hello all. I hope I can get your advice and opinions on this issue I have. よろしくお願いいたします。
first of all a little background. I started learning Japanese in 2018 however until the end of 2021 it was just half assed “on my spare time” type of studying and not much in depth. When i finished Genki I was so excited because I was finally ready for immersion. Needless to say actual Japanese kicked my ass and I felt like my studies were useless. It was then that I decided to get serious about the language. 1 year later and I’m level 44 on WaniKani and have studied Genki again more thoroughly and am now on lesson 4 of Quartet 1. I’m very happy about my progress.
However recently, studying both textbooks and reviewing WaniKani at the same time have begun to take their toll on me and I’m feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. I feel like I should finish one first and then tackle the other but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea and I want your advice. Should I level up to 60 first on WaniKani and then focus on Quartet since it seems there isn’t that many levels left ? Or focus on Quartet 1 first or just bear with it and continue as I have been doing for a year?
Imo I would just slow down the amount that you’re trying to do of each and do them both at the same time. Choosing to only focus on one or the other is probably going to hold you back in the long run.
Since actual Japanese is your trouble, it’s pretty certain that you need grammar more.
Also, if possible, pick some natural materials of suitable level and read sufficiently. Quite a lot of vocabularies can have their meaning inferred with practice; and noticing vocabularies in context is yet another skill. Not to mention Wanikani might not teach enough Kanji readings for some vocabularies with early Kanji, particularly for rarer vocabularies. Level 60 is an arbitrary point as well. You might need more than that.
Being able to read more, then reading, will save troubles with leeches later.
From level 43 to level 60, it can still drag on for a very long time… especially if your motivation is dropping.
If you have a lifetime subscription or otherwise don’t care about it, it’s probably wiser to focus on other aspects of Japanese. This could include more explicit textbook study, but it could also mean e.g. more input and output (especially spoken), it really depends on your needs and weak areas. The Kanji of the last 20 levels aren’t all unimportant, but there’s probably just things that are a bigger bottleneck than Kanji right now.
Having said that, I’m not following my own advice and do plan on finishing WK soon. In my case, it’s due to the fact that I don’t have lifetime and that I have a strong desire to be “done” with WaniKani.
I would study both without leaving wanikani…you’ll always be overwhelmed if you don’t know enough kanji. But grammar is also important so… I would just do both but with less intensity.
I started grammar on bunpro at lvl 35 here, since I would not spend a lot of time worrying about vocab meaning and focusing in the grammar point only.
So yes, focus on grammar now. I dropped bunpro last november and I will go back to it (N2) when I hit lvl 60 here.
Probably I will use sou matome (The one I dont need to write the answers will be my choice, if there are multiple choices in questions, way better IMO) since it has explanations in English and shin kanzen is too wild for me.