Hello everyone,
I just started learning Japanese 15 days ago, I know around 110 words with Hiragana / Katakana, I “know” (more like I’m able to read) 20-ish kanji and 30-ish words written using kanjis (I’m level 2 on WaniKani) but I really struggle with grammar. I’ve been using a book to learn Japanese. Still, since I had enough time to do other things I tried WaniKani and Bunpro since they seemed pretty useful, WaniKani is relatively ok. Still, I struggle with Bunpro, even things like い-adjectives and な-adjectives are hard to differentiate, not to mention verbs I just can’t get to understand. I feel like Bunpro explanations aren’t so good and are more a way to practice in order to remember grammar instead than actually a tool to learn it.
Any ideas on what should I do in order to progress? Is this a normal situation? Are there others resources to learn very basic grammar stuff that has more in-depth explanation and that are more beginner friendly ?
Thanks in advance!
10 comments
Bunpro shows you links to YouTube videos as well as give you the pages for textbooks according to the piece you’re studying.
Look for the “resources” tab in the study mode.
They usually link 3 to 5 videos, some of which have in depth explanations, it’s helped me a lot
Compared to kanji, vocabulary, etc there are relatively few grammar points. So you can spend more time on each grammar point without worrying.
You’ve learned for 15 days, so it’s kind of expected that not everything will stick. No need to worry. It’s been 15 days, not 15 months.
It’s normal to be stuck on the kana in the first 15 days, so you’re fine.
Here’s some [guidance & resources](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/s5mtva/comment/ht1lo0x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
Watch Cure Dolly Organic Japanese Lessons. Best grammar and structure guide I’ve ever seen. Best with subtitles though
It takes a very long time to learn a language. 15 days is nothing.
If you truly wish to learn this language, it will take many many hours of study, regularly, through multiple years.
This is not to discourage you. I think all of the stuff you have learned in only 15 days is very impressive. If you keep up that amount of work you will learn quite fast (maybe within a few years).
The only problem I’ve ever had with bunpro is that I can’t figure out how to type づ with their character converter.
That’s normal. Every time I learn new grammar points on Bunpro it’s hard for a bit, but then it gets easier as you do the reviews. If you’re really struggling, try only doing reviews for a few days without learning new grammar points so you don’t get overwhelmed.
It may help to consider bunpro as a review system rather than a primary resource. Their explanations and examples are good, but short. You should be learning your grammar mostly from the linked resources or your textbook of choice, etc… and using bunpro more to figure out the order to learn and then to review things you’ve already learned in detail elsewhere.
Personally I’m using the Genki textbooks for my grammar and practice and I like them. There’s also a decent amount of other online resources around it for practicing since they’re so popular.
Have you tried MaruMori.io ?
It’s just a website right now, but they will have it in all form later this year.
Before Bunpro, it is probably good to start with something like [Cure Dolly](https://www.youtube.com/@organicjapanesewithcuredol49). This will give you a better foundation in grammar and some of the best explanations I have seen for grammar points. The next thing I would do is some easy graded readers to see grammar points in action. Memorizing words and learning a concept like grammar are very different things. It helps to have some experience with a grammar point before you try to SRS it because grammar is very situational.
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Do not worry about having trouble with grammar, especially this early on. For some people (like me) grammar is a very difficult thing to grasp. I have been doing Bunpro for about a year now and I am only on N3 Grammar (and I still don’t do great on N5/N4). A lot of people will say Japanese Grammar is easy, and on paper it is easier than English, but we still had to hear it and see it all day every day for years to even somewhat understand it.