Genki AND Wanikani at the same time?

WaniKani
#14

Interesting, I want to check that channel later

but I usually forget to do things I plan on impulse so instead I ask a question instead for discussion and my own reminder

The thing about explaining Japanese grammar onto a western grammar framework is also discussed in a grammar guide that I read, which is Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide. Do you (or anyone else) know of it and the differences between that and CureDolly’s method? Should I just consult to both? All I know that Tae Kim’s guide is incomplete and still only cover the basics and eventually I’ll need another source, but I am still early in my grammar journey and this is just out of my curiousity (and reminder).

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#15

I also did both Genki and wani kani at the same time and a about level 10 you’ll know most of the kanji from Genki 1, so you can basically just leave the kanji learning to wanikani.

At first it will be hard because it will use stuff like 勉強する, 金曜日, 宿題 which uses kanji that takes a while for wanikani to teach. But just hang in there :high_touch:

But if you want to learn how to write the kanji too, then I wouldn’t skip that part, it’s good pratice!

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#16

Very nicely said. It reminds me of the concept of the “preparation loop” which was explained in a Tofugu article, a process where some learners can be trapped. I think I might be one of them as I spent way too much time at the beginning of my journey, trying to find all possible resources and wanting to compare them all.

I’m also using Genki alongside WaniKani and it is working pretty well for me and making me more confident.
I would recommend this review on Tofugu if you want to know more about the content: https://www.tofugu.com/reviews/genki-textbook/

Also, A Dictionnary of Basic Japanese Grammar is a more comprehensive resource which might be very useful later on:

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#17

Thank you for this info!! Really appreciate it.

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#18

Dang it, you say English isn’t your native language and then waggle your proper semi-colon usage in our faces in the next sentence, you monster.

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#19

Using Genki for grammar and ignoring the kanji in favor of WaniKani is of course pretty common here.

Tackling both is great, WK alone won’t teach you how to read Japanese.

For that matter, it won’t teach you nearly all the vocab you need to know, even early on. Genki I alone has some 400 common words not in WaniKani, kanji words and kana.

As for reading, well … one of the first words I learned reading よつば was 粗品 or small present (or inferior goods depending on context). You won’t learn that on WK, you will learn the kanji but 粗 is level 55.

Just to give you the vaguest idea of what the scope of WK will and will not do for you …

edit: kanji typo

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#20

My Genki Annihilation Anki decks that I am using have Furigana so I guess I won’t go too in depth using Genki as a kanji learner. Instead I will use it to basically familiarise myself but focus more on Wanikani for kanji.

My plan for after finishing the Genki series and Wanikani is to start reading basic native materials such as NHK Easy so that I can pick up on more vocabulary. I hope both Genki and WK will be enough to start at least. I also plan to do Core2k Anki decks afterwards as well!

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#21

I started genki when I was about lvl 12 on wanikani. I know most of the kanji and I can understand most of the dialogue in the book.

My pace is chapter / week. And after four chapters I review the latest four chapters at week five.

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#22

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#23

I used Wanikani in my Japanese 102 and 201 (both of which used the Genki 1 textbook) classes this past year and I only had to do minor studying to cover the difference between what was included in Genki that I hadn’t yet reached in Wanikani.

The big difference for me was that there is no practice of how to write the kanji (which is very important) included with Wanikani. But if you’re just trying to learn how to read, it’s a much better solution than trying to memorize kanji from a textbook.

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#24

Just want to tell you that even as a lvl 60 who went through Genki 1+2 I’m really enjoying her videos.

She makes learning seem so fun and natural and not something to be slogged through like Wanikani Reviews for example.

Might just be that I find it easy because I’ve already learned it once, but I still feel like those Videos are helping me so thanks :slight_smile:

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#25

thanks that sounds like that worked for you

#26

Okay, I decided to give this a try. Not that I have a hard time understanding some of the grammar I’ve been reading about, but I’m always down to hearing multiple sources to see which is best for my brain, and I am really digging this Organic Series that KawaJapa CureDolly is doing. Thanks so much for the share, she’s already clarified something that a whole bunch of textbooks just kinda think you’ll get in your own head I suppose after a while (though Japanese the Manga Way helps a lot with those moments too). Specifically the infamous が・は particle.

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#27

Usually I don’t like videos cause I learn far better from reading than listening, but those videos are really good!! (once you get over the weird voice)

The one on ‘japanese conjugation made easy’ was one of those ‘why did I never see that’ moments. I know all those ‘conjugations’ but I learnt them through rote memorization, I never realized it was shifting the column and adding a verb/adj.

