Good books for studying japanese?

Japanese Language Kanji
#1

I have been gone for awhile because of exams, now that i’m starting to get back into Wanikani what are some good books for studying japanese ESPECIALLY Kanji.

One of my biggest pet peeves with Japanese study books is the Kanji, when i’m reading one of the study books i understand hiragana and katakana just fine but the moment i hit the Kanji i don’t understand any of it because book doesn’t bother to teach me what the words mean in the first place (or shows little hiragana/katakana words on top of the Kanji which doesn’t really help in the first place), slowing down my reading speed significantly.

#2

Well, I’m using Japanese The Manga Way and A dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and find them great.
However, my favorite Japanese textbook is TextFugu, which is possibly the best textbook for beginners.

#3

When using a Japanese textbook, I came to a conclusion – don’t care too much about Kanji, don’t care too much about reading speed at this point. Focus on listening and vocab, and I find that EN --> JP (vocab pronunciation) particularly helps.

Yes. Rely on WaniKani for Kanji. Start reading a lot at around lv 16 (N5 kanji equivalent), or lv 27 (N4 kanji equivalent).

You will have to pick up some Kanji from the textbook too, but don’t think too much. Let your eyes pick them up by chance at this point.

I used to use Tae Kim and みんなの日本語. Both of which have a problem of too many new Kanji, that aren’t taught properly.

I don’t know about people’s experience with Genki. I heard it teaches Kanji too?

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#4

I started Wanikani because I couldn’t learn kanji from textbooks, neither.
Genki does have kanji in it. But I barely learn it from that. Wanikani is better for kanji, of course.

Don’t know if that helps.

#5

Best kanji method in book form: The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Course

#6

Genki is a great textbook if you have a tutor to go through it with. Might be hard work on your own. Best place to learn kanji is Wanikani. Renshuu is a good place to combine what you learn on Wanikani with what you learn in Genki, in particular the vocab.