How to start increasing vocabulary in Japanese

Hello, everyone!

I've been learning Japanese for about two months now. I know about 1800 of the most useful kanjis out of the Joyo kanji and about a few hundred words maybe. Now that I know all these kanjis, I can read quite a lot. But there are tons of words I don't know which makes it very hard for me to write or read as I have to check the meanings every now and then.

So, that gives rise to my question, how do I start increasing my vocabulary? What is the most efficient way of doing this? So that I'll be able to read and write without having to check the dictionary often.
I'm looking forward to your opinions on this.

Within just two months, you not only know 1800 kanji, but also enough grammar to read quite a lot? That's pretty remarkable. Or does "reading" mean "recognizing the meaning of the individual characters, but not of the words they form and the sentences they compose"? If that's the case, you should start learning the grammar first as this is more important than an extensive vocabulary. (Still, while doing so, you'll also pick up new words from the examples given.)

Once you know your grammar well, you can opt to go over your kanji list again and learn at least one example word for each. In fact, you'll soon notice that most kanji are only used in a handful of words in practice, or even only one word.

*Then* you can further expand your vocabulary by reading real (not-made-for-textbook) texts and looking up words you don't know in the dictionary. Sometimes the meaning of the sentence will already become clear even if you skip some unknown, less important words - which you may want to do in the beginning, lest you forget what the text was even about halfway through because you're in the dictionary all the time.

It seems to me that going back and learning how to read the 1800 kanji you learned how to read would provide you with an astounding vocabulary. Should only take a day or two.....

I'm guessing you went through RTK or something similar? If that's the case then I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but "methods" like RTK don't teach you any actual Japanese. All you know is the meanings of kanji and their stroke orders. Knowing individual kanji meanings is not a bad thing, but that only allows you to maybe guess the meaning of the words sometimes, not actually read them. Example: 病院 - you'll know what that those kanji mean "ill + institution", so you can infer the meaning based on that, but you still don't know how to actually read it.

Another thing you got backwards is the idea that you should first learn the words beforehand, without reading and then go read stuff without checking the dictionary. You should read and check the dictionary if you don't know something. That's the best way to learn vocab. With that said, however, if you don't know the basic grammar, you can't just go and start reading. I agree with lanthasさん, definitely learn the grammar. Until you know the basic grammar, i.e., until you can start reading, you could download Anki and start reviewing some very common words (like Genki Vocabulary You don't have much choice at that point. Keep in mind that word lists are generally a bad idea, unless you're studying for some exam, so you should learn words in context to see how and where they're used.

My advice is that you shouldn't delay the reading. Learning all the vocab beforehand so you can have fun with actual reading won't happen. Keep learning grammar and once in a while try starting よつばと or some other easy manga. It could take a few attempts, but one time you'll get there.
I remember my first attempt at reading some indie visual novel, it took me 15mins to read 2 short sentences.

Thank you, for your quick replies.
I'm sorry, it seems I didn't put in all the necessary information in my post. I have a good understanding of the grammar, is what I think. I've watched a lot of animes and Japanese drama movies before, you see. So when I was learning the grammar, it just came as natural to me.

I can read and I can actually guess the meaning of the words I don't know sometimes. I'm sorry killerinsidee-san, I do not know what RTK means. But when I said I learnt the kanjis, I meant I learnt them along with the onyomis and a few kunyomis. It's not like I'm not reviewing the kanjis anymore, also. But now, I'm also checking the digital dictionaries for jukugos with those kanjis. I actually started reading a few manga like Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) and Baby Steps. As for the first one, it's a slice of life manga so I can pretty much read it without checking the dictionary much but I have encountered a lot of words I don't know in the second. But is this the best way of taking in the vocabularies? Should I write the ones I do not know down and revise them later? I mean, if I do this, I need to keep on constantly reading, right? Or else I would forget some words and stuff.
Once again, thank you for your replies.

This new information changes a lot of things. You can ignore my previous suggestion. So, if you feel like you're fine with grammar, just go and read stuff. A few people I know copy/write the vocab they didn't know into a notepad file and add it to Anki afterwards to review. However, if the reviewing starting being really boring and tiresome for you, just stop doing it. I used to review stuff in Anki a whole lot, but after a while it got so boring and I felt like reading more was better. I would say that it's better to be motivated and have fun reading than doing something boring just because "it's supposed to be the best way to go". If what you're doing is fun for you and you're interested in whatever it is you're doing, you'll learn much more.

Thank you for you quick reply!
I also think having fun in what you're doing helps a lot more than just forcing yourself in doing boring stuff. Then I guess I'll just keep on reading and writing down the words I do not know.
I think writing them down will help me not forget them xD
Also, please do suggest me some interesting books/novel/manga/anime/anything if you can I'd really appreciate it!

I really like to use Visual Novels for my Japanese practice. They are great for learning, in my opinion. What's great about them is that you have (a large portion of) the text voiced, so you basically practice your listening and reading at the same time. There is no furigana on all kanji like in some manga, maybe occasionally on very rare kanji, but I would consider that a plus. Furigana can make you a bit lazy. I'm currently reading Eden* They Were Only Two, On The Planet it's really easy and short. You can check that one out.

Edit: About the rest, here is a compiled list of "stuff" with notes about difficulty, etc. compiled by someone. Reading List - Google Sheets

I would suggest a textbook, although it seems to hurt the pride of people who are learning the way you are. It won't hurt you and it will help clear up some things and correct you on some things you think you understand but have guessed wrong about.

I suggest a textbook too.

I used Anki alot back when I was taking the JLPT, but you can use it to keep track of new vocabulary. I understand that these days alot of apps are somehow tied up to Anki for easy exporting. This makes it even easier to use!

Eventually, you should move on to novels instead of manga. When you actually get there, you might be surprised at how little you actually know.

All the best.

Mike Cash said:

I would suggest a textbook, although it seems to hurt the pride of people who are learning the way you are.

Click to expand...

I agree, textbook (Genki, Tobira, etc.) and possibly something for reference, like Amazon.com: A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (9784789004541): Seiichi Makino, Michio Tsutsui: Books are a must, but he said that he's good on grammar. *shrugs*
I went through Genki, tae kim's guide and read the whole DBJG like twice (+used as reference) before getting into reading.

It is common for people to think they have a better grasp of grammar than they actually do, to to have mistaken impressions regarding some points. A quick run through a textbook won't hurt anybody.

Thank you for the suggestions. I, too, actually read Genki and Tae Kim's guide and go through it every now and then just to be sure on something. Are there any other textbooks that you would suggest would good for someone like me? Thanks!

I only went though those 2, so I can't personally vouch for the other ones. There is Minna no Nihongo, but I have no idea how that one is like. Keep in mind that Genki, Minna no Nihongo and tae kim's guide cover the grammar from JLPT n5 till about n3, so there's no need to do all of them. After that there's "An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" (which can be considered to be Genki 3, same authors), but people seem prefer this one - Tobira (Japanese and English Edition): Mayumi Mayumi: 9784874244470: Amazon.com: Books. Those two go past n3, but I don't think they go into the n1 grammar.

You can also get the other 2 grammar dictionaries to use for reference (in addition to the Basic one). A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar: Seiichi Makino, Michio Tsutsui: 9784789007757: Amazon.com: Books Amazon.com: Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar (Japanese Edition) (9784789012959): Seiichi Makino, Michio Tsutsui: Books