こんにちはみなさん, Introduction:
I’ve have always been interested by Japanese culture ever since childhood and through the past year I have been learning beginner Japanese, whether it was at school or at home doing extra study, I always found it exciting and fun. My goal is to someday be able to speak and write most Japanese.
Current Status:
To provide a bit of context, I’m a grade 8 student (moving into grade 9 next year) who chose Japanese as an elective and has had one year of school lessons on Japanese. Through the past year I have also spent around 180 hours on Duolingo and made accounts for MaruMori, Wanikani, Kitsun.
Marumori: beginning of N5
WaniKani: Level 4 (waiting for Christmas discount so I can buy subscription)
Challenges Faced:
However, like any language learner, I’m facing some challenges. For instance, sometimes when grasping certain grammar concepts.
Seeking Wisdom:
This is where I turn to you, the experienced members of this community. I’m eager to hear about your own experiences with learning Japanese. What resources, methods, or tools have you found most effective? Are there any tips or tricks you wish you knew when you started?
Specific Questions:
How did you tackle new grammar and vocabulary when you were learning Japanese?
Are there any particular textbooks, apps, or online courses that you highly recommend?
Conclusion:
Any advice or even just experiences would be highly enjoyable to read. I truly appreciate the work which has been put into this fabulous community, I looking forwards to absorbing all the wisdom this community has to offer!
Welcome!
Learning Japanese is such a fun adventure
Nice that you have found this community too, it has personally helped me a lot in my journey.
I used the popular textbook Genki and that worked for me. This textbook is so popular that many people have made great tools to go along it. Those tools are so great, that I ended up using them and not really opening the actual book anymore. (So basically you can skip the step where you buy the book and use the resources for free). Also the kanjis always come with furigana (the hiragana on top to know how to read them), so no need to worry about your Wanikani level, you can start the grammar now and do Wanikani on the side at your pace.
The way to do Genki, without buying Genki, is as follow.
For each lesson, first watch the video of TokiniAndy on youtube go through it:
Then do the exercises for the lesson on this website:
Then next lesson
I have also used the webside Bunpro on the side and added the grammar points from Genki as I encountered them.
As for vocabulary, mainly Wanikani for kanji, and the rest by immersion. Then later in my journey I started using JPDB.
Just join a class. Having someone show you the ropes is way more efficient than figuring out everything by yourself. After you pass N3, you can study by yourself. Even then I’d say having someone teach you grammar is the best option.
I agree with drake92.
But sadly, as a working adult in the german countryside, joining a class is difficult for me.
So I started self study early on. I use Genki (bought the book and the workbook), Wanikani (its fun), and ANKI (for Vocab).
I also take online classes on iTalki and found another person there to form a Study group for the Group exercises in Genki.
I really recomend a study group (we are only 2 people and meet up online, but its so much fun and helps a lot).
The Genki Textbook has a reading section where you can learn Kanji, practise reading and writing (more than in the “Grammar section”) if you are interested in Genki but dont want to pay so much money, You could check out TokiniAndys Website (costs money). He has listening exercises, writing promts and such stuff. (He is the youtuber mentioned by Akashelia)
Grade 8, damn. Wish I had seriously studied then (and had the resources a grade eight would now!).
Anyway, get to around an N4-N3 level through a textbook or classes or whatever, definitely. But if what you want to do is read, you should aim to start reading as soon as you can. Reading things by myself is the single most helpful thing that has worked for me in terms of self-study. Aim for stuff where you can understand like at least 60-90% of it already (depending on how difficult you feel like going for) and write down what you don’t know. NHK Easy or the Tadoku graded readers are my recommended start in that sense.
Good choices. I think Genki 1+2 should get you to roughly N4 level. From there on you can either start reading simpler stuff already and routinely add new items to your Anki deck + look up unknown grammar points online or proceed to an intermediate textbook like Tobira or something from the Quartet series, and then start reading.
I would sort of leave the Duolingo course for now, mostly because of 2 core issues
the pronunciation (pitch) is usually incorrect, unless it’s the old female/male voices
there are hardly any explanations and translations are extremely arbitrary
I tried a lot of stuff way back, all kinds of Textbooks/Anki and whatever seemed traditional on top. Never stayed with any of those ressources for long and never learned much from them. I’m probably just not made for having fun with those materials. But I’m sure I learned at least something from it for the start.
I then just rushed through Tae-Kims Grammar guide, not caring for actually understanding everything, just getting a feeling for the language and knowing where to find grammar points I will come across from then on.
Then I took media that interested me and just read/listened/played around. Everytime I came across something that made me not understand whats going on, I looked up the grammar or words and moved on without giving it another thought. If I couldnt figure it out in a reasonable time, I just skipped it and was sure I will understand it some day when I get back to that resource. Looked up stuff again and again that way until I realized, that most already stuck and I could understand all the stuff I couldn’t before.
So I guess for me, I didn’t really use special resources or learning courses, just had fun with what I’m doing.
Welcome to the community! Are you Australian by any chance?
As a beginner, what helped me the most was simply practising writing. Once you do that, you come across these questions again and again:
What’s the word for ___ in Japanese? (Vocab)
How do I phrase this in Japanese? (Grammar)
At a N5 level these are easily answered by simply googling. Or you can ask your teacher, since you take Japanese in school.
Rinse and repeat. Increase your vocabulary by using flash cards. When you feel ready, start looking for reading materials (NHK Easy News is a good place to start).
If you are just searching for Websites or Materials to “cross read” if you didnt understand the explanation at school you might like “Tae Kim’s guide to japanese grammar” which is a Website (and a book by now) or “a Dictionary of Basic Japanese” which is a book. Both are reference materials you can use to get another explanation or more examples.
What about getting a teacher on iTalki? I found a wonderful teacher there for regular weekly lessons, and also another one for group conversation practice. I wouldn’t be able to find in-person classes locally either.
That’s when I became interested in learning Japanese was the 8th grade, but back then the resources weren’t as good as they are now so you’re pretty lucky.
I’ve been loving MaruMori a lot so I think you’re on the right track. I also recommend looking up Game Gengo on youtube. He teaches Japanese through video games and his grammar videos are really helpful.
StudyInJapanese on youtube has a lot of good videos for basic conversation/casual phrases.
Crystal Hunters is a manga that teaches Japanese. You read the guide first which lists all the vocabulary and grammar (with grammar explanations) that is going to be used. Then read the volume that goes with that guide. The guides are free and manga is very low cost that you can read digitally through the kindle app.
If you play video games I recommend wishlisting Koe, Shujinkou, and Nihongo Quest N5. These three are Japanese language learning video games.
