I’m a 19 year old Mexican boy trying to learn Japanese and my question is the following one: Where do I go from here? I’ve been learning Japanese for what it could be a month now, but I don’t know what to do.
I’ve finished learning hiragana and katakana through Tofugu.com and just recently started with my first kanji reviews here in WK. More than anything I would like to know what should I do in between reviews, what other apps should I check out, should I try learning as much kanji as I can, or is learning grammar a better option.
Hope you guys can help me out ようろしくおねがいします！
(btw, I specify the mexican thing just in case I had any mistakes in the writing)
Thanks for the help!!! At the moment I’m trying my best at reading, but I find it still a little bit difficult, even if its just hiragana, I can read it, but most of the times I can’t comprehend what it is saying, its just like if I were just saying alphabet letters like | Y | U | H | A | O | K. None the less I’ll keep trying
I agree with everyone on starting to learn grammar right away! I’m using a textbook called Genki that I bought on Amazon (you can find PDF versions online too, probably) and I really enjoy it!
As mentioned above, Tae Kim is also a really great resource, and it’s free so that’s nice.
I’ve considering buying Genki, but I feel like I should try getting a spanish book as it is the language I’m most comfortable with, sadly I’ve seen none lol.
Anyway thanks for the reply and for the link to the forum. (No tenia idea de que existiera ese forum) Muchas gracias!!
Yeah, I think it’s common not to be able to find good Japanese textbooks in languages besides English Korean and Japanese. I hope you’re able to find something! And you can always ask questions on the thread I linked, I’m sure everyone would love to help!
Hola @beto-bautista. Saludos! Si quieres aprender japonés con instrucción en español, no hay mejor libro que “Minna no Nihongo”. El libro como tal es completamente en japonés, pero su libro de ayuda es traducido en multiples lenguajes, incluyendo español. Te recomiendo que si no los obtienes en tu país, Mexico, que los compres a través de Amazon Japan (amazon.co.jp).
Sin importar si lo consigues, ve a este canal de YouTube de Kira-sensei el cual enseña todas las lecciones de este libro gratuitamente. Kira-sensei sabe explicar muy bien y también tiene recientemente videos muy entretenidos sobre la vida en Japón. Aquí te dejo dos enlaces bien útiles de la misma persona:
Come at me bro! We’ve got two things in common: I’m also Mexican and you are 19 y.o. and I’m at level 19 (I’m a bit older than you). I’ve seen few of us here on the forums so I hope you decide to stay here.
That being said… You’ll notice as you travel the levels here that the way you learn kanji is effective but whenever you try to recall them outside wanikani they might be blurry in your mind. So you’re obliged to put in practice what you learn.
Learning grammar is an usual suggestion here using apps like Linguodeer, websites like bunpro or textbooks like Genki, minna no nihongo or Take Kim(this last one free)
There are a collection of the most usual words in Japanese called core 1 - 10k, you may use them to learn words you won’t find here (only in kana) since everything teached here is done to reinforce the kanji you’ll be learning.
You should also be willing to read some text, head over to websites like nhk easy and test how much you’re able to read and when the time arrives how much you’re able to understand.
Test the myriad of links in the ultimate resource guide that was posted early. See what you find useful.
Also, be able to learn a bit of new words in English like cleat or clique (I didn’t know this words before arriving here) cuz they’re used as mnemonics.
Oh I cannot stress this enough… Don’t leave like so many others. What you can do here in a year is so worthy and will pay dividends for life.
Awesome job getting started and wanting to learn more!!
Honestly, I think at this point, a little bit of everything is important. We have to know some words to be able to understand and use the grammar we are using, and we need grammar to use the words we are learning!
For vocabulary, I would recommend an app called Memrise. You can find all sorts of lists with useful vocabulary, and it’s free! I personally use the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) lists because they have a lot of common vocabulary, and I am taking the exams. N5 is the easiest one, so I would suggest starting with that. Or there are many other general lists you can choose from too - just go with what works for you!
A beginner textbook is really useful too to help guide your learning. Again, I use specific JLPT ones, but I have used Genki a little myself, and it has good reviews from a lot of other people. You are already using pretty complicated English perfectly in your posts, so I think your English would be fine for the Genki textbook. It only has simple Japanese, and therefore the English translations are fairly simple, I don’t think you will have trouble understanding. But you can give it a go by looking at some of the online versions before buying. =)
If you can combine the wankikani kanji, memrise vocab, and grammar book, I think that is a fairly awesome start that shouldn’t be too overwhelming. After that, you can probably introduce the listening as you learn grammar points. Most textbooks will come with a CD, or you can probably find some exercises online. =)
Sorry for the long post, just love encouraging learning!
Bro! Its true there aren’t many Mexicans in this site, which I actually find kinda weird, but its great you are at level 19, I can’t imagine all the content you’ve been through.
I completely know that feeling you are talking about, of seeing kanji somewhere else besides WaniKani, I was actually just reading some kid tales at TangoRisto (android app) and I found myself having to look at my notes at times to remember more than anything the O’nyomi pronunciation. I can also agree on having to learn those new English words, just on my first two lessons I discovered two, that I didn’t know about or couldn’t recall until I actually looked for them (barb and jo)
A lot of people have been mentioning grammar so I think that’s going to be my next step, btw I actually just downloaded that Linguodeer app that people in this thread have told me and it looks great!
Thanks a lot for your help and I don’t plan on leaving any time soon, so I hope I can see you around!
PD. (That awkward moment where you don’t know whether to use English or Spanish lol)
ようろしくおねがいします！