I wanna learn Japanese but I don’t seem to have the right resources.. I have been trying to learn for around 3 years now but I find it hard to use online websites (doulingo, etc) and I can’t meet with others due to the neighborhood I live in. I even found a school near me that teaches it full time, 5 hour classes and would put me in a group with other learners (I also work SO MUCH better in groups.) but the cost of it is around 100 dollars for the first season. I have been trying to do some “jobs” like babysitting and cleaning other peoples houses but it isn’t enough for me to do a few seasons. I wanna know if there’s any way I can learn Japanese soon since it’s a hard language and because I would love to travel there some day. Any help or information will be super useful!
11 comments
Try preply
Any reason as to why any of the well-known textbooks aren’t included in the list of things you’ve tried?
I assume you have a smartphone, so get the Anki app, get a decent starting deck (I recommend the Tango decks) and do 10-20 new cards a day depending on how much you can stand.
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/419481234
If you have struggle learning and you still want to travel there soon, then keep in mind that you can also easily get by with english only
But yeah like the others said. You should try a textbook
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar and Cure Dolly’s YouTube Playlist are free resources, and very helpful for learning grammar.
For vocabulary, kanji, and also grammar Renshuu is a free app. It does have an expensive paid version, but the free version has more than enough features for a beginner or intermediate learner.
Anki and jpdb.io are good options for flash cards.
Classes are very pricy if your high school doesn’t offer the class. I’d recommend trying to buy Tobira beginnings or Minna no Nihongo Elementary and try to find some people to make a learning group with on discord. Saving up for a few books is way more manageable. You could even ask for books from relatives for Christmas and birthdays.
https://learnjapanese.moe
Go to your local library and ask a librarian to help you track down all the Japanese resources available. They likely have textbooks, audio courses (Pimsleur, etc.), and a subscription to a service such as Mango or Rosetta Stone.
I would download Genki 1 PDF and get right to it, personally.
Buy Minna No Nihongo or find a pdf of it online. Watch the youtubers that cover it chapter by chapter.
I am a big fan of the Tango Anki decks starting with Tango N5. They are set up in an i +1/1t format which means they teach you with sentences but every sentence only has 1 new word. That way you see the words and grammar you have learned over and over in a natural way. I used them myself and then moved in to sentence mining later on to get to a good level of japanese.
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/866090213
When it comes to starting japanese I pretty much agree with everything in this video except I prefer the free Migaku Kanji God addon Anki addon over RTK. The addon creates RTK style cards which are based on the kanji coming up in your Anki decks.
https://youtu.be/L1NQoQivkIY