I started late october almost 1 month now. I really liked wanikani i have been using it everyday. i do want to learn other aspect of japanese too but i don’t know how and where to start. I do have a free times but i don’t know the tools to use for each aspect.
What i thought was there is no need for learning vocabulary if u can’t read it anyway(if it is in kanji) that’s why i started kanji first. But now i am here and i know that kanji will take alot of time to master 1~2 years with wanikani maybe couple kanji outside wk and i looked into resource post “what to do now” thread but couldn’t find anything i liked.
So far i am only using wanikani and i want to know if you guys can help me find resources or anything which could help me making progress in reading , speaking, vocabulary , grammer maybe writing too. I did find a book but hesitant to pick it up. it called 80/20 japanese
What do u guys thinks ?
How come? 
I didn’t start out self-studying so I can’t help too much on the specifics, but you’re definitely going to have to pick up some kind of grammar resource at some point 
I’ve heard good things about 80/20. If you want to start out trying something free, there’s always Tae Kim. Then there are textbooks like Genki, which is made for classrooms but a reasonable number of people self-studying seem to get on with okay. People have different preferences.
I think that before starting any real reading or speaking, you’ll need to know some grammar. You can easily look up unknown vocab, but grammar will be trickier to look up quickly, especially if you’re brand new. I recommend going through a beginner textbook to get a foundation in grammar. The Genki series is my personal favorite. If that’s not possible due to costs, there is Tae Kim’s guide online which is free. He does use a lot of kanji that isn’t taught in the beginning of WK, so you may have to look up stuff frequently. There’s also Japanese Ammo with Misa’s Beginning grammar youtube series that also will give you a good foundation, and she explains things really well without needing kanji knowledge. Imabi is another good website for supplemental information; it goes very in depth into each grammar point, but it’s very lengthy so it may be hard to follow as a complete beginner. Also, Bunpro is a wanikani-like program for learning grammar.
As for vocab, it is different for everyone. For me personally, when I encounter a vocab word with a kanji I haven’t learned yet, I don’t learn that word in kanji, I learn it tentatively in hiragana. Once I learn the kanji, it’s much easier to remember that word since I already learned it’s reading. As for other vocab, I have built my own kana deck that I use for hiragana and katakana words. I recommend doing something similar to this or downloading one that already exists on anki or kitsun, since WK won’t teach you these words. You will also acquire vocab as you go through your grammar study. If you don’t know what anki or kitsun are, they’re SRS flashcard programs where you can create your own decks or download existing ones. Anki is free, and kitsun will be paid very soon, but kitsun is more user-friendly.
I haven’t heard of 80/20 japanese, though I quickly looked it up and it looks decent. It doesn’t appear to cover as much as the other resources I listed, but it could be a great starting point that claims to explain things in a good way. If you get the workbook and audiobook, it’s about the same price as Genki textbook and workbook. I’d try reading a sample of each book before you decide on any book.
So for grammar the resources are:
Tae Kim’s Guide
Imabi for supplemental grammar info
Genki Textbook
Japanese Ammo with Misa’s Beginner playlist
Bunpro
The youtube channel KawaJappa CureDolly was a god-send for helping me understand the fundamental basics of grammar that the more standardised resources just weren’t getting across to me. CureDolly also goes by commonly encountered important grammar, rather than JLPT level, so you cover N5, N4, and N3 stuff, all geared towards getting you to read simple things more quickly.
Then I switched to BunPro - one of the resources already mentioned by @anon76623721. I personally think it’s a great resource that has gotten me farther than I thought I would ever get in 9 months.
For vocab, I personally really recommend Torii. It has a WK mode, so that you’re only going through the 10K items that aren’t part of WK. It also reads out an example sentence for every new item you learn, so it makes for good listening practice while you’re going through it. You can also be tested both JP → ENG, and ENG → JP. That way, you’re also working on active recall, and not just passive recognition.
I liked the free course on marugoto a lot! MARUGOTO JAPANESE ONLINE COURSE
you will have to register but it’s free. the registration
button is hard to find: it’s in the circle where it says course tyoes (took me forever to find, you might of course be a lot smarter than i am).
I would suggest getting you ear used to the sound of Japanese as much as possible (ie listening)… even if you understand close to zero of what you hear. You will start to get used to the cadences and things. Then when you learn more, start listening for comprehension etc.
Here is a YouTube playlist from Nihongo no mori (they have videos up until JLPT N1). This playlist starts from hiragana.
This is a good book for speaking.
http://www.9640.jp/nihongo/en/detail/?354
Here is a good website for watching TV
Here is a good website for listening to radio (might have to be in Japan for this site. Or a VPN)
Here is a good website for grammar
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar
I know it’s not the best but Duolingo is kind of fun and interactive and has taught me the basics of some grammar without feeling tedious or difficult. Just make sure you’re clicking the lesson info before you do the lessons (lightbulb looking button) because that’s where you get explanations.
I’m extremely surprised how just how rarely Bunpro is brought up as a resource. It is simply phenomenal as a grammar tool. The style is much like Wanikani, though instead of Kanji, it deals with grammar points. You can try it for a month for free, and after the trial period the cost is (I believe) $3 a month, or $30 for a year. Insanely cheap for what it provides.
I’ve been using it as a supplement to Wanikani and cannot advocate for it enough.
I feel the exact opposite. 
I bring it up in numerous threads, several times a week. Twice today, including being the second one to mention it in this thread (you being the third.)
Oh yikes I skimmed through looking for any mentions in this thread but I guess I missed both of them 
Still, certainly a naive statement even if it wasn’t mentioned in this particular thread - I don’t read community posts often enough to have a sense of how often it’s posted elsewhere
I’m a beginner too - started probably not long before you. I originally started with Duolingo, which I was using for Spanish, but quickly realised it wouldn’t teach me the hiragana, let alone the kanji. It’s not bad to go back to now with some knowledge.
The other resource I’ve been using is Kanshudo - I like the option of doing bits and pieces, and the cost is low (less than $30 USD per year). I don’t know how it compares with other resources. I’m planning to try bunpro soon, then Genki down the line.
Edit: you can use Kanshudo for free, too, to try it out.
If you’re a bit apprehensive about using a textbook, YouTube has some pretty solid channels like the aforementioned Japanese Ammo with Misa as well as Japanese From Zero and Sambon Juku (note that the latter is taught entirely in Japanese, but he speaks slow and uses simple vocab and I think it’s a good listening practice). With these channels, however, it’s easy to fall into the habit of learning passively, so I’d recommend taking notes while watching them.
Kind of updateI guess. i started using bunpro for grammer. I do listening in youtube. Usually manga chapter reviews (lol). Didn’t practice speaking or writing that much. Vocabulary not much outside of wanikani
Another update: i am almost done with JLPT 5 in bunpro. I also started using kamesame for vocabulary.
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.