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Japanese Kanji Study - 漢字学習?
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If you are a beginner like me trying to learn the Kanji, I highly recommend Kanji Study. It's the best app for learning Kanji imo. But this app won't be useful to intermediate learners who already learned the 2000+ Kanji characters and are focusing more on the grammar part.
Thought I'd comment and mention an app called kanji study. It is hands down the best app for leaning kanji. It has look up, you can break them down by exam board (JLPT etc...,) Proficiency level, it has flashcards, quizzes. Absolutely everything. Honestly everyone on this sub Reddit should check it out. It's free too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=learn%20hiragana&hl=en_US
That's a google play search for "Hiragana," because let's be honest, if you want to learn Kanji, this game probably won't help. Bouncing the characters around the screen is not somehow more conducive to learning than, say, duolingo.
EDIT: I like this app for kanji: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US
I always recommend this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
Very impressive design, there's writing practice, stroke order, flashcard system, quiz, vocabulary, sentences... Definitely worth a try.
I'm using Kanji Study which I imagine everyone here knows about. I've learnt about 500 (early days) but haven't used a sheet of paper (specifically for memorising 漢字)
I use Memrise along with KanjiStudy. Memrise is more like Duolingo, but KanjiStudy helps with stroke practice and kanji flash cards.
The app is called Kanji Study. I highly recommend it. You have to pay to unlock every options but if you truly want to learn kanji, this is a must.
Google Play
App Store The interface seems really different on IOS but it seems to be working the same way.
i wouldn't worry about it. yes, the point of SRS is to remind you of words just as you're about to forget them, but that doesn't mean you should AVOID them until the SRS algorithm decides it's time to show them to you....it's not like it will hinder your learning of a word if you are exposed to a it more often.
as for your related question, i personally don't think anki is great for writing practice. i know some people use it for that, and get a lot out of it, but it's like using a screwdriver to hammer in a nail...yeah, it works, but why not just use a hammer? some good writing apps i've found are japanese kanji study and skritter
- Japanese.io for defining words while browsing articles or sites in general. As far as I can tell the dictionary has been expanded a lot since I first started using it and it has a very nice user interface on the website where you can copy and paste text into documents for future reference. It also recommends news articles based on the content of the documents you save.
- Kanji Study for Android - it's been updated with a full dictionary recently, which is nice, but the kanji content is and always has been very solid. Dev has been working on an SRS update for a long time but honestly, I don't think it even needs it, it's a great resource for studying kanji
- iTunes - Japanese music/podcasts galore. Although I actually prefer Spotify for its reliability, their libraries are incomparable as far as I can tell.
I just did the same thing and learned it this past weekend! Glad to see I'm not alone.
I know I'm not a teacher, but I think my method is pretty solid. I'm currently using an app to learn some simple kanji for the purpose of vocabulary, and will be tackling katakana this coming weekend. I really like the app since it allows you to quiz yourself with reading as well as writing the kanas, kanji, and radicals.
I've used Genki a bit for some simple grammar (mostly chapters 1 and 2 of the first part), and will continue with it as soon as I've learned katakana.
Edit: This is the app I was taking about.
I like Kanji Study on Android; there's an iOS version too but I haven't tried that so I'm not sure if its as feature full.
This app is what you'd want I think: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy It puts together all the kanji for N5 through N1 and even has an internal calendar for you to track how much you've studied per day in the past. Great interface, great mechanics, and it's free!
Edit: also there's a quizzing mode, a flashcard mode, and a drawing mode
We don't need any more kana apps, god damnit. There's a new kana app or kana game or incomplete kana website posted on this subreddit every week.
Download Kanji Study, spend a few hours learning kana and boom, you're done.
> I'm still surprised there isn't a really solid app for learning
That's because there's no need for a kana app. It literally takes a few hours to learn kana.
I absolutely swear by Kanji Study. I use it in conjunction with the Kodansha KLC book (Kanji Study requires the pro version to make custom study lists). Very customizable and you can quiz in flashcard mode (non-SRS), multiple-choice quiz and kanji drawing mode.
Learning how to write is highly important, especially kana. Getting into a pattern of learning stroke order will help you out much later on in searching up unfamiliar Kanji. Slow down, there is no need to rush the basic fundamentals of a language such as being able to write it, fluency does not come from cutting corners.
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My advice would be for you to use an app or something easy for you to do on so that it does not feel so pressing to learn (thus lowering your motivation.) I personally use(d):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
Best of luck to you.
The Kanji Study app has this too and you can use it for example sentences or just words as well. Strongly recommend that app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
I'm really fond of Kanji Study (Android, ~but might be on other devices~). It's by far the best I've found, with stroke ordering, customizable quizzes of varying difficulty, and kanji grouped by Joyo or JLPT level.
The free version has just beginner kanji, but the full version (~US$10) is really worth it. Go 'head and try it out if you're interested.
EDIT: Looks like it's not on iOS. Sad!
Incredibly effective, no joke. Also, If you want to learn not only to recognize them but to write them you should also definitely check out kanji study app (link for Android) (sometimes I sound like they pay me to promote them but they really don't haha)
I highly recommend Kanji Study by Chase Colburn, it's got a brilliant writing practice mode which includes hiragana and katakana for free. When you're done with those, it's also the best Kanji app on the market (imo).
1) The next step should be start learning basic vocabulary and grammar. Start with simple sentences (ex. S は Adj./S です。) and every day words, which must include subjects, verbs, pronouns (ex. いぬ、つくえ、はは, べんきょうします、これ/あれ/それ). Then, slowly start learning new particles, interrogative words, adjectives and verb coniugations. (For fun, start naming things around your house in japanese: "this is a ほん", "this is a "かぎ", "テレビ", "ねこ" etc.)
If you have the book, that's perfect. I would just follow along and do the exercises it provides, because good language books will usually guide you at a comfortable pace.
Also, if you have a lot of time to invest in japanese, I would start looking at kanji. Kanji Study is an excellent app for Android that organizes kanji by JLPT levels and has flashcards, radicals, writing exercises and quizzes. I highly recommend, if you can, downloading it and practice the N5 level.
2) As for the subject of radicals, for some they're are a monumental help when studying kanji, but in my experience, only after studying basic kanji did I finally start to understand radicals. But hey, everyone is different; try it and see what works best for you.
I hope this has been some help in your path to learning japanese. Please don't hesitate to ask more questions.
頑張って！
I like Kanji Study. I think it costs a lot more money now than when I started using it, but I'll still recommend it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
Obenkyou is good, too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Obenkyo&hl=en
I admittedly haven't paid for the full version yet, but plan to (what's accessible for free shows off the app's capability well), but I'd already recommend the "Kanji Study" app. It seems to cover every possible layer about kanji and compounds, including etymology. Each kanji even is animated in proper stroke order, too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Kanji Study. I paid for this app a few years ago, and it is still totally worth the money. The developer is friendly and responsive, the app is high-quality, and new features are continually being added.
Sorry for the plug but I recently developed an Android app that allows you to study kanji similar to how I used to use flashcards, only I think it is a much better experience. Includes a kanji lookup, quizzing, tracking and drawing practice as well as tons of examples. If you have an Android device, I hope it helps! App link
I like kanji study, idk if ios has it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
I like that you can copy and paste the radicals. A lot of times I know a similar kanji, Iook that up, copy a bunch of radicals with a tap so it's quick. Super convenient to look things up. (There's draw mode too, but kakijun is harder for me haha.)
You can make different lists for different games and such, and sort/lookup by grade level (or JLPT/jouyou/frequently used in media /kentei etc).
I paid up the $10 to upgrade for full features bc it was so easy to use and solid app.
I think there's like flash card mode and quiz mode. I would've absolutely used this in my upper div JP classes if I'd known about it at the time.
There's a really user friendly app for Android with info on kanji, stroke order and usage examples called Kanji Study -> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
I've been using it for a while now and I've yet to be disappointed. It also has useful tools like quizzes, study monitoring etc. Highly recommend it!
Kanji Study It's really good, now it's intergrated with Outlier Linguistics to understand the origin of words, fully recommended. Demo : Center
I was in the same boat as you (using jisho through chrome), but one day I noticed Kanji Study started offering me "words". If you already have it, check it out.
> looking up kanji by radical that i see around town
Yup, it can do that.
> trying to type in words that I hear people speak around me, in romanji
It's romaji, not romanji, but yup, no problem.
> looking for japanese words that match some word in English
Check!
> no data?
Went in to airplane mode, and the search still worked. Another check.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
I use this app to practice. It shows the stroke patterns for Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji and you can use it for memorization practice as well.
I use this app, which works well for me. It has flashcards for both readings and meanings, writing challenges, and a dictionary, plus some nice customisation options to split learning into whatever chunks work best for you. It allows you to learn some basic kanji for free and requires payment for the full set, but the price is about 13 pounds IIRC, so that's very well manageable.
I use this app called Kanji Study to help me with this.
It shows the usual - stroke order kanji, the meanings, Kunyomi, Onyomi. But then it also shows the radicals that make up each kanji (so you can try to understand how the kanji is constructed).
After this it gives Reading Examples, Common vocabulary using that Kanji, usage in Names and sentences.
It has a pretty decent stroke recognition system as well, so you can use it to practise writing as well.
Here is the Play Store link - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Note - the free version has only 80 basic kanji along with radicals and kana. The full version is quiet cheap though.
(not free) I liked kanji study for android, just set it to 10 minutes a day. It lets you practice reading and writing with lots of review. The app is nicely laid out too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
Get the app "Memrise" and start learning vocabulary untill your books from Genki arrive. It's also on PC.
There are lots of courses with only vocabulary or kanji's or both ranging from N5 to N1.
Also Genki 1 / 2 vocab.
https://www.memrise.com/course/29267/genki-i/
You could learn that so you got a heads up when the books arrive...
Also if you are serious about writing kanji and not just reading them then get the app "Kanji Study". It's got EVERYTHING from vocab to quizess to writing challenges to sentecse examples, dictionary search trough meaning,pronunciation, radicals....
Up to N4 i think is free but the extra 5 or so bucks are totally worth it. Best deal you will make in your life.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=nl
This is the one I have been using https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy so far.
I've also tried https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inkren.skritter.japanese this one and couple of others.
Hello there! Anyone here have experience with this app?
I got the free version, so far so good and there's a lot of positive reviews.. BUT.. the free content is really limited, so I'm on the fence here..
I don't know what SRS format is but the application I'm using on my android phone is Japanese Kanji Study. Really useful and helps me a lot. You can check it out here : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
allow me to recommend this kapag naisipan mong mag start.
sorry sa unsolicited na ganto. Hope you dont mind.
Liked to share the joy of reading manga raw.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_AU&gl=US
if you decide to pay for it it isnt expensive and you can create your own custom kanji lists.
well worth the money, but can easily learn a lot free version too. but at some stage we gotta bite the bullet and pay for something to increase our learning capacity haha
goodluck!
That's exactly the reason I started learning handwriting. I realized that I was confusing similar characters pretty frequently, which got me thinking that the only way I would be able to properly memorize them (instead of just mostly recognizing them in context) would be if I could actually write them myself.
I decided to learn the correct stroke order from the start, because it's usually easier to learn good habits from the beginning than it is to un-learn bad habits in order to re-learn good ones. Also because the infamous ツ/シ and ソ/ン pairs are supposed to be a lot easier to distinguish if you write them properly.
I started with the Kanji Study app, which is technically paywalled/freemium (most of the kanji are locked away behind a $12.99 in-app purchase), so hopefully I'm not out of line in linking it here, but there's still a lot of content available without paying, including the first set of kanji for each of the 11 learning sequence options and all of the kana and radicals. The app warns against using automatic stroke detection for kana, but in my experience it works well enough that I still prefer it over the "check your own work" option.
For books, Basic Kanji Book series into Kanji in Context is pretty comprehensive.
