>>3637
>The neocities DJT guide got taken down
From what I can tell, the link is back up.
>>3063
>>3267
>>3351
>>3596
>>4384
>>4455
>>4456
So making as a follow-up post to
all of these in regards to people looking "help" on "where" to start, the short of it is that you just need to
start altogether. Start listening to Japanese programs and audios, getting used to navigating Japanese software and websites, and that's really it. Part of the problem with learning a language is that you cannot think that you're going to study the content first and
then seek to apply it. What you need to do is expose yourself to Japanese content at the same time you're learning the content.
As far as what resources you need to expose yourself to, it mostly depends on what content you're looking for. With video games and software, it's easy enough to just switch the interfaces to Japanese. And if you're too scared of "breaking" something, you can always operate within the safe environment of an emulator (Like emulating Japanese Windows with 86Box). Japanese films, shows, and audio programs are also good resources, but it is extremely advised that you do not experience it through reading subtitles as the point is that you're trying to auditorily expose yourself to "native" Japanese. And if you do wish to reference the subtitles, at least do it after experiencing the program without using them first. However when it comes to manga and light novels, it's advise that you hold off on going to town on those. You're going to be starting out spending way too much time referencing a dictionary for those to have any real value. At least at this point. Just focus in immersing and listening. And if you're so lost that you're just looking for "what" content to listen to, Youtuber Trenton provided a good starting list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17P2dBQHnBnHcG3ua_24IO6sP9RDC-5b3WHV9Ri2N5qU/edit?pli=1&gid=0#gid=0
The only thing I can advise is that you try to get as wide of exposure as possible since Japanese is a language highly dependent upon social positions and contexts. So don't spend "all" you time listening to your favorite vtuber. And try to get a "minimum" of 2 hours of daily exposure.
Now the listening is only half of what's important at this point, the other half will be studying vocab and grammar. Now you do not need to get too autistic about Japanese grammar rules and what needs to be learned. The Tae Kim grammar guide (Which you can find linked in the OP) is rather extensive on the subject and the best resource for those starting, but you will only need to go up through section 4.6 (
And briefly touch section 4.16 (Numbers)) to get the basics of the language's structure.
Outside of that, you should spend majority of your time grinding vocabulary. Yes, you will want to Anki as it's the best program out there for this purpose. The OP has resources like the Core2k and 6k decks for Anki, but I've personally found that the most "useful" is developing your own personal vocabulary decks. While these premade decks are useful for those who need it and just want to get started, there is the problem that you may not know the exact context behind the card's meanings. So if have the time to develop your own personal Anki deck, and looking for resources to pull vocabulary from, the Tae Kim grammar guide includes a list of vocab words at the start of each section. In addition, you can peruse through the issues of Mangajin that you see listed here, as each issue includes a vocabulary list on the final page of the magazine:
>>4384
Another resource you could used is referencing YouTube Mizuki Meido. She's a Japanese vtuber who's entire channel is based around teach people the language, and has dozens of videos dedicated to learning vocabulary:
http://invidio.us/channel/UCznuuJ8KSn4EiEJcHZbhgVw
On top of that, there's also a lot of bilingual books you can pick up from your local bookstore or library with their own set of vocab words. So you shouldn't be lacking in content that you can pull from.
With all that being said, there are a couple of issues that you need to be aware of. The first is that, if you're taking the method of personally adding cards to your Anki deck, regardless if you've built your own deck or it's a premade deck, make sure that you're not adding multiple version of the same vocab. The search and duplicate-check feature helps partially with this, but a habit I've picked up is to make sure that the vocabulary reflects what you'd find on Jisho since that tends to be the "most common" variations you'd see of certain terms and words:
https://jisho.org/
This can also happen in reverse where you will find multiple kanji and phrases that have the "same" meaning in English, but their application is depending on the context. In trying to figure these out, I've found searching engines like Exa (Which includes HiNative, Italki, and Leddit in it's indexes) and the Japanese Stack Exchange very helpful in explaining these intracicies:
https://exa.ai/search
https://japanese.stackexchange.com/
The second issue is to not overlord yourself with trying to learn "too much" vocabulary in a short amount of time. While you may be eager to learn hundreds of kanji, keep in mind that it's a slow repetitive process. Stick with the default 10 cards a day that Anki uses, and then decide three months in if you think you're ready for "more" in your daily sessions. After all, with those default settings, you'll already be going through 300 cards a month, and 3600 cards by the end of a year. So do you really think you're benefiting yourself by increasing the load?
Now this comes the point where it
IS suggested that you start experiencing Japanese writing in the wild. On top of your listening and study, it is a good idea to "begin" exposing yourself earlier to "raw Japanese" text, even if it's just occasional notices in your social media feed, but don't worry too much about actually attempting to comprehend the language. The point is more just the exposure. After you've spent several months with Anki and listening, you should have enough experience under your belt to begin tackling manga and (Visual/light) novels. It has been noted that this transition is going to feel like running into a wall, but keep in mind that this your beginning to actually apply the knowledge you've been studying but in a different way. And while you may feel like you "need" to look up every other, don't and just focus more on the kanji that your recognize and being able to at least comprehend the generalities of what the sentence is saying. If you're been diligent in your vocab studying, you should begin to notice the patterns across the different kanji in terms of meaning, purpose, and even sound.
Now I cannot answer every question that people may have, but the point of this post is just to get you started. Give it a year or two of diligent work based on what has been outlined, and you should start making progress to the point where you can start referencing and asking questions in Japanese.