My Japanese Journey so far - (Advice Please!) - Beginner

[Jojiba]

Hi guys!

I started learning Japanese in April as a hobby, as I’ve always been interested in learning a new language besides Spanish. In this short thread I just want to detail my journey so far and hopefully get advice and tips on how I can continue from where I’m at, and what things you guys recommend for a new learner!

From the beginning of May till around the end of May I learnt all the hiragana and katakana through Duolingo and Tofugu’s Learning Guide, I felt this was the easiest part of my journey so far and it really got me motivated to continue learning as I was so fascinated at understanding 2 whole new phonetic alphabets, and wanted to put them into use.

After learning the kana, I went over the basic rules for using kana and went over combo hiragana and its patterns in example sentences, this section took me around a week to learn.

After feeling pretty solid with the kana I had learnt, I next started to use the app called Memrise to gain knowledge of basic and common Japanese Phrases, learning around 150 in total over the course of two weeks and slowly learning new particles throughout the process.

As I continued with memrise, I realised that Kanji was appearing a lot more and at that point I still had little understanding on how they worked. So at the beginning of June I joined WaniKani which was recommended through Tofugu’s learning Guide to continue my learning and start to learn Kanji. I studied how Kanji can be learnt through radicals and learnt approximately 20 outside of Wani Kani, and started to consistently use WaniKani around the middle of June.

Since then I have been completing around 10-15 lessons a day depending on how much college work I have and other priorities such as Football, Swimming and depending on my mood for that day. I also complete all my reviews each time I log on and take notes of all Kanji and Vocab that I learn in a notebook.

Alongside WaniKani each day I have begun to learn grammar through Japanese101 and other Youtube videos, however I feel that I haven’t got one set method of studying grammar and would love some advice on what I should use at my stage of learning. I also use Duolingo and Memrise daily, to enhance my knowledge of vocab and common phrases.

I am now wanting to focus more on grammar alongside my WaniKani journey learning kanji and vocab and would love for some tips or advice on what you recommend I should use to further my learning! If you guys could also tell me how you learnt grammar or how you went about learning Japanese in general and if my way of learning needs some work, please let me know! I’m open to all constructive criticism and advice!

Thanks!

[crumpet]

I use Genki 2nd edition to give some structure to my otherwise somewhat chaotic study. I picked up a full set from eBay and Amazon Marketplace.

[AdmanAbou]

Hello! I started in March (but took a decent-sized break around finals). You seem to be taking the same path as me app-wise. I’m planning on working through Genki this summer and fall. Let’s race!

[jprspereira]

For textbooks, Genki is quite popular. You can look it up at Amazon. If you buy Genki, make sure to also buy the workbook as exercises will make the new knowledge stick much better. There’s also Tae Kim Grammar’s Guide (completely free and online - google it). I’d suggest Misa from Japanese Ammo however. She doesn’t have that many videos (so you’ll eventually run up of things to learn), but what she has is very solid. Here’s her first video of her series for grammar. Follow the numbers on the video titles. She had a playlist with all the videos, but I don’t know what happened to it. When you run out of videos to watch from her, I’d then advise to check Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide and maybe a physical textbook (if you’re willing to spend money).

In terms of kanji, Wanikani is the perfect place to be Just show up every day to do some lessons and all your reviews from that day and you’ll be able to read kanji in no time

Here’s a very detailed list of resources for Japanese developed by this lovely community

The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!

This post is a list of Japanese resources and stands as a collaborative wiki gathered by the WaniKani Community. If there’s a resource you feel is missing from the list, please add it by clicking the edit button above. Include an edit reason by clicking the button at the top of the edit window. Many of the resources here are free, however, the ones that aren’t are marked with a dollar sign $ or otherwise noted. Click on the triangle symbol ► to open a section’s resou…

[JarPas]

I have been on this journey for about 6 months now and these are the resourses I use… For now at least.

Wanikani for kanji. I could be a little faster with it but I’m not on hurry to get to lvl 60. At this pace it will take me about 3 years.

For mobile I have lingodeer and tangoristo. Lingodeer is like duolingo but better… In my opinion anyway. Tangoristo is a reading app that makea reading news a little easier with furigana and vocabylary section.

I have started usein jalup next and I think I like it. Doing the kana congueror now, skipping the kanji part and going streight to vocabylary. Good think about this is that everything is voiced and everything is linked to one another.
Voiced part is important to me because I use shadowing and I shadow everything when I am studying. Need to get The pronuncication right.

I have Genki 1, but haven’t started it yet. Someday maby.

For grammar I use Japanese ammo with misa and tae Kim.

Also I listen to Japanese music and watch anime. These doesn’t help with the learning so much, but for the immersion.

For next step I need to start reading more so I can utilizes the vocabylary and grammar better. Maybe some speaking practises too… With My family… Who don’t know any Japanese… Just to annoy them

[Jojiba]

@jprspereira

I’d suggest Misa from Japanese Ammo however. She doesn’t have that many videos (so you’ll eventually run up of things to learn), but what she has is very solid. Here’s her first video of her series for grammar.

Thanks for this! I have not seen any videos from her channel recommended to me so was surprised that I have been missing out. I will be sure to watch some once I’m home from work, and I am very much enjoying my time on WaniKani, I appreciate the help.

[jprspereira]

@Jojiba

Thanks for this! I have not seen any videos from her channel recommended to me so was surprised that I have been missing out. I will be sure to watch some once I’m home from work, and I am very much enjoying my time on WaniKani, I appreciate the help.

Let me know how it goes

[Jojiba]

@jprspereira

Let me know how it goes

[connieayu3000]

It will be good to see some cartoon, anime, drama with subtitles first. You may easily understand some phrases like greeting, frequent phrases used in daily life.

For the grammar part, I read grammar book and articles, and also examination paper. I think when you have some grammar and expression in mind first. It solidifies your memory when you see the expressions are applied in the articles, songs or the speech.

For listening parts, I mainly watch Japanese drama, and programme. But for the beginner(my friend is also the beginner), He is using a free Japanese learning tool. It works like anki flashcard but the video clip captures the phrase the character speaks. It is much more easier for beginners to follow and memorise the phrase. It may help you. FYI.

https://mainingu.com/login

[jprspereira]

@jprspereira

She had a playlist with all the videos, but I don’t know what happened to it.

So I just talked with Misa and she said other people are having the same problem of not being able to find her playlist. She got me the link