Hey everyone,
This is my first post here. I started learning Japanese before a year ago knowing a couple of phrases and kana. I'll be taking JLPT N4 this December and I'm almost done with the second part of "Minna No Nihongo". I have learned to read and write 300 kanji. I'm also using RTK 1 and I should be able to finish it until the end of November. I then plan on moving on to "Kanji in Context", however I've heard that the book might be rather difficult for beginners. I'm confused... What should I do?

kamnn Wrote:Hey everyone,
This is my first post here. I started learning Japanese before a year ago knowing a couple of phrases and kana. I'll be taking JLPT N4 this December and I'm almost done with the second part of "Minna No Nihongo". I have learned to read and write 300 kanji. I'm also using RTK 1 and I should be able to finish it until the end of November. I then plan on moving on to "Kanji in Context", however I've heard that the book might be rather difficult for beginners. I'm confused... What should I do?

I'd recommend starting to stuff more vocab and kanji down your gullet using a pre-made deck like Core or your own deck.

Thank you for your suggestion, but I still have 2 questions:
1.Is "Kanji in Context" going to be difficult for me?
2.Should I stop using RTK for now and focus on learning kanji and vocabulary?

kamnn Wrote:Thank you for your suggestion, but I still have 2 questions:
1.Is "Kanji in Context" going to be difficult for me?

“Kanji in Context” is two (three actually, but that's a detail) books. The first one is a reference book, where every kanji you study is accompanied with compounds containing that kanji. Like, let's say:
察（サツ）　with these examples: 警察（けいさつ）、観察（かんさつ）、考察（こうさつ）, etc.

I wouldn't think this should be too difficult.


Then there is the second part of KiC, which is a workbook. There you will find sentences that unless you are at the intermediate level, you can find challenging. Here are couple of examples:

1. 捜し物をしていると、机の中から使い古した財布が出てきた。
2. 大金を持ち歩くのは危ないので、大きな買い物をする時はクレジット・カードを使います。日本では個人で小切手を使う習慣はあまりありません。
3. うちの子供は、大したケガでもないのにいつも大声で泣く。
4. 東京でも雪は降りますが、たいていは大して積もりません。

BTW, the sentences are available in [1]this Anki deck.

[1] https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2316424408

kamnn Wrote:2.Should I stop using RTK for now and focus on learning kanji and vocabulary?

That's up to you, really.

Thanks, that's pretty much everything I wanted to know.