As stated in the title! What are some vocabulary or phrases that you have recently learnt that can’t be found on WaniKani- but you feel will come in very useful? Feel free to provide context sentences to show how they are used!
I recently learnt about- ADVERBS
いつの間にか - Before I knew it
いつの間にか冬も過ぎてしまった
（いつのまにか ふゆ も すぎて しまった）
Before I knew it, Summer was over.
ぎりぎり- Just barely (Adverbial noun, な adjective)
ぎりぎりになるまで待っていたよ
（ぎりぎり に なる まで まっていた）
I waited until the last minute.
尚更・なおさら - All the more
英語は話せません。日本語は尚更できません。
（えいご は はなせません。にほんご は なおさら できません）
(I can’t speak English, let alone Japanese.)
PHRASES
気が散る - To get distracted
騒音で気が散ってちゃんと勉強できない
(そうおん で き が ちって ちゃんと べんきょう できない）
The noise distracted me from studying properly
VERBS
はまるー To be addicted to, to be absorbed in, to fit (literally), to fall into、Intransitive Godan Verb. Usually used in its Progressive Form.
テレビゲームにはまっている。
I’m addicted to Video Games.
I’ve recently started reading my first novel in Japanese and I’m encountering words and phrases not from WaniKani all the time. One phrase that appeared several times in the first 10 pages and is pretty interesting is 突拍子もない - crazy.
There are also some cool proverbs, like 三十六計逃げるに如かず, which literally means “Out of the 36 (ancient Chinese military) strategies retreat is the best one.”
Wanikani only teaches kanji and individual words (for the most part, at least), so any phrase constructed with multiple words/particles. Off the top of my head, something like 〜気がする, which translates more or less to “to feel as if ~.”
最近寝不足のような気がする。
(さい きん ね ぶ そく のような き が する）
(I) feel like (I) haven’t been getting enough sleep recently. (not entirely sure if i constructed this sentence correctly)
There are also some cool proverbs, like 三十六計逃げるに如かず, which literally means “Out of the 36 (ancient Chinese military) strategies retreat is the best one.”
I know that Japanese is heavily influenced by classical Chinese, but it’s always surprising to see expressions that Chinese people use often appear in Japanese (I’m Chinese and speak Mandarin, btw). The Chinese equivalent is: 三十六计走为上计. I always thought Chinese was unique with its particular set of proverbs, but I guess not haha. I wonder how often these proverbs are used colloquially because I hear them a lot in China, but I know colloquial Japanese consists mostly of 和語 instead of 漢語 (one exception I can think of is 一番 vs 最も).
One that I’ve seen several times is 一刻も早く: as soon as possible.
As part of my practice regimen, I’ve been adding words that I’ve encountered to my Anki deck if they use kanji that I’ve at least gotten to Guru level. I have over 400 words in there, but here are some random words that I’ve encountered a lot in the wild: 調査、株価、様子、気配、関節、咄嗟（に）、野望、直感、出番、登場、退場。
Heh. I did a translation of a drama, and in the first episode, one of the characters complained that he’d heard something so many times that 耳のタコがイカになりました, and boy did that one take some research to unravel. (Think I went with “my ears are so callused they’re turning into calamari”. Don’t recall exactly.)
I didn’t know they thought vocab with kanji from previous chapters.