Where to go from here?

So I’ve been using Wanikani as well as a multitude of other sources more or less regularly since around last October and am fairly satisfied with how it’s progressing. So I guess the deceptively simple question is where should I go from here? Since Kanji has turned from the most daunting thing about the language to what I would say is probably the easiest part (though the most tedious in just memorization many items takes a long time) are there any good resources people would recommend checking out? Specifically I’ve been looking around for Japanese grammar textbooks or resources that are in Japanese/for Japanese speakers or things along those lines. I also do know about bunpro and have poked away at it as well but would like to broaden my horizons beyond the usual imabi and tae kim resources.

Sidenote: When do cards start being burnt? I uh, feel like this is getting out of hand lol

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Once the enlightened items come back after 4 months and you answer them correctly

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Once you have grammar and some vocab down, you can technically start reading. Master List of Book Clubs
Though, this might be a controversial opinion, but at level 10, you only know grade 1 kanji and 80% of grade 2 kanji, which will make reading anything more interesting than a book designed for those 2 grades (6 and 7 year olds) a slog. I’d suggest properly familiarizing yourself with the grammar using a textbook to guide you through. I like genki, just because it has stories and exercises in it that you will be able to read, but also human japanese is very nice in too.

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You’re definitely right that grammar is what you want to be doing. You probably want some source of common words too, to learn the non-kanji words or just common ones sooner than you’d find them on WK, but if you go the textbook route that’ll satisfy both at once.

It’s not for Japanese speakers but if you want an all-Japanese grammar textbook, Minna no Nihongo is the way to go.

I rather like Nihongo no Mori for Japanese grammar taught in Japanese as well, but their channel is mostly N3+, so that could be a later resource.

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Ah! I actually have mnn2 just kind of lined up for in a little bit, mostly just because when i found out about it I was already fairly in to my learning and it seemed like mnn1 was going to be a lot of things I had already learnt/seen and also quite costly. I’ll def be checking out nihongonomori though! thank you!

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Probably not really a controversial opinion, but WaniKani only particularly helps with Kanji compound words and perhaps some collocations.

After some point, I did EN => JP drills (only on vocabularies) even before starting the next level.

But eventually, what you really need to know, is enough vocabularies to start with, whether you know the proper Kanji or not - vocabularies might be able to pick up with some kind of exposure, might be listening, some shorty reading (though, half of the time, you might really need to know the Kanji first).

Those times I also do Katakana loanword drills and Core 10k.

Nonetheless, things like Genki, Tobira or Graded Readers should still be a part of the study.

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I also started October last year! I began using Wanikani and Minna no Nihongo almost simultaneously and although I believe I’m progressing fairly quickly through the Wanikani levels, the progress still feels very slow. Meanwhile Minna no Nihongo has been doing wonders for me. It has everything a textbook needs: doesn’t use roomaji, has a lot of vocabulary, grammar explanations, dialogues, listening, reading and writing exercises, just the right amount of drills for every new grammatical structure, overviews and tests. Admittedly, I have never checked out any other grammar resources, but I never felt like I had to. I know that Minna no Nihongo is going to teach me everything I’ll need if I just stick with it until the end.

This is also why I’d always propose to pick one resource for grammar in which you can put your faith that it will teach you everything you want. Juggling between five different resources is going to make it so hard to progress, because you’re never actually reaching that state when you’re familiar with the structure of one and can comfortably, efficiently and quickly suck everything your resource teaches.

I wouldn’t recommend you to begin with the second book, though. Instead, I’d suggest you progress a little faster through the parts of the first book that teach what you already know. Doing all exercises in writing or skimming over the drills are two entirely different approaches as far as time investment goes, and you can perfectly do the latter to save yourself some time. But by skipping the first book, you’re going to miss a lot of vocabulary and grammar structures the second book requires you to know.

Finally, this is probably my most controversial take, but since you asked for Japanese resources for Japanese speakers: I personally don’t think it’s very effective to immerse yourself in native material before you acquire a respectable vocabulary, kanji and grammar knowledge. Immersion is not for studying, it’s for practicing, getting used to the language and becoming natural at it. The better you are when you start, the more useful it becomes. If you try to get in too early, it’s more strenuous than actually studying, it takes the time you could have used for studying, you miss most of what is said, and most importantly, it is incredibly disheartening. Learning a language takes a long time, and while jumping into immersion may feel satisfying at first because you’re ecstatic from being able to understand some parts, the more time you spend doing it, the higher your standards for yourself become, the less improvement you start to notice, and the more impatient you get. It’s like asking to get burnt out.

So in a nutshell, I’d suggest: Pick a grammar resource to accompany your Kanji studies in Wanikani, stick with it until the end, and finally you can surround yourself with material meant for native speakers.

EDIT: Didn’t realize my reply was that long until I submitted it, holy hell

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No no, that was really good.

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