For learning to recognize kanji using flashcards, Kodansha's Kanji Learning Course, RTK and the subscription site Wanikani are often recommended around here.
For apps to use alongside a traditional grammar textbook, Kanji Study App (one time purchase) or Lulilanguage's Kanji (seemingly free at the moment)
Phrase. Phrase. Uhh. 何 means "what." As you probably know as a denizen of the internet, it's pronounced nani, though sometimes it's just nan. So following up on yesterday, to ask the time, you'd say 何時ですか、(nanji desu ka) "what time is it?" Okay, it's literally "what hour is it," but I don't make the rules. Anyway, I purposely didn't use a question mark! You don't actually need to as the か (ka) does the work for you. You still see it around, but it isn't strictly necessary. See? I definitely prepped for tonight and didn't just wing it off the top!
Anyway, I've barely touched my usual apps today, not that you could tell, because I've spent most of that time enjoying the jackpot I hit. There's a very creatively titled app called Japanese Kanji Study and it is phenomenal. I genuinely can't think of anything else this app could add. It gives you a study plan thing for 80 kanji for free (and it's a paltry amount to permanently gain access to thousands more), but I haven't even touched that yet. I've been too busy looking at the insane dictionary. It has every radical and kanji in it. It's got stroke order, decomposition of the radicals so it's extremely easy to understand, all meanings, all pronunciations, voice clips, example sentences that include furigana (where they place kana above the kanji so hacks like me can read it), and just. God. If you know anyone who's studying Japanese and has an Android, this app is remarkable.
It's actually not that hard to learn if you use proper resources instead of memes. I'll link the kanji app I use in a second
Ankidroid + Kanji Study is an incredibly useful combo if you're going through native Japanese texts. You can look up an unfamiliar work in Kanji Study and quickly transfer into your flashcard stack. I wish I'd had it back when I was in college.
But you have to be at a grammatical level where you're comfortable approaching Japanese texts.
Looks like you've got a bunch of answers already but I might as well add one more: the Kanji Study android app can do exactly this. Its dictionary search function lets you filter by kanji you've marked as either known, familiar or seen and you can further narrow the list to only include common words, or those included in specific JLPT levels (when such vocab lists were still officially published). You can even export your search result to an ankidroid deck if that floats your boat.
I'm on the learnjapanese sub sometimes. I really have enjoyed using Kanji Study, it's already helped me learn around 300 kanji in about 6 months (でももっと速く覚えが欲しいですね）…
I actually really like using this app that I found by accident while browsing Japanese google play - Kanji Study. I am not sure whether he does it for Apple as well, as I don't have a device for that (and when I did a little bit of Unity fiddling, I found out that to release anything on Apple you got to pay for developer account, so if he does it without profit in mind, he's probably off the store.)
The app kanji study has a quiz where it tests you on hiragana and katakana. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US&referrer=utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dorganic%26utm_term%3Dapp+store+kanji+study&pcampaignid=APPU_1_UVU9XLb-AqPk9AODn5iIBw
Try this app for Japanese. The free level provides hiragana, katakana, and elementary kanji. I've found it very helpful for kanji because it makes you draw them on the screen, rather than just having multiple choice like most apps I've seen.
There's no audio in Kanji Study, but there appears to be audio in OP's app. This could be a major reason for the large app size.
I wonder if OP's app has computer generated speech, or if it's an actual recording of a native speaker...
In any case, it's probably better to use a separate app for pronunciation like Forvo.
App Links for: itunes and play store
Also when you said you wouldn't recommend it, was it only for itunes or both ?
Genki textbooks, Kanji Study app (includes kana, Kanji, radicals, dictionaries...) and Marugoto Japanese course (free!).
Edit: links
I don't think there is a "best" app, but here are a couple that I like
Shameless plug but I make a popular app on Android specifically for learning kanji. I have a really good update in the works that tries to narrow down the readings you should learn for each kanji. It's completely self guided so it might align with your study style. I hope it helps.
Japanese Kanji Study! Has both hiragana and katakana, too. You can study them by drawing (my absolute favourite feature), flash-cards or multiple-choice, and it keeps track of how well you remember each character.
If you want to use apps, I heartily recommend Kanji Study. It's an app done by a lone developer, if I'm not mistaken, and it is really fantastic. It allows you to learn drawing kanji characters, practice with a card method and learn readings and vocabulary and I don't know what else. But in your case, the main point is that it does have a "kana learning" mode, where you can learn and more importantly practice writing kana. Check it out, it's free for N5 Japanese + kana, so that sounds like what you need.
Otherwise, as others have suggested, just use pen and paper. If you want to make the beginning easier for you, use some pre-made work sheet to help you out. Something like this. There are loads of these sheets available online for free.
Try KanjiStudy on android.
There are tons of options, for everything from self-judging to auto-judging to pick the right one.
You can study up against the English meaning or context in a Japanese sentence or the Japanese sounds. It's the best app I've seen.
I really like using Kanji Study (The full app with custom lists) as a companion to another Kanji course. Right now I'm using it by creating a custom list with the Kodansha course kanji, and the ability to only review Kanji I have low accuracy on is a godsend in saving time. It's also nice for quick review if I have some time on the bus or train.
As many people already pointed out, 新 (read as しん 'shin' in this context) is new and 雪 (read as せつ 'setsu') is snow. Thus 新雪 (しんせつ 'shinsetsu') is new/fresh snow.
If you have an Android Device I can highly recommend you check out Kanji Study App combined with the GBoard Keyboard.
GBoard is free and comes preinstalled in many devices (since it's Google) has an excellent handwriting input method for when you want to search for a Kanji when you don't know any of its readings.
Kanji Study has an inbuilt dictionary, using these same data as for example jisho.org. It also has animated stroke order for each Kanji AND all kana. All of that is free, but they also have lots of extra content you can buy as add-on. Like premade study packs (flashcards, multiple choice, handwriting tests and sentence building).
It's absolutely insane how this problem is omnipresent in the Japanese course. The worst so far for me is in the "Dates" section, it's impossible to learn properly as the prononciation of every word keeps contradict itself.
But I take this opportunity to recommend the Kanji Study app (Only for Android unfortunately) which is absolutely essential to learn Japanese in my opinion.
It has so many features that I'll let you discover by yourself, including a comprehensive vocabulary dictionary which is very useful when you don't know how to pronounce a word from Duolingo 😅
For Android users, I can only recommend the "Kanji Study" app which is just amazing for Japanese learning!
There is not only kanjis, but also a very complete integrated dictionary, example phrases, quizzes, etc... So many features I can't think of all! This app is truly game changing
Use google's gboard. It has multilingual support, which means you can use the japanese keyboard to write the sentences instead of using those bubbles. I started using it a month ago and you get used to it pretty fast. You also get kanji suggestions (a lot like the english keyboards).
Also try to use the keyboard's transcribe feature to get used to speaking, though its not perfect, but it is pretty impressive how accurate it is (even gets the kanji characters right, most of the times).
Gboard also has a draw feature that will let you draw any character and based on that give you the most closest matching suggestion.
Aside from that make a list of all the kanji you learn (preferably digitally so you can look them up if you ever want to revise, along with an example sentence. the duolingo website gives you a list of words that you have learned), And also practice drawing them in a notebook (try to get the stroke order right)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
The above app is great for looking up kanji characters, it provides their meaning, uses, breakup, stroke order, etc (You can use the draw feature to lookup the kanji)
The above points is what I personally use, I dont get much time to alot to japanese study, so for now at least I am solely using duo.
Hope this helps a little bit.
Vienīgais ko es atminos, dažiem studentiem raksturs nesagāja ar kādu skolotāju un viņi bieži strīdējās :P
Bet nē, nevaru teikt neko negatīvu, neesot pat pabeidzis šos kursus. :)
Vēlviena forša programma - mana mīļākā (jo man patīk kandži), ir kanji study uz android telefona. iesaku. (tikai nedaudz japiemaksā lai gūtu piekļuvi visam, bet cik atceros nebija dārgi)
Bet nja man laikam nav baigi vairāk nekāds info, piedod :P
I use Learn Japanese! - Kanji app too, and it have a few quirks, I wish I had discovered earlier: It uses custom order within jlpt level. So, it doesn't necessarily align with other jlpt resources. (tho the order is generally pretty good, so you can use it as a baseline)
It teaches 2 words with each kanji representing the on and kun reading, but doesn't actually explain that. So, you need to look up which word from the lesson represent which reading.
The developer doesn't put too much effort into editing kanji meaning and word meaning so the only way to distinguish is the "to" in front of a verb, or a noun + adjective in kanji meaning.
If you plan to use it with a pen, the ocr on some kanji is just plain broken and will pretty much luck when it accepts it. That screws up the SRS reviews and you end up reviewing kanji that the app have the most trouble recognizing instead the ones you actually need. So you need to turn off writing part for reviews.
That being said, its still a great app cause the lessons are bite sized and have srs, and 2 words for each reading. The way I use it is: Start lesson in kanji app. Once it teaches a new kanji look it up in Kanji study app Study the radicals, decomposition etc. Add it to a custom set. Mark words using the kanji as favorites in kanji study. You can also send those words to anki directly.
The benefit of this, kanji study have much better writing recognition so, you can do your writing practice there. Also have quizz with kanji reading from your favorite words. So you not just passively staring at them in anki.
Anki
Tae Kim's grammar guide(https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar)
This is what I used to get started
I have some success with kanji study app on android. Its a bit expensive but have a great explanation of each kanji, and their etymology which I use as a mnemonic.
I realized most study methods are using random mnemonic, so why not use the original meaning of a radical instead.
Lol I'm really glad I started so young, but even still it took me probably 4 years or so before I was able to read kanji as easily as kana. Anyway I really recommend this app, it's very helpful for expanding your vocabulary. Considering how polished it is there's probably an iOS version as well.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
maybe Kanji Study? while you can organize the kanji into different groups, it doesn't have any SRS-like features so you have to plan which kanji to practice accordingly.
I use this app for the writing system: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
In this app, you can change how you want to learn the Kanji. I think the pro version costs one time around 15 $.
And for learning Kanji and other thing in general, I use renshuu: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.renshuu.renshuu_org
The Kanji Study app for android has a writing quiz where it checks your stroke order. You can mark Kanji as different levels of familiarity and only quiz yourself on certain subsets.
I have the paid version, but I think for your purposes, the free version is fine? Either way you should be able to test out the feature on the free version, and IMO it's a great app well worth the premium upgrade.
I really like Japanese Kanji Study. It has quite a few premium features that require purchase, but I believe the free version has a good set of starter kanji to study.
Sure, but my answer isn't going to be very helpful for most people because my parents are Korean and I grew up speaking Korean at home.
I studied Japanese at high school as a subject for 5 years, which got me somewhere between N4-N3. I studied something completely unrelated in university but I watched a LOT of anime. Note that I wasn't studying Japanese at all during this time (no anki or writing notes or textbook or whatever) and I was not watching anime with the objective of learning Japanese. Because Japanese grammar and kanji words are almost identical to Korean, my brain absorbed grammar and vocab like a sponge.
Later on, deciding that the field related to my university major was not what I wanted to do, I decided to try my hand at translating. Between this and a few months of self-kanji-study using (this app)[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en&gl=US), I became kanji-literate.
I grabbed N1 then moved Japan, and I've been living here for a little over 3 years.
Write it out. I use Kanji Study, it's the best app I've ever used. With gboard, even my worst kanji writings have been able to be recognized.
Kanji Study App (paid; reasonable one-time fee) No built-in spaced-repetition, but can export cards to Anki and has a lot of options. I like using sentence or word prompts in the quizzes and following my textbook's order.
Learn Japanese! Kanji (free) Great for practicing writing if you don't need customization. Has built-in SRS.
Those are the two I've settled on. I have a phone with a stylus and it's pretty fun to practice with apps. There are also Anki decks with handwriting/whiteboard enabled if neither of these apps fit the bill.
