Hi! I hope you’re having a good day! I wanted to ask you if you use any books to learn Japanese. If you do, can you tell me which books you use or recommend something. I’ll take care to check all the books you recommend. Also, I am a beginner. I know how to introduce myself, can read hiragana and katakana, read around 50 kanji characters and form very simple phrases. Thank you so much.
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I used the first Japanese From Zero! book, which helped me learn how to write hiragana. My soul started getting cramped from all the writing though, so I gave up on continuing (I have all the rest of the books, plus Kanji From Zero!. Maybe I’ll refer to them at some point for the grammar alone. I just won’t write everything by hand!).
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While i myself do not use any textbooks the most commonly used textbooks are the genki text books and heisigs remembering the kanji from what i have heard if you want any help learning kanji you should grab the free kanji pdf from japanese pod 101 that pdf is quite useful
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Oh yeah that kanji book that teaches radicals is pretty good. I grabbed that when I used JapanesePod101 like a year ago.
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It is also worth getting the pdf for taekims guide to japanese for learning grammar that one can also be found for free
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Yeah and there are apps you can get that have it too, I have it on my Android phone. Good stuff!
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I am currently using Genki I. It is quite nice, but whenever I do not understand a specific point, I refer to Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide. 
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Not a book, but I recommend Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly on Youtube for learning grammar. She has the best explanations of how Japanese grammar works that I’ve encountered.
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Goes to show that there are many resources that can be found online
Agreed totally on this. In fact I have the link to her “Japanese from Scratch” series: Japanese from scratch: the game-changing course in organic Japanese - YouTube
I didn’t understand the difference between は and が before stumbling onto her chan.
I can recommend a few more channels that are geared toward Japanese subjects:
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i use ‘japanese from zero’ book series and ‘Genki’. the first one is like an hyperprotective parent that treats you like a child. it feeds you little by little so you won’t choke with food, it blow on the food so you won’t get burned by it and when you are climbing a stairs it grabs your hand and help you go up. while Genki is like that parents that trows you in the pool and says to you, you either learn how to swim or you drown there.
that’s why i’m using both of them. is really nice to have this double prospective. i start with JFZ and then i move to Genki. i’m won’t lie when i say that when i was able to understand all the info that Genki throws at you (because i did all JFZ lessons) i felt really good.
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Thanks a lot for sharing the resources (^^)b
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Most of the textbooks recommended on the forums (and some YouTube channels) should be listed here:
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Hi〜 I’ve been learning Japanese for a year now and I’ve tried many resources. I’ve first started with Genki, but I hit a wall: if you don’t already know, Genki is a book that either you love or hate, there’s no grey area in between. I’m a member of the second club, and believe me, I would be way farther in my Japanese journey if I would have never crossed my way with that book.
That being said, now I’m using the TRY series for grammar, but since explanations are quite short - and not always completely clear, especially for nuances - I generally google it and find some videos/posts explaining it. This is the only book I would suggest for a beginner + internet resources.
For vocabulary and kanji, immersion is the key. I don’t believe - and I’ve personally tried - in dry, long list of vocabulary, taken from the context and presented to learners as the holy grail. No: read read read, watch watch watch, listen listen listen. For me, this is the key for a long term relationship with a language. I’ve learned many vocabularies through those lists and then, when used in convo, found out that there’s always a better way to say things and that my sentence was correct, but, for the context, it was totally wrong (or even rude).
For writing, if you want to develop also this area, I would suggest writing short texts or journal entries every day to get used to kanji and vocabs + new grammar, and then post them (if not too personal) on hinative or hellotalk to be corrected by a native (or take a class or private tutor if you can, it really depends on your budget).
I cannot add more on resources to what has been already said above, but for books I would never suggest Genki or Minna no Nihongo. Just TRY and native contents, from day 1. It may be tough but it pays off in the long run.
頑張ってね〜
Currently, I’m using Human Japanese, It’s been very helpful at introducing me to basic grammar and phrases. It feels like a friendly tourist guide taking you to a stroll across Japan. It teaches you how to use the tool and when to use it. I highly recommend it if you’re still in your early stages in learning Japanese rather than investing right away in a textbook. Save that money when you’ve already comited enough time to learning Japanese.
I got both levels of Human Japanese on my phone. I can highly recommend these user-created Memrise courses as companions (otherwise you won’t get enough practice):
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I used HJ before moving to Genki. One can cover it very fast and it will give a panoramic view of the language. I loved it. I strongly recommend it for motivation and introduction but if one wants to read, there is no substitute for Genki 1+2 and its workbook exercises.
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