like the title says I’m looking for other apps to supplement learning japanese, particulary in terms of grammar and general conversation. I’ve used duolingo before as that was what got me started with this hobby in the first place, but after using it for a while I feel like its not something that works anymore as I’m not looking to learn more vocabs (wani does that already) but to specifically learn gramma and speech patterns. I’ve also tried jp textbooks and fullblown online courses but I didnt really like them that much. Anyone got some good recommendations that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg?
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Tae Kim’s Guide is free and also has some mobile app versions that are also free, but I’m not sure if they are official.
Human Japanese is… interesting. There are “lite” versions of the apps that are basically a trial. The full verions of the apps are like $10 each iirc.
I’ve become somewhat partial to Jalup. They do cost a lot though, but I know some here have banded together and applied for group discounts this way. I do not know how much they paid in the end though.
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Human Japanese is fun. I think they nailed the warm, human tone. It’s a bit lacking in exercises/practice material, but I loved both the beginner and intermediate versions. Satori Reader also has some drills for each textbook chapter.
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I would very much recommend Jalup (with the caveat that it is pricey - I also managed to get it with a group discount) and have been using it for about a year now but I will note that because a big focus of Jalup (past the beginner deck) is teaching you to be able to use monolingual (ie. Japanese only) dictionaries and resources it doesn’t combine with Wanikani very well given that WK teaches purely through teaching English definitions for vocab and kanji.
Pretty much everyone I know that started Jalup while doing wanikani has ended up dropping wanikani once they into the Jalup decks that are trying to teach you vocab in Japanese only, as if you are learning the same vocab in wanikani based on the English definitions then it’s hard not to just rely on that so at one point you kind of have to choose which approach you want to follow. Not the end of the world but I probably wouldn’t have got WK lifetime had I known I’d quit half way lol.
That said, the Jalup beginner deck teaches using English and covers pretty much all of N5, N4 and some N3 grammar and will get you in a really good place to start immersing in content, so (again if you can afford it) you could always do that deck alongside wanikani no problem, it’s just the later decks/courses that I wouldn’t recommend doing alongside WK.
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I supplement Wanikani with Lingodeer, an app that mostly teaches grammar patterns and does that in an easy to understand way.
Alongside that, I also use immersion learning methods described by guys at Refold (check out their guide, it’s totally free)
There’s also a fun Anki deck that I got through in the beginning, it teaches you most used vocab and grammar though anime examples.
Also gonna recommend Jalup. If price is a concern, we’d made a group on here to get the Jalup group discount. I think 13 of us landed up paying for it and the feedback I have gotten has been really good on the whole. The group discount is substantial.
Bunpro is great for grammar reference and practice. The hard part is finding the energy and time to do multiple SRS at once. I think a WK, BP, Jalup combo would get you far, but if you don’t pace yourself, it’ll get you nowhere.
I really like Mango https://www.mangolanguages.com
It teaches you sentences/conversations and explains the new grammar in the sentences. You need to repeat each sentence aloud, I don’t think it would be very useful otherwise. I am new to Japanese and it’s so much easier to learn kanji/vocab on Wanikani when I have already learned a spoken sentence using that word.
I get Mango for free with my library card but I would pay for it. I pay for wanikani after all.
https://kaniwani.com/ is a great supplement for wanikani. Like the title, it’s the same SRS system but in reverse, so they give you the english word and you provide the japanese word that matches it.
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BunPro is a great (imo) SRS for learning and drilling grammar points, and I’ve pretty much relied only on it so far for grammar (occasionally referring to Tae Kim or Cure Dolly). It does cost money, though: like WK it’s a subscription service.
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