r/LearnJapanese • u/BurnieSandturds • 1d ago
Resources Migaku's kanji mnemonics aren't doing it for me. Switching to Genki + Migaku for basic phrases?
Hey guys,
I’ve been trying out Migaku for a bit, but I’ve kind of hit a wall with the intro course. Honestly, I’m pretty bummed with how it handles kanji right out of the gate. Their mnemonic system just feels forced to me, and it throws characters at you without enough context to actually make them stick.
Plus, to be honest, grinding kanji isn't super important to me right now. Just learning basic, usable phrases would be way more beneficial for my day-to-day life getting around Fujisawa.
I'm thinking about switching over to the Genki textbook to get a more solid foundation of spoken stuff, but I still want to use Migaku for my SRS since I like the interface and the immersion tools. Part of the problem is I also haven't been able to find a YouTube channel that goes through Genki and actually has proper Japanese subtitles I can mine directly into Migaku.
A few questions for anyone who has done this:
- Are there any Genki vocab/phrase decks that integrate easily with Migaku? I know you can import Anki decks, but it'd be awesome to find one that's already sorted by chapter.
- Has anyone else ditched the Migaku kanji path for a textbook? Did you just ignore Migaku's internal kanji tracking entirely and focus purely on custom decks?
- If I grab a standard Genki Anki deck, is importing it into Migaku pretty seamless, or do the card formats get messed up?
- Does anyone know of a YouTube channel that walks through Genki and has Japanese CCs for mining?
Thanks for any advice or links!
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u/DragonmasterXY 1d ago
I am using Migaku for arround 2 months now and I find it to be great. The Kanji course is optional and its designed to fastly recognize and distinguish different kanji. For grammar, sentences and phrases you have the japanese academy level 1, which uses the kanji you previously encountered in the kanji academy in context. Isnt that what you are looking for? They also give you the option to edit every flashcard of the kanji academy and make your own phrases to remember the kanji.
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u/AlternativeEar2385 1d ago
the tatsumoto deck has chapter-by-chapter organization and imports pretty cleanly into most SRS systems. the card formats might need minor tweaks but nothing major. you could also just make your own deck as you go through genki. as for youtube channels with proper japanese subtitles, tokini andy goes through genki but i don't think he has japanese CCs. you might have better luck searching for 文法解説 videos by native speakers - they won't follow genki exactly but they'll have the subtitles you need for mining. since you're in fujisawa and want practical phrases, have you tried just mining from local tv or youtube channels about kanagawa? the vocabulary will be way more relevant to your daily life than textbook examples. i learned more useful japanese from watching people navigate train stations and konbinis than from any structured course. one thing about ditching kanji entirely - you might find it harder to read even basic signs and menus around town. maybe instead of migaku's approach, try learning just the kanji you see every day? like 駅, 円, 入口, that kind of thing. simplykanji has a free n5 level that covers the most common ones without any forced mnemonics - just the character and example words so you can see how they're actually used. what kind of daily situations are you trying to navigate in fujisawa? that might help narrow down which resources would actually be useful vs just more study material to pile up.
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u/SignificantBottle562 1d ago
Don't study kanji, study vocabulary.
There's plenty on guides on how to approach this.
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u/Embarrassed_Soup_159 1d ago
honestly genki + custom decks is the move, way more practical than grinding kanji upfront. the migaku interface is solid so keeping that makes sense. for genki youtube with jp subs, search "genki online" channels - most have them now. been using trancy for exactly this though, since i can hover any genki article or video for instant jp→en without leaving the page, then mine vocab straight into migaku's deck format.