Other than just breaking out some lined paper and practicing an hour a day, there's one app that I've found that's fantastic for practicing writing kanji correctly, but it's Android only.
Only a base set of 80 are free, but to unlock the full app it's only a one time $13 payment. It has animations and practice of writing all the JLPT kanji and more, broken up into sets. You can select from organizing into Japanese School Grades or JLPT levels, too. It functions as a great dictionary, even breaks the kanji down into the radicals for you as well as plenty of etymology to help really solidify that knowledge. It has multiple exam modes, from basic multiple choose recognition/reading, to writing tests that require writing in the correct stroke order.
I went through RTK with a focus on writing at the beginning of my studies almost 2yr ago to help with vocabulary acquisition and early reading, so my recognition was good but I needed to brush up on production. My phone has a stylus, so I mainly use apps for my dedicated kanji study these days.
I bought Kanji Study, since you can follow many book orders with it ( I use Kanji in Context order, but KLC is on there) and the cloze deletion quizzes that use vocab or sentence prompts are really nice.
It doesn't have SRS, though, so I started unsing the Learn Japanese! Kanji app by Luli Languages too. I'm not sure which order it uses for the kanji (if it's based on a book or list somewhere), but the way it corrects stroke order as you go, teaches in multiple passes and incorporates vocabulary is pretty cool. ^plus^it's^free
I've been rotating through Shin Kanzen N2 books and try to spend 10-15min a day maintaining my kanji writing skills.
I like Basic Kanji Book and Kanji in Context
For apps I use Kanji Study App (which lets you use various book orders) and Learn Japanese - Kanji! for writing with SRS. My phone has a stylus, so I prefer the apps to books these days.
Its available on Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en&gl=US
For Apple devices I believe its not available yet or its a super dumbed down version of the Android one
According to Kanji Study, I can recognize 547 kanji and I should be able to read words that contain one or more of the first 200 kanji. Since my schedule is prety busy, I try to study only at least 10 minutes a day - It's a very slow but steady progress.
I'm currently doing grade 4 kanji, so I think I should be able to recognize all N5 kanji. Honestly, I lack many grammar points and plan to get to them hopefully soon. Also, I won't be taking the exam any time soon, since everything is closed down.
You mean kanji? If you’re willing to pay money there’s Kanji Study on Android and Learn Japanese Kanji! on ios
Hiragana and Katakana aren’t too bad to study on your own but there’s probably resources out there
The type of paper you're looking for is 原稿用紙 genkouyoushi. Should be able to plug that into Google and find yourself a printable pdf, or there are notebooks on Amazon for pretty cheap if you'd rather have an actual workbook.
If you're not already using it I also highly recommend this kanji study app. The paid version isn't super expensive and includes study resources for all jouyou kanji including stroke orders, onyomi and kunyomi pronunciations and meanings. You can organize them by grade level or JLPT level. I use the stroke order diagrams to work on my writing practice and find it handy that it breaks them into 20 character chunks, which gives a nice daily goal.
I had the same progression as you, but dropped reviews after about 2-3 months of daily reading. I can't imagine keeping up reviews for so long! Most of my stories were replaced with vocab after encountering the kanji "in the wild" the first or second time. How did your reading progress after you finished RTK?
For keeping up my writing, I mainly use Kanjistudyapp with a stylus. It has drills similar to what you described where you can fill-in-the-blank for example sentences or N_-level words by writing with the correct stroke order. It's pretty flexible.
There's also a newer and free app called Learn Japanese! Read and Write](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.howellpeebles.j3a&hl=en_US&gl=US) teaches through words and has it's own SRS. My laziness wants me to try it.
I really like Kanji Study App. There's a nice review mode where you have to write in the missing kanji from an example sentence with correct stroke order. There are a lot of different options too.
I also use premade flashcards on Memrise or Anki for whatever textbook series I'm using (Shin Kanzen N2 etc) and make sure to reinforce through daily reading. I went through RTK early on in my studies, so kanji aren't much of an obstacle when learning new vocab. I have to make an extra effort to retain my writing, which is where kanjistudyapp comes in.
The only sentence decks I've used since N3 are self-made through books I've read (android app 'Typhon' has anki export) or premade subs2srs decks of shows I like with words I don't know (sorted by Morphman addon). For books I've use Hajimete Tango series up through N3 level and liked them. I've heard nice things about the Nihongo Speedmaster vocabulary books too.
If you like the format of the Core decks, it would be simplest to just continue with the 6k and read a lot.
The one mentioned in the above comment is Kanji Study App by Chase Colburn. It is the most fully featured kanji app I've ever used.
The android version of Kanji Study app is also really nice for this. You can do fill in the blank quizzes with vocabulary words or sentences as the prompt.
Lately, I've found it helpful to play animal crossing with my dictionary out (digital, of course) I also have a notebook to write words and meanings into. Essentially, if I don't know a meaning right away, I'll write it's kanji, hiragana, and translation down as I go. Of course, I am also taking Japanese in college so the gamins is a supplement.
(This app)[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy] has been incredibly helpful as well, as it makes you write them using the correct stroke order. It only does single kanji, however, it combines with AnkiDroid to study multi-kanji words. It's been a great app, it's free to use in most casesamd like $4 to inlock all the features. Probably the best money I've ever spent for the sake of Japanese, honestly.
Duolingo and reading manga in Japanese (especially easy ones like Yotsubato! Or other similar childrens ones) in conjunction with the above apps and method have been helpful.
One guy on YouTube said he'd read novels, and every time he didn't know a kanji, he would fill several lines in a notebook with it and the meaning and such. Since a lot of kanji is memorization this method also applies, I think.
Animal Crossing has made my reading comprehension better and I have learned, and remember, several new words and kanji. It is so helpful to have them in any context, and animal crossing is kind on us noobs because all the kanji have the little hiragana above them for easy reading.
Also, Google handwriting for Japanese is my main method for searching a kanji I don't know what it means or how to say, and has been a great help! It is sometimes finiky though.
Also it helps, generally, to study the same information at different times of day in different settings.
O zaman şöyle diyeyim.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en&gl=US
ile orda burda telefondan çalışabilirsiniz.
Verdiğim linklerden https://www.udemy.com/course/japanese-n3-course/ şu kursu bulup indirip çalışabilirsiniz.
Kendinize defter oluşturun ilk 500 Jouyou kanjiyi yutun gerisi gelir. :D
Kolay gelsin.
I use this one:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
It has writing practice tests which could help you with stroke order
I'm doing the JapanesePod 101 course from Udemy. Also , their regularly upload lessons on YouTube. They are pretty great and useful. I find them good enough to atleast get started off right away. Risa , the instructor, is really fun to watch and explains things clearly. If you have a month or two and spend time finishing off JapanesePod101 YouTube videos , it should be good. Ohh and one more thing , almost all the content on that Udemy course is present as videos on YouTube so don't bother to purchase course on Udemy.
Start off with Hiragana and Katakana. These are two different scripts of Japanese with same sounds. There is an app on Android Appstore ( not sure of iOS). It is called - Japanese Kanji Study (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy) I found this app super useful for learning the writing part of Hiragana Katakana. You don't really have to learn writing so just focus on recognizing the syllables. Then jump to grammar and vocabulary. Kanji is vast and will take years to learn. From that app , try to learn the Basic Kanji first. I guess this is enough to begin with.
Unfortunately it's not free, but there's a "premium" addition to the free app Kanji Study called Outlier that breaks down kanji into radicals and other stuff. Here's how the app describes it:
>Understand the underlying logic behind the Japanese writing system by learning how kanji actually work. This dictionary add-on includes form explanations that show the real sound and meaning connections between kanji. Explanations are shown within the kanji info screens and flashcards. There are currently entries for 1644 characters with more to be added in the future
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US&gl=US
Same with every language.
Basics > Some grammar > Vocabulary > Advanced stuff. | But with Japanese comes Kanji, alphabet and Keigo(polite language).
I would say first start with any app or website for basics. Like duolingo, busuu etc. They also teach the alphabet too but don't rely on dijital stuff. Write everything many times.
Then comes kanji which would be 500 for basics 1000 for middle and around 2200(jouyou kanji) for advanced. But always aim for the next step. Don't think about it like learning 2200 kanji. It took me 5 years to be able to read most of it and write half of that.
After a couple of months, you can read the alphabet and know some words and a little bit kanji. Everything happens after this. You have to be serious about it. If you aren't it's not gonna be really possible and you won't be able to reach N1 or even N2.
For grammar take a look at this Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese.
For kanji buy a book cause you can't really learn on a pc or phone very good. Writing is always better. You can also use Japanese Kanji Study - 漢字学習 to remember and practice kanji while on train etc.
The most effective way to memorize words for me was to "make word cards/flash cards" You write Japanese word and a sentence with that word on one side and meaning and reading on the other side. You can memorize words everywhere. Even toilet :D
After a year you will have a good understanding about a lot of things and know what to do next!.
Good luck!
Overweight people? I've never seen one except a Sumo wrestler.
It's useful for drilling stroke order. The app displays random kanji (from predefined or custom sets) and prompts you to trace them correctly.
However, for learning Kanji I recommend "Kanji Study" by Chase Colburn:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Is this the same app - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_CA ?
For PC, just go to Jisho (or the dictionary of your choice) and look up the radicals. For instance, this is the kanji for road/street: 道. Alternatively, there are a lot of apps for learning Kanji - I use Kanji Study an hour a day to learn/revise kanji. I like this app because it breaks down Kanji by their radicals and tell you the meaning of each radical.
I actually like this approach because many kanji, if broken, can be used to tell a story. E.g. 晩 = evening/night. The left component is 日 which means sun. The right component is 免 which means dismissed. What happens when the sun is dismissed (from the sky)? You get night!
This obviously doesn't work for all kanji but for those where it does work - it makes remembering the kanji super easy.
I've always learned five characters per week. That way it's easier to keep up with them. I am lucky that my teacher is a native speaker. She had textbooks and special notebooks for learning the characters. They weren't free, obviously, but they're really helpful. For the characters I also use this app. You have to pay to access the kanji sets but as long as you can find those sets elsewhere (you certainly can, they're standardized) you can search the characters in its dictionary ant it's basically the same thing. Also you can learn kana from it(which I didn't know untill I was done with kana and well into kanji).
Hii! I'm on chapter 8 on Genki and 13 of RTK. Until now I've been moving through RTK at roughly 1 chapter per day (regardless of how long the chapter is). I found it very helpful to combine with the app kanji study, since it saves me tons of paper in writing the kanji, while helping both with memory and being forced to write all the strokes in the correct order. Up to now it's helped. I have memorized the roughly 300 characters of the first part. I can update when I'm further into part 2. In the app you can choose the ordering of the kanji according to different lists, including RTK 6th edition. Good luck!
tldr>! (i actually don't know the direction of this comment so)!< doing both would be better since you're reading a vocab in a complete sentence. and play a game you like then switch the language into Japanese, so while at it, you're having fun
​
both, well i didn't really study a lot like most of people did since i just use Kanji Study , Duolingo(for exercise) Lingodeer, Anki and some random sites for reference.
i made a custom group in Kanji Study and vocabs in Anki that i saw on games and social media in N1, N2 order (so i didn't stick to one level like you did) because i figured some of it are commonly used, and by doing that since around June 2018(could be earlier), i've saved
| Kanji | Vocab | |
|---|---|---|
| N1 | 630 | 325 |
| N2 | 308 | 197 |
| N3 | 353 | 370 |
| N4 | 158 | 131 |
| N5 | 77 | 75 |
| Non-jouyo | 251 | N/A |
with these i can at least read and understand most of the stuff in game dialogue and some tweets in Japanese. well the values of the table could've been higher if i was dedicated xc
It's really hard for me to memorize kanji/vocabulary (overworked developer, lol) but the "kanji study" app is helping a lot to memorize kanji readings, specially with the multiple choice quizzes. I set it to remind me to study everyday before I sleep and I'm starting to memorize the kanjis and vocabullary.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Do not worry about the sequence you select first, you can aways change it in the study options under settings if it's not working for you, I started with 'frequency in media' and changed to 'remembering the kanji' and it saved my progress of the individual kanjis (study time, miss percentage, etc)
Have you tried Kanji Study? I think it's better in almost every way.
