So I have hiragana and katakana 100% down. So I started to follow along with the “learn Japanese in a year” study plan. I just go to the kanji section and the think he went with is an all in one kanji anki deck. But that kinda just throws you into the Frey. I feel like there should be some other method to ease you into kanji. Is there a better way? Should I start with the anki deck or should I go ahead and buy genki or some other textbook?
Should I start learning vocab and grammar while I learn kanji or learn a good amount of kanji first?
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AJATT is just about the only way you could remotely get close to ‘japanese in a year’. For kanji, Heisig is pretty good.
For kanji, I recommend wanikani,
It’s a flashcard website that uses SRS to teach you radicals, kanji, and even vocab
It also encourages and proves mnemonics.
While it is paid, you get a really good introduction into the whole kanji world,
And learning the vocab even encourages further development in the vocab,
It may not be perfect for everyone, but I prefer it to anki
It’s simple and easy to use, and also quite fun!
I would recommend KKLC for Kanji + vocab
The kanji iOS app has helped me out a lot and kanji Quizzer, also kanji flash cards.
Another way you can try is this:
1. Buy the “genki” book
2. Chapter 1 and 2 have no kanji so don’t worry about it
3. Chapter 3-23 (which is the rest of the Genki) have about 15 kanji per chapter, to ease you into seeing and using them, and get you used to how they work, and so on.
4. While learning Genki, you will pick up some vocab. These vocab will often use your new kanji, so you get some practice bundled in with that.
After you finish those Genki books (it takes a while, don’t worry) you will be in a good position to choose among the popular kanji learning techniques: Wanakani, RTK, KKLC, or use a pre-made anki deck based on one of those, or just learn ad-hoc with vocab.
I actually have some Learn Japanese Kanji flashcards with a CD that I am getting rid of, if you’re interested. Really helped me in my Japanese classes!
I’m using renshuu.org and really liking it so far. Lets you dial the pace up and down as much as you like, it’s super flexible and the majority of the settings are totally free. I suggest learning vocab, and then as you learn individual kanji renshuu automatically inserts it into the vocab where it belongs.