Grammar is definitely a journey- I’ve tried a lot myself and really the ultimate key is time and consistency. Its been about a year for me of learning japanese and working every day, and at this level I can pretty much read a chapter of Nakayoshi or Ribon magazine without too many problems with grammar. Keep in mind i’m at level 33 of wk now, roughly mid-N4 level (struggles remain with keigo, passive, causative, and passive-causative, working on it).
As a journey, I would say that I started with Japanese from Zero 1 (both the book and the videos), which helped me get over my major hurdle that Japanese would be impossible for me to learn-the pace was slow enough and he built in a lot of encouragement that I was able to rewarp my brain into the shape to understand the fundamentals. From there, I got a subscription to Hana to Yume (my favorite manga magazine) and just went through reading pain, reading the bubbles that were understandable like “arigato” or “mochiron”. It was really more about solidifying my understanding of hiragana and getting basic practice in reading Japanese, as well as having the moral boost of ~reading Japanese~.
I was also reading a lot of graded readers too, listed on my study blog. Then, after JfZ 1 I began Genki 1 and Genki 2, watching Tokini Andy videos, working through wk, and doing Bunpro (I did up to N4, then dropped it because of too many similar answers and I had to choose one SRS or burnout, so I kept wk).
This was about August (I started in March 2023). I got busy with my last job so I was just focused on maintaining my speed in wk, not to finish the program asap, but with the goal to get to level 30 so that reading would be a lot easier (level 30 has been said to be where a lot of the most common kanji is covered). I also kept reading graded readers and my manga magazines. In about November/December I read through Tobira 1 Beginner and started watching the corresponding videos that are the best video resource I’ve found (at least for my learning style). It pretty much functioned as an SRS for me, going back in and solidifying my knowledge of N5, this time paying more attention to the roles of particles or grammar rules I ignored in favor of getting a surface level understanding the first time around. I finished the book, then read English Grammar for Students of Japanese since I felt like my poor grasp of English grammar would be a hinderance to the higher levels of Japanese. Currently I am halfway through Tobira 2 Beginner, brushing up on my N4 stuff, reading graded readers (still), and reading manga.
After I finish Tobira 2, I’ll start Quartet 1 and go from there. It’s just something that takes time, dedication, and constantly pushing yourself to go further in your studies and not circle the drain where you feel the most comfortable. In my non-Japanese studies, I’ve always read multiple books on difficult subjects, with a lot of overlap in content, to help solidify complex and abstract concepts. That’s always been the method for me- to others, reading multiple books covering similar ground with different ways of explaining concepts may be boring and fruitless- but I enjoy it and it works for me.
I also think sticking with WK is important because you will truly be in reading pain if you dont have a good amount of kanji under your belt- I would say 1000 really turns the tide in favor of easier and more pleasant reading. I read the content I like and that is easier to understand (girls manga) than novels right now- and with all the time I spent reading the same magazines over and over again for 1 year, the easier it has been for me to slide right along in a story. Reading the grammar really does solidify it in your mind, and I do notice how I’m able to integrate and understand grammar by reading it through comprehensible input.
