A few questions

[FiRe410]

1.Im not soon finishing level 7 and up to level 8, I was wondering what you would recommend for me in terms of reading material, I think its about time I start some reading and also some grammar aswell…
I was thinking about an app such as LingoDeer for something for grammar, what do you think? And for reading material I have no clue what to use… ive actually tried to search for something the other day under “japanese reading material” but it ended up being extremely difficult, I couldn’t read ANYTHING, probably intermediate or advanced stuff, I need something extremely basic and beginner like, since im only on level 7 here and with almost no grammar knowledge. Any recommendations?

2.Im going on vacation soon for a couple of days and I will be turning on Vacation mode, whats everyone’s opinion on that? I know some people argument that it messes up the “magic” SRS, but honestly I think people are different, we are not all the same and this SRS is just some average time period that was made up for repetition, plus I never do my reviews on time anyway, ive got a busy life and sometimes I miss reviews im supposed to make for like 10 hours or more, so theres that
So should I just turn vacation mode on and chill for some days and recharge my batteries, or do you recommend maybe take some japanese material with me and maybe practice a bit in my free time?

[d-hermit]

Start doing lingodeer for now. If you don’t know any grammar it’s hard to read anything.

Also it could help to get a textbook. It’ll have reading assignments appropriate for your level. Many people recommend Genki.

[Gentarozzo]

Take some grammar with you… I know It’s not relaxing, but with a book at that level you will spend:
80% of your time looking for stuff and meaning online
10% insulting yourself and your life
5% insulting yourself and your life after a pause
4% misunderstanding
1% understanding

[FiRe410]

I will look into genki thank you

[FiRe410]

Genki looks interesting but it says its not suitable for self learners, any experience?

[dunlewy]

A really good source I’ve found is the series “Learn Japanese With Stories” by Clay and Yumi Boutwell.
It’s a series of folktales with fantastic vocabulary and grammar notes for each story. They have the stories in Japanese first with the notes, then in English for you to check your translations. I have the first two books and I love them.

[Gentarozzo]

That’s absolutely not true.
Genki is an amazing book with problems, like ALL the other book or online courses.

Just an advice: With 99% of the books you will mostly study Eihongo that is a like an “english version of japanese”.
If you just study from grammar book you will find yourself not to be able to understand japanese people most of the time. So also check online for some more listening comprehension and Youtube channels (made by japanese people).

[prouleau]

@FiRe410

Genki looks interesting but it says its not suitable for self learners, any experience?

I am a self-learner using Genki. It works fine for me.

[kenbongort]

For reading material, look up “Japanese Graded Readers”. There are editions for levels starting from 0, which represents about the most basic reading material out there. They are a bit expensive for what they are (the prices seem to be aimed at classrooms or something), but maybe you can find some used.

That said, you might want to work your way through an intro level textbook before going for any reading material. Personally I enjoyed Japanese the Manga Way (Tofugu review), which uses real manga strips to demonstrate every grammar point. It’s fun to work through because you’re reading native content as you go.

It’s true that vacation mode messes with SRS timings, and you should expect to have more trouble with apprentice-level items in the days after you come back because you’ve elongated their interval. But 9 times out of 10 it’s better than coming back to an overwhelming heap of reviews.

[darkness_rising]

You should check out this page The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!, it has a ton of links for learning grammar and reading materials. (Though you should probably wait on the reading until learning more grammar imo, grammar points are more essential to reading and harder to look up than kanji.)