The main downside I see for Kanji Study is that the app you recommended allows you to study vocab in-app. You need a separate Anki app for studying vocab if you want to use Kanji Study. However, if you already use Anki, Kanji Study is better in my opinion.
The second downside I see for Kanji Study is that it costs $ if you want to use it to study more than just "basic kanji". It's $10 if I recall, vs. $3 to remove the ads for the app you recommended.
Though I am not against language learning apps per se, as a learner and translator of Japanese I want to add a big caveat to any "all purpose" language learning apps being recommended: Most of these will only give you bare bones knowledge on the language, useful mostly for the most basic of chats and interactions so you can get by.
Before you venture into Japanese I want you to ask yourself these sorts of questions: Are you staying in Japan long term or just temporarily? Do you need to know Japanese for your job or just to get by casually? Do need to know how to write, read, or speak (or all 3)? These things will absolutely influence the route you should take to learning Japanese.
For example if you need to read and write I would recommend first grabbing some hiragana/katakana tables and getting yourself familiar with them, then grab an app like Japanese Kanji Study (I prefer books personally but as far as apps go this is by far the best android one) to learn Kanji, and finally find some grammar resources, preferably a book which lets you go more in depth into the grammar, but something like Obenkyo will let you get started somewhere as well (it uses the Tae Kim grammar guide for its grammar section which albeit not perfect is definitely useful for beginners).
"All purpose" apps will rarely teach you kanji beyond the first JLPT level (100 kanji out of ~2000) and they usually rely on translations to teach you meaning rather than teach you meaning by association or mnemonics which is much less useful for remembering stuff since you're constantly translating sentences in your head, and their grammar is also often overly simplified and not that useful outside of the most basic of chats (Japanese is super context heavy, so one single grammar tool can have multiple meanings depending on context), and I have yet to find an app that goes into keigo (honorific speech) which is a must if you are to speak to someone at your job in Japanese (you change your speech based on social hierarchy in Japanese) so you don't end up being unintentionally rude to your superior (although to be fair foreigners usually get a discount).
I don't want to fully discredit any of the apps, they have their purpose of course, but for Japanese in particular you REALLY need to be aware of how complex the language is and what exactly you will need out of it before you just choose an app someone recommended. Most apps by themselves will NOT teach you enough, you need several resources if you plan on seriously tackling the language.
If you need resources feel free to pm me since I've been doing this for several years now or have a look at r/LearnJapanese and their wiki page, they have an awesome Starter Guide to help you understand the complexities of the language and the road you're about to take, and they will be one of the best places you can go to for Japanese.
And of course best of luck in your studying!
Was going to recommend it too, I bought the full version and think it's absolutely worth it.
Yes, it is available.
My plan for when I start studying N3 was to use these memrise courses made for Sou-Matome:
https://www.memrise.com/course/195263/soumatome-jlpt-n3/
https://www.memrise.com/course/152457/jlpt-n3-n3/
What phone OS do you use? There's an excellent app for Android called Kanji Study that is free for following their N5 list, but for a few dollars (which is totally worth it!) you get access to basically a kanji dictionary and several methods of practicing Kanji meaning and writing. There are even premade lists for Joyo Kanji, NLPT, and Kanyou.
TextFugu Paid site, complete learning
Wanikani Paid site, advanced learning
Tae Kims Free complete learning
Imabi Free complete learning
Memrise Free support site for memorization
Mangajin Free manga learning
Mangakan Free manga learning
NHK Free site for Japanese students
Nihongonomori Free site for Japanese news
Kanji Study (iphone) Kanji Study (android) Good app to help study on the phone
Also check out the r/learnjapanese faq
I personally really like this one
There are many different approaches to learning Kanji that people will advocate. Some of the most popular include
Learning common Kanji and vocab words that use them (The back chapters of Genki)
Brute force kanji without using radicals (Various kanji books)
Learning radicals and then Kanji comprised of those via mnemonics (Heisig)
- Subset: Learn vocab words for each kanji in addition to mnemonics and radicals (Kodansha)
Or you can take the independent approach: As you come across words you don't know, learn the kanji and that word at the same time. Look up the stroke order for kanji as you come across them and don't worry about systematically learning every 常用 kanji.
What works best will depend on your learning style. I've briefly tried each of these methods. What I recommend to people now is Kodansha. Here's the basic process for how I learn 8 kanji every day:
First review the last 8 kanji I learned by seeing if I can remember the mnemonics. Try to draw them by hand. If I remember the vocab words I might write them down too, but I usually just review vocab using anki.
Go through 4 kanji and their mnemonics. Write each one at least once to get a feel for the stroke order. Go through the next 4 in the same way.
Add all the vocab that Kodansha recommends memorizing to my custom anki deck. (There is a community anki deck but I prefer to do it in my own style.)
Briefly look over the 8 kanji I learned today and the 8 I learned yesterday again.
You can choose any number of kanji to do each day, just don't overload yourself with something ridiculous like 100 per day. Basically the way this method works is you learn each kanji via its radical components and you learn the multiple pronunciations or meanings by memorizing applicable vocabulary.
I review the kanji from days farther back than yesterday using a kanji application on my phone that allows me to make custom kanji lists and practice drawing them. Again a different method might work better for you, this is just how I choose to do it. I could go through my specific problems with each of the other methods if you'd like but I think this post is long enough as it is.
Resources referenced:
And the other kanji book I used a long time ago:
I study Japanese.
Main
Duolingo instead of a textbook and a workbook. I use it as a guide for what to study next and as a set of exercises fine-tuned to my level.
Bunpro for grammar. It's beyond incredible, it helped me understand and memorize more grammar in a week than a teacher could in three months.
Memrise Decks (but not Memrise itself) for vocabulary. I dislike Japanese Tinycards, and this is a very decent alternative.
Kanji Study as a dictionary and for memorizing kanji, as its name implies. It blows any competition out of the water (even the famous WaniKani felt weaker than Kanji Study). The only thing that's missing is pre-recorded audio for words instead of the phone's built-in text-to-speech.
Secondary
Japanese Ammo with Misa and <strong>JapanesePod101</strong> on YouTube for learning all the pitfalls of the complicated Japanese politeness system and grammar, as well as expanding on what Duo and Bunpro have taught me.
Drops helps me with reading. It enriches my passive vocabulary, even though there's no writing to make my active vocab better. Still, I regularly see words in texts that I've learned through Drops and haven't seen (yet) on Duo or Memrise.
Tofugu, both articles and the podcast, to learn random useful stuff, from common counters to usage of the word 元気.
HiNative and /r/LearnJapanese answer all and any of my questions.
As soon as I finish my tree on Duolingo, I'm planning to add Japanese anime, manga, ranobe and visual novels to my curriculum because I believe that immersion is the best teacher.
Not "solely", but for the most part, and definitely in the beginning, yes. You have to focus on the vocabulary first.
When you're starting out, every new character is a mystery. You are therefore best served to learn the kanji after you've studied the vocabulary. This way you already know some word meanings before you explore that Kanji (its range of meanings, character combinations and compound word meanings) and you're not always shooting in the dark when it comes to learning in context.
But here's why the "learning Kanji" thing becomes important later on. At some point when you're far along down the road, you start to figure out how the language - and especially how Kanji - works. It's difficult to put into words when and how this happens, but it's a bit like how you figure out how the car works and how the road works when you are learning to drive and have spent hours, days, weeks and months driving on the road. It sort of comes naturally and gradually, until at some point you're comfortable enough that you pick up things subconsciously as you spend a little more time on that activity.
For example, you figure out that Kanji on-readings become a bit easier later on (it's those kun-readings that trip you up later on, believe it or not) and that's because you'll most likely know some characters which share a component with the Kanji you are learning, or you would have noticed that Kanji somewhere in a word you encountered. Then you just compartmentalize and put that Kanji into a group of similar on-readings which share that component. An example of this is 白, 迫, 伯, 拍, 泊 which all share the same on-reading ハク. There are countless such examples!
So later on, when you "learn Kanji" (its range of meanings, readings and some word examples), you're doing a number of things: (1) You're learning a new character's meaning and recording a mental image of its appearance. (2) You're creating dozens of little groups of characters related by reading/appearance/a compound word that they share. (3) You're preparing yourself to better anticipate the component characters of a new word you may encounter (say, while listening in context). (4) You're gaining valuable Kanji experience hours that are going to make your job reading Japanese a lot easier, and you'll therefore be reading that much faster.
​
A few tips to learn Kanji better:
- Always practice writing out the character a few times (with correct stroke order) when you first learn it
- Take all your Japanese notes -- in the classroom, at home, whenever and wherever you're studying -- by hand, and force yourself to write the words in Kanji (Note: after you've learnt 200+ characters, force yourself to write all words in your notes in Kanji -- even the ones you haven't yet learnt)
- Take Kanji quizzes regularly (shuffle a few characters of similar level and try to guess their meanings / readings / a few compound words; or else write down words you know in Kanji form)
- FYI there's a great app called Kanji Study (by Chase Colburn) for Android where you can do all these things easily and efficiently. Premium version is a one-time purchase but it's totally worth it if you ask me.
​
Good luck! Kanji can be intimidating, but the process of learning Kanji can itself be a lot of fun! And you will be rewarded in the long run for the hours of effort you front-loaded.
Kanji Study is very good, and has free access to N5 kanji (which is all you need now anyway).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US
I use an App called Kanji Study which I personally find really useful as a supplement to my study routine.
This one here It's been pretty helpful reference for me in my uni courses
I wrote a bit about this in a similar thread but here's how I learn 8 kanji from Kodansha every day:
First review the last 8 kanji I learned by seeing if I can remember the mnemonics. Try to draw them by hand. If I remember the vocab words I might write them down too, but I usually just review vocab using anki.
Go through 4 kanji and their mnemonics. Write each one at least once to get a feel for the stroke order. Go through the next 4 in the same way.
Add all the vocab that Kodansha recommends memorizing to my custom anki deck. (There is a community anki deck but I prefer to do it in my own style.)
Briefly look over the 8 kanji I learned today and the 8 I learned yesterday again.
You can choose any number of kanji to do each day, just don't overload yourself with something ridiculous like 100 per day.
I review the kanji from days farther back than yesterday using a kanji application on my phone that allows me to make custom kanji lists and practice drawing them.
I Love the Kanji Study app. You can organize the Kanji in tons of different ways including grade. Well worth the Money.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
A link to the app on the Google Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
KanjiStudy did wonders for me !
What /u/TheThrawn said. /r/LearnJapanese is great, and it also has a wiki for beginners.
That said, I use a couple of apps. Kanji Study for learning how to write kana and kanji, Memrise for vocabulary and reading, and Anki for flash card memorisation for example.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy This gem. It's phenomenal
This one. I should probably have linked to it to begin with.
you can buy a series of books called Japanese from zero they are pretty handy and there is this channel on YouTube called learn Japanese from Japanese pod 101.com I would recommend that you watch there hiragana katakana and kanji videos hiragana:https://youtu.be/6p9Il_j0zjc katakana:https://youtu.be/s6DKRgtVLGA kanji:https://youtu.be/mPppVDX_GiY also there is an app I use called Japanese kanji study its quite handy https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
I strongly recommend pairing it with an app such as Kanji Study.
<strong>Wanikani</strong> (Web)
I end up seeing a lot of the words I learn there in the wild. I try to do my reviews every day. I use a bunch of userscripts (check the forums) to make Wanikani work better for me.
