Hello this is my first reply on here after lurking on the forums for months…!
A lot of what you said resonated and I wanted to make a suggestion that’s helped me in my journey. For context, I’m about three months into my Japanese journey and while this isn’t my first language learning rodeo, previous attempts at learning languages have gone, to put it lightly, not so well in the past. But like you, I primarily know only one language, my native language.
This time around, however, I’ve taken what I’ve learned works for most people and what works for me, and also came across some bumps in the road as it comes to “modern language learning”. Said bumps: there’s so much out there. Especially with learning Japanese. Six years ago when I was learning Russian I had so few choices so it was easy to work with what I had! But now there’s too many in the world of Japanese that analysis paralysis hit pretty hard and still does when I find myself wanting something shiny and new (anyone else have ADHD lololol).
However, to combat wanting to try everything, I made it so Wanikani and Genki were my home bases. Weaving the two together has been immensely helpful in learning vocab (and grammar, of course). I find that I learn words in one that I encounter in the other and vice-versa, giving me that extra review and context boost that helps prevent vocab leakage. Additionally, learning grammar through Genki helps the bonus sentences in Wanikani stick.
I want to add the caveat that I do not do Genki alone. I am working through ToKini Andy’s paid version of the YouTube course (the YouTube is the grammar videos/streams, which as you’ll see below, are just a fraction of what they have to offer). In it I can:
- Hear the vocab and shadow it (practice speaking along with Yuki, a native speaker)
- Watch the grammar video (this is the free video on YouTube and the only free component)
- Read (and listen) along to a selection of graded readers (often 10-15 stories) suited for (and punching above) my current level at that chapter. I try to read through these leisurely and opt for sentence-mining/dictionary-toting for other times. The focus here is getting used to the grammar, not vocab acquisition.
- Watch a bonus grammar video with shadowing practice
- Walk through the chapter textbook exercises (it’s like being in a class - so helpful)
- Watch another video with MORE shadowing practice (deeper breakdown)
- Checklist item to work through the workbook
- Checklist item to work through the “reading and writing” section in the back of the textbook
- Opportunities to submit written and spoken practice for feedback
I do Wanikani every morning and most evenings and I create a weekly lesson plan to tackle the above items. I call these my “non-negotiables” and mark these two sites as my core learning. This helps me stay focused and, while some days I want to do more reading, immersion, etc., I try to prioritize on my core time items to progress and avoid information overload (or falling behind because I get lost in building vocab on some random side quest - which isn’t bad! but priorities first).
Other things I do for fun but exist outside my “core”:
- Listen to Japanese learning podcasts on my morning walk (nihongo con teppei, bite size japanese, easy japanese podcast, kind of whatever suits my fancy). Ultimately I do this to get used to hearing Japanese and sometimes I’m actively listening and other times I’m lazily listening, lol. Regardless, I do this and embrace not knowing every word and not being able to look up words (typing and walking is not my forte). If a word is really bothering me, I write down how I’d sound it out and look it up when I get home.
- Watching shows and sentence mining. I’ve just started doing this and it’s exciting to see all I know! I don’t jot down every word - right now I’m focusing on words I would like to use and sometimes I just focus on reading the subtitles. Since this isn’t my core, I try to do what works for me and allow for it to be a bit of fun.
- Watching shows with Japanese subs and 0 sentence mining. What’s on the tin. I do this and allow myself to feel like a kid again. Think about when you watched shows when you were really small, it’s unlikely you knew every word but context taught you things!
- Working through “easy” (YMMV) manga like Crystal Hunters, Chiikawa, etc. I punch above my level too and again, I embrace the frustration.
- I started diving into Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly during my downtime at work (I WFH) to help sort out grammar points I feel are confusing or I come across in my watching/reading. She’s really unlocked some grammar points for me that were giving me hell.
- Eventually I’d love to practice speaking with a native speaker but one thing at a time…
I hope this helps some! Overall, I recommend building a “core” focus that serves as your daily learning home base. And if you can spend the $10 USD a month I’d say having the ToKini Andy online self-guided course to create structure has been indispensable to my learning journey.