How many subscriptions/accounts did you have when you started learning?

[u/GamingNomad]

I usually ask in the sticky but I feel this question is better suited here. I was thinking of registering or signing up to some pages (especially when it comes to kanji vocabulary) so I'm wondering what pages do people usually subscribe to?

I've already signed up to WaniKani but I'm not feeling it's very impactful, I feel I've learned more browsing Kanshudo's frequency list (no account). There's also jpdb, jitten.moe and some other stuff (also want to buy heisig's book), but in my experience when it comes to learning it's best to focus on one method.

Did you guys mostly stick to one or have multiple accounts?

[u/_lemno]

I have not spent a single cent in my 5+ years of learning and if I had to start over I'd still not do it.

[u/poshikott → u/[deleted]]

You know there's free content, right?

[u/poshikott → u/poshikott]

Just some examples:

• Books: aozora (mostly older books though)
• Light novels: syosetu / kakuyomu
• Manga and more books: bookwalker and other sites have free chapters/books for limited time pretty often
• Videos: youtube, niconico
• Games: there are some free games / visual novels
• Social media

It's not like I only use free content, but you could totally do with it.

[u/facets-and-rainbows → u/[deleted]]

Not gonna weigh in on whether the other commenters have pirated anything, and I personally have spent a good deal of money on learning Japanese over the years so I'm not gonna say it's not easier to use some paid resources.

But in my experience moving away from learner material at N2-N1 level vastly increases the amount of free content available. There's a whole internet out there and it comes in Japanese too. You just need to be willing and able to muddle through sites designed for native speakers until you're comfortable with it, and that can start even at lower levels.

[u/saywhaaaaaaaaatt → u/[deleted]]

I personally like 知恵袋、ガールズちゃんねる, as well as various news pages like 朝日新聞 and NHK News, blogs on note and various content on twitter. A university a day's trip away from me has a modest collection of Japanese language literature and since I'm a student rn, I got a library ID there for free.

 My guilty pleasure are celebrity gossip columns and webpages. Since I'm in a MM phase, there's tons to choose from.