hi im gina, i’m on lvl 3 and i’m quite obviously new here. I don’t really know what I’m doing (in WaniKani or in general when it comes to learning japanese..) besides continuously doing my lessons & reviews. im familiar with hiragana tho (still learning katakana). so it’d be great if u guys can maybe list a few things that rlly helped you guys or things that I should learn as a beginner in general. maybe new sites n stuff? WaniKani is rlly my only source of learning smth Japanese related that I am still active in atm. so p.l.e.a.s.e. help a girl out ;-;
2 Likes
I don’t think WaniKani by itself is going to be enough to learn functional Japanese communication - it’s for kanji, which is a part of it.
I would start with Irodori (which is free), or if you have some money to spend, Genki I and II. But really, I think Irodori is fine. By the time you’ve outgrown Irodori and gotten a dozen levels’ progress in WaniKani, you’ll be pretty well qualified to decide what you want to do next, and there are dozens of possibilities.
I like BunPro for grammar
YouTube for listening practice (search N5 listening)
Pretty much just Google for N5 vocabulary, all the lists are pretty much the same
Asahi Shinbun for attempting to read - this will vary depending on what you are interested in. I’m not at all interested in anime, or else I’d probably read something related to that. Every genre is going to have it’s specialized jargon and vocabulary. 
And the BIGGEST bang for the buck I’ve experienced (but it does require the buck) is having a real person teach you on iTalki.
4 Likes
I love RocketLanguages.com. It’s not free, but they have sales around every holiday. This site has conversations, grammar, lots of review, and it’s fun. I also like Japanese from Zero books and videos. If you buy the website, they have lessons on there, with a few games, grammar, vocabulary, etc. The videos are also on Youtube.
2 Likes
thank you! sounds like a nice program, will definitely check it out 
1 Like
you would think 2000 kanji would be it… YOU WOULD THINKKK… but ouhhhh okay 
thank you! im fine with spending the mulah 
if it means its worth ittt. anyway, ill definitely check those out, preciate it!!!
2 Likes
Learning the Alphabet didn’t make you know English 
5 Likes
ok u got me there 
glad the alphabet only has 26 letters (yes I had to google it to make sure)
2 Likes
You do get three free lessons wit Rocket. So you can try it out before you spend the money.
1 Like
I’ll add my two cents by saying it is perfectly fine to do just WK for a while. Get used to SRS, learn some basic words, etc. If you jump to grammar too early, it will be much harder to learn than if you just wait. It is not a race. You can wait until WK level 10-15 to start with grammar and look for other resources.
It is true WK teaches mainly kanji, but it is also good at basic vocabulary and the forced progression limits teach patience. It is a good place to start. Even the forum seems to be the most active here.
For now just figure out your pace, do fixed amount of lessons per day depending on your time, and do your reviews. Remember that whatever number of lessons per day you choose, you will have 10+ times more reviews few months in the future.
1 Like