I'm hiding this in a collapsible tab because, oh my gosh, I'm sleep-deprived and rambling. I'm so sorry. >///<
I have tried a few times to get through Genki and just… can’t. I have both Genki I and II, but I struggle with the textbook format outside of a classroom, especially since a lot of the exercises require a partner. My grammar studying is honestly pretty hodge-podge. The only thing that I have any consistency with is I watch Japanese Ammo with Misa regularly, and take notes.
Otherwise, this book club is my main exposure to new grammar, though I also do some NHK Easy News as well, and that introduces me to some points quite often also. Anytime I come across a new grammar point, I google it and write notes. Handwriting cements things for me better, personally. I would never remember anything if I couldn’t write it down. Haha. I usually start with Maggie-sensei, and branch out from there. Sometimes I find useful stuff, other times, I feel like I’m drowning in a sea of too much information, and other times I find nothing at all. In the latter two cases, I make sure to revisit what notes I could take on it, and try to keep it in mind as I read, hoping to come across it enough times in enough contexts that it starts to sink in how it is being used.
って is a good example, actually. Googling the grammar point on its own when I first saw it brought it up as being related to という (because of course it would be… という and I are not friends, but I’m getting the sense I’m going to become very well acquainted with it as I read), but didn’t really bring up it’s use replacing は. That knowledge actually came from some of the earlier chapters in this book club. I would have to go back, but I’m pretty sure we see it briefly even in the first chapter. Somebody mentioned it was being used to replace は, so back then, I googled “って as は”, and found a number of examples that I wrote down, and have made an effort to keep it in mind because it seems like it’s fairly common. Editing to add the link to って I found most useful when I was able to get past the initial sensory/information overload It’s use to replace は and というものは is a quite a bit down the page, but it’s there, however briefly.
https://maggiesensei.com/2012/05/07/direct-indirect-speech-＆ってtte/
All this is to say, outside of Misa’s videos, I don’t have a strict grammar study. I sort of just try to learn the concepts as I come across them. It’s really not very efficient. I have been actively trying to learn Japanese since April of last year, and feel like I haven’t made as much progress as I could if I were to focus my efforts a little better. It’s just difficult to balance work (I usually work 11 hour days, anymore), life, and my studies. Haha. Truly, though, this past month or so reading with all of y’all has been a MASSIVE boost to my learning. It’s given me something more solid to base my studies in, and the immersion is just incredibly helpful. I truly can’t express how much this has helped.
I’m always glad to answer what I can, also, because honestly, it helps me out a bunch too. It shows me what points I am actually pretty comfortable with, and which ones I’m sorta relying on intuition for, and I need to study a bit more. I wish I could give you a better roadmap for grammar, but I honestly don’t have one. Haha. Once I finish WaniKani (I’m averaging about 10-11 days per level, so I have a long ways yet), I plan on getting into BunPro and really buckling down on studying grammar more intensively, though.
Also editing to add that I have watched a couple of Cure Dolly videos, and while they are definitely informative, I have to pick and choose when I watch them. I have a difficult time with the modulated voice (subtitles solve most of the problem with understanding, but I also just find it grating if I listen for too long), but I also find the bagging on textbooks (which, fair criticism, but…) to be on the incessant side, for lack of a kinder way to put it. I fully agree that textbooks tend to oversimplify, and by studying purely with them and nothing else, you are going to have some troubles, but yeah. The bagging on them in pretty much every video starts to feel even less helpful, and hits my nerves for some silly reason. Heh.
(Congrats!) Also, expect ドジっ子 to come up from time to time.
How do you study grammar, if you don’t mind answering.