To me, it’s very clear that Russian is very different from Portuguese, but I’m native so I can’t really tell sorry 
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Ah, you’ve ruined it for me 
I’m a native speaker of Portuguese too, though I’m from Brazil, not Portugal like @jprspereira, and I admit it’s well within the realm of possibility for me to mistake Russian and Portuguese from Portugal. This is probably a joke, but maybe not.
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Learn what “comboio” and “gajo” mean and you’re halfway there
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I thought I knew what it meant until I looket it up 
does this mean you don’t ever use the word “trem”?
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I mean… we know what it means… we understand Brazilian Portuguese pretty well… but we don’t use it. You might heard it from some elders maaaaaayybeeeee.
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I speak German (though my mother language is Dutch) and I don’t think it sounds that much like English tbh… More like silly Dutch (or Dutch is silly German… In any case, those two sound alike A LOT X])
It’s all the same language family though, so I see where you come from (and the more I think about it, the more they’re starting to sound alike… smh)
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Hello there, I share the same resolution with you!! i started WK on Jan 1st, and I’m currently on level 4, it is looking good so far. I decided to use WK alone to study japanese until level 10 and then i’ll begin studying grammar, as far as i know, to reach the amount of kanji an intermediate level book uses you need to reach here upto level 30, so i decided to acquire 6 books on grammar which covers all the basic stuff and 2 books ill be using after reaching level 30 to keep practising on an intermediate level.
I believe a better way to focus on grammar rules is to understand what you’re reading and don’t be in need to go look up kanji or vocabulary on a dictionary.
Anyway, let’s see how it goes, it’s really nice to meet someone who is also starting this journey, best wishes
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Ooh, I have to be honest - I don’t really know what Dutch sounds like… I know the accent, but not the actual language.
But I can assure you that German words are like funny English words to me ^^ Maybe all the Germanic languages just sound silly to each other 
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That sounds like a really good study approach! I’m still trying to figure out exactly how to study Japanese, but for now it’s just WaniKani, and it’s working for me. 
Good luck to you on this journey as well!
There’s credence to both approaches, but I think the purpose and urgency of learning Japanese for each learner causes one approach to be more attractive than the other.
Very crudely put, people who focus on speaking-only for their study often spend a lot of time grasping widely used words and grammar, which makes it easier to be communicative quicker. The downside is when rarer forms come into play, they have no idea what is being said. These limitations are very much noticeable if a person spends time around people who don’t use much variety or depth in their speech.
I spent a lot of time trying to learn to read for the purpose of widening my vocabulary. I also want to sound educated. (Haven’t gotten to that point yet, but at least I’m trying). Knowing kanji does make conceptualizing new words easy to understand because there have been many times when people have just explained the kanji composition of the unknown word, and I get a better idea along with their definition. The main downside to focusing less on the speaking-only approach is that you’re going to come across times when you know only one way to say something, and it’s not the way people say it in conversation. This is often the case with many English learners from Asia: they’ve studied from a book and never really had a conversation with a native speaker, so their utterances are stilted and awkward as a result.
I think if a person puts efforts on both sides eventually their speech will get to a point where it’s understood by the listener but also has some depth with vocabulary and grammar.
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Very insightful, thank you!
In general I think most people don’t practice their speaking enough, myself included, so it’s not that I think reading is way better than speaking for fluency or anything. I think I would just find it very difficult to conceptualize what I was saying if I didn’t have the grounding of reading ability at all. I neglected my kanji for… a while, and I was really struggling to retain vocab. I feel like every time I learn the kanji for a word I technically knew already my brain throws a little party because suddenly it understands.
I can certainly understand pursuing the speaking approach if you just want a crash course in being able to speak for, say, a holiday or something, but long-term it seems like a very difficult approach to pursue.
I proofread a report written by my Chinese neighbour a few years back and she wrote that something ‘made her heart warm inside’, and I just thought that was the most delightful phrase ever.
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(little shocked sound) …Belgian? Me too! So good to find a kindred spirit and fellow country member on here. Of course by happy accident I don’t speak a word of German
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Ah there are so little Belgians on here indeed… Which province? Mine’s Antwerp ^^
There are like bazillion Dutch accents though, depending on which part of Belgium or The Netherlands you’re from (although I think I can imagine something more general for a Dutch person’s accent in English… Belgium is just… a melting pot)
Germanic languages are like a silly dysfunctional family XP
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My teacher showed us that one in my first German class XD (we actually had to study all the words from the vid too… Right from the first day…)
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Antwerp also! … I’d really like to narrow it down further but this is the open internet… I’ve got this feeling we’re very close to each other! n_n; Kind of exciting, huh?
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I literally screened the forum for belgium and this was one of four hits so I don’t think there’s a lot of us here 
I’m from Antwerp as well so what are the odds that three Belgians here are from the same city. What are your experiences with WaniKani so far?
also, I know i’m a bit ahead of myself as I only learned Kana so far, but did you find stores in Belgium where you could find Japanese (children’s) books for practice?
Hi Smullie, nice to meet you! I started in January and must say that I couldn’t be happier about my experience with Wanikani. I try to keep things manageable and light by only learning a few new words each day, but those efforts build up. And I’ve noticed I can recognize and understand certain things that I wouldn’t have when I started. That’s invaluable to me. And so motivating.
I haven’t found any stores in Belgium that sell Japanese books (of any level). If you have, please share!
I ordered books on Amazon.jp two times now. You’ll find the books are quite cheap, but the shipping doubles your cost.