What is good to use alongside WaniKani?

[Ollzane]

Hey, so I have been using WaniKani for a fair few months now and haven’t used anything along side it. I now feel ready to start using the words I currently know but I can’t since I don’t know the grammar or some common phrases.
So my question is, what resources do you use and what can you recommend me to use for getting good results in beginning to talk/read?

[shuttersound]

Most people on here will probably recommend Genki or Tae Kim, but there are loads of others. I have Genki and got most of the way through it, but I really don’t like its classroom style, since it just reminds me too much of boring school books. Tae Kim is great since it’s completely free, but it can be a bit hard to get into. I’ve also used and enjoyed Textfugu, but at the moment I’m using Human Japanese and really enjoying it. At the end of the day, I think it’s just about trying out a few different resources until you find one that’s right for you, since they all teach broadly the same content.

[Ashi2015]

I also would recommend Tae Kim and Genki for grammar.

I also use the 3rd party site Kaniwani to test my WK vocab but English > Japanese. https://kaniwani.com/

I also use @hinekidori 's Anki deck for a boat-load of vocab (10,000) along with sentence listening and reading practice;
https://community.wanikani.com/t/So-Much-Vocab/12050

Hope that helps

Ash

[wunderbunny]

Just so that we’re not reinventing the wheel with this thread, take a look at the following thread. Most WaniKani users are using resources alongside WaniKani.

The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resources List!

This post is a list of Japanese resources and stands as a collaborative wiki gathered by the WaniKani Community. If there’s a resource you feel is missing from the list, please add it by clicking the edit button above. Include an edit reason by clicking the button at the top of the edit window. Many of the resources here are free, however, the ones that aren’t are marked with a dollar sign $ or otherwise noted. Click on the triangle symbol ► to open a section’s resou…

[polv]

Learn grammar somewhere else.

For WaniKani-related, try KaniWani or core 10k breakdown, or WaniKani-to-Anki-exporter. Some may try handwriting. See the additional resource list in the previous reply.

[polv]

@Ollzane

but I can’t since I don’t know the grammar or some common phrases.
So my question is, what resources do you use and what can you recommend me to use for getting good results in beginning to talk/read?

Good result = had better go gradual → Genki, or other beginner textbooks.

Tae Kim is quite condensed. I can only recommend it for learning in a short time (for speed), but not for quality. Though, it would be a nice addition to Genki.


Read: practice reading → go through the grammar first, then Satori reader, then Japanese Graded Readers. If you can read Japanese Graded Reader level 3, you might be able to start reading native materials.

Talk: practice listening and speaking →

• For speaking, go through grammar first, then practice writing (on Lang-8). Try to speak. When you start speaking, you will be able to speak.
• For listening, I am not so sure. But reading a lot, without a dictionary, with good understanding might help. So, start with grammar.