Greetings.

I learned Kana, and now I am going to learn Kanji.
I bought Remembering The Kanji #1.

My tactics is to learn Kanji 20-30/day, and if time allows just slowly go through Genki for basic vocabulary. I know Heisig recommends working with RTK only, but I am really motivated.

So anyway, after finishing RTK, what would be the proper way to continue? What do you have to learn to master Japanese?

I asume I have to go in this order:
- Kana
- Kanji
- Reading Kanji
- Vocabulary (Genki, Core2K Anki..)
- Pronunciations
- Listening Japanese pods

So after RTK, what should I use to learn reading Kanji? I have RTK book 2, but I am not sure how to use it properly, and some people say book 2 is not recommended, that there are better resources to learn reading Kanji.

Is Anki useful for reading?

What books should I use for vocabulary besides Genki#1 and Genki#2?

For pods I find japanesepod101 which is Koohii's sponsor here, is quite good for listening japanese.

ありがとう

Honestly, I would recommend learning grammar before you start trying to read kanji. I took two years of Japanese in college, and syntax, conjugation, etc. is something you'll need a lot of practice with. For instance, there are particles such as ”は” and ”が” that don't have English equivalents but are crucial to understanding the language. Other than that, Japanese has many verb conjugations, and they differ between formal and informal speech.

I could go on, but I think you see my point. Basically, learning Japanese will require a lot of boring studying involving charts and repetitive exercises. If you already have Genki, buy the workbook, too. I finished the entire Nakama I workbook and 1/4 of Nakama II, and it's the best thing I've done to further my learning along with RTK.

Once you've learned enough grammar/vocabulary to understand the basics, you can start reading manga or novels with furigana. That's the best course if you don't want to continue with RTK II.

Check out this post. It's more or less what a lot of people are following here on this site. Of course you can tweek it to your tastes.

But I don't assume that you should go in the order you mentioned. There's no reason why you couldn't do a little bit of each. Actually I think you should do a little bit of each to keep from getting burned out on one thing.

Thanks both, and yogert909, that is the post I was searching. Many many thanks.

TurtleBear, I was checking grammar by Tae Kim (example: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/gra...ateofbeing ) and it already requires you to know some kanji, so maybe I should start RTK and mix a little bit of Tae Kim grammar and Genki vocabulary, just as salt and pepper so adventure of learning is more tasteful, than only doing RTK alone, or it doesn't matter if these examples include Kanji? So the point is to understand basic grammar.

I get things pretty fast and I find Tae Kim's PDF and website really fascinating with explanations. It's simple (for now).

nukec Wrote:TurtleBear, I was checking grammar by Tae Kim (example: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/gra...ateofbeing ) and it already requires you to know some kanji

You can mouse over any word to get a reading and a definition. Grammar is mostly in kana, in Tae Kim's and in real life.

[RawToast]

nukec Wrote:TurtleBear, I was checking grammar by Tae Kim (example: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/gra...ateofbeing ) and it already requires you to know some kanji, so maybe I should start RTK and mix a little bit of Tae Kim grammar and Genki vocabulary, just as salt and pepper so adventure of learning is more tasteful, than only doing RTK alone, or it doesn't matter if these examples include Kanji? So the point is to understand basic grammar.

I get things pretty fast and I find Tae Kim's PDF and website really fascinating with explanations. It's simple (for now).

If Tae Kim is going to be your go to grammar guide for now, I suggest learning the vocab contained in the grammar guide instead of from Genki. This will make using the guide a little easier and you get some extra revision for those words when studying the grammar.

Quote:- Kana
- Kanji
- Reading Kanji
- Vocabulary (Genki, Core2K Anki..)
- Pronunciations
- Listening Japanese pods

You can do what you want, there really is no "right way". I would suggest the following if you want to use TK's grammar guide and core:

1. Kanji (Your at ~1600, you could move to vocab now if you wanted)
2. Basic Vocab (~1000)
3. Basic Grammar {~TK Basic/Essential)
4, More Vocab (Get to where you want in core, typically ~3000-6000)
5. Finish TK Grammar
6. Get reading, listening, etc. Add cards from context.

I would start listening straight away if you have time to do so (e.g. listening to music or radio at work or during a commute). Even incomprehensible audio is fine to get an ear for the language at first; although, the benefits after that are contested. Once you've done TK basic, I'd look into graded readers and jpod podcasts for listening and reading; although, you can start at anytime.

Thanks for huge response.

I am listening to slow songs while trveling to work from 川島あい

This helps to get into listening.　I am trying to speed imagine kana in my head at the moment from these songs.