JLPT Level: I didn’t take the exam yet, I only started studying the language this year…
Resources/Material(Completed): Genki I+II+Workbooks. Tae Kim. RTK (Though I didn’t like it much). All N5/N4/N3 topics on Bunpro. An Anki deck to learn how to write all Kyoiku Kanji. 11 novel volumes and a few manga.
Your Next Goal: Finish reading a total of 20 novel volumes this year (Then I’ll attempt 50 more volumes in 2020). Attempt N4 in 2020 maybe? Finish all topics on Bunpro. Finish an anki deck to learn how to write all jouyou junior high kanji. Keep going full speed on WaniKani and get to Level 60 in May/June 2020.
JLPT Level: Passed N3, studying for N2 this winter
Resources/Materials(Completed): Human Japanese, Genki I & II, Tobira, 日本語の森 videos for N3, finishing N2 ones; Bunpro
Reading a lot, starting from Yotsuba, then Yakusoku no Neverland, a bunch of stuff in between, and slowly reading One Piece now
Your Next Goal: Pass N2 (hopefully, but unlikely ), finish Shin Kanzen master N2, read more, finish WK and study vocab on Kitsun
JLPT Level: I haven’t taken the JLPT yet, but I am pretty sure that I am about N3. I am working on N2 level stuff right now in order to take the N2 next summer.
Resources/Materials(Completed): Japanese for Everyone (ancient textbook lol), Human Japanese Beginner & Intermediate, An Intermediate Approach to Japanese, Waseda’s online course of Japanese Pronunciation for Communication, Tobira, and dabbled with multiple other resources.
Your Next Goal: Working through Nihongo no Mori videos, Kanzen Master Bunpou N2, finish reading Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto by the end of this year, Wanikani, Bunpro, also prepare to study abroad at Gifu University next year. I also want to find something to watch or listen to soon.
JLPT Level: Failed N4 in 2017, will probably go for N2 in July of 2020.
Resources/Materials: Watched Japanese Ammo’s videos, then used Bunpro together with a lot of online grammar resources, youtube videos, and textbooks. I felt like none was complete enough. Been reading manga, but not as much as I’d like. Doing pretty good on vocab using Kitsun.
Your Next Goal: Finish Core 10k for good, continue increasing the amount I read, and start doing social media posts in Japanese on a daily basis. A random goal is also to reach 20000 cards on Kitsun by the end of the year.
JLPT Level: Certified N4, probably closer to N2 than N3
Resources/Materials(Completed): Japanisch Schritt für Schritt 1, Human Japanese Beginner & Intermediate, Genki 1-2, Duolingo, Try! N3, Nihongo Shark N5-N2 material, quite a few youtube videos
Your Next Goal: Pass N2
Your Next Next Goal: Finish WK, learn more vocab, read all the things (<- have fun using Japanese)
Resources/Materials(NotReallyCompletedButMoreLikeACoupleOfStuffHereAndThere): Japanese Ammo, TaeKim, bunpro, some level 3 graded readers that I don’t remember if I understood well or not (and that were done when I was level 10, and not having started bunpro, so I guess I should try again, when I feel like it) I started using kitsun, though I only did 5 lessons, maybe one day I’ll do more, and the Love Live games, which is why I still have a shitton of songs locked because I want to try and understand the story, but I need tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime
Your Next Goal: eh maybe start reading the mangas I bought beginning of april, didn’t touch for 2 days, and that I took 2 month to recall my password on ebook japan, because they use a yahoo account and I couldn’t recover it, who knows ?
Wanikani Level: 60 JLPT Level: non-certified, but I’m going to take the n5 in a month. Resources:
Genki 1 & 2
Wanikani
Kitsun
Anki
Textfugu (where my Textfugu crew at?) Next Goal: pass the n5 Next Next Goal: go through Genki 2 again Next Next Next Goal: Go through Tobira Next Next Next Next Goal: Restart Wanikani Next Next Next Next Next Goal: Go through the 10k vocab deck Next Next Next Next Next Next Goal: pass the n3
WK Level: 39 JLPT Level: passed N4 last year, attempting N3 this year Materials: WK, BP, Kitsun, iTalki, conversation partners, various study books but mostly just within Soumatome series lately, various internet, fun books I want to read but just haven’t yet…someday I hope Goal: Just get better to improve conversation + comprehension, expand vocab, likely event I fail N3 then try again
In regards to the poll, is this personally or overall? If overall, it’s no contest IMO unless you just want to read. I’ve met native adults who were essentially kanji illiterate but lived normal lives (elderly women who lived through the war and didn’t have opportunities). Even children who may know only a fraction of WK’s repertoire get by just fine. Grammar is in all aspects (listening, speaking, reading, writing) while kanji is not. On personal study, I tend to enjoy kanji study the least so I have to make it more important.
Actually, I just did it out of curiosity. I wanted to know how people are managing their studies. I am not in a rush to be fluent and I allocate limited time to Japanese every day. So, I prioritize Kanji mainly, because I think it’s the most difficult part and it’s annoying to check a dictionary every two seconds.
