Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

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moo
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Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby moo » Sat Jan 21, 2017 8:58 am

Just wondering which books people used to learn Japanese? I'm thinking Genki, anyone have experience with this book?
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby dampingwire » Sat Jan 21, 2017 2:55 pm

moo wrote:Just wondering which books people used to learn Japanese? I'm thinking Genki, anyone have experience with this book?


I've used みんなの日本語 (Minna no Nihongo), starting with the beginner series (初級) and now working through the intermediate one (中級).
This one is all Japanese (although you can get an English grammar points book to go with it). Probably quite tough if you don't have a tutor.

I'm also using 新完全マスター and 日本語総まとめ, but neither of those are course textbooks as such.

I've also seen (but not really used) Japanese for Busy People.

No experience with Genki.

I suspect that as long as you keep working through it, it doesn't really matter which of them you begin with.
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moo
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby moo » Sat Jan 21, 2017 3:09 pm

dampingwire wrote:
I've used みんなの日本語 (Minna no Nihongo), starting with the beginner series (初級) and now working through the intermediate one (中級).
This one is all Japanese (although you can get an English grammar points book to go with it). Probably quite tough if you don't have a tutor.

I'm also using 新完全マスター and 日本語総まとめ, but neither of those are course textbooks as such.

I've also seen (but not really used) Japanese for Busy People.

No experience with Genki.

I suspect that as long as you keep working through it, it doesn't really matter which of them you begin with.


Thanks!
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby aokoye » Sat Jan 21, 2017 4:29 pm

When I was learning Japanese I used Genki and really liked it. I know and know of a number of people who have used it without much complaint. I agree with dampingwire though, the important thing is to just stick with it.
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moo
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby moo » Sat Jan 21, 2017 4:37 pm

aokoye wrote:When I was learning Japanese I used Genki and really liked it. I know and know of a number of people who have used it without much complaint. I agree with dampingwire though, the important thing is to just stick with it.


Thanks , yeah I looked through it and it looks good, I also agree it's just sticking with it
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby gsbod » Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:25 pm

I used Genki. I liked the fact that it combined romanisation with kana in the first couple of chapters, which was just the right pace for me to get used enough to using the kana before it dropped romanisation altogether. Once I was ready to introduce kanji into my studies, I used Basic Kanji Book alongside Genki. I also found JapanesePod101 to be a useful supplement.

In terms of the other main textbooks out there, the pace of delivery in Japanese for Busy People was far too slow for me, particularly the first book. I found the third book to be pretty useful for revision once I was done with Genki, though. I hadn't been able to get a copy of みんなの日本語 to browse in advance and was put off by reviews talking about it being all in Japanese and only suitable for use with a tutor (note, this in itself would not put me off now, although I'd still want to look at the book before buying it).
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby moo » Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:33 pm

gsbod wrote:I used Genki. I liked the fact that it combined romanisation with kana in the first couple of chapters, which was just the right pace for me to get used enough to using the kana before it dropped romanisation altogether. Once I was ready to introduce kanji into my studies, I used Basic Kanji Book alongside Genki. I also found JapanesePod101 to be a useful supplement.

In terms of the other main textbooks out there, the pace of delivery in Japanese for Busy People was far too slow for me, particularly the first book. I found the third book to be pretty useful for revision once I was done with Genki, though. I hadn't been able to get a copy of みんなの日本語 to browse in advance and was put off by reviews talking about it being all in Japanese and only suitable for use with a tutor (note, this in itself would not put me off now, although I'd still want to look at the book before buying it).


Thanks , yes, I really like that about Genki too; I've been learning some things like greetings from it without having learnt all of the hiragana which is cool and gives me a feel for the language while learning how to read it. I'm using the Japanesepod to learn how to pronounce them along with Genki for knowing how to write them using Romaji so best of both worlds.
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby stelingo » Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:39 pm

I use Genki and Japenese from Zero, which has a companion website and a series of Youtube videos.

http://yesjapan.com/YJ6/index.php.

If you are a complete beginner I would recommend you start with Japanese from Zero. Book 1 is free to download. There are 5 books plus books on Kana and Kanji.
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby moo » Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:43 pm

stelingo wrote:I use Genki and Japenese from Zero, which has a companion website and a series of Youtube videos.

http://yesjapan.com/YJ6/index.php.

If you are a complete beginner I would recommend you start with Japanese from Zero. Book 1 is free to download. There are 5 books plus books on Kana and Kanji.


Oh very cool, thank you. I already have Genki so will continue to use it to some extent but I might order Japanese from Zero, I did see from a google search that it was the no. 1 to start and was thinking about it before I picked Genki but now I'm thinking I'll get it too :)
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Re: Which textbook did you use to learn Japanese?

Postby stelingo » Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:52 pm

moo wrote:
stelingo wrote:I use Genki and Japenese from Zero, which has a companion website and a series of Youtube videos.

http://yesjapan.com/YJ6/index.php.

If you are a complete beginner I would recommend you start with Japanese from Zero. Book 1 is free to download. There are 5 books plus books on Kana and Kanji.


Oh very cool, thank you. I already have Genki so will continue to use it to some extent but I might order Japanese from Zero, I did see from a google search that it was the no. 1 to start and was thinking about it before I picked Genki but now I'm thinking I'll get it too :)


Good choice. The author has made several videos for each chapter on Youtube. He's a very good teacher and quite amusing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsrakMT1h2g
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