Hi I’m new to wanikani and kind of learning japanese overall. I know the basic alphabets and now want to prioritise overall fluency, ie reading ie kanji ie why I’m here lol. But I know wanikani doesn’t teach grammar- so I was wondering what other resources I could use to cover all grounds of my learning?
Any tips in helping me understand vocal communication, grammatical composition and nailing a study routine would be appreciated.
Thank you!! have a great day 
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Welcome, glad to have you here!
I’m sure people in these forums will have all sorts of suggestions- as different learning resources work well for some, not as well for others. Some of these might click, some might not- but;
Jisho.org which is an excellent Japanese dictionary to look up any words or Kanji. It’s an excellent resource just to have in the back of your head as you study anywhere, and if you want to practice writing especially it contains stroke order diagrams for every Kanji. I find it helpful for memorization
Anki.org is bound to show up here- it’s free to use though you have to import (or create your own) content. It works on a SRS system like WaniKani but is so flexible you can tailor it to help with grammar, vocabulary, Kanji, or anything really. Many people here use it. I personally don’t enjoy the UI and it can lack some consistency, but it’s a great supplemental tool regardless
Genki Textbooks are often cited as great entry-level grammar tools, as they are very well explained and easy to follow. This gets a pretty great foundation set for everyday conversation and offers lots of intuitive practice. I think they’re pretty excellent from my own experience. If you have the discipline to work from a textbook, can’t recommend enough.
Bunpro.com is probably the most expansive grammar-learning resource out there, with an incredible amount of content to introduce N5-N1 tier grammar. Its database is very thorough, there’s tons of vocab on the site that WK doesn’t cover (especially Kana-only words), and there’s lots of useful opportunities within it. My major criticism is that its SRS system isn’t quite ideal for something as nuanced as grammar, often being a little too vague of what it’s asking and causing frustrating mistakes- but it still is nice for some repetitive practice to help lock in and recognize concepts. I use the site despite my critiques just because it’s very well organized, feature-rich, and not terribly expensive. You can also sync your WK progress on it if you don’t want to re-learn the same vocabulary.
Busuu.org is not without some shortcomings, but I have found it to be a pretty great and informative site all around. There’s great variety in questions- typing, fill in the blank, multiple choice, listening, short stories, etc. Along with infinitely curated vocab and grammar reviews if you just want to stop and practice your content, which I like. It also offers multiple variants on the Japanese courses- so you can do a standard CEFR-scaled course, one focused on the context of travel, one focused purely on Kanji, one that contextualizes it in Manga, etc. And the most interesting part is that you can interact with other learners, so native Japanese speakers can correct some of your exercises and vice versa.
Dictionary of Basic Grammar is not a source I’ve used quite yet, but I see it tossed around pretty unanimously as an excellent tool. Thought I’d mention.
I think once you build up enough Vocab and grammar to be decently comfortable, you can start introducing some larger reading into the lineup. NHK Easy is often praised for being beginner friendly and (being a news site) uses fairly common, everyday words. Yotsuba&! / よつばと！Manga is usually cited as a perfect entry-level manga for those learning Japanese and I can attest to that. Children’s Novels like 魔女の宅急便 / Kiki’s Delivery Service also come up quite often.
If you like WaniKani, I would personally recommend just sticking with it for a fair while before jumping into anything else, at least in a long-term or intensive manner. There is a desire to learn from all corners possible, but it can quickly become overwhelming if you bite off too much at once- and if you take the time to establish a fair lineup of vocabulary, it means you can focus better on the grammar mechanics when trying that side of study or applied reading. Learning Japanese takes a lot of discipline and patience, but also experimentation to find out what exactly your needs are, your available time and motivation investment, desired outcomes, and resources that click. I hope that any suggestions here can help make that process easier, and you enjoy the journey just like I and the rest of us here have/are.
頑張って！
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Hello and welcome,
Don’t hesitate to search the forums, you’ll find a lot of discussion around these topics.
This may also be useful:
There’s a lot of ground to cover, it’s fine if you want to focus on the writing system (kana/kanji) for a little while before diversifying your studies. It’s also fine if you want to jump into grammar straight away.
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Wow I can’t thank you enough. Your reply went above and beyond, it’s more than I would have ever expected. I will give each of these resources a look and see what works best. You’re the best! Goodluck with your own learning journey (
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Thank you! Every suggestion is helpful.
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For beginner level grammar, I was a big fan of using TokiniAndy videos with the Genki I/II textbooks. He has many free videos on YouTube you can check out and if you like them he has a membership website for $10/month that helps you go through the textbooks (extra videos, tests, and he allows you to submit select recordings/exercises which he’ll grade for you).
Another resource I’m using currently is Flexi Classes through LTL Language School. They are group classes (no more than 5 students) and are about $12/hour. I started using it for lower intermediate level classes, but they do have beginner classes that might be worth checking out. Although they are group classes, in over 90% of the classes I’ve taken I’ve been the only student so that’s been kind of neat. Definitely a good way to get practice listening/speaking for not too much $$$.
If you want free videos, there’s also a ton of teachers that post free videos that go with the Minna No Nihongo textbooks on YouTube (such as NihonGoal, Let’s Study Japanese, Yuuka’s Channel, just to name a few).
I would also agree that if you stick with WaniKani a little first, when you do jump into textbooks and grammar, you are ahead of the curve with vocab/kanji which makes the lessons a bit easier. For example, whenever I would start a new lesson in Genki, I would already know at least half of the vocabulary in the vocab list thanks to WaniKani, which does allow you to focus on other things such as the grammar, listening, speaking, etc.
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My experience is probably different than most, but what I did is focus solely on kanji thru wanikani until around level 20-25, and then I started learning grammar thru minna no nihongo. I can see why some people don’t prefer it, but personally I think it’s the best textbook I’ve ever used (not just Japanese, but any subject.) It’s designed around somebody doing self study, as opposed to a classroom textbook. It’s very immersive, the main book is entirely in Japanese. Although I don’t think it necessarily expects you to have kanji knowledge going into it, it absolutely uses a lot of kanji in the first chapter.
Having waited so long to start on grammar, I was surprised how rare an unknown kanji popped up. Regardless of your source of grammar learning, the important thing is to make sure your kanji knowledge is higher than your grammar, that way you can concentrate on just the grammar and not be bogged down by unknown kanji.
Another thing is you want to do is practice your reading, but how much and from what source depends on your other learning materials. MNN (seems to have) so much reading in it that I am unsure of how useful graded readers are for me. I’ve been trying some out, they’re good practice, but I feel time is usually best spent in a textbook. You need to make sure you actually remember the grammar you’re learning (just like kanji.)
There’s no right or wrong way, craft a learning experience that works. That said personally I think most of your time should go toward kanji. Kanji is the big time sink and the thing that intimidates people the most. If I had to guess, my time so far with Japanese has been split like this:
Kanji: 95%
Grammar: 4%
Reading Practice: 1%
I have no idea if that was wise or not. Whatever you do, don’t stop learning. The only way to fluency is to keep moving forward.
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