Online grammar tool by the same people that built Satori Reader. I haven’t used it as I looked at the syllabus and IIRC they consider verb conjugation to be intermediate level which I thought rather absurd. Which led me to believe that their intermediate level covers just the last half of the first half of most people’s beginner level. Satori Reader however is excellent. A little on the pricey side, but they’ve clearly put a lot of money into production and it is a great shadowing tool.
I’d recomend picking up a copy of Genki and following TokiniAndy’s youtube channel where he provides lessons for each chapter. However if you plan to eventually study in Japan, Minna is a good option because it is used in language schools there as it is translated into dozens of different languages, so they can put international students all in one class everyone having their own native translations while the instructor speaks only in Japanese.
I’ve only ever seen this in the context of WaniKani, and as a reversed guideline. e.g. If you haven’t started studying grammar by the time you’ve made it to level 10 on WaniKani, now is a good time to do so.
Devoting time isn’t so bad, but I don’t recommend obstinately repeating items repeatedly either.
By the time you repeat WaniKani leeches, you should realize that somehow mnemonics don’t work well, and you would resort to rote memorization – but that time, rote memorization of vocabularies and sentences in a grammar book, has just the same difficulty, only to be more efficient language-wise.
It’s possible to work up on memory tricks as well. Try creating your own mnemonics, or making them deeper, like a memory palace or adding more sensory modalities. Fun, absurdness and personal relevance should help as well.
Several people have already recommended textbooks, but I wanted to go ahead and recommend an entry level textbook/lessons
Some people don’t like that kana is gradually taught and the teacher’s style doesn’t work for everyone. I think it’s quite useful at teaching you the basics with minimal requirements for previous knowledge though. I vehemently agree with the others that your time would be better spent on basic grammar acquisition instead of drilling
Definitely not. The “normal” way to learn Japanese to start with zero or very limited kanji. People do it backwards here. There are many people who have learned to “read” and yet barely understand the language and can’t construct a grammatical sentence.
If you have extra time I’d use it for exposure outside of WK. Watch videos. Start working through the Genki I textbook. etc.
I second Human Japanese. It is very well done. Yes it is beginner level, but once you have completed both courses you will have a great foundation. The second series alone has over 2,600 sentences in Japanese (with English translation as well). I can’t recommend it enough.
SRS is more about time-management than anything. That is, you can always cram items on your own if you have time, but you don’t have to do more than your reviews to learn them (very little time).
That being said, don’t cram items that are in master or enlightened. The idea by then is to test your long-term memory, and for that to be tested, you have to not study those items for a while. In this case, Master (1 month) → Enlightened (2 months (I think it is?) → burned.
But, studying more is always a boon in general. Go for it!
Yeah, definitely. After you have internalized a lot of the grammar it can be very interesting to read about it in more detail, since you have something to refer to. In the beginning it’s probably too overwhelming (and not very effective).
Personally I’d much rather spend time elsewhere. It works short-term, but just cramming cards hasn’t been shown to really improve long-term retention. It can even be detrimental for the cards entering long-term memory, and quite insignificant in the long run.
It’s true that it can be affective to wait until you hit around level 10 in Wanikani, due to the fact that your grammar studies shouldn’t take you as long as Kanji. Once you’re through with those, you’ll be dying to immerse yourself into material made for native speakers, yet due to your kanji knowledge, you’re limited to only shows/movies/furigana manga etc. If you start at a later level in Wanikani, you might be at a level where you could read manga without furigana, or novels even, right after you complete your grammar studies.
But if you have that much time and you invest it in extra lessons and reviews, I feel like it would be better invested in grammar. You want to get through grammar as quickly as possible because that is what allows you to consume more stuff in Japanese, which in turn is what helps you acquire the Japanese that native speakers understand and use. I’ve started wanikani and minna no nihongo at the same day, and so far, the grammar studies are what really made the difference.
You don’t have to be able to understand the meaning of every word in anime or music at the beginning, just get a feel for listening (intonation/pitch/flow of spoken Japanese) and catching what you do know in the language. Then, in the future, when you’ve built up more vocabulary, kanji, and grammar skills, you can re-watch those shows or listen to the music once more and catch more than you did the first time
I´m really not sure why the Tofugu-guide tells you to wait till level 10-20 (i assume thats where you got this from). I wanted to wait till 15 after I read this to be sure I was prepared, but soon enough I noticed that most people were learning (and advising you to learn) grammar much sooner than that, so I wanted to start at 10.
I ordered my copys of Genki way before anyway because I just wanted to have them already and after they arrived I started using them right away since I told myself that I could stop and pause grammar studies when Kanji would overwhelm me. I was probably around Level 5 at that time, but I could have started at Level 1 and it wouldn´t have made a difference.
Genki starts out the first 1 or 2 chapters without Kanji and then starts introducing them but until the end of the books they are always accompanied by Furigana (little Kana on top, to help you read the Kanji), so you could technically go through the entire book not learning a single Kanji and still absorb the grammar and learn the words.
The only reason that I can think of why you would wait with Grammar is because it may overwhelm some people in the beginning to do a lot of things at once. It was comforting for me that I could postpone the daunting grammar studies until much later because at that point I didn´t even know how to even learn a new language. Where do I start? With what tools and resources? When do I have to do what? When is the right time to introduce thing into my studies? How do I know I´m actually making progress?
But now I know how to learn japanese, I might still be an absolute beginner, but I have all of the tools that work for me (and I know of lots of alternatives), I have my own studyplan layed out that I can adjust myself and I know where to get help. With the help of the lovely people in this forum you will soon get there as well
The idea by then is to test your long-term memory, and for that to be tested, you have to not study those items for a while. In this case, Master (1 month) → Enlightened (2 months (I think it is?) → burned.
