First of all, ありがとうございます for the feedback on my first post here! I didn’t buy the online course and started with Genki I and realkana instead.
When lurking on this sub, I often read about immersion. But when is the right point to start? Is there a worth in already starting to surround myself with japanese even though I can understand practically none of it yet?
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Depends on your patience level. I started immersion right after learning kana. At the beginning of course I knew nothing more than just kana (didn’t do any prebuilt anki decks). But I just started immersion with content I enjoy (for me it was games).
If you have the patience to basically look up every word while you are reading content you would normally enjoy in your native language, then you should start right away. I would suggest content with furigana so you don’t get slowed down by kanji
…but keep in mind immersion is only part of the equation…study grammar and kanji as well
I recommend that you wait until you finish Genki I: only after then, you can focus exclusively on immersion afterwards. By then, you’ll know enough of the basic grammar structures such that you won’t have to look up every single thing you read, but not enough such that you will have associated certain English preset phrases with their Japanese counterparts and have to mentally translate your English thoughts to Japanese.
I started reading and listening to native material after I finished Genki 2. Before that I only used graded readers and podcasts for learners. I still think this was right for me in hindsight. But generally, it is more important to do what you enjoy than to somehow try to optimize it. If you don’t like textbooks, just read a grammar guide and start immersing sooner. Or if you love textbooks and just cannot get enough of them, by all means still do Tobira first. It is more important to stay motivated and enjoy studying.
For general info on immersion/high input you can check this guide: [https://learnjapanese.moe/](https://learnjapanese.moe/)
I say immediately, but only if you don’t try to learn something from it. Getting exposed to actual Japanese from an early stage is really helpful even if you literally don’t understand any of it. Things like pitch accent and rhythm will make more sense to you because you’ll have become subconsciously familiar with them, for instance. Your listening comprehension will also benefit. As you learn more, you’ll naturally start understanding some things and that’s a really satisfying feeling.
immerse from day one in visual mediums just to build the habbit
It depends on you. Some start from day 1 such as myself and others start after getting down the basics such as a solid foundation.
If you wanna start from day 1, check out https://learnjapanese.moe.
Their 30 day starter routine is the best.