Im trying to invest more into learning japanese besides just wankani, like reading books. But as I kind of starting looking stuff up, theres a lot of methods for learning like Bunpro, Genki, Anki, and the tadoku books. And that’s where I cant possibly spread out to every method in an organized and sensible time investment- choice overload.
Overall my goal right now is to start trying to read for the application of my learning. I saw the tadoku books and thought that would be great for me to focus on. But thats my question, will learning japanese work if I only do wanikani and those books? At least for now. I mean, of course it would work, im still learning, but would I learn just as much information using only those two. Surely when I get advanced ill do audio stuff or something. Maybe is there some other option to do for reading instead of tadoku? I want my experience/goal to be comfy at night reading 1 book per night, thats why I chose so.
I know there’s like a million ways to learn something on top of the millions of personal styles people have, so this is me choosing my style.
It would be easier to give advice to you if you could put an idea of what level of Japanese learning you are at.. Being able to read an entire book right away could be very challenging if you are just starting out, and usually people just starting out experience choice overload the most.
What have you been using to learn so far? Has it been just wanikani? Do you have any background with Japanese before finding wanikani?
For now I’ll just link the current book clubs category here since you want to read more. There should be more easily accessible books found here along with discussion and vocabulary lists etc
You may not be able to commit long term, but sampling several methods to see what you like best can be beneficial.
Great idea!
I’m sure it’s doable but I would recommend studying elementary grammar specifically on its own ahead of time if you haven’t already. If you want free resources for that give Tae Kim and Cure Dolly a try. That will make your early reading a lot easier I think.
One you know the basic stuff you can learn the rest from just reading books and looking it up when you stumble upon something you don’t get.
It’s going to be very difficult at first but you’ll get better fast!
i took around a year, just trying out different apps and ressources until i settled on my preferred method. even with switching often, i reached n5 at the end of that one year period and was able to start reading very, very easy manga.
if you’re not in a hurry, just take your time slowly going through free trials and stuff until you find something you really like and enjoy for me personally, i felt that time was a really good investment for setting up my longterm commitment.
A year into doing only kanji, vocab and reading regular practice though sentence reading I can say that you can make it work.
However it takes many hours of practice and I think it is important to follow @simias advice to just be more efficient.
I did a “read once, zero practice” run through of all the Bunpro grammar deck and going from N5 to N3 takes only a few hours but is incredibly beneficial to your reading ability (N2 and N1 decks aren’t worth the time early).
Mind that you can (and should) probably wait until grammar is really what trips you up for most sentences.
Follow what your guts are telling you, if you do not like a path try another until you find the learning style that suits you.
I didn’t do that but that does sound like a great idea! Sometimes just knowing that a grammar point exists, even if you don’t remember exactly what it means and how it works, can be beneficial. This way when you stumble upon it in your reading you can think “hey wait a minute that looks familiar, let me check what it is”.
Otherwise it’s extremely easy to get confused even by very simple constructions if you don’t recognize them. A simple 寝るといいって can be endlessly puzzling if you just look up the individual words without any notion of grammar. “To sleep and good quotation”?! You may even end up parsing it as 寝る問い言って or something absurd due to lack of spaces.
That’s why getting into reading Japanese feels like solving riddles at first…
Im only usinwankani for now and only level 6. So thats why I also mentioned the tadoku books because those have the level 1 for begineer books. Of course I wouldn’t be able to read like a real chapter book yet, so starting small.
Forgot to mention, I do like that book club thing. Im more motivated when I can interact with people about something.
If you haven’t studied any grammar, I do recommend starting there. Sentences are structured entirely differently from English so it’s very difficult to pick up without studying.
Of the four things you mentioned, bunpro and genki are for grammar. Neither is free, though you can read about each grammar point on bunpro. Simias’s suggestions of Tae Kim or Cure Dolly would be better. Tae Kim’s guide is written and Cure Dolly is videos.
Anki is another SRS like wanikani. For the sake of choice overload, ignore for now.
Tadoku books are for practicing reading. They do start very simple, and you don’t need a lot of grammar for them. But they don’t replace learning grammar. To be blunt:
For one: Don’t use too many things at once. In particular SRS systems (WK, Anki) can quickly overload you.
I think you won’t get around another vocab system along WK, which probably should be another SRS, but I would not recommend going heavily into a vocab deck, but rather collecting words you encounter or need, that way it should stay within a couple of minutes per day.
Also grammar is honestly required, there were some recommendations already in the prior comments. For now just pick one thing, stick to it for some time. If it does not work for you, change it later, but don’t put too much work into comparing the options now, because you won’t really know yet, what suits you anyway.
If reading is your main focus and you already have a tool, then I would say just put as much time into that as you can and you will quickly realize which skills are lacking and can then add something appropiate to your studies.
And, as previously said, reading and WK along won’t teach you japanese. WK does kanji. It does not do vocab, that is only a sideeffect if we are honest, so you will at some point need to add vocab. You will need to study grammar. You will need to study listening and you will need to practice speaking. But all those things can come at a time where you are more comfortable with the things you have already established. My advice is to only add one thing at a time and then add new things or replace things, once you have established a comfortable routine and know, which area you need to put additional work into.
for me personally, i felt that time was a really good investment for setting up my longterm commitment.