Level 21 before 2021!

They recommend you wait until level ten to learn grammar?

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Congrats :confetti_ball:

@kathryna910 The exact thing just happened to me. I really thought I was gonna level up today, but…I got 33 out of 34 instead!

Congrats to everyone for all the level ups!

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They do, but personally I think it’s better to start much earlier, when WaniKani is still slow. After level 10 it takes a lot more of your time. If you use a beginner source they won’t expect you to know any kanij.

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Hey that sounds like something I should look into. What are the typical beginner sources without kanji? And wouldn’t I still need to know vocabulary even without the kanji? Dang, I feel like I could die waiting for my next level up, it’s going pretty slow haha

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Most beginner sources assume you don’t even know hiragana/katakana. Genki is well accepted as a great beginner textbook. You can find is sold on Amazon and many other online resources. It also has a workbook which is sometimes sold separately.

If you want to work specifically on grammar theres:
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar by Seiichi Makino Michio Tsutsui
A Guide to Japanese Grammar by Tae Kim
Japanese the Manga Way by Wayne P Lammers

I personally never felt that a lack of Kanji as held me back from learning grammar.

It may depend on the ressource.
For Tae Kim for example, the kanji shown in the vocabulary aren’t explained or have furigana in the lesson.
It just require an extra effort.
I am not sure for genki and JtM.

I follow a course of japanese (1h30/week, mainly for producing and oral practice). Now the kanji that are considered learned don’t have any furigana.
Before wanikani I had a hard time with them. That was one of my motivation when I heard of WK…

Genki only uses Kanji that they have specifically taught you, so It is a good starting place.

What course are you taking?

This is from a local language center where I live :slight_smile:

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Personally I like Cure Dolly’s videos on youtube. I’m always a little hesitant to recommend this because the author uses an animatronic doll avatar with an artificial voice to preserve their anonymity, and some people find that too distracting. However I also think the instruction is first-rate, and much easier to follow than Tae Kim. She has her own system for explaining the structure of Japanese that I (and many others) think is clearer than what you’ll find in books like Genki. She does not expect you to know any Japanese at all in the beginning, but by lesson 10 or so she expects you to know hiragana. All kanji have furigana and most words are defined in the videos. If you’re interested look up ‘Cure Dolly Lesson 1’.

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My issue with Cure Dolly is that I, as a non native speaker, can not understand what is said without taking much effort.
I like “Japanese ammo with Misa” for this, very easy to understand.

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Yeah I hear that can be problematic as well. I think she’s trying to add subtitles in different languages to help with this, but it’s slow going because it relies on volunteers who speak the languages.

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17 :fireworks:
I also like Cure Dolly, I used to hate the voice and mute it, but I’ve gotten used to it by now. It just takes a long time because I make notes so a 10 minute video is more like 30 minutes for me. It just makes sense to me, but it’s not like it’s different grammar. It’s just another way of looking at it. I wish they’d make a proper grammar book though, I don’t think Unlocking Japanese is really worth it, imho.

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I guess it’s not completely separate, but it’s a little different from the system I see described elsewhere. I had trouble with the voice at first but I have also gotten used to it. I wish she would write a book too :slight_smile:

I have reached level 14…

But it’s nearly 4 A.M.

Oh how I love to make myself suffer

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All your lesson on level up? You mad! :cowboy_hat_face:

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Celebrating the small big steps, I made it back to level 18!
This is where I fell of the wagon during my first attempt… And now after resetting twice, I am back and feel like I have less trouble understanding the vocab and kanji. I feel less frustrated with the reviews and can actually read japanese articles online. Apperently I needed this bumpy road to get a better grip.

Let’s go everyone and let’s get to level 21!

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Keep it up :slight_smile:

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Just made it to 11! I slowed down a bit because of work. Still, wish me luck. So sleepy now. :sleeping: Lessons and reviews to be continued tomorrow! I’ll update my stats later, too… Yay, everyone! :yawning_face:

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I’m not terribly convinced that I’ll reach level 21 at this pace, but also not sure if I’ll be able to pick up the pace :stuck_out_tongue: My useless hands are doing their own thing again, so I’m trying to use Lipsurf more often. Anyhow, my current pace seems to be approx. 16 days a level.

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@MissBerry, @Yuuzuu, @Abbas099 , @tugboatcaptain and everyone else, congrats on your level ups! I’m so happy to see all of us getting one step closer to level 21. We can all do it!

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