I am kinda experiencing analysis paralysis at the moment. I can’t decide whether I want to use Wanikani, a basic anki deck (V2k, core 2k, etc.), or something like KKLC.
I know that I could just brute force kanji and vocab and grind some premade anki decks, learn some grammar and start reading visual novels with something like YomiChan to sentence mine and create my own anki deck.
I could also use Wanikani and go the “long route”. Wanikani has everything laid out and organized, which I like. I have heard that it is better to learn kanji from Wanikani as well, rather than a vocab deck in anki. If I start using wanikani, can I leave midway and start doing the Yomichan sentence mining method? What I like about anki, is that I can stop using it any time and begin reading, but with Wanikani, I feel pressured to finish it.
Or, I could use KKLC and a premade anki deck, using Bunpro or some other source for grammar.
I am stuck… I have been searching for the “best method” for days. I don’t want to start doing something, and find that my progress was useless months later, that is what I am afraid of. What should I do?
7 comments
My 2 cents:
Kanji and vocab are different enough that you should study both as if there were mostly separate things. V2k + wani are a reasonable combo for this (and what I personally use) but you might try out a few different ones for a week to see which you like best. Even though wani includes vocab, having a V2k deck lets you pick up more common words, and add your own as you encounter them.
You can start reading anytime, and the sooner the better. The most important thing is finding something that you can read or almost read un-aided (sometimes referred to as the comprehensible input strategy). For beginners this usually means graded readers, or other materials intentionally made to be easy to read (ex: NHK easy news, Crystal Hunters manga, etc.). While you could in theory use YomiChan to read way above your level, spending tens of minutes to try and puzzle out only a handful of sentences is close to a form of mental torture.
>I know that I could just brute force kanji and vocab and grind some premade anki decks, learn some grammar and start reading visual novels with something like YomiChan to sentence mine and create my own anki deck.
There’s no reason to use Wanikani if you are able and willing to set this all up, which will serve you much better in the long run. If you think kanji will hold you back, add a kanji deck. Anki is versatile like that.
Crystal Hunters seconded. Here’s a sweet video about it: https://youtu.be/VR5cF7PGHec
“I am stuck… I have been searching for the “best method” for days. I don’t want to start doing something, and find that my progress was useless months later, that is what I am afraid of. What should I do?”
You’re trapping yourself here. There is no wrong way to learn a language, there is less optimal but not wrong. Conversely there is no “best method” to learn a language either.
There should be no fear in anything you’re doing because that fear is the only true waste of time and energy. Just do anything.
Your time won’t be wasted as long as you’re doing anything consistently. The method doesn’t matter. What matters is if it’s going to keep you engaged and motivated to be engaged in the language (not for learning, just immerse/consume).
You can try [https://jpdb.io/](https://jpdb.io/), they have pre-build desk for native content anime, game, novel, youtube,… with same method like wanikani, radical and kanji before vocab. Anki is better when you on intermediate level, but on early stage make your own desk feel like a burden.
You also need basic garammar structure for analyze sentence, if dont have that, you can’t pick up vocab or see where the sentence end. I recommend 20 lessons from Cure Dolly before you jump into real material. After that you only learn grammar when you encounter or need it, just like the way you pick up vocab.
This is my plan, but im fresher too, not even take an n5 exam so im not sure if it works either.
Nothing will be everyone’s “best method”. People learn differently, you need to start learning now, then after a few days/months you need to find a right amount of things that suits you best. And it’s alright to jump into a native material that you personally want to consume, this personally made me more motivated to study.
>can I leave midway and start doing the Yomichan sentence mining method
Sure, but keep in mind that WK doesn’t teach kanji in order of most useful/used, but rather in an order related to complexity and which components they use. So you might be missing some kanji that are very common if you leave partway. For example, 書 (write) is very elementary and only taught at level 16.
The level I’ve seen people say that the content becomes not very useful is around 50.