<strong>Kanji Study</strong> (Android)
Ever since I found out they added a dictionary to this, it's become my go-to dictionary. It's also useful for the few times per year where I decide to practice the stroke orders for similar kanji that I always mess up on Wanikani.
<strong>HelloTalk</strong> (Android (also available on iOS))
I use the moments like Instagram where I post a picture about my day, but I write the captions in Japanese, and using complete sentences. I guess I use it kind of like a short diary. Others correct my mistakes.
This one will meet your requirements Kanji Study if you are using Android.
Depending on how much Japanese you already know...
Read, read, read and listen, listen, listen! Anything that you can push through without getting frustrated will help alot.
If you have the basic grammar you should probably focus on acquiring words. Look up conjugations as you come across them, I find they stick better this way.
If you are completely fresh out the gate you should get comfortable with the kana, a few hundred kanji and the basic grammar.
Resources:
Genki 1 and/or 2: might be too easy for you as it really just scratches the surface to get you reading. If you can comfortably read some easy stuff with the help of a dictionary you probably can skip this.
Essential Japanese Grammar: Not a lesson book, just a reference book that provides the various grammar and English equivalents with examples. https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Japanese-Grammar-Comprehensive-Contemporary-ebook/dp/B00B77AKBE
Kanji Study App: Cost a bit of cash but the first 100 or so Kanji are free to try. Best kanji resource I have ever used. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US
A dictionary: Personal preference really but having something that lets you scan kanji to pull up a reading + definition will save you a great deal of time and frustration.
Nihongo no Mori is an incredible youtube channel with so many free grammar lessons. They have stupid skits but they are helpful despite the cringe. https://www.youtube.com/user/freejapaneselessons3/playlists
My personal recommendation: LingQ. I love this site but it is pricey ( I don't think 110 usd a year is really pricey esp compared to books...) and there are free alternatives. But you need to decide if the method works for you. https://www.lingq.com/
Hope this helps.
This is what you need https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
I can recommend this one
Kanji Study app anyone?
これもいい
Here's a quick breakdown of how kanji composition works:
Each kanji has three attributes: its form (what it looks like or originally depicted), its meaning, and its sound (its pronunciation). When new kanji are created, they use existing kanji as components or building blocks, and each component is used for one or more of those attributes. Some components are used for what they depict (form components), some are used for what they mean (meaning components), and some are used for their pronunciation (sound components).
Example: 大 originally depicted a person standing. Specifically an adult. So its form is an adult standing. Its meaning is "big" because adults are "big" in comparison to kids. And its sound is ダイ or タイ (note that when talking about kanji composition and sound relationships, onyomi is the only reading that's relevant, because that reading comes from Chinese).
When 大 is used as a form component, the kanji it appears in will have to do with people. So 美 depicts a person 大 wearing a headdress (which today looks like 羊 but has nothing to do with sheep), and means "beautiful." That is, 大 is used for its form (a person) in 美, and not for its meaning "big" or its sound ダイ or タイ.
When 大 is used as a meaning component, it lends its meaning "big" to the meaning of the kanji it appears in. 尖 "sharp" juxtaposes "small" 小 and "big" 大 because sharp things taper to a point (that is, they go from big to small). Both 大 and 小 are used for their meanings here, not for their forms ("adult person" and "three small strokes") or for their sounds (ダイ、タイ and ショウ are unrelated to セン).
When 大 is used as a sound component, the pronunciation of the kanji and its sound component will be related. Sometimes this relationship is fairly obvious, and sometimes it isn't because most kanji were created over 2000 years ago to represent Old Chinese, and their pronunciation changed a lot over time, was borrowed into Japanese according to Old and Middle Japanese phonology, and then changed more up until today. For example, 大 is used as a sound component in 太, and their sounds are clearly related (ダイ、タイ and タイ, respectively).
A component can have multiple functions at once. So in 太, 大 is both a sound component, as I mentioned above, and a meaning component (the meanings "big" and "fat" are related). In this case, 太 is derived from 大 by adding a mark to distinguish the two.
A distinguishing mark like the 丶 in 太 is an empty component; that is, a component not used for its form, sound, or meaning. It's just an empty mark.
So let's look at the kanji you're asking about.
The original meaning (that is, the meaning it was originally created to represent) of 道 【ドウ、トウ】 is "road." It's composed of 辶 (a form component that originally depicted a foot walking along a road) and 首 【シュ】 (the sound component). The sound connection between ドウ and シュ may not be very obvious in Japanese , but consider that 'd', 't', and 'sh' are articulated in similar places in the mouth (compare with 'k' for example, which is in a very different place). Similar points of articulation can indicate a sound relationship. So 辶 indicates the meaning "road" via a depiction of a foot walking along a road, and 首 【シュ】 indicates the sound ドウ、トウ, even though the sounds aren't particularly close in modern Japanese.
On to 導 【ドウ】. It originally meant "to lead, guide." It's composed of 道 【ドウ、トウ】 which is a sound component, and 寸, which originally depicted a hand with a mark on the wrist. Today as a standalone kanji 寸 refers to a unit of measurement or a small amount; both meanings are derived from "wrist; hand". As a meaning component 寸 often refers to movement or action (things done with the hand). In 導 it indicates the action of leading or guiding.
More reading on this subject on our blog:
Three Attributes, Three Functions (basically what I wrote above with some more detail, and images) Getting Radical About Radicals (why you shouldn't learn kanji in terms of "radicals," but in terms of their functional components) Understanding Corruption in Kanji, part 1 (some components corrupted over time and no longer have a function in the modern form; this is another category of "empty component")
Our dictionary breaks each kanji down as I've done above. You can pre-order it via that site (it should be released in June), or if you're an Android user you can get the dictionary now as an add-on to the Kanji Study app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US
(Link to the app) The free version is limited only to N5 kanji, so bear that in mind.
If you have Android then this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Is very good. You have the option to group by grade/popular textbook etc
I also recommend Kanji Study (for Android). It has a lot of great features in the works too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Best kanji app I have found so far.
Hands down Kanji Study. Well worth the ~15$.
It doesn't have SRS, but I use Japanese Kanji Study on my phone and love it. Much cheaper than skritter. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
Yep :)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
I've been using this app. It's a good free option.
The discussions for each exercise become more valuable as you progress (there's lots of newbies muddying the waters at the beginner levels).
Also, you need outside resources as Duo's approach to grammar just won't cut it. I'm going to quote myself:
I'm partial to the resources approach grammar starting with a few core principles, leave less to memorization, and avoid “cramming a Japanese block into a Western-shaped hole”.
- Tae Kim's guide to Japanese is comprehensive but to the point and very readable.
- The late, great Cure Dolly's channel has a somewhat strange presentation style, but also rock-solid fundamentals that simplify a bunch of “special cases”. I recommend her “Japanese from scratch” playlist to avoid several beginner pitfalls. Maybe turn on the subtitles and skip the first five seconds for the first few videos.
- Wasabi is friendly and concise enough.
- Tofugu's articles are longer but also easy to read, and cover more than just grammar.
- Japanese with Anime is more serious and in-depth that the name suggests.
- Imabi can be tough at times, but worth it if you're patient.
(I usually end up googling something like “contrastive は site:imabi.net,tofugu.com,etc”.)
If you have time to spare and want to hear a native talk about how they really speak, try Misa-sensei. r/LearnJapanese has tons more recommendations.
Learn kanji separately; it'll make learning vocab a lot easier. I'm using the Kanji Study app on Android but many recommend Anki flashcards.
> I slowly fell off, stopped and can't convince myself to continue anymore.
That's what DL tries to stem with Streaks, but not everybody fall for that trick.
As for motivation, for me it's the same thing that got me started: being able to understand increasingly more words and fragments.
Also, adding other resources to your routine may make it more productive. Here's my copypasta list:
I'm partial to the resources approach grammar starting with a few core principles, leave less to memorization, and avoid “cramming a Japanese block into a Western-shaped hole”.
- Tae Kim's guide to Japanese is comprehensive but to the point and very readable.
- The late, great Cure Dolly's channel has a somewhat strange presentation style, but also rock-solid fundamentals that simplify a bunch of “special cases”. I recommend her “Japanese from scratch” playlist to avoid several beginner pitfalls. Maybe turn on the subtitles and skip the first five seconds for the first few videos.
- Wasabi is friendly and concise enough.
- Tofugu's articles are longer but also easy to read, and cover more than just grammar.
- Japanese with Anime is more serious and in-depth that the name suggests.
- Imabi can be tough at times, but worth it if you're patient.
(I usually end up googling something like “contrastive は japanesewithanime”.)
If you have time to spare and want to hear a native talk about how they really speak, try Misa-sensei. r/LearnJapanese has tons more recommendations.
Learn kanji separately; it'll make learning vocab a lot easier. I'm using the Kanji Study app on Android but many recommend Anki flashcards.
The fun part starts now, and I mean it in a good way.
It's a good time to start checking out other resources with what I think is a more logical order to introduce Japanese grammar than Duolingo's. Copypasta follows:
I'm partial to the resources approach grammar starting with a few core principles, leave less to memorization, and avoid “cramming a Japanese block into a Western-shaped hole”.
- Tae Kim's guide to Japanese is comprehensive but to the point and very readable.
- The late, great Cure Dolly's channel has a somewhat strange presentation style, but also rock-solid fundamentals that simplify a bunch of “special cases”. I recommend her “Japanese from scratch” playlist. Maybe turn on the subtitles and skip the first five seconds for the first few videos.
- Wasabi is friendly and concise enough.
- Tofugu's articles are longer but also easy to read, and cover more than just grammar.
- Japanese with Anime is more serious and in-depth that the name suggests.
- Imabi can be tough at times, but worth it if you're patient.
(I usually end up googling something like “contrastive は japanesewithanime”.)
If you have time to spare and want to hear a native talk about how they really speak, try Misa-sensei. r/LearnJapanese has tons more recommendations.
Learn kanji separately; it'll make learning vocab a lot easier. I'm using the Kanji Study app on Android but many recommend Anki flashcards.
Kanji Study includes the radicals:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
>>A week ago I started learning japanese with Duolingo
>Don't rely a lot on it for Japanese, especially for beginner's grammar. I'm going to quote myself:
>***
>I'm partial to the resources approach grammar starting with a few core principles, leave less to memorization, and avoid “cramming a Japanese block into a Western-shaped hole”.
>* Tae Kim's guide to Japanese is comprehensive but to the point and very readable. * The late, great Cure Dolly's channel has a somewhat strange presentation style, but also rock-solid fundamentals that simplify a bunch of “special cases”. I recommend her “Japanese from scratch” playlist to avoid several beginner pitfalls. Maybe turn on the subtitles and skip the first five seconds for the first few videos. * Wasabi is friendly and concise enough. * Tofugu's articles are longer but also easy to read, and cover more than just grammar. * Japanese with Anime is more serious and in-depth that the name suggests. * Imabi can be tough at times, but worth it if you're patient.
>(I usually end up googling something like “contrastive は japanesewithanime”.)
>* If you have time to spare and want to hear a native talk about how they really speak, try Misa-sensei. r/LearnJapanese has tons more recommendations. * Learn kanji separately; it'll make learning vocab a lot easier. I'm using the Kanji Study app on Android but many recommend Anki flashcards.
True
> A week ago I started learning japanese with Duolingo
Don't rely a lot on it for Japanese. I'm going to quote myself:
I'm partial to the resources approach grammar starting with a few core principles, leave less to memorization, and avoid “cramming a Japanese block into a Western-shaped hole”.
- Tae Kim's guide to Japanese is comprehensive but to the point and very readable.
- The late, great Cure Dolly's channel has a somewhat strange presentation style, but also rock-solid fundamentals that simplify a bunch of “special cases”. I recommend her “Japanese from scratch” playlist to avoid a few beginner pitfalls. Maybe turn on the subtitles.
- Wasabi is friendly and concise enough.
- Tofugu's articles are longer but also easy to read, and cover more than just grammar.
