I’ve finished chapter 10 in time but planning on reviewing all the previous chapters during the break. It feel great knowing we’ll be finished soon in December!
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Hi everyone! I’m soon starting on Tobira. Do you have some tips for a novice? What is your routine? Do you go through supplementary material on the website etc.?
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I also need to start working through the Tobira book but my japanese is still too poor.
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You probably know more about self-studying textbooks than I do, you powered through Genki!
I imagine that your techniques/routine for Genki can apply to Tobira too – the main difference is that more of the book is actually in Japanese, and grammar explanations are concise (but they’re usually clear enough and have examples).
I usually just read one “thing” per day (pre-reading/main reading/dialog/other) and go through one grammar point before adding it Bunpro. I watch the videos when I remember too 
I don’t do the textbook exercises, I just can’t make myself do them. I’m relying on lots of Bunpro repetitions for drilling, and lots of book club reading.
I haven’t needed to pre-study Tobira-specific vocab so far (I just look up stuff if I need to), but they do provide Anki decks so you might find that helpful!
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For me I ~
- Read texts - use a pencil to underline words don’t know and draw a box around grammar I don’t know. I’ll also underline anything I’m not 100% confident on. Key for me is to read relaxed - not to worry about what something means!
- Listen to audio while following along while reading. Listen and read through Vocab list. Watch videos.
- Use their anki deck.
- After 2 weeks of anki’ing I read the main text again out loud then leave it as done! I normally find I’m so much better after this ~ if needed I would always go through it again but after a much later time as I find it sticks in my head a lot better after a break from it.
I also rewatch the video.
Same as Skymaiden I do use bunpro and I avoid the exercises.
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Hi there,
I will start learning with tobira soon. Sadly a little late for the study group. I was wondering… has anyone of you already looked up the wanikanilevel you need to read like 90%-95% of the kanji that tobira will teach you (not the ones before you start) ?
I would like not learning too many kanjis outside of the wanikani system…
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At WK level 20, you can read about 50% of the kanji in Tobira. At level 30, you can read almost 85%. At level 52, you have covered all of Tobira’s kanji.
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I forgot to say Welcome to the study group! Please read and post in the threads that are already up if you want!
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Wow. Who made this? I didn’t even know someone had done the work. I was googling for an answer, but I got distracted because I couldn’t find anything as clear and simple as this.
As @Marifly said, you can post in the threads for chapters that have already been covered by the study group. Some of the questions you might eventually have might already have been covered, but there are certainly things that haven’t been asked yet, so the discussion is far from over, and I’m sure you’ll get a response. I know that I, for one, will respond to questions if I know the answers and see them being asked. If not, at the worst, there’s always the ‘Short Grammar Question’ thread.
In any case, welcome, and all the best! Hope Tobira does for you at least as much as it’s done for me.
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I don’t know! I found it in the forums long ago and saved it. It’s such a great resource to have!
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Wow, thank you, that is such a precise answer. lvl 30 is a good next goal then.
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The chapter 11 thread is up!
And a reminder to everyone: The chapter threads are there for those who go through the book now, as well as for those who go through it later. I really hope that we can use these threads as a resource now and in the months to come!
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I just picked up the Tobira book and am going through it now so maybe I can join along with some of the discussion
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Yes, please do! Welcome!
I’m not really sure how to go along with the textbook besides reading the passages/dialogues/etc. making sure I understand them and than doing the exercises and looking at the vocab and grammar section. I’m also making sure to listen to the dialogue while I’m reading. I’m enjoying the book after doing the first chapter but I went through everything there was to do in the first chapter in about an hour or two and I’m not sure what else to do with what I went through
- Try to translate some of the text or dialogues and post your translations here so we can go over them with you
- Try to make your own example sentences from each of the grammar points
The chapters get harder as you go along! More text, more grammar and more vocab. Sounds like you’re doing great so far!
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Don’t forget to check out the Tobira website! There are conversation practice videos which some of us have found very helpful and interesting.
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I was using the website for the audio but didn’t know their were conversation practice video so thanks, I’ll look into it!
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The chapter 12 thread is up! Tobira study group - chapter 12
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Hi everyone, just wanted to drop by and say that I’m back. I’m more or less done with Chapter 12, so I guess we could say that I’ve caught up. 
Honestly though, I’m not sure I will go all the way to the end of the book. I mean, it’s beneficial for me in the sense that it’s the most structured Japanese practice I can get, but my background as a Chinese speaker and all the things I’ve picked up watching anime and using Japanese resources to answer language questions (e.g. I was reading a paper on the use of tense in Japanese a few days ago in order to answer something in the Short Grammar Questions thread) mean that I often feel like Tobira isn’t teaching me enough for the time I invest in it. If anyone would like to share their motivations/reasons for sticking with Tobira thus far, and what they’ve got out of it, I’d be glad to hear from them. I may not find Tobira all that hard (one chapter takes me about a day to finish if I’m serious about it), but each study session is pretty exhausting, and I really feel like I’m using the book for pronunciation practice, reading speed improvement, and acquiring the occasional specialised word right now.
Separately, especially for those of you with tutors, has anyone received any advice on what to do beyond Tobira? I have another textbook waiting for me back home, but with the pandemic and my busy schedule, I probably won’t be seeing it until mid-2021, and I’m just curious if anyone has received concrete advice beyond ‘try looking at more native material’, since that’s something I already intend to do once I have a little more time. Has anyone heard anything?
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