I was wondering at what point in my learning I should start learning some grammar and how to form simple and/or complex sentences, should I focus on getting a set amount of kanji learnt first? Or should I jump straight to basic sentences and sentence structure?
If so what/where is a good place to start? I’ve heard bunpro is a good website but are there any other sites or alternatives I should/could also use?
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Hi!
I think you can start on grammar right away. If you use a beginner text, they will never assume you already know kanji, and will provide furigana on all the kanji, or even right certain kanji in kana to begin with.
Some textbooks work better in classroom settings, or you will have to buy some extra books, to learn from them. There are also some online free resources for grammar from zero, like certain channels on Youtube (Japanese with Misa) or Tae Kim’s guide.
I don’t bunpro myself, but from what I’ve heard, the programme is best used as review, so once you have learned and practiced a grammar point kind of in depth, you can add it to the grammar srs on bunpro.
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I don’t think you need to learn certain amounts of kanji, if you can identify the structural components of a sentence even if you can’t read the words. As long as you can look at sentence and go, “Okay, this is [topic] [particle] [adjective] [object/noun] [particle] [verb],” or the one of the first sentence structures you’ll probably learn, then you’ll be fine. Then when you have the vocabulary at your disposal, you simply take the sentence structures you’re familiar with and fill them in with the words you know how to say.
IMABI is like the bible of Japanese grammar. Always worth a look.
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You can pretty much start whenever you want. I highly recommend sooner than later. I did very little grammar on my way up to 60, and now I struggle with reading. It’s never too early to start.
Now is a great time to start learning grammar. Many beginner resources will have furigana that makes kanji knowledge optional.
People tend to choose a grammar resource based on their preferred method of learning. Genki is a good textbook with thorough grammar explanations, example sentences, and reading passages. It has a separate workbook that’s good for practice, and an answer key you could get if you want to confirm those answers.
Tae Kim has a grammar site that’s free and he provides pretty detailed explanations that some people find make more sense. He doesn’t offer as much in the way of practice exercises, though.
Bunpro offers grammar with SRS, which a lot of people like because it feels more WK-esque. If you do use them though, I would use a supplementary resource (like Genki or the “further reading” sections Bunpro has) for more thorough grammar explanations.
There are many more sites and apps that are used for beginner grammar, but it helps to pick one and stick with it, rather than jumping between 5 different resources and constantly learning similar points. That’s an easy trap to fall into in the early days - obsessing over how to study, rather than just studying.
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I would not recommend using bunpro to learn grammar although it is a great tool to check them out.
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