Noob question.. is an anki deck is a must have program to learn japanese beside wanikani?

As you can see i,m on level 3 wanikani… so far i just learning from tofugu and wanikani only…
Do you think its necersary or a must to have and anki deck to learn kanji beside wanikani?..
Is it any anki deck to use at smartphone a.k.a android?

Personally, I only use Anki for extra vocab and sentences for grammar practice. Wanikani is more than enough kanji practice for me just now. :stuck_out_tongue:

Also, while I only use the Windows version of Anki, I’m pretty sure there is a free Android version. I think you have to pay for the Apple product version, though…

The kanji you learn here are all nice and well, but there are still many that you come across often that aren’t in WK. 嬉 (happy) being one of them. Besides, even if you learnt all of the jouyou kanji, there are still other useful kanji out there to learn. For starters you need not to bother with external kanji input, just be aware that WK isn’t the be it end all.

To really learn Japanese, Wanikani won’t get you very far anyways. The vocabulary you learn here is meant to strengthen kanji recognition, not to be the only source of words you learn. You need to learn kana-only vocab and generally more compound words. And of course you need a structured grammar approach, not just some random blog posts on tofugu.

I wouldnt say its necessary. I know a few people who study without any kind of flashcard app and are doing better than me, and I do flashcards ALL the time. I`ve recently started Memrise. I suggest you check it out. Some decks are better than others, so look through them and see if you find anything you like! Or make your own. 

@Deffdapp - I’ve seen people say this before, but do you have a recommendation or link please for kana only words? I think I need to get a bunch of those for the JLPT.

It’s a good question - I think it depends on person to person. I think any learning resource is worth a try to see if works for you.

I am also using Anki and create my own decks for vocabulary that comes up in my textbooks.

I have one deck for Genki 1. After I’ve practised and feel confident with the grammar, vocab, pronunciation etc I’ll find out what the kanji is and input that to my Anki Genki deck.

So for example maybe I’ve learned: がくせい(student) りゅうがくせい(overseas student)
I’ll use the dictionary to find the kanji: 学生 留学生
And I’ll create a new card for each vocab word.

I’ll set up the card so the front is in kanji: 留学生
I might add a sentence for context too to give me a clue on the meaning:  ロジャーさん は イギリス人で、留学生 です。
Then on the back I’ll have the kana: りゅうがくせい + meaning + sentence meaning (if I have one).
I’ll have a section where I split each kanji up too like this:
留: detain
学: study/learn
生: life/birth

If I have a pen and pad with me I’ll write the kanji out as I review the deck, but it’s mostly for reading.

I guess my method is to try and force myself to recognise kanji that I won’t be exposed to in WK early on. I find it’s a lot easier to recognise a kanji if I already know a vocab word.

Again, the way I work works for me, but other people will use Anki different ways.

Wow thanks for the respond…
So its good to use some anki deck… maybe i try to make one later…
Thanks for the input

Imho, if only for kanji, just stick to WK, sometime anki with different deck than WK and WK have slight different meaning and that may distract a little, not to mention different mnemonics if you use it a lot.

It’s really a matter of taste. Trying certainly won’t hurt - Anki is free and there are good decks, some even designed to imitate the WK feel.

I still can’t warm up to it. I don’t know why but I just don’t like Anki. I’ve tried it a few times, I know it’s good and I want enjoy it but that’s not happening so I stopped pushing it. Maybe I’ll return someday but right now, there are still plenty of other resources that do a better job at keeping me engaged. I leave kanji to WK for now (and whatever turns in in regular vocab & grammar study). 

Calfuray said... @Deffdapp - I've seen people say this before, but do you have a recommendation or link please for kana only words? I think I need to get a bunch of those for the JLPT.
/t/Some-Supplemental-Material/8121/1 

Anki. 4th deck down.

I like Anki because of the vast diversity it offers, seeing as how there are so many decks for Japanese learning alone. At first I didn’t like it at all, but I’m at a place now where I enjoy getting a bit of extra knowledge into my brain via SRS with Anki, be it extra vocab or grammar points. Then again, the number of cards I study a day per deck is really, really low. In the future though, I would like to invest more time and effort on Anki decks.



pseudocreobotra said... It's really a matter of taste. Trying certainly won't hurt - Anki is free and there are good decks, some even designed to imitate the WK feel.

I still can't warm up to it. I don't know why but I just don't like Anki. I've tried it a few times, I know it's good and I want enjoy it but that's not happening so I stopped pushing it. Maybe I'll return someday but right now, there are still plenty of other resources that do a better job at keeping me engaged. 
100% this. 
And if you have an Android device even better as the app is free. For me, I feel some sort of flashcard method, preferably srs'd is needed for vocab. Whether you use Anki, HouHou, Memrise, iknow, read the kanji, studystack, quizlet, cram, or even hand make some, lots of repetition is best for vocab imo.

(I use the bolded ones)

I get my motivation from learning new words from consuming native Japanese materials.

Anki helps me track these vocabularies with ease and with a good degree of customisation.

There are also decks which have compiled words narrowed down to the common ones being used like the core decks.

I would say it would help you greatly to have an srs program like anki (it could also be memrise) to store additional vocabulary.

For me I just rely on wanikani for kanji alone, and I let anki teach me additional kanji in passing. For example I don’t know the kanji in 初級 but I can read and understand the word anyway.