RRTK to JP1K, is there a specific way I'm supposed to learn the cards? I keep getting them wrong when I review them... not sure if this will just improve over time? Do I have to change any deck settings?

refold
>>53141640

Did you watch the video and read the review instructions that come with the deck? The deck comes with the recommended settings, but there are very specific instructions for reviewing.

Raphael DeLima

Perfect. Another deck for me to learn from. Thanks. This is extremely helpful.

Diogo Lameiro

I'm a little hesitant to drop my previous decks (finished RRTK, 350 cards to go in the N5 Tango Deck), but this seems like a really cool way of doing it. Do you think it's still worth dropping both decks for this one, considering I'm 70% through N5? I'm leaning towards "Yes" Thanks for everything!

refold
>>53186380

Hi Diogo, our official recommendation for your situation is to stick with Tango. You're already far enough that a lot of the JP1K deck will be review for you. However, if you're excited to try it out anyway then go for it!

Anonymous

The audio is quite weird and cut off on the cards for me, is anyone else expereinceing this.

Anonymous

what's your opinion about doing it with rrtk at the same time

Anonymous

I don’t know if this is just me, but it’s my second day and it’s getting very painful. I can’t remember the sounds or the meaning most of the time, and have been doing 20 cards for over 30 minutes. Any advice?

Alisha Worth

Today is my first day with the deck! I posted this in the refold channel, too, but when I use my headphones via bluetooth, the audio is cut off. This does not occur if I am using my computer speakers. I'm using Windows, if that matters.

Anonymous

1 month ago i did like 50% of RRTK but then I dropped it bc I couldn't keep up with the reviews. Now that i have more time would it be better to stick with RRTK + then do Tango N5 or drop RRTK and start this deck? I feel like starting this deck would be a better option but i'm still not sure

refold
>>53338551

This deck is meant to replace RRTK. Doing both at the same time would be redundant and a poor use of time in my opinion -Matt

Anonymous
>>53575455

I have the same problem. what I do is run audio on an application like youtube with the volume turned down so low that I can't hear it. It can be any audio really. Try doing that while doing your reviews, see if it stops cutting out.

Anonymous

I have been using the JP1K deck for a week now. I don't know if this is just in the beginning, but at this point it does not feel like my Kanji recognition is improving. Matt talks about doing the reviews in 2 steps: (1) recalling the word on the back from Kanji and (2) recalling it from the reading (by hovering over the Kanji). I almost always have to resort to the second step to be able to recall the word on the back. Then I mark the card as 'Good'. However, I am almost certain I will fail to recognize the Kanji the next time I see it. It kind of feels like the example he gives in the video of people who read Manga, but never learn Kanji due to an overreliance on furigana. Is it normal in the beginning to feel this way or is it indicative of me doing something wrong?

refold
>>56582685

Hi Kemal, to clarify, you should be trying recall the reading from the Kanji. Not the meaning. The process is: 1) try to recall reading from Kanji 2) check reading 3) try to recall meaning 4) check meaning

Anonymous

Hi Matt, ok understood. I was worried that I was going about it in a wrong way, since I was not able to go from Kanji to meaning directly for most cards and thought I was cheating the process by recalling meaning from reading. I understand now that this is the way it is supposed to be done. Thanks for clarifying.

Anonymous

Really love this!

Greg St. Angelo

Very glad you made this... rtk was getting rough lol

Anonymous

my question is once you've completed the deck what is a good book to begin with to grow kanji and vocabulary if you only can read/understand these 1000 kanji/vocab

Varun Rapaka

Thanks for making this deck! I have a question; is pitch accent information available for these cards? or is it just the audio

refold
>>61447257

Just audio. We decided that pitch accent at this early stage would just overwhelm beginners.

Anonymous

I was trudging through RTK for over a month and it was getting quite depressing making those stories everyday haha. I'm excited to try this out!

Joe Griffiths

Hi Matt, just downloaded the deck and was wondering about something. Should I keep the current new cards at the default 10 per day or would putting that up to say 20 or more per day be more beneficial? Is there a benefit to keeping it at 10 per day? Thanks, looks like a great deck!

Anonymous

I just downloaded the deck, I previously learnt 500 words previously with my own deck based off Iknow 1000 core. I noticed that some words like なる is written without kanji, I wonder why, since I remember seeing it is used with kanji in the wild.

ターコーニス

Hi! Should I study this deck in isolation or use other decks as well. For example I sentence mine from games to learn words as well...

Anonymous

Hi, I am about to start Remember the Kanji as I found your initial 35 minute youtube video was absolutely excellent, broke it down into a science, and sold me on the process. I am going to combine doing RTK with using this language deck. What are your thoughts on this Matt?

Katherine H

I'm using the first deck right now. I'm not sure it is an effective way for me personally to learn. Unless I practice writing the words I absolutely will not recognize or recall them no matter how many times I go over it. Also I don't feel like I understand the meaning of the words from the definitions given, basically without more context I can't really grasp the meaning. Take my complaints with a grain of salt, I've lost a lot of my learning ability over time due to illness and things just don't stick without a lot of work and engagement for me. Maybe if you have a good memory, you can learn to recognize and remember just from looking at it and a basic definition, but I can't.

NekoMisaka

I love this deck, thank you very much for putting so much effort into making it reality! this + something that tells you grammar (human japanese in my case) + hours of immersion every day have been boosting me so much. I'm only 2 weeks into the process, but all the habits have set them up themselves. Hoping that by the time I finish, there'll be a second k of jp xd.