- Japanese with Anime is more serious and in-depth that the name suggests.
- Imabi can be tough at times, but worth it if you're patient.
(I usually end up googling something like “contrastive は japanesewithanime”.)
If you have time to spare and want to hear a native talk about how they really speak, try Misa-sensei. r/LearnJapanese has tons more recommendations.
Learn kanji separately; it'll make learning vocab a lot easier. I'm using the Kanji Study app on Android but many recommend Anki flashcards.
Japanese Kanji Study https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Yup, structure and habit are what DL really helps with.
I do lament their choices and lack of structure regarding grammar. Teaching masu-forms first and not explaining the topic-comment structure cause a lot of unnecessary confusion. It also happens to a lesser degree with i- and na- “adjectives”.
The heart system is pure economics: Duo's gotta eat, and we either have to pay or play ads. So (we) non-payers either wait to replenish (curb your platform usage) or watch extra ads. To me, being halfway down the tree, I need to review so much that most days all I do is practice.
I absolutely need to study Kanji separately; it also helps me memorize vocabulary instead of trying tiles until they sound like what I want.
My recommendations, copypasted from another comment of mine:
I'm partial to the ones that try to teach grammar starting from a few core principles, leave less to memorization, and avoid “cramming a Japanese block into a Western-shaped hole”.
- Tae Kim's guide to Japanese is comprehensive but to the point and very readable.
- The late, great Cure Dolly's channel has a somewhat strange presentation style, but also rock-solid fundamentals that simplify a bunch of “special cases”. I recommend her “Japanese from scratch” playlist to avoid a few beginner pitfalls. Maybe turn on the subtitles.
- Wasabi is friendly and concise enough.
- Tofugu's articles are longer but also easy to read, and cover more than just grammar.
- Japanese with Anime is more serious and in-depth that the name suggests.
- Imabi can be tough at times, but worth it if you're patient.
I usually end up googling something like “contrastive は japanesewithanime”.
If you have time to spare and want to hear a native talk about how they really speak, try Misa-sensei. r/LearnJapanese has tons more recommendations.
Get something to memorize kanji. I'm using the Kanji Study app on Android but many recommend Anki flashcards.
I feel like learning to write kana is one of those things where you just have to keep trying different tools until you find one that works for you. Usually, that means it has to keep you engaged, hold you accountable (so that you don't make a habit out of mistakes), and be reasonably convenient enough that you'll actually do it regularly. It can be hard to meet those requirements when it comes to writing practice.
In my case, rather than do handwritten worksheets (I have ADHD and I find them to be boring AF), I did the hiragana/katakana writing practice in Kanji Study (Android app by Chase Colburn). The "gamification" aspect that keeps track of your streak and scores your accuracy is stimulating enough that I keep practicing. It's something I can do anywhere on my phone, whenever I have a few minutes of free time, so it's more convenient for me than carrying around practice worksheets.
The app gives you a warning that the stroke detection can be rather unfair, but I've found that it really wasn't all that bad, and if you practice to the point where you regularly meet the app's "strict" standards, you will have to learn how to space the character components out properly so that your writing doesn't look like crap - you will basically have to learn how to replicate the character as it's presented to you in the app, not simply learn how to roughly copy its basic shape. You can click on the info button on a character and it will give you a shadow figure that you can trace over, and you can adjust grid lines to be as fine as needed for you to get the spacing down.
The muscle memory developed from that practice (just doing it regularly on and off over maybe a month or two, nothing super serious) has translated well to my handwriting on paper, I've found. I started out just using my finger to trace on an old Moto Z3. I recently bought an S22 Ultra and it's even more gratifying doing it with the stylus/pen. Given my experience with my older phone, I would say it's still very accessible, even if you don't have a phone with a stylus like that.
Learning Kana(Hiragana + Katakana). First watch a video to learn about the Japanese writing system. After that you should find an app/game to help you with kana. You can try out Kanji Study (free for kana) or Japanese Dungeon: Learn J word (free but need to watch ads to gain gems to unlock further levels). After you are confident in Kana you can head over to hiraganaquiz.com to test your digraphs as well.
Learning Grammar. You can find free textbook files online like Genki, Minna no Nihongo with a quick google search (I will not give the link for obvious reasons >< ). I personally suggest to get a physical textbook if you can afford it cause it is wayyy easier to use than online files. I also suggest to get a teacher because they can give you additional inputs, correct your mistakes and most importantly they are able to clear your doubts.
Learning Kanji. First watch a video to learn about why there are different ways to read Kanji. I suggest to learn kanji radicals first but you can go ahead and skip this part if you are not interested or if you already know Mandarin. After that you can try Kanji Study (First few kanji are free to learn but need to unlock remaining kanji with a one time in app purchase). Honestly I think the purchase is worth it. My advice for you when you start learning Kanji is to be CONSISTENT and always REVIEW whatever you have learn.
Fun part:
1) Reading raw Manga and watching Anime with raw sub(google search will help but you may need to hop sites to sites just to maybe find the series you are looking for. Sadge when you can't find what you are looking for)
2) Singing Japanese Music (search them on youtube). I suggest you to not read the romanji and read the hiragana subs instead.
3) Read raw Light Novel. You can either buy it online or go to your local book store (you may need to do a bit of research)
4) Watch Japanese Vtubers or not. Hehe:)
My final advice:
Find friends to learn Japanese with you. Trust me, it will make you feel more committed to learning plus you can also speak to them in Japanese. Never GIVE UP!
Maybe this will help.
In no particular order:
- Anki, general, free
- Wanikani , kanji+vocab, paid
- KaniWani, vocab, free
- Bunpro, grammar, paid
- Kanji Koohi, kanji, free
- jpdb, vocab, free+paid
- Renshuu, vocab, free
- KameSame, vocab, free
- Tori SRS, vocab, free
- Fresh Cards, general, one-time purchase
- Kitsun, vocab, paid
- Lingodeer, vocab+grammar, paid
- Duolingo, vocab+grammar, free+paid
- Memrise, vocab+grammar, free+paid
- Quizlet, general, free+paid
Mobile only:
- Japanese Kanji Study, vocab, free
- Ulangi, general, free
I'm sure I'm missing a lot, and I didn't include a lot of "dictionary" apps with SRS and study mode features.
On this topic, has anyone tried the reading exercises in this kanji study app?
I am learning Japanese, and i Don't know if i am just too dumb or anything, but i did not make any progress until i actually started going to classes for it... If you have access to that, start there. I spent like a whole year trying online stuff that got me nowhere..
If you can't go to classes, your best bet is to start learning Hiragana, and then Katakana, as both are used pretty often. I would also start with basic vocabulary, some apps can help you with that.
Then start with the basic Grammar, and building of basic sentences.
Then try to learn Kanji, like the basic 50 or so. What they mean is enough for now, the different readings of them will come to you over time.
After that, learning a language is Input, Input and more Input. Watch Japanese TV, Read, Listen to music. Don't try to learn Japanese off of Anime, since they use a language and expressions that are not really used there.
But my best recommendation for apps are these: Hiragana Pro: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://youtu.be/r-Jtzj3wcbI?t%3D845&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1641121237891812&usg=AOvVaw04EbyO3CkHaRHGIBN81q6V
Kanji: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy (Has in-app purchases, but in my opinion they are worth it)
Vocabulary: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.languagedrops.drops.learn.learning.speak.language.japanese.kanji.katakana.hiragana.romaji.words (Also has some in-app purchases)
TV: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.radiokhmer.jptv
Radio: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.radiolight.japon
Japanese Newspaper for reading: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.eup.jpnews
Dictionary: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.weblio.smpapp.ejje
If you need anything, feel free to PM me. Good luck on your Japanese Learning journey
Adding on to this, Outlier Linguistics has an add-on for Kanji Study on Android.
There's also for iOS but I think the app is not up to date
I'd like to put in with Kanji Study as well. It's a mobile app and I got a phone with a stylus just so I can practice. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
In a similar vein, I definitely recommend the app Kanji Study on Play Store.
How does this differ from Kanji Study?
Also Android: Kanji Study Has it's tools available for writing kana as well as kanji.
It's called kanji study. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
- Memrise, srs system
- Kanji Study, kanji learning
- Jsho, when needing a quick check and not having jisho.org at hand
I don't use more than these, actually.
https://www.nihongo-pro.com/kanji-pal/list/jlpt
https://jisho.org/search/%E7%8D%A3
https://kanjicards.org/kanji-list-by-freq.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_j%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WkHRGBITvf1PIn8CIdux7Q-xV5SmcCg2BOy2HR1JqFI/htmlview
​
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vn.nahu.kanjidictionary
​
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AUpjE4cfN0
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeaYOrQRBCdhQg_fwdpf_Z5sbgiFISzWs
If it's your third day only, don't worry. You will get hang of it pretty easily.
To learn it quickly i would recommend printing out some practice sheets and actually writing the characters. When you know all the strokes needed to create a character it's much easier to remember.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/hiragana
http://japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/hiragana_writing.html
I also personally recommend using "Kanji Study" app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
It is used mostly for Kanji but has also "Kana" section which is for hiragana and katakana. It lets you practice writing on your smartphone.
It's interface may be a little confusing at first but just for beginning you go to the "Kana" section in te left menu. Then you can switch between hiragana and katakana by clicking at the bottom section. If you want to study all characters at once, you click "study" button, if you want to study particular characters you can long press a single one and then choose the ones you want (that is for using it on android, i don't know about iOS)
Kanji Study by Chase Colburn is so, so good.
Hi! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy This one does the job for kanji
It might not be exactly what you want, but I use Kanji Study and it has both the features you asked for.
I understand your concern, I also wanted to take a break from learning without losing the connection to the language.
It may sound a little bit absurd, but in order to take a break from the grammar, I went the Kanji path (but first made sure I can read all Hiragana and Katakana characters).
106 days since I've started my 10-minutes-a-day Kanji learning and it's great so far. I don't feel overwhelmed while constantly pushing forward. So far I've managed to learn 117 Kanji (meaning I can both read and write them) and can currently recognize another 52 Kanji characters just by looking at them (without the readings). I know it's not much, but I feel satisfied with my results and have the motivation to push forward.
The bonus is that when you decide to pick up the language grammar again, not only you'll have vocabulary for the words you've learned from Kanji - you'll get a headstart for the JFZ! book 3, where you'll just revise the Kanji you've already learned!
It's just important to make this a habit which is much easier during the quarantine since you have more time than you'd normally have. Hang in there! Once you get the motivation back, it'll gradually be easier and easier to learn more, trust me! :-)
And if you're interested in learning Kanji, I recommend practicing writing down all the Kanji you learn. A lot of times. It'll help you memorize the characters much faster than you normally would.
And since writing on paper is limited (well, you need paper and これはペンです), I recommend a smartphone app to practice. It's actually a lot of fun and it automatically creates statistics for you. That way, you can see your weak points and improve. I use Kanji Study by Chase Colburn and I love it! The one-time payment is definitely worth it unlike the subscriptions of other apps (not promoting any product, I genuinely love the Kanji Study app).
Heisig method is also great - making short stories about the looks of the characters will help you progress so fast you'll be amazed (I also was).
And finally, some resources:
Kanji Study (I have the Android version - on iOS it's just flashcards): Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kanji-study/id400074354
Heisig method: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sspUdoV9Il0
Hope this helps you stay motivated. Happy learning!
The short answer is that it largely depends on your learning style.
I followed James Heisig's Remembering the Kana method to learn hiragana and katakana, and it worked well for me. I tried rote memorization first and found that it didn't work for me, but maybe it will work for you if you have a photographic memory!
Heisig's mnemonic method finally worked for me, so I'm happy to recommend it. Once you've learned the hiragana and katakana, and you want to practice, you can use an app like Kanji Study or my own web-based practice tool (or other similar tools—see link for related apps), but all of these are good for practicing after you've learned the characters—if you haven't yet learned them using a mnemonic method, you basically have to have a photographic memory to learn & distinguish them.