I will definitely be watching the rest of the vids! Once again the WaniKani community proves invaluable for pointing out wonderful resources! :smiley:

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#28

Is it worth getting her book, Unlocking Japanese? Or should I watch her videos? I prefer reading to listening.

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#29

I’ve heard that the book is pretty brief, and it being older, it may not cover as much as her channel does at this point. :thinking:

In this thread @Jul3 and @banira talk about how the book is a bit sparse.

I wish she’d post articles that are at least a summary of the points made in her video on her website, but it’s often more an article to lead in the video, rather than an accompanying piece. That would definitely help those that prefer to read. :confused:

#30

Doing both at once works really well. I’ve also supplemented with Nihongonomori videos on YouTube (grammar) and hinekidori’s G-Anki deck (a Genki deck for Anki, divided by chapters, colour coded and styled like WK!).

The thing is, you have to decide how you want to balance your studies, and how much time you spend on it yourself. Only you know how you learn best.

If you’ve got both, go for it! But be sure to give yourself (and your brain) some breaks from time to time. : )

EDIT: I’ve also recently noticed that Imabi.net has been revamped, and I find it easier to understand and well laid out (whereas previously it was incredibly dense. Good information, but waaay too much on the screen at once for me to take in, seemed really advanced and wordy, even for simple grammar points).

#31

I’m able to understand up to 75% of an NHK Easy article (depending on the article) since about chapter 7 or 8 of Genki I at my level (I’ve been at 16 for close to two years now… Not proud of that, but the last year it was necessary). Get yourself to level 15-20 on WK and at least halfway through Genki I and you’ll be off to a good start.

Practice as early as you can.

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#32

I’m doing this now-genki 1/2 and wanikani at the same time-but also I’ve done a lot of different types of “studying” Japanese so maybe a semi brief list of those will help you:
-first thing i tried was duolingo-it was great for learning hiragana and some VERY basic sentence structure but it sucked otherwise and I hardly retained anything. I did this for almost a year before trying to actually study using text books etc, sadly. I’ve also tried drops and lingodeer-two other apps- and while they are both better than duolingo, they’re still really limited. I haven’t found any apps so far that are worth using-but they can be ok for reviewing on the train or something.

-I started wanikani about 6 months after duolingo, and it helped me get into the habit of studying a little bit every day. Also, for me at least, knowing that I could read a lot more kanji than your typical in-classroom(hs/college) Japanese student was a big confidence booster. It still makes it 100x easier for me to learn and retain vocab.

I tried studying genki independently to no avail and switched to tae kim which worked pretty well for the first couple of chapters and then I really fell off because it got too boring to just read and read-maybe that’s not you and if so you’re lucky! I like tae kim’s structure personally, but I found out later in the game than i’d have liked that I really gotta be in that classroom setting to learn anything.

The first japanese classes I took were in small groups using the japanese for busy people textbook-it’s even more basic than genki honestly, but it has tons of exercises and i thought it was a good foundation. After that I was more or less able to skip through the first half of genki 1.

I finished up genki 1 in about 2 months, maybe 3? If you keep using it consistently and keep moving forward you’ll find that it’s obviously cumulative so I didn’t find it that hard to retain. As a tradeoff though, I’ve reaaallly slowed down on my lessons and vocab reviews so that I could apply the wanikani material i already know to the new stuff I was getting out of genki.

tl;dr : apps suck, tae kim is ok, super baby basic beginner: (especially if you’re studying on your own) Japanese for Busy People is pretty good but can oversimplify some things. Genki is solid but I had a tough time studying it on my own, and now that I’m in a class I find it hard to put equal hours into Genki and Wanikani. If anything, I’d recommend getting through your first 4-5 levels of wani kani and then start Genki, or study them on alternating days so you can avoid information fatigue. I do totally ignore the genki kanji cause it’s usually furigana’d but I’d think if you see it enough in the exercises you’ll eventually learn it, so maybe dont stress over that too much? These are obvs just my experiences and learning process, but maybe it’ll help you avoid some things that won’t work for you or find stuff that will!

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#33

As @Omun mentioned the book, it’s worth checking out the table of contents of the book on Amazon using the “look inside” feature https://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Japanese-Making-simple-really/dp/1539485501/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=cure+dolly+unlocking+japanese&qid=1561730150&s=gateway&sr=8-1&x=0&y=0
It really feels like an introduction to her way of thinking about the language. As the book states, it isn’t designed to replace an existing grammar textbook or resource, just a short thing to read alongside it to think about things in a different manner than traditional textbooks say. In fact, most of the book is simply saying how her thinking about Japanese grammar is different to that of traditional textbooks.