Hello! I’m going to Japan in March of next year and I want to learn as much Japanese to get by as I can before I go there, however it works out to be only 40 weeks of learning because I have exams until mid-June. My question is, what resources would you recommend and what is a reasonable goal? I’ve done the first 3 levels of Wanikani and i think its about the right level of learning, maybe a bit excessive, but its definitely too slow and it also teaches some stuff that would never be useful in real life (力いっぱい? really?) Does anyone have any good reccs for good resources (I like how motivating Wanikani is, most of the time), as well as what a realistic goal would be. Thanks!
3 comments
Wanikani picks up after a few levels. I got to level 11 in about 4-5 months. That’s about where the N5 kanji ends. Then used Bunpro to get all the grammar for N5. You get a whole month of bunpro during their trial period.
https://www.erin.jpf.go.jp/en/ is very much aimed at daily life/conversations
Not resource advice, but I just came back from a trip to Japan after learning for about 11 months. If you don’t plan on continuing your learning after your trip, stick to conversational type grammar etc. Words and phrases you will use in your travels will be most important. Regardless it will still be difficult. When you start speaking in Japanese, some people just start talking and leave you confused and wondering what they said. Others will understand that you don’t speak much and switch to much more simple words and phrases. Either way, you’ll find that it will definitely be easier to speak in English in some instances, but communication with Japanese people was still really rewarding. If you are willing to approach people and speak Japanese, they do open up to you.
I used the Genki textbook, and flashcards mostly. I did Duolingo but I’d take a hard pass on that one.