よし!! As for the title, a couple of weeks back I finished RtK1 after about 5 weeks of actual study. (had to take a break in the middle due to sickness ) . I am really happy about it already, the kanji don't look like a mass of crazy nonsensical strokes anymore!
Now first thing I know, I need to do a week of mass reviewing before doing anything else. I'll take the opportunity to improve my anki deck as I do so. But what about after? Here are the things that I am planning on doing:

Tae Kim Grammar (already done the super basic part)
Core 10k (the optimized version)
Kanji Odyssey

along with as much listening as possible (pod-casts, some anime etc.) and as soon as I have some vocab, I'd like to start reading stuff too (I have some manga with furigana that I think will be best to begin)
Am I missing something? Any suggestions? Thanks!

Nah I'd say those are good. The only problem would be if doing any of those makes you start to hate your life. In that case, a re-evaluation of your strategy might be necessary. Otherwise, just stick with it. The fast track to getting a decent reading ability is pretty much just learning (to recognize) lots and lots of vocab.

However, lots of people seem to get grammar from multiple sources. I can't really comment, since Tae Kim is all I ever did, too. I sometimes hear people say it is inadequate, but I haven't seen how... maybe someone else can comment.

Haych Wrote:Nah I'd say those are good. The only problem would be if doing any of those makes you start to hate your life. In that case, a re-evaluation of your strategy might be necessary. Otherwise, just stick with it. The fast track to getting a decent reading ability is pretty much just learning (to recognize) lots and lots of vocab.

However, lots of people seem to get grammar from multiple sources. I can't really comment, since Tae Kim is all I ever did, too. I sometimes hear people say it is inadequate, but I haven't seen how... maybe someone else can comment.

I would like to study grammar besides the one from Tae Kim, but I'm not sure where to start. I'm doing Tae Kim mainly, because there is a good Clozed Delete deck out there. I started doing that deck like 2 weeks ago, I should be able to finish it in a week or so. (199 cards left). Though I studied most of grammar in Tae Kim before, so it is mostly like a review.

Haych Wrote:However, lots of people seem to get grammar from multiple sources. I can't really comment, since Tae Kim is all I ever did, too. I sometimes hear people say it is inadequate, but I haven't seen how... maybe someone else can comment.

That's interesting.. I was always under the impression that TK only covered up to ~N3. http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=10766

pmnox Wrote:I would like to study grammar besides the one from Tae Kim, but I'm not sure where to start. I'm doing Tae Kim mainly, because there is a good Clozed Delete deck out there. I started doing that deck like 2 weeks ago, I should be able to finish it in a week or so. (199 cards left). Though I studied most of grammar in Tae Kim before, so it is mostly like a review.

I'm kind of in the same boat as you; I have like 180 tk cards left. I know when I'm done I'm just going to use the DoBJG for reference.

It seems the 完全マスタ grammar books are somewhat popular for more advanced grammar studies.

ryanjmack Wrote:

Haych Wrote:say it is inadequate, but I haven't seen how....

That's interesting.. I was always under the impression that TK only covered up to ~N3.

I haven't been through the Complete Guide so I can't comment on how much more it covers. However, my impression has always been that Tae Kim's Grammar Guide covers all the Japanese grammar that really affects sentence structure.

Language element that don't affect sentence structure are all going to fall into areas where they could be argued to be 'vocabulary' or 'set expressions' or whatever.

JLPT grammar lists, in any case, are essentially lists of specific words and collocations. Whether each those specific words and collocations are 'really' grammar or 'really' just essential vocabulary is largely a matter of opinion.

Clearly the opinions of people who make JLPT 'grammar lists' and the opinion of Tae Kim on where the grammar / essential vocabulary line should be drawn is in a very different place.

Just out of curiosity, wouldn't it be redundant to do both Core10K and KO2001? Don't they both cover essentially the same material?
For grammar other than Tae Kim, are you open to using textbooks? What Japanese level are you at? If you're beginner, you could work through the Genki books and then move onto something like Tobira or the Sou Matome series. If you want free online sources, some users around here seem to like Imabi or JGram.
I'd recommend Japanese Pod 101 for listening practice as they use Japanese aimed at various levels. That way you're listening to Japanese that's decipherable, which is much more useful than listening to a stream of Japanese that you can't understand. Plus, they also go over grammar points and vocabulary.

thanks everyone for the answers!

@Haych: lol, hopefully they won't make me hate my life but from looking at a couple of cards, it seems quite fun so I should be ok!

@quark: from the info I gathered in my research doing both Core10K and KO2001 shouldn't be redundant, but we'll see I guess. thanks for the extra material recommendation.

well it seems I'm good to go, hopefully Tae Kim's complete guide will do!
Thanks again!

Edit: I might as well ask here this here: to those you have done / are doing Core, how many cards did you do per day?