I’d like to get a firm grip on handwriting in Japanese (sorry, pun unintended) once I can more reliably form a comprehensible sentence. Until then, I’ll use keyboards & such–has worked fine thus far!
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The biggest mistake I made (and am actually still continuing to make because I’m a scaredy cat) is not practicing the Japanese I learn. That is, I continue to learn material, but never put it to practical use. I’ve learned what words mean, but have never actually used them. I’ve learned how to compose grammatically correct sentences, but rarely ever actually write them. And I’ve learned how to be conversational in Japanese, but have never actually had a conversation. By NOT utilizing the things I’m learning, I’m completely wasting the time, money, and effort I’ve used to improve my knowledge of the Japanese Language. I hope to overcome this obstacle throughout this year, and would encourage anyone else to correct their mistakes as soon as they recognize them!
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／wrong reply sorry im mistaken press reply button ／ m(o･ω･o)m
in very very old long time、im always ignore hane tome harai while writing～
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I know that one of my biggest mistakes was starting with the Japanese from Zero textbooks. I enjoy the author and his online content, but they move at a snail’s pace, and it doesn’t really push for kanji knowledge. So, when I finally moved to Japan, I felt really behind my peers. I quickly dropped that book and picked up the Genki series. I finished the first book last month, and I’m on the third lesson of the second one.
I made a mistake when I first started learning that still haunts me today…
I accidentally made the (incorrect) connection that 明日（あした） is yesterday because when you put things in past tense, you add した… あした… I still find myself mixing up 昨日 and 明日… Not the readings, just when I want to say yesterday I will think あした way more than I should after studying for 5 years 
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I’m sorry to hear that I’m not the only who has this habit. It is so hard to shake!
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Not really on topic with the other anecdotes, but I found a visual trick (on Wikipedia of all places) that cleared this up for me: connect the dots.
If you draw a line through the two marks in シ and ツ to the longer stroke, they’ll look somewhat like し and つ, respectively.
For the others, if you can tell which small stroke is meant to align to the top (ソ) or the left (ン), you’ll get a shape that looks like the beginning of そ (before the stroke moves to the right) or the beginning of ん, before the stroke curves downward.
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Same here, I have a Kanji dictionary that’s just lying around. I thought it was a must-have item at the time, but now I just wonder if I will ever use it at all 
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Funnily enough, I’ve been using my kanji book more recently before I started up WaniKani because I was realizing what my weaknesses were. What edition did you have? Did it go through how to write them step by step?
I’m a little disappointed that in the first actual lesson I’ve gone through it doesn’t show stroke orders or encourage writing. That’s an opportunity I’ve found so far- or maybe it’s part of their method.
When I was attending high school in Japan, my debate team used to use these for attack/defense cards. they still give me nightmares.
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WaniKani’s focus is on reading, not writing, but there are some userscripts you can find in the resources section of the forums that tie into stroke order tools for kanji you’ve learned.
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Preface: I’m only an upper beginner / lower intermediate student (i.e. around JLPT N4) so these mistakes only relate to the beginner level:
Some of my biggest mistakes in learning Japanese:
- Entirely neglecting practicing writing hiragana, katakana, and kanji (based on the advice of some people on this forum). I thought I could bypass hiragana and katakana by using mnemonics (e.g. these Learn Hiragana: Tofugu's Ultimate Guide ), and skip straight to only learning kanji via WaniKani. This didn’t work at all, as I still struggled to read anything, even when it came to even the most basic grammar examples. I found that writing out katakana words and hiragana words (in that order, not the reverse order) from https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Japanese-Yale-Language-English/dp/0300019130 to be tremendously helpful. It was only after I wrote out many different words using hiragana and katakana was I then able to read them easily.
- Paying for JapanesePod101.com I think I paid $100 for access after they constantly spammed my inbox with upgrade promotions, but I never ended up using it much.
- Paying $200 for a local Japanese class without sitting in on a trial class first. I ended up dropping the course after I found it to be unhelpful, but I wasn’t able to get a refund.
