I’m now at the end of level 3 of WK and I know there’s so much more to japanese next to Kanji.
So I was wondering about doing other things next to WK, non kanji vocab, grammar, reading…
There’s only so much I can do (and want to do) in a day, so I’d like to know what I should focus on and how much.
This has most definitely been asked before, but reading everything can get pretty overwhelming and I’d like a more concise overview.
Also, some tips for good resources would be great too!
Thanks in advance!
Start 10k vocab deck, exclude words from WK, get satori reader (exclude furigana from kanji you know from wk). Read through the grammar points and example sentences of JLPT 5-3. I would start there.
I think there is no limit – you can start doing other studies right from the beginning.
For example, when I bought WK subscription, I also bought TextFugu (it’s not on sale anymore though) and started studying grammar in parallel.
At around level 20 I was already able to start reading simple texts.
What you should focus on depends on your goals. You will definitely need grammar and more vocab than what Wanikani offers, and the best time to start is now. Personally I use Bunpro and Torii SRS. I would also recommend to frequently engage with native content from the very beginning in the form of listening. Youtube, Drama, Anime, movies, etc, yes even if you don’t understand much of anything.
Well, hard to say… I never measured, because In my case, studying Japanese is a hobby, I don’t have any particular goal or time limit, so I’m doing it slowly. I was (and still am) just studying as much as I’m comfortable with
It’s a pity they no longer sell TextFugu. In my opinion, it’s the best textbook for beginners – after finishing it, one is able to start reading actual (albeit simplified) Japanese.
I suppose I want to read and listen mostly and eventually be able to speak, but have no time limit. I might visit Japan in 3 or 4 years, so I’ll want to atleast be decent by then but I’m just going at a comfortable pace
Yeah that about TextFugu is a shame. Even being able to start reading simplified stuff would be great, I’m sure more complicated stuff would come naturally with more experience
my main goal was vocab because I wanted to start watching anime with japanese subtitles. I dont like to stop all the time and lookup words. I dont have time and patience for that. As soon as I felt steady in remembering words, I started grammar.
I can say I understand around 80% of every dialogue in anime. and I can read yomiuri.co.jp more efficiently.
No, I just stick o WK so far as my main tool. Bunpro even has vocab section, but as I said, no overwhelming is the main goal. I dont use it.
What I do is in every anime episode, if a word I dont know appears, I let it appear at least 3 times more without looking it up (no patience to s), so I realize it is important to know it, because maybe I will appear again soon. So usually I learn 1 or 2 words per episode.
I started studying Genki last week and I have a friend who is Japanese Filipino, so we have begun weekly conversational stuff following along with a curriculum I set myself up with from a github host by Seth Clydesdale. At least right now, studying Genki and using WaniKani in tandem is pretty helpful, but I just learned “first year student” as vocabulary in WaniKani while it is useful vocabulary presented in lesson 1 of Genki. Since we plan to apply for the JET Program after he graduates with his bachelors degree, I have a little more than 2 years to study. One thing he made seem crucial is to listen to the language, get a feel for what it sounds like outside of video game and anime settings. He recommended reality television and some Japanese vloggers to get a feel for cadences and how quickly and accurately common phrases are pronounced, since my speaking is pretty slow at the moment.
By the way, I am coming to the end of level 4. I have seen PDFs of Genki 2nd edition online, so there are definitely plenty of options for resources that are free or really cheap.
You can start right now if you get Crystal Hunters. Crystal Hunters is a Japanese language learning manga. They have Japanese and Natural Japanese version. Get the Japanese version as that is the easy version. On their website under free stuff they have guides for each volume. The Japanese version guide will have a list of vocabulary and a list of grammar point explanations. After reading that you can then read book 1 for free on Pivix. Read it and if you like it you can go on amazon kindle to buy that volume along with the other volumes for a very low price. Currently they have 5 volumes with volume 6 coming out later this year.
I would frontload vocabulary and grammar at the beginning, then ease into graded readers, native material, output, etc. Learn – jpdb Dashboard - Japanese Grammar Explained | Bunpro
Vocab and Grammar SRS websites. You can find online grammar guides as well.
To follow up, I also started KaniWani at level 3. I feel like that is another pretty useful resource because it works opposite of WaniKani. At least for recalling and studying vocabulary, it has been pretty helpful.
Although I did it quite a hard and slower way (saw Tofugu first, then started WaniKani like 3 years later), I might say – vocabularies are essential to starting grammar, either remembering them along grammar chapters, or remembering them beforehand. How to depends on you how much it overwhelms or what’s the limit.
Otherwise, relatively senseless immersion can be done from the beginning, like anime with JP-dub EN-sub, or songs with JP lyrics and known EN translations.
After a while, parallel JP-EN-audio text should be possibly done. I am not sure about how to make dual-simultaneous JP-EN sub, but that should be tangible. Though, these hinge on both vocabularies and grammar (and to some extent, Kanji-sense).
