Advice for Genki self study?

I hear you! I’d love to start a study group but I have no idea how to organize one that’s all online. I looked at some old threads but saw stuff about discord which, despite trying I still don’t understand. :upside_down_face:

I’d be able to handle an accountability person if nothing else! It’s so easy to get off track as a self learner!

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Sorry, but there’s a heap of everyday non-kanji vocab in Genki that you’re not going to get from WK.

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I find that learning through textbooks like Genki helps me keep organized and gives me the benchmarks that I need to feel like I’m progressing. I took Japanese I and II in college years ago, and have decided to stick with both books as I restart my studies.

I would definitely recommend the following youtuber: Tokini Andy. For free, he has provided Chapter walkthroughs of all of Genki I and is in the middle of doing the same for Genki II. He has additional content on his Patreon that may or may not be worth it to you such as listening, vocabulary, and tests based on the textbook. I’m really big on structure, and I love how he has everything set up. Plus, he has a fun character that pops up every now and again.

I’m pretty satisfied with my Genki + WK schedule so far and may adjust accordingly as I progress.

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bunpro.jp is awesome! you can go through the lessons using the genki path in tandem with studying genki, and it will help keep the grammar you learned fresh.

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I suggest going through all sections Genki offers, but don’t spend any unnecessary time on the things you understand well or on stuff that isn’t clicking (in which case I’d seek out another resource or other practice material). When I started Genki I put together a study group on Discord and worked through both books this way, spending around two weeks on each chapter plus all of the respective practice material. We pretty much started off from beginning to end:

  • Vocab — always started every lesson going through the list with audio (for pronunciation). I specifically worked with a Genki Anki deck as I did the lessons, so I wasn’t cramming a bunch of words in at once on any given day
  • Dialogue — I liked to read through these, then listen, then shadow. I also watched the dialogue videos, which I got more out of than just listening to the audio.
  • Grammar points + Workbook — moved through them day by day, pairing workbook exercises with their respective grammar points from the textbook. I liked to do these back to back and then use the textbook practice once I was done with all grammar points/workbook material. Most of the time the grammar points are pretty straight forward and clear, but there are a few occasions that I found the wording/explanations/examples on the confusing side and supplemented. (Specifically used this for Lesson 9. Never watched these, but another resource is Tokini Andy’s Genki grammar videos.)
  • Textbook practice — we always did this section after we were done with the grammar points and workbook exercises, but we only did the ones we felt we needed for our own understanding rather than doing the all the problems. I wouldn’t spend too much time practicing on things you’re solid with.
  • Kanji practice (workbook) & 読み書き編 (textbook) — I scattered these out between the first and last days of studying a lesson. I’d look at 2 - 3 kanji a day and then start the reading/writing parts (読み書き編). The kanji practice in the workbook was typically one of the last things we did during week two.

I also wasn’t doing any extra vocab/kanji focus outside of Genki, so the kanji practice was always one of my favorite exercises. Although I pretty much sucked when it came to going through the kanji lists and reading/writing sections, because I didn’t have any solid way of studying them… or I’d put it off and put in measly effort. I did do the occasional children’s book or news article, but nothing habitual.

Through all this, we were basing our study schedule off of guides I’d make on Google Docs. Just a suggested guide for tasks to complete each day from whatever lesson we were studying, but all tasks were hopefully completed by the end of the week when we ‘met up’ to compare notes and answers, ask questions, etc. A regular planner will do just as well if you’re doing solo study. I’m a visual person, so it helps to see everything broken down, but it’s also great for keeping a group on track. :+1:

If you’re working with one or more people, I definitely recommend checking in at least once a week, too. I got online with my study partners and went over practice problems every Sunday but also chatted about Genki throughout the week ---- it helps to check in with others, and I think it helps keep everyone on track. I see lotsa people keep to themselves and not utilize the group because there is an answer key, so they probably feel like there’s nothing to go over, but I also notice that these people are often the ones who more often fall off the wagon. So yeah, staying active with study groups or partners is a great ways to stay accountable in anything you study! Even if you fall behind schedule.)

Like I said, this all usually took up to around two weeks per lesson, but then we took off one to two weeks after after third lesson for review (as well as a month-long winter holiday break :stuck_out_tongue:). I wanna say it took us around 15 months in all! I would have burnt out if it wasn’t for those breaks, too, so keeping a good pace that includes downtime is also a good point to keep in mind.

Good luck! I have few issues overall and personally enjoyed starting my journey into Japanese grammar with the series. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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+1 for Tokini Andy :slight_smile:
I think everything else I wanted to add has been mentioned by others too, except the answer keys which can be found here: Genki-Online - 教師用リソースライブラリ

Yes that is so true!! It really is easy to get off track and motivation is something you need to learn a language.

Can you elaborate on these? I don’t know the kanji you posted. Google just returned a list of all kanji included in Genki so that was no help. If there’s another book that would help - especially if it’s writing! - let me know.

It’s literally the reading (読み - yomi) and writing (書き - kaki) part/section (編 - hen). Here’s an example of the 読み書き編 from Genki Lesson 6:

I think the idea of providing the kanji in a large font is so you can get a good look at them and possibly copy them for writing practice if you so desire. If you need to learn stroke order… Jisho.org has it for most kanji, I think, especially those that you’ll come across in Genki. If you want actual writing tips so you can learn how to make your kanji beautiful… here’s a Japanese calligrapher who posts in English: http://twitter.com/kayoshodo
There are things that she posts that I personally probably wouldn’t follow, partly because I have no desire for my handwriting to be exactly like hers (even though hers is nice, of course). However, the principles are sound, and I think she makes an effort to make things engaging and interesting. I just don’t follow all of them because I learnt calligraphy from a Chinese calligrapher’s book, and I prefer his style. Her kana writing tips might be worth a look though, even for me, since it might be good for me to make my kana look a little less like kanji at times (even if kana are fundamentally 草書, which is just another calligraphic script).

Oh haha I thought they looked vaguely familiar! Thanks for answering!

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I found him about a week ago and definitely want to watch his videos to better understand Units 7, 8, and 9!

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