I am going through Genki now and the reading is very easy because I know so many Kanji, compared to when I wanted to do it before. Most of the grammar that I studied was through on my phone, while I was talking a mean of transport.
I know that most people don’t do it this way so I wanted to know about how they approach/manage their studies.
Wanikani Level: 23 JLPT Level: Somewhere around N4 Resources/Materials: WK, Genki 1 + 2, iTalki, TK Next Goal: Pass the N4 this year. Also find more conversation partners, and get better at reading comprehension. Next Next ++ Goal: Pass the N3 by the time I turn 30 (A few more years to go!). Also reach WK level 60+ by that point.
Wanikani Level: 49 JLPT Level: Hopefully somewhere around N2, since I signed up for it. Passed N3 summer 2019 Resources/Materials: Minna no Nihongo beginner textbooks 1+2, parts of intermediate textbooks 1+2, several volumes of Prince of Tennis manga. A couple chapters of HPatPS My Next Goal: Pass the N2 this year. Read a bunch more. Learn more words.
To add to my poll answer, I feel grammar is generally more important than kanji, but vocab is equally important. So I answered the poll in a way that I think reflects that it is not necessarily WK that is important, but you need to get vocab from somewhere. My main source for vocab is WK, right now, which is why it has a high priority to me. For grammar I go to Japanese class twice a week at least. In one class I learn a bunch of new grammar, the other mostly reinforces and deepens my understanding of grammar I already learned.
JLPT Level: I never took an exam, I passed an online N5 sample exam easily, no idea how reliable that is. Probably not at all.
Resources/Materials(Completed): I have taken a liking to Let’s learn Japanese Basic it’s an educational television programme from the 80s, very cozy. A downside is that it uses ろまじ.
Your Next Goal: I don’t have any, I’m just along for the ride.
JLPT Level: N4 (Currently solidifying N4 and moving on to N3)
Resources/Materials(Completed): Minna No Nihongo 1&2 (currently studying chuukyuu 1), Genki 1
Your Next Goal: This year: Finish reviewing Genki 2, MNN workbook (I take classes and did some exercises, but I want to do them all as practice) and the various N4 books I have(taking an N4 review class, so some will be done in class and others I will start after the class is over). In 2020: If I end up going to language school full-time then I want to pass N2, if I don’t go then I would like to pass N3 by December 2020.
Everyone else’s responses are really highlighting how far behind I am on grammar…
WaniKani Level: 11 (previously got as far as Lv17 but reset to Lv1 a few months ago)
JLPT Level: Don’t plan on taking any exams any time soon, but could probably pass N5, although I would either fail or barely scrape by on the listening section.
Resources/Materials(Completed): Most of the way through the Japanese from Zero and Japanese Ammo with Misa YouTube series; use Tae Kim and Imabi as references; very slowly going through Genki I.
Your Next Goal: Completing Genki I & II, and the above-mentioned series.
Btw there is a typo in the third option of your poll!
Resources/Materials(Completed): Nakama 1-2, two-thirds of Tobira, Japanese for Busy People, TextFugu. Also read the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar literally from cover to cover.
Your Next Goal: Actually finish all my WK reviews.
I noticed that, but maybe it’s a trick question - Kelsey Grammer is less important than WaniKani.
JLPT Level: Signed up for N4 in December so hopefully at least that high…
Resources/Materials(Completed): Japanese for Busy People 1-3 (about a decade ago so not sure how much of that I’ve retained over the years), have みんなの日本語 1+2/Genki 1+2 haven’t really gotten anywhere with them though. Native speaker at home who corrects me all the time.
Your Next Goal: At least want to get through Genki 1 before my test in Dec, would like to be at a N2+ level in the next few years.
JLPT Level: I got the N1 Dec '16, so about 1 year before I took WK seriously. I was level 1 at the time
Resources/Materials(Completed): I’ve been learning Japanese for 12 years. I can’t remember everything I went through. Among things I do remember, one of the funniest (and most useless at the end of the day) was “le japonais en manga” (Japanese through manga). I’ve recently seen a website with a similar name, but I don’t think they are related. More serious ressources include mostly textbooks we used in class, like みんなの日本語 I and II, (forgot the next one), and 中級日本語文法要点整理ポイント20. Also some N2 and N1 prep books. Also, just generally reading Japanese and watching random youtubers has helped a lot with reading and listening respectively.
Your Next Goal: Find a next goal. While I still have a ton of room for improvement in my Japanese skills, I don’t need better skills. So, whatever I put in there right now, I probably won’t work on that anyway
This thread really made me realize how WaniKani is basically the only “program” I’ve finished in studying Japanese. I have a whole bookshelf of Japanese learning content… But I never complete them. But I’m not sure I would have made it through the intermediate plateau without WaniKani.
), finish Shin Kanzen master N2, read more, finish WK and study vocab on Kitsun 
. Way too much anime.
