Home Forums The Japanese Language What is next?(soon to be done with TextFugu)

This topic contains 32 replies, has 13 voices, and was last updated by  Elenkis 12 years, 9 months ago.

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  • #20660

    By the end of today I will have less than 10 chapters here on TextFugu, and while TextFugu has been good, there is no way that I will sit back and wait for new content being created, so I need somewhere new to learn from :)
    There a few people around here who are done with Fugu material, so I was wondering where/how are you studying now?
    I was thinking of RTK, maybe AJATT? I don’t really know what is out there, and having done a little research it seems like the next step is RTK, but I would like to hear some oppinions :)
    Thanks!

    #20663

    Elenkis
    Member

    Either buy a text book series such as Genki or use Tae Kim’s grammar guide: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar – working your way through the Basic, Essential, Special and Advanced sections.

    RTK is a good option if you want to work on kanji, it isn’t required but some find it very helpful. It doesn’t have anything to do with grammar though, so you’ll still want to be doing textbook study at the same time.

    #20664

    yani
    Member

    What about this place http://gakuu.com/ ?? If you go to your dashboard and click the extras tab there is a discount.

    “Textfugu teaches you the basics and how to learn Japanese most effectively. But you’ll also need to get used to more advanced material too. That’s where Gakuu comes in! We explain the trickier aspects of the language and culture by breaking down real stuff that Japanese people use themselves every day.”

    I was thinking that when I finish textfugu I would go there next.

    #20665

    Luke
    Member

    I don’t like the whole mnemonics thing so I’m not going to be buying Remembering the Kanji, I’m just going to do all levels of JLPT with Read the Kanji instead. I’ll check out Gakuu but I think I’ll just look over Tae Kim’s grammar guide for a while first. Human Japanese might be worth checking out too.

    Make friends on Lang-8, a few people on there are teaching me bits of Japanese, one person keeps giving me complex sentences then goes over each major grammar point, she also gives the English version to help break it down.

    #20666

    missingno15
    Member

    You’re on your own kid.

    Bwahahaha

    I’m just playing, for now I’ll recommend you this book. Don’t listen to anyone else and just get this book http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Sentence-Patterns-Effective-Communication/dp/4770029837

    Also I don’t want to bother to look but someone said something about a textbook series? Unless you want to incorporate writing japanese along with your learning, you don’t need such a thing. Well because I don’t have such a thing. also writing is just something you can do separately.

    #20667

    Elenkis
    Member

    If he wants to continue learning in the structured way that Textfugu provides, then a textbook is ideal, whether it’s an online or offline one (both have different advantages). I’m not sure what you mean by incorporating writing, the best thing about good textbooks are the way the reading exercises are structured so as to build up in complexity as you progress, introducing new grammatical points into them. Genki has reading comprehension exercises right from the beginning, because they’re designed for the appropriate level of each chapter.

    Reading short articles and stories in Japanese that’s geared specifically towards the reader’s level, right from the beginning, provides an excellent sense of progression and was more useful to me then trying to jump straight into and struggle with native material. Though people learn in a lot of different ways.

    #20678

    missingno15
    Member

    well you dont really need them. a whole series of textbooks can be spent buying a lot of reference books. obviously, you will have to spend money to learn japanese but I would suggest not using it to buy textbooks but reference books instead.

    #20682

    Armando
    Member

    When I finished Textfugu I did RTK which I HIGHLY recommend and Tae Kim up to Special Expressions will help. I’m not really using a textbook (because they bore me) and instead working through A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar… Also doing Core 2k Vocabulary since I recently finished RTK.

    Whatever you do, make sure you IMMERSE yourself in Japanese or else your time spent studying will be for nothing.

    #20683

    Elenkis
    Member

    I have lots of highly recommended reference books and they are fantastic resources, but I’m still very glad that I purchased and went through the textbooks. Going through the reading exercises in them improved my reading comprehension more than anything else that I have done in my learning, much more so than the short example sentences you typically find in reference books.

    But if money is a concern then perhaps it’s better to go with other options. The main negative of textbooks is that they aren’t cheap.

    I also highly recommend the Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Grammar series.

    #20684

    Luke
    Member

    Just ordered that book missing, thanks. Looks really good from reviews and looking at pictures of a few pages.

    #20685

    Thanks for all the advice :)
    Seems like there are a lot of different routes to be taking from here. I don’t know what to choose yet, but I think RTK is next since I want to understand kanji… I hate reading through things, and just having to skip every single kanji which is more than 5 stroke -_-
    Book or not, I don’t really know what I prefer, I will have to look more in to the things you have suggested :)
    The more suggestions the better, everyone learn different ways, so chances are higher that I find what suits me.
    Thanks for the advice!

    #20712

    I’m reading Japanese for Busy People II just now and it’s quite good. It’s free from my Uni library though, and I’m pretty busy atm, so it suits me well haha.

    Everyone’s made good suggestions so far, look here too: http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?pid=95122

    #21054

    palinopsic
    Member

    First of all, I’ll second that recommendation for “Japanese Sentence Patterns Effective Communication”. What TextFugu does is teach you a good study method.
    1. learn some new vocab
    2. learn a new grammar point
    3. make some practice sentences using the new grammar point
    4. make practice sentences that incorporate the new grammar as well as recycled grammar
    5. rinse, repeat, and don’t forget to review in Anki
    “Japanese Sentence Patterns” is a great book that gives clear and concise explanations for individual grammar points. Tae Kim’s is good for this as well, but when I say concise, I mean concise. That book breaks shit down in less than a page. It’s a good resource if you want to continue the TextFugu method of study.
    As for Kanji, check out Kanji Damage. This guy took RTK to the next level. He wrote mnemonics for all 2000 some odd basic kanji using Heisig’s (RTK) methods, BUT he made them way more interesting. He ALSO included at least one and sometimes two ON-yomi readings in each mnemonic. That alone is reason to use it over RTK, but the outlandish shit he writes just makes learning that much more fun. Just read the introduction on his site to see if it’s your style.
    http://kanjidamage.com/introduction

    #21098

    thisiskyle
    Member

    Third on Japanese Sentence Patters for Effective Communication. Go though one or two patterns a day. Practice making your own sentences out of them. (Lang-8) I don’t think it gives very good explanations though or tons of examples but supplement it with dictionary of basic Japanese Grammar for a bit more clarity and in-depth info and KABLAM progress city.
    I did RTK and found it helpful, some don’t. Never heard of this Kanji Damage…..maybe wirth looking into.

    As far as textbooks, I agree with missing (again) for the most part, unless you are going through them with a tutor or instructor, they’re not worth it. You can get the same stuff online for free.

    For vocab, I could not force myself through the core decks for anki. Too boring. I actually really like readthekanji.com (especially after RTK). It presents the vocab by grouping words with the same kanji so you really get a hang of the readings so you are learning kanji readings and vocab at once. It does cost money though….

    Then there is reading, I suggest novels over manga because the usage is more common and you get full grammatically correct sentences. Don’t expect to go too fast though.

    #21101

    Elenkis
    Member

    >As far as textbooks, I agree with missing (again) for the most part, unless you are going through them with a tutor or instructor, they’re not worth it. You can get the same stuff online for free.<

    Can you point me towards some good structured reading exercises aimed at learners online? From complete beginner to intermediate?

    Thanks!

    (That’s meant as a genuine question, I’d love to find something online that replicates everything I can get in a good textbook, so if you know of anything then please share)

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