Grammar learning alongside WaniKani

Japanese Language Questions
#1

こんにちわ！！！
Hirigana easy
Katakana easy
Kanji AHHHHH
Grammar AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

What would you say is a great resource for learning Japanese grammar alongside using specifically WaniKani for Kanji learning? I’ve fallen into the vtuber rabbit hole, and I’d like to be able to understand more of what they’re saying without needing subtitles, so learning Kanji just to recognize some words for fun is not enough!

The only textbook(s) I am aware of is Genki 1 and 2, which I am in no way opposed to, I just thought about asking the wonderful WaniKani community if they think anything else in particular would be great for learning grammar and basic sentences and/or sentence structure alongside WaniKani specifically

ありがとう！！！！

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#2

There’s a free online resource called ‘Tae Kim’s guide to Japanese Grammar’ and he also has a complete guide to Japanese. You should check it out

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#3

I recommend Imabi.

Edit: Link is now actually clickable.

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#4

Check out the Textbooks and Grammar section in the The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List! for some suggestions.

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#5

I vouch for Imabi as well. Never found better grammar explanations

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#6

There are several good recommendations in that article linked above! Through my personal experience, I purchased genki 1 and 2 a little over a year ago. Genki 1+2 presented grammar concepts that I could learn and understand, even without a teacher/classroom/others to practice with.

I personally hit a wall with learning vocab (through genki), but this was before I even knew what on’yomi and kun’yomi were (researching those concepts is what lead me to wanikani in the first place).

I actually plan on balancing both once I get a little further into wanikani. I’ve also heard good things about tobira being used after genki as well (from the learnjapanese reddit).

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#7

Bunpro is focused on grammar and is similar to wanikani in terms of easily broken down study and reviews. It is a subscribed service however, but you get a free month to see if it sits well with your learning methods. It’s still a developing site but does work alongside wanikani with a wanikani api key :slight_smile:

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#8

Common resources:

  • Maggie Sensei (my personal favourite: lots of examples and easy-to-understand explanations. She also has a Twitter account on which she frequently posts nuggets of Japanese knowledge)
  • Imabi
  • Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese (there are apparently some errors in there though, so you might want to check more advanced concepts against other sources)
  • Japanese Ammo with Misa (not as grammar-focused though)

Genki seems like a very good textbook, and I think textbooks are probably the best way to learn basic grammar in an organised manner. There are also grammar dictionaries out there, which I’ve personally never used, but which some people find helpful.

Other resources that I’d suggest you consider:

  • JLPT sites. Googling ‘[structure] grammar’ almost always brings up a JLPT study site if it’s common enough. Here’s one: https://jlptsensei.com. I’m not going to vouch for quality though… but it seems decent. My personal favourite among the JLPT sites is this one: https://nihongonosensei.net. However, everything’s in Japanese and Chinese, because the author is teaching at a university in China, so it might not be something you can use. I come across it mainly when I search for advanced grammar points anyway. The only issue with using JLPT sites is that you usually need to know how to identify the grammatical structure being used in order to google it, so usage might not be beginner-friendly.
  • Dictionaries: looking at example sentences can teach you a lot about how a structure is used. Try searching on https://ejje.weblio.jp.
  • Forums like HiNative and Japanese Stack Exchange: those who answer are usually fairly well informed, even if that’s not always the case.
  • Chiebukuro and Oshiete: these are the Japanese versions of Yahoo! Answers by Yahoo! and Goo respectively. Again, you’ll probably only end up on these sites by googling, and you’ll need to be able to read enough Japanese to understand the answers. Probably best for advanced questions.

Two final somewhat random resources:

  • Yuta’s mailing list: look up That Japanese Man Yuta on YouTube. He does a bit of anime speech pattern analysis in some videos, though he’s better known for his interviews on social issues. You can sign up using the link in the description of each video.
  • Kayo-sensei on Twitter: she’s generally quite kanji-focused (she’s a calligrapher), but she occasionally posts vocabulary lists that contain common adverbs for expressing things like extent or frequency. I guess that falls somewhere between vocabulary and grammar?
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#9

Another considering, alongside more formal grammar resources, is to join the Absolute Beginner Book Club. You could even pick up a book previously read in the group, to utilize its past discussion, and you can still ask questions. You can learn a lot of grammar by reading native material and asking questions along the way.

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#10

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