A lot of people do Core after Tae Kim. If not Core, just focus on learning vocabulary in general.

You should check out Nukemarine's Suggested Guide for Beginners for more info

http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=5322

Acquire a lot of vocabulary and do Kanzen Grammar books.

I love Tim Kae.

Gosujay wrote:

TextFugu
Genki1 & Half of 2(yet to finish find it a bit boring.)
On chapter 37 of An Introduction To Modern Japanese By Richard Bowring
(Love the pacing of this book.)
Core 2k don't how many are left but i have been doing it for a while now.
Also random grammar notes i pick up on youtube or websites.
I feel like i can understand most grammar but my vocab is limited.(very)

It seems like to me you're possibly at (or approaching) an intermediate level of Japanese.

Like most have said here, vocab is what you should be focused on. You seem to know that it's something you need to focus too.

Found a few of articles regarding the "Intermediate Plateau"

http://www.tofugu.com/2012/04/30/how-to … gle+Reader

http://blog.japanalicious.com/japanese- … ateau.html

& (imo this doesn't really give any useful tips but I guess makes you feel better? )
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/bl … D-syndrome

What I got from the 1st 2 articles, they have common focus for intermediate learners:

1. Learn more vocab
2. Learn something you already enjoy in your native language (ex. cooking) but now learn that enjoyed activity in Japanese
3. Read! Mangas, newspapers, novels, articles, etc.
4. Japanese Pronunciation

I'll echo the suggestion to stuff vocab down your gullet. I'm finding that the more vocab I learn, the more easily I can grok what's going on in anime and podcasts. (Thanks to nadiatims, from whom I gleaned this advice a few months ago.) If you know basic and a lot of intermediate grammar, then the only things stopping you are vocab and comprehension speed (which improves with practice).

If you want to build vocab quickly, start reading some things that interest you, and use Rikaisama in Firefox to save everything you don't know to a .txt file that you can then import into an Anki deck. I've been doing this with recipes, Wikipedia articles, and a few ライトノベル.

I would recommend you listen to a lot of Japanese. A LOT. Even if you don't understand it all perfectly; trust me, it'll become more clear as your study intensifies. It's the best way to hear the vocab words that you're learning repeated in context. The more you hear the words, the faster they'll stick.

There are a lot of 漫画 that are great for an upper beginner/early intermediate level. Let me know if you want any recommendations (assuming 漫画 if your thang).

Japanese cooking is fun! I made my first dish from a Japanese recipe last night:

http://www.kyounoryouri.jp/recipe/6377_ … 82%93.html

I know at least one other Japanese learner who used kyounoryouri for a year, and says she learned a lot from it. I found it very illuminating attempting to follow Japanese instructions. (And yes, the dish was 美味しい!)

gaiaslastlaugh wrote:

I'll echo the suggestion to stuff vocab down your gullet. I'm finding that the more vocab I learn, the more easily I can grok what's going on in anime and podcasts. (Thanks to nadiatims, from whom I gleaned this advice a few months ago.) If you know basic and a lot of intermediate grammar, then the only things stopping you are vocab and comprehension speed (which improves with practice).

If you want to build vocab quickly, start reading some things that interest you, and use Rikaisama in Firefox to save everything you don't know to a .txt file that you can then import into an Anki deck. I've been doing this with recipes, Wikipedia articles, and a few ライトノベル.

I would recommend you listen to a lot of Japanese. A LOT. Even if you don't understand it all perfectly; trust me, it'll become more clear as your study intensifies. It's the best way to hear the vocab words that you're learning repeated in context. The more you hear the words, the faster they'll stick.

There are a lot of 漫画 that are great for an upper beginner/early intermediate level. Let me know if you want any recommendations (assuming 漫画 if your thang).

Japanese cooking is fun! I made my first dish from a Japanese recipe last night:

http://www.kyounoryouri.jp/recipe/6377_ … 82%93.html

I know at least one other Japanese learner who used kyounoryouri for a year, and says she learned a lot from it. I found it very illuminating attempting to follow Japanese instructions. (And yes, the dish was 美味しい!)

Yes please give you'r manga recommendations!

I agree that your interests should be an important part of what you choose to do.  For me, I primarily used

1)  Core6k
2)  JapanesePod101.com
3)  Read Real Japanese and some similar books

I agree with looking around for reading material that interests you.  There's lots of stuff you could try.  My tastes are probably a lot different from yours.  I like working on novels and short stories, and practicing conversation.