As the description of this category says, wanikani doesn’t teach grammar. I love that wanikani allows me to learn the kanji but I know that it alone is not enough to become fluent. I want to learn kanji side by side with more broad reading and grammar and even speaking. What other resources do people here use? My end goal is to be fully fluent in all forms but I don’t see myself getting there even when I hit level 60 at this rate so I would love to hear what others have found works best. I have tried listening to anime and podcasts and they seem to work ok but I think if I truly want to gain insight from it rather than just listen to them, I should break them down and try to understand and analyze each sentence. Any insights would be greatly appreciated and sorry as I imagine this has been asked countless times before.
If you enjoy/are willing to introduce another web-based learning program into your mix and are willing to spend a little on a subscription, I have found quite a bit of success working on Busuu.
The lessons are very informative and user friendly, it explains the concepts in simple but detailed manners, has variety in presentation and question type (fill in blanks, read short passages or conversations, listen to audio, etc.). There are also multiple Japanese courses- like a standard course, ones for hira/kata/kanji, learning with manga, and in the context of travel- and you can submit work to be checked by native speakers as you go along.
I’m sure that people in this thread will end up recommending the Genki textbooks- which I haven’t read yet myself- but they seem like great and dense resources from what I have skimmed through. Really just any textbook/website/video about the topic is bound to have either useful new information/perspective or grant extra practice via your investment so I encourage searching and experimenting with just about anything you find interesting or that you can fit into your schedule. Interested to see what else is recommended here as lots of the learners in these forums have great suggestions and tips.
Keep up the good work and I wish you well as you step into this side of learning!
Haha, you caught me!
I used Genki for a grammar resource. It’s most suited for classroom use but it’s totally fine for self study. Since it’s so popular, there are a lot of tools that have been made to go along with it; I found a lot of use in Tokini Andy’s youtube series:
He explains each lesson in Genki one by one. Afterwards, you can do the textbook exercises online at this website:
The most important thing is to pick a grammar resource and stick with it, rather than jumping around between them looking for the ‘perfect’ resource.
I actually don’t use any books or subscriptions besides Wanikani for learning Japanese. I read Tofugu’s articles for grammar and try to identify it wherever I may read Japanese. I’ve also tried forming my own sentences, but that’s not going too well yet.
As for listening and speaking, I watch Japanese Youtube channels and listen to Japanese music, and if I recognize any words I (attempt to) repeat them.
I didn’t explain that very well, but how everyone learns is what works best for them. Try experimenting with different things to see what works and what you enjoy. Fluency is going to take a long time, but it is encouraging when you begin understanding more over time.
I watched Curedolly’s lessons first to get a grasp on grammar. She’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s what worked best for me. Then I just hopped straight into immersing with visual novels and manga using Yomitan. Whenever I encounter a sentence I don’t understand immediately, I break it down, research the grammar points, and make sure I understand why they mean what they mean. I think it helps with retention, since if I ever encounter a grammar point again, I can use reasoning to figure out what it’s doing. It’s painfully slow at first, but as I learn more I barely have to stop to think about or look up the grammar, just the vocab, which isn’t a problem thanks to Yomitan.