WaniKani is amazing

[WolfBear2023]

こんにちは everyone! I just wanted to drop in and express how happy I am with WaniKani. Before picking up WaniKani the other day, I already knew Hiragana and Katakana, and so my next areas of focus were to learn Kanji and to also learn general vocabulary. And WaniKani seems to fit perfectly for both. And the SRS mnemonics are working absolute wonders for me when it comes to Kanji.

ありがとうございます WaniKani!!

[Indekkusu]

Welcome, glad to have you here on the Japanese journey with us all

While I totally agree with your statement (WaniKani is awesome !), you might want to consider adding other resources as well. Although there are some ‘normal’ vocabulary words here and there, this website is mainly designed for kanji. In the long run it will not be enough for vocabulary or grammar.

Here are some quick references from this community:

I feel like i'm not learning

Hello this is my first reply on here after lurking on the forums for months…! A lot of what you said resonated and I wanted to make a suggestion that’s helped me in my journey. For context, I’m about three months into my Japanese journey and while this isn’t my first language learning rodeo, previous attempts at learning languages have gone, to put it lightly, not so well in the past. But like you, I primarily know only one language, my native language. This time around, however, I’ve taken wh…

What textbook should I use?

I also recommend to start with Genki I (and WaniKani). You have to buy the book itself, but there are quite a few additional free materials to optimize the whole process for self-learners (e.g. sethclydesdale.github.io and github.com/mi-ael/genki_anki_deck_generator). Another interesting textbook should be Minna no Nihongo (ISBN: 978-4883196036).

[WolfBear2023]

Thank you so much for the references to those other topics. I will definitely look through those, because I want to make sure I get a well-rounded approach to learning vocabulary and grammer.

Being able to read Hiragana and Katakana is such an affirming feeling, but about 90% of the words I read I don’t actually know. And about 90% of the time I don’t know when a word ends, since there’s no spaces in Japanese, so in order to know when a word ends, I need to actually know the vocabulary plus Kanji! Definitely a long journey, but one that’s really gonna help take my life in the direction that I really want.

[simias]

I think it’s fine to focus mostly on WaniKani for the first ~10 levels before seriously approaching grammar and general vocab. Knowing all those basic kanji will make it easier to study everything else. That doesn’t mean that I’m advising not looking into grammar at all before then, just that it’s fine if you don’t want to get super deep into it.

Genki is a really popular textbook that many people love but I didn’t care for it personally, don’t hesitate to sample different methods to find one that works best for you. Tae Kim and Cure Dolly (both free) have interesting content for instance, and I also use bunpro extensively (content is free but you have to buy a subscription to use the SRS).