I wrote a blog post on learning hiragana and katakana, including the pairs/triples of characters that are similar enough as to be confusing for beginners; you need to have some sort of a system to learn to distinguish them, and Heisig provides such a system.
However, hiragana and katakana is just the beginning; you still have to learn vocabulary, gramma, and of course, the kanji. There are pointers for further resources in this subreddit's wiki, and also some links at the end of my blog post.
Hope this helps and good luck with your studies!
I'm far from fluent in Japanese (I hope I didn't give you that impression!), but I can comfortably recall hiragana and katakana, which helps with studying vocabulary and grammar without the use of romaji.
Speaking of hiragana and katakana, the premise of Remembering the Kana book is that you should be able to learn hiragana in 3 hours (and similarly 3 hours for katakana) — not in one sitting — I think it's centered around six 30-minute study sessions. It took me a bit longer than what the book suggests (as I reviewed some lessons a few times), but it was much better for me than rote memorization of characters (some of which are too similar to each other so as to be confusing), so I highly recommend it.
I wrote a blog post on what resources helped me learn hiragana and katakana and what symbols might be confusing. Not surprisingly, you'll find that Heisig's book I mentioned is listed there as it's what worked for me, along with a mobile app Kanji Study (which includes kana as well, not just kanji) and my own study tool which I wrote and open-sourced.
Note that this is not sufficient to learn Japanese, but it should be enough to get you started. From there, a popular next step is the Genki series of books, which I can't fully recommend (yet) as I haven't finished them, but it's what I'm using now, and it seems fine to me. Heisig's Remembering the Kanji is another book I'm using, and I've upgraded my Kanji Study app to include all the Kanji (the free version includes just the kana, and a few initial kanji; you have to pay to get the full set). It's a very nice app with a great UI, and the author keeps updating and improving it over time, so it seems like a good resource.
This Reddit has a list of resources in the wiki, and there's another one also in Japanese Stack Exchange (see the end of my blog post for the links).
Hope this helps and good luck in your studies!
I recommend starting with hiragana and katakana (see my blog post on this), and then work through a course such as Genki. I used "Remembering the Kana" by James Heisig to learn & memorize hiragana and katakana and the Kanji Study Android app to practice hiragana and katakana (which are included free). I also made my own web app to quickly practice the kana on the desktop to have additional practice.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Japanese Kanji Study
Google Playstore Link
KanjiStudy is a must. Works double duty as a dictionary. Not really useful for reading or listening, though.
HelloTalk would be my recommendation for you if you are serious about "being able to communicate." Lots of opportunity to not only practice reading and listening, but also speaking and writing (well, not exactly writing... composition?).
The Kanji Study app is great https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
You gotta learn words, words, words written in Kanji.
Read anything as long as you get exposure to kanji.
Try a memrise kanjivocab N5 course and pair it with
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Write them a couple of times down to get a feeling.
Learning 5 a day is more than enough. Review them multiple Times a day for a couple of minutes.
Kanji app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Vocab with kanji course + app:
https://www.memrise.com/course/92902/the-ultimate-kanji-course/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.memrise.android.memrisecompanion
There you go...the only thing you will need vocab and kanji wise.
You can thank me later.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Thank me later...
If you download Google handwriting input I think Kanji Study might work well for you.
Okay...Time to explain...
When you learn a Kanji, just learn it's basic meaning like
日 sun
本 book
There is no need to individually learn every pronuncuation of every Kanji. You just learn it's meaning and how to write it.
You will learn most of the different readings when you learn new vocabulary as you go along in your studies. This will give the pronunciation more context so you won't forget it that easily and it is easier to remember.
Example:
日本 にほん Japan
Here we see the pronunciation of 日 as に
日曜日 にちようび Sunday
Here we see the pronunciation of 日 as にち and び
Now you know 3 pronunciations of the Kanji 日
にち、に and び
Mostly when looking at a Kanji info the hiragana shows the Japanese pronunciation and is mostly used when the kanji appears alone. The katakana shows the "Chinese" pronunciation and is mostly used when two kanji's or more are used for a word.
I suggest you give this a look. This will help out a lot.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
To answer you question about numbers.
一 いち 一つ ひとつ
There are two ways of counting to ten.
A Japanese and a Chinese way. Mostly you will use the Chinese way. The Japanese way is more used when counting objects.
For example.
One Apple : りんご (Apple) が(subject particle) 一つ (hitotsu)
When you say one o' clock : 一時 (ichi ji)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
This is the ULTIMATE kanji app. There is just no competition.
I don't onow about an app with the exact function that you want, but I know this one allows you to practice handwriting single kanji: Japanese Kanji Study. On the Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
So I have seen your posts the last couple of weeks and could already tell that you would hit a wall someday.
I have no Idea how Pimsleur works but my suggestion is to get a copy of **Genki 1** and **2** grammar books + excersise books.
You can then couple this with **MEMRISE** (vocabulary app) and select a "Genki Course". Here is one example:
[https://www.memrise.com/course/29267/genki-i/](https://www.memrise.com/course/29267/genki-i/)
Genki is also coupled with audio practice and in my experience from university back in the days the best way to improve overall ability is to memorise the little conversations in each chapter. This way your vocab will grow as your listening and speaking ability.
When you are gong through Genki 1 and 2 there is an app "**KANJI STUDY**" where you can practise writing Kanji however they come along and are neatly organised by level. However, always learn kanji in context. So for example 本. Don't go learning it's seperae pronunciations but learn them as the words pass you by. So in week 1 you may learn that it is pronounced "HON" for book while in week 2 or 3 you come across the word for thursday: "木曜日" Moku-you-bi. So now you now it's HON and MOKU.
KANJI STUDY APP: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
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I'm now gonna post some resources to help you get even further beyond N4 or different sites with excerises:
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Memrise Ultimate Kanji course: Contains around 4000 words from N5 up to N2 [https://www.memrise.com/course/92902/the-ultimate-kanji-course/](https://www.memrise.com/course/92902/the-ultimate-kanji-course/)
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Tangoristo app: this is a reading app that shows you NHK easy news. You can listen to an article, click on words you don't understand and even have a full translation in the options menu.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tangoristo
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[Japanese.io](https://Japanese.io): this is a webservice where you can put in any text you want and it will add this to your library. You can then click on any word to get their meaning and put them in a memorybank. Best way to pair this is with free online books at aozora.gr.jp
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If you want easy reading material around your level check out the JAPANESE GRADED READERS books. They also come with audio so you can just follow along or listen to it.
https://www.whiterabbitpress.com/japanesegradedreaders/
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Another GREAT APP and probably one of the best is SATORI READER. This contains ALOT of reading material where every sentence is narrated by japanse people. Each sentence is translated, you can click on any word, any sentence is grammaticaly explained, you can adjust your level of Kanji that is shown, you can add words to a review list. You can export this list to Google Sheets or MS excel and from there on make your own MEMRISE Course.
SATORI READER APP https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.braksoftware.SatoriReader
If you like anime you can try out the site Animelon.com
Here all animes show japanese subtitles as english subs. You can configure it to your liking. Pause each sentence and replay it, click on the words etc...
Netflix's language learning extension also provides this function. Install it and you will be able to replay any sentence, get their meaning, click on words, translations etc...Anime as jdrama's.
Another beginner app for "listening to numbers" would be "KIKISUUJI" as learning big numbers can be like doing gymnastics with your brain. You can set up the speed you want, pauses, how big you want your number to be etc...
KIKISUUJI APP https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_baclontz.Kikisuuji
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A great site with lot's of Japanese excersises, practise tests, grammar, reading, listening would be japanesetest4you.com
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A good Youtube channel hosted by japanese people is "NIHONGO NO MORI". They talk in Japanese at your level and have different playlists for Kanji, Grammar, Vocab...
https://www.youtube.com/user/freejapaneselessons3
Japanesepod101.com provides audio lessons for all levels with PDF's explanations etc..
A more intermediate (N3) podcast would be 4989 american life. It's a Japanese podcast where a woman from Japan moved to america and talks about the differences. She also provides every podcast with transcripts so you could follow along.
https://www.4989americanlife.com/
Now with all this...The thing is to not be overwhelmed by all of it. Studying Japanese takes time and you need to find something at your appropiate level and just learn a little every day. There is no deadline. From experience, you will never be able to learn all the Japanese that there is so don't burn yourself out in the beginning by learning hours on end.
I do around 20-30 minutes a day. I listen/read to Satori Reader, do some vocab review on memrise ultimate Kanji course and read some news articles. That's it and for me now that is enough.
The trick is to just learn a little every day but make what you learn count. Eventually everything will stick like second nature by just being patient.
There are problably still more resources that I haven't talked about but those are my main ones.
Use Kanji study instead, it has both kanas included and isn't ad-inundated.
I haven't seen Kanji Study mentioned anywhere, and I absolutely love it.
I guess it depends. If you are not interested in this languages it isn't useful at all, but if you are learning kanji's it is a good alternative.
I came up with the idea because I was using this app in Android and thought that it would be pretty cool that it were an iOS or web app so I could practice with my iPad and my Apple pen.
Started with learning basic meanings for the ~2000 most common Kanji with Kanji Study (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US), took a bit under a year. Then later used the core 6000k Anki Deck to learn vocab, took somewhere between 4-10 months I think. Interspersed with learning plenty of grammar too. Most of my practice comes from video games (Magia Record happened to be a very easy one to start with) and anime (Animelon and Daiweeb being great resources there.)
Still have a ways to go before approaching fluency though, especially speaking. Learning new words all the time
If you have an Android, check out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
I sure intend to share, as I mentioned above, so stay tuned! ;)
Thank you for the tips. I used koohii a while ago, when I first tried to follow RTK, but for some reason I didn't like it and moved my stuff to Anki. Buuuut I didn't really like Anki for that either.
For studying kanji, I prefer using the Kanji Study app (which I paid for a while ago to have access to the full features, although it's not really necessary (but I do think it's a nice way to say "thanks"). There are many ways to group the kanji there, including Heisig lessons (also for different editions of RTK!), so it's easy to sort stuff out, add notes when studying, editing the meanings, and test yourself in many "challenge" modes, including actually drawing the kanji with your finger (so much better than using a mouse!). Not to mention import/export notes and meanings, so for example I could share my files with meanings ("keywords") and notes (for the mnemonics) and people would be able to import that file and use the same list of keywords and mnemonics without having to go through the trouble of doing it all themselves.
I have this app called "Japanese Kanji Study" that shows both onyomi and kunyomi definitions. Unfortunately, I haven't been using it for a while, so it's been on my phone for a while collecting dust, but I hope it might help you tho.
I feel obligated to reiterate the consensus that this isn't a great plan.
However, I understand not really caring about the group consensus, so: While I don't know a deck off the top of my head that has this already, the Android app Kanji Study can be used to create Anki cards off of words, and it dumps the set of meanings into a card, along with the relevant grammatical categories (at least based on my spot check). However, it's one big text blob, so there's no styling it separately or breaking those up into their own card types or anything.
I find the interface for this to be a bit tricky; look for the plus with a circle around it on the top button bar. You should see them when viewing words and sentences specifically; not just the kanji screen with words and sample sentences on it, but the specifically-selected word or sentence view.
I agree that you pick up the main one or two on'yomi for each kanji easily enough by learning vocab, but I use the Kanji Study app for reference and writing practice.
It's a brilliant app for kanji, so many ways to learn the meaning, origins, radicals, writing etc. It also teaches some more or less popular compound words, and I recommend looking up the compound words for the various pronounciations as well. Anki is great for learning vocabulary, including kanji, but it doesn't teach kanji in depth, not even how to write them. For studying kanji, Kanji Study is the best, IMO.
I just looked it up in case there are several apps with the same name, and it seems the Apple app is just flashcards - so my recommendation only applies to the Android app, which is massive.
You can find many resources here.