- Entirely dismissing romaji resources as being unhelpful. Maybe a lot of those books are unhelpful, but I think some (particularly those that explain grammar conceptually) can be helpful, despite only having romaji text.
- Not taking the JLPT seriously. My previous line of thinking was, “Well, I’m not planning to get a job in Japan, so a formal test is a waste of time.” Now, I view the JLPT as a motivator and a tool to benchmark my progress. Since a lot of grammar, vocabulary, and kanji are all categorized with different JLPT levels, going through books specific to JLPT preparation really simplifies the organization of Japanese knowledge to cover.
- Literally interpreting the advice: “Watch a movie or drama episode over and over until you can understand and repeat every sentence.” I think it’s better to actually take very small audio/video snippets (1 or 2 sentences) from movies or dramas and practice speaking with those over and over, as opposed to the entire film or episode over and over. This way, you can just focus on the sentences that are meaningful and personally relevant, without having to spend time on sentences whose vocabulary, grammar, and kanji you already fully comprehend.
- Not identifying the intended audience of some Japanese language books. Some books (for example: those published by Kodansha) cover topics that are only appropriate for students who already have a strong grasp of certain topics (e.g. hiragana, katakana, elementary kanji). The prerequisite knowledge may sometimes be implicit and not explicitly stated, so it can be discouraging to try to read those books without the necessary background.
Inverse answer:
Some of the best things I did when I first started learning Japanese:
- Keeping it fun (by making Japanese friends, watching enjoyable Japanese anime, drama series, and movies).
- Watching Misa’s YouTube Japanese lessons (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd5-Wp_4tLqYZxS5j3g6kbeOfVXlTkr3N). Her videos explain elementary grammar in a consistent, systematic, fun, and engaging way.
- Developing good speaking habits through beginner Pimsleur audio courses (i.e. repeated pronunciation practice of a word or phrase by starting at the last syllable and working backwards).
- Buying a copy of A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (Amazon.com) and systematically reading through relevant entries.
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Probably my initial problem was to be much of a hoarder of an student… I just started something, and the next thing came, then I was studying that and the previous… an so far.
There was a point I was doing both MNH + Genki for grammar, and then for kanji RTK / Kanken series / Kanji Study App … and buying my brushes to subscribe to a shodo class 
…
luckily saner thoughts prevailed 
mine was not using wanikani :^)
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It’s more of a dictionary, called “The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji”. It’s a very dry list of 2100+ characters, but it’s got mnemonics, so I picked it up because of that 
The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji(9784805311707) - Tuttle Publishing
I also have the にほんごチャレンジ N5-N4 Kanji edition - that one does encourage you to write each new kanji as you go. Maybe you’d like it? I haven’t gotten very far, but it’s a pleasant book to sit down with. Buy Nihongo Challenge N4 & N5 Kanji – OMG Japan
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My biggest mistake was and still continues to be pretending to learn stuff. I too easily fool myself into thinking i’ve learned something only to have it slip away very fast because I didn’t actually learn it due to my eagerness in just moving forward.
But other things were not focusing on grammar which really helps to remember vocab. Not learning katakana because “meh… hiragana is good enough right?” WRONG. Also overwhelming myself to the point i don’t want to touch the materials for months. Which is why I had to reset my account. Won’t be doing that again.
I guess finding a good balance between the right amount of content without going overboard whilst still keeping a good pace is the most important thing.
USE WHAT YOU LEARN, EVEN if ITS JUST A BASIC SENTENCE LIKE: “This is a cat”
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I had the same problem in Korea and I’m at intermediate level in it ㅜㅜ
Thanks for the suggestion! The formatting of N4/N5 Nihongo Challenge actually looks very similar in formatting to the Japanese Kanji book I was talking about- just not being able to write in it directly, and it does not have the pictures. I’ll add this to my list!
Here is the one I have been using:
It’s good for stroke orders and examples. There’s a fourth edition that’s been released since I purchased this one. It also sorts the kanji you’re learning by the grade school students would learn them.
あした has an /a/ sound, right? Guess what: just like after 
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