The kanji section here is incomplete. There are much better alternatives.

1) WaniKani
This is another site run by koichi. It focuses soley on kanji and vocab. The first two levels are free, but after that it will require a paid subscription.

2) Remembering the Kanji
This is a popular method that has worked wonders for people. You can either use the book by itself or together with the website http://kanji.koohii.com/

3) The traditional way Japanese kids learn
This is going in order of kanji taught in grades 1 to 6 in elementary school, and then the remainder in high school. These lists are everywhere on the net.

Experiment and see what works for you.

@ Mister
I think he means using the website. As there’s an RPG style levelling up system he’s created. I agree that it’s not really accurate nor important to grade yourself on a number, and as you say, someone could be at different levels in different areas, so an all round number isn’t particularly useful to judge yourself.

Yes, it’s possible you might have seen it mentioned on AJATT before. I find JALUP to be an easier site to navigate than AJATT.

One of my favourite Japan/Japanese related websites is Japanese Level Up. I regularly check their articles. The following links might be of interest to people here.

1) A rough guide on what level you are
http://japaneselevelup.com/what-level-are-you/

2) Reading tests
http://japaneselevelup.com/test-your-japanese-might-levels-1-20/
http://japaneselevelup.com/test-your-japanese-might-stage-2/
http://japaneselevelup.com/test-your-japanese-might-final-stage/

It’s not entirely accurate but is interesting nonetheless. Think of it as a guideline =)

We keep hearing about this potential massive TextFugu update, but whenever koichi sheds light on it, there’s no time frame given or concrete details of what new content will be added. The idea appears to be to merge TextFugu with EtoEto, but who knows. I think it will eventually see the light of day, but not for a good while yet. By then, most of the current TextFugu members will likely have no need for it anyway.

Definitely give RTK a go. Loads of people like the method and have found success with it. It might just work for you.

Yes, ignore the dots in the middle of vocab words. Only seen that on TextFugu.

Oh yeah, I remember Cassandra saying that now. Seems like a long time ago.

Agreed, there’s nothing to moderate here really :D

Yikes, that is pretty bad for a video. Probably for the best it came to an end quickly. I don’t think we’ll see any decent Tofugu videos. At least not for a while.

So the kanji section here is pretty confusing for beginners? Would you think it is a good idea to go through all the other parts of textfugu without the kanji sections?

I haven’t got around to trying wanikani yet, what do you think about it?

RTK is definitely a popular book for learning kanji!

The last method definitely sounds interesting! I am currently taking Japanese lessons, and soon the teacher is probably going to start on kanji, I think she would probably teach like how japanese kids learn kanji.

So don’t think of them as ON/KUN readings? Just think of them as vocab?

Thank you very much for sharing your methods!

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to use the whole of TextFugu in its current state. It’s an unfinished, mistaken ridden mess. I know that’s probably the last thing you want to hear, but read the “Updates update” thread to understand better. Now, saying that, I would however, suggest using the first couple of seasons maybe. These have important motivation techniques, and does explain very simple grammar points like です in an easy to understand way. If you do that, you can use that as a springboard and then switch to a better resource like Tae Kim’s guide or a textbook like Genki.

WaniKani – I used the first free two levels, but didn’t really like it. I prefer using Anki and either making my own decks or using shared ones. Give it a try to see if it’s for you.

RTK is a popular book but it does have its downsides. Some of the kanji it covers aren’t that common and aren’t used in common vocab words. Not to say you won’t see those kanji at all, but I think it’s better to learn common kanji first. Which brings me to the method Japanese kids use. If you do it their way, it might seem harder as each kanji don’t build upon each other like in RTK, but you’re learning common kanji which are found in very common words.

Yes, don’t worry about the on and kun readings. Just think of them as vocab. There’s too many to memorise. Plus when it comes to names, there’s even more readings. Even native Japanese don’t learn every single reading for each kanji.

Unfortunately, the answer is no. The current content here on TextFugu won’t even be enough to pass N5 of the JLPT. A novel is going to be considerably harder. Once you’ve learnt all the grammar on say Tae Kim’s site or one of the mainstream textbooks, etc, then you might be ready to begin to tackle native material. Even then, it might not be enough. Having to constantly look up unfamiliar vocab and grammar will defeat the purpose.

An easy manga like Yotsubato would be more suitable to begin with once you start to tackle native material.