These were the most helpful to me, be sure to check them out:
I recommend Tangorin, it's my online dictionary of choice. Another popular dictionary is Jisho, but I prefer Tangorin.
If you have an Android device, I highly recommend these apps:
- Kanji Study - an excellent dictionary, but much more than that, must-download
- Simple app for learning hiragana
- Same but for katakana
I think the best way of learning the characters is by actually writing them. These apps help you accomplish just that. Even though you can practice hiragana and katakana in Kanji Study, I recommend dedicated apps which will teach you the proper way of writing the characters (the correct stroke order).
As for the books, I highly recommend these. You can get them here and here (or just download them from somewhere else ~~like I did~~). In my experience, also with other languages, Teach Yourself books are pretty much all you need. I never even used any other books other than these. They really are great.
I think this is enough resources to get even past the beginner level. Feel free to message me if you have any questions. Let me know if the links don't work.
KanjiStudy, though you probably already heard about it.
This is possibly bad advice for university, but often during lessons in large (50+ students) classrooms, I would multitask with taking notes for the class and doing Kanji Study (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_US). Learned a ridiculous amount of vocab during my normal classes without taking any extra time out of my schedule
On Android Kanji Study is a great app where you can practice drawing the Kanji without carrying a clipboard around with you. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
If you are on Android, you can use the Kanji Study app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
I love this app. It is the only kanji writing app that got me hooked so far. You can practice on the correct stroke order but if you really forget, it provides some guidance
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Thanks for the tip! Are you talking about this one? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en
I searched on the app store and there are about 20 different apps named "Kanji Study" lol.
Which are your favorites?
Kanji Studyは大好き
The Kanji Study app is a fantastic resource, I found.
i use this on android and enjoy it a lot. not sure if it's as good on ios
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https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kanji-study/id400074354?mt=8
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https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=ja
For kanji right now I use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl this app. It's my favorite.
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As for vocab specific sturdy I used to use anki a lot but then found that I remembered words more if I read them in sentences. The Dictionary of Japanese Grammar books helped a lot with that. Once I got cozy with sentence structure and felt like I had enough of a base then I moved up to reading whatever I could find that had English translations so I could double check if I felt like I didn't understand the sentence. That was a big stumbling block at first; all the words made sense but the sentence as a whole didn't. But ya, in short, it took me years before I was confident enough to pick up a book.
Tae Kim, Imabi, Houhou, HelloTalk, YouTube, this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_GB
Others have said that visual mnemonics may not work as well for kanji as they do for kana. In case you don't end up finding anything like what you're looking for, I recommend trying this app. You can study kana and kanji through flashcards, multiple choice, or drawing. I've found this is very efficient for me (particularly the drawing).
The full version is pricey but both kana alphabets and the first level of kanji are in the free version, so you'll want to see if it's right for you first.
Some things I couldn't find (tried to find it but might've overlooked!) but appreciate a lot are the KanjiStudy App; the full version has to be paid for but N5 is entirely free and it's a huge help! (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy )
Furthermore I love this site: https://steven-kraft.com/projects/japanese/
My offline dictionary of choice: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ric.Jsho
...And there was this app I used to practice the Kanas back in the day but I absolutely cannot find it in the playstore anymore, although I still have it installed. Damn.
USE Kanji Study!
It is hands down the best Kanji writing app out there and I've tried heaps of different ones. It tells you the meaning of all the kanji, what it would look like in a sentence, the meaning of the particles that make up said kanji and the stroke order. Obviously, since you will most likely be drawing the kanji with your finger (unless you have a stylus for your phone) I would seriously recommend just buying a cheap text book and writing the kanji you are learning there and what the meanings are and then maybe writing a couple of sentences that use said kanji.
There is a paid version too if you want to create some custom kanji practice programs and honestly if you have the money it might be worth just paying it to help support this awesome app.
Anyways, good luck with your learning :)
Kanji Study does hiragana and katakana (as well as kanji of course for when you progress) - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=en_GB
Suggest Kanji Study app for learning if you have a phone or tablet, along with Henshall's text (others here might say Heisig; I have my reasons). When I have time to take on some new kanji, I tend to do them in clumps, like a bunch with 木 in them, or 戈, or what have you. Kanji Portraits has clumps to suggest, but is incomplete (though that might change). I rarely get more than, oh, 8 in a clump, and never more than a clump per day.
Do you write your kanji down or you just read them? Maybe you try to learn too much to fast and that is why you could forget....
Personally I have no trouble remembering Kanji. I try to learn 5 a day with each day that passes constantly reviewing the previous one for like an hour in Total and then I stop.
When i learn a new kanji I first learn their meaning in English and write them down like 20 Times or so. Their readings I try to learn trough vocab.
I use memrise ultimate kanji course for my vocab and to study kanji I use the app : kanji study....It's a beast. Once you get used to the app it becomes very powerfull...it is everything you want out of a kanji app...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy
Get the app "Kanji Study" and a premium stylus. The app is free and, to my beginning eyes at least, seems really thorough and pretty easy to use. It has flashcards, quiz mode, and free form writing practice. I'm sure that paper practice is still a good idea but the app has really helped me.
I use the Kanji Study app for memorizing Kanji, and I've set myself a 10 minute goal per day that I (usually) manage to meet. The way I've been keeping to it is by anchoring it to a fixed task - in my case, I do it every night over dinner.
Anki, as other people have mentioned, is also good; especially if you have it on your phone for when you're commuting/waiting for your tea to steep/whatever.
One last thing you can do is try to replace your existing downtime/relaxation moments with Japanese versions. When you're switching off and watching TV, why not watch something in Japanese with subtitles instead? Then at least you're getting some listening practice while still also (hopefully) having a break.
Eu falo um pouquinho, infelizmente tive que parar com o curso.
Você está estudando sozinho ou fazendo algum curso?
Bom, independente disso, tem um app que achei há alguns meses que é muito bom para estudar kanji, o Japanese Kanji Study (tem pra iOS também).
Na versão free você têm todos os kanjis de nível iniciante, katakana e hiragana, além dos radicais. Tem significado, passo-a-passo da escrita, te mostra quantos kanjis você já estudou e seu nível de proficiência neles... é bem bacana. Se resolver comprar, você terá o acesso a mais de 6000 kanjis com todos os perks da versão free mais umas opções extras pra configurar seu estudo. Ainda to na versão free, então não sei ainda como especificamente, mas é uns 15 reais a versão completa.
3 weeks and I gave up (going to classes, not on the language). STILL SUGOI.
Hang in there buddy. Try this app called Kanji Study. Pretty good; in case you need help, that is.
Oh. It's called Kanji Study.
The Android version is better in terms of UI which is the one I was using. You can tell if you used both, the UI on iOS is far less versatile (likely due to Apple's TOS restrictions). Otherwise, the actual Kanji included is the same. It's also well optimized for both tablets and phones.
It has a study, practice (it does count stroke order and accuracy), matching (like matching cards), and test mode.
I have an android so I use Kanji Study by Chase Colburn. I believe this is the Apple version though it looks quite different.
The beginner kanji level (N5?) is free, but if you do want JLPT above N5 level then you must purchase it. It's worth every cent purchasing it and has helped me a lot with my studies. Under options you can also break it down into Elementary to Junior High levels if you prefer that over JLPT.
Here is the website for it if you wanna learn about it more
Listening Practice: JapanesePod101 has been worth every penny I've spent on it. It has been wonderful at reinforcing vocabulary and grammar points, introducing new words, and most importantly, giving me audio to listen to that's at my current learning level. I have a hefty commute, and I make a point to listen to a few lessons on the way to and from work every day.
Kanji: Wanikani is better for getting the memories started with the kanji than anything else. I've tried Anki, Memrise, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters, and even just repeatedly writing down characters. They're all good, and I still use all of them, especially Memrise, but I don't think I could have gotten nearly as far as I have without Wanikani. Also, the font randomizer for Wanikani improves the site tenfold.. Honorable mentions to the script that hides the translation for example sentences and another that adds many more example sentences for each kanji.
More Kanji: There's also an app that I use every day for kanji learning. I provided the android link, but I think it's also available on Apple. You can build your own lists of kanji you want to learn or just go from the JLPT or Jouyou levels. The tests are timed, and you have the option to be tested on definitions, readings, vocabulary, or sample sentences. Three test styles, too! Flash cards, multiple choice (which is actually difficult when you set it to only a few seconds per kanji), or drawing the characters.
Verbs: The Handbook of Japanese Verbs is great for learning all the conjugations beyond just the basics. It has practice exercises regularly throughout, and plenty of examples for each and every conjugation.
Vocab: DK's Japanese-English Visual Dictionary is perfect for learning vocab. It's small enough that I don't mind carrying it everywhere, and it has tons of words for a visual dictionary. It's pretty light on adjectives and verbs, but for just learning common (and not-so-common) nouns, it's great.
Onomatopoeia: So, everyone has trouble with onomatopoeia, right? I just found out about this site a couple weeks ago, but it's already become a tool that I just can't live without.
Audio: You know about using Forvo for looking up the audio for individual words and Rhinospike for passages of text, right?
Pictures associated with Kanji? Duolingo will come out with a new app apparently (http://tinycards.duolingo.com/) which will include Chineasy by the looks of it. Which would descrive what you're looking for.
To give my personal recommendation I would suggest the app 'Japanese Kanji Study' (not free outside basic level)
On a serious note though:
Download Japanese Kanji Study by Chase Colburn and study all the N5 kanji. (The paid version unlocks the other levels and it's about 10 dollars, but the free version is good enough for now I'd say)
Get a good dictionary app. I personally prefer the app Jisho with a dark theme.
I have also heard good things about Obenkyo. In Obenkyo, there's a grammar guide, but it's basically just "Tae Kim's grammar guide" which you will hear about all the time on this subreddit.
Install Simeji unless you already have a really good Japanese keyboard you like. Simeji is ridiculously large (around 80-100MB due to emoji, dictionaries, visuals and other flashy, fancy shit) but it's by far the best and fastest and most convenient Japanese keyboard I've ever had. I haven't updated it in a while, so hopefully they haven't ruined it in the meantime.
I haven't used this app for a looooong time, but maybe you like it?
I agree that Skritter is the best, but I was recently pointed to Japanese Kanji Study and it's a solid second place. It also has stroke-by-stroke feedback when inputting kanji, which is the main thing I love about Skritter. It's highly customizable in what the quiz shows you, which is neat...you can have a standalone word, or an example sentence, example with translation, etc.
It's also a paid app, but it's a one-time fee of 5 dollars, which is well worth it.
You mean this app? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mindtwisted.kanjistudy&hl=ja
I downloaded it and took a look, and as I suspected, it's another tool based on EDRDG. Their files are especially unfit for tools for learning kanji unless the tool developer has a good grasp of the language.
My advice is, don't use it, especially as a starting point or as a frame of reference for kanji learning.
N5 is free. Try it out and if you like it buy the rest.
Personally, I bought every level. I believe that all together it was less than $10 which is an absolute steal for how much work the developer has and continues to put into the app.
Flashcards are not the way to go for learning the kana. You need to write them repeatedly to get them down. This is actually easier than it sounds especially if you can turn it into a way to relax. Every morning I try to write kanji for 20 minutes while I sip tea and pet my cat. You could get into a similar routine, but starting with basic hiragana and katakana. If you are going to be somewhere without paper like riding the train, check out the app kanji study for ios and andriod, though the android version is way better. Personally I think it doesn't make sense to use anki until after you get through at least genki 1. Many people are mentioning memrise which I can wholeheartedly recommend, but do not do the regular memrise course. Use this user made course that follows the genki chapters. Also, I want to stress this a lot, buy a paper notebook and write out the answers to the practice questions at the end of the chapter. The time you spend doing the practice is the time you spend actually picking up the information, reading through the chapter is just the easy first step. I wish you luck, and feel free to pm if you have any more questions.