I don’t know Textfugu, but Tae Kim and Genki are both materials out to teach you the same thing. You only really need one. Personally, my preference is Genki, but YMMV. I recommend trying both, and sticking with one.
In my opinion, there are three main areas you need to hit if you really want to be mastering Japanese on all fronts:
- Grammar
- Kanji
- Listening/Speaking
As a side note, if you don’t have the time or energy to hit all of these at once, don’t stress out too much about it. You’re still making progress if you focus on one or two, you’ll just be lopsided in your skillset until you put in the time on the other(s). That said, if you do tackle all three at once, you’ll find that the things you’re learning reinforce each other, and you’ll be learning faster than if you were to do them sequentially.
So, Grammar, Kanji, and Listening/Speaking. You’ve got Kanji covered right here with WaniKani. Your other big options would be Heisig’s Remember the Kanji or an Anki deck full of Kanji to learn. The benefits of these methods are mostly that you can go a lot faster if you have the time or talent. Unless you’re looking to put in more than two hours a day, or have a real knack for learning languages, WaniKani is probably fast enough for you.
Grammar’s mostly been covered. There are a handful of very popular books that will get you through the basics of grammar. It’s a little more wild once you get to the equivalent of finishing Genki 2, but that’s a topic for another day. Bunpro is also a popular choice, but I’m honestly not a huge fan of it. SRS works great for Kanji and Vocab, but I feel like you’re learning the example sentences more than anything else at a certain point when you try to learn grammar with it.
And of course, even if you get to the point where you can competently sit down with a japanese novel and read it, you won’t be able to speak much at all if no Japanese ever comes out of your mouth while you learn. Listening’s much the same way. Until you can effectively have japanese conversations for practice, you’ll want some way of training. The best way, in my opinion, to cover this is to take actual in-person classes. Due to time or budgetary constraints, that might not be an option, though. You could try checking your library for audio lessons like Ultimate Pimsleur’s Japanese (A personal favorite. Expensive, but pretty commonly available through public means). There’s also audio to go along with the exercises in Genki, and I’d assume other grammar books.
Of course, I’m far from a perfect guide, so make sure to keep looking for more advice and options I may not have considered. Hopefully this is a helpful start, though!
