Genki -> Bunpro

I was wondering if someone can tell me,
At what point in bunpro have you covered all of the grammar points in Genki I&II?

Iā€™m not a genki user so I have no idea but does it matter? Bunpro doesnā€™t force you to do the lessons in order so you can pick and choose which ones you want and which you donā€™t. If you are after reviews but donā€™t want to go through the lesson than just tick off the readings and donā€™t bother doing them.

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Theyā€™re not in the same order of teaching things, but after finishing Genki II youā€™re roughly at N4 level

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Iā€™m likely to forget a lot of details if Iā€™m not using it constantly. Iā€™m currently going through Human Japanese for the second time since Iā€™ve forgotten a lot of the stuff from when I first read it. This is why SRS for grammar is great. Even with reading Japanese, there are certain things that Iā€™ve learned that I may not come across often enough to remember.

I am also not a Genki user, but wondering if I should be,
Iā€™m already a couple sections into N4 on bunpro, so basically I was wondering if it would still be worth it to get G1 &/or G2.
After seeing below that finishing N4 on bunpro is roughly equivalent to G1&2, I donā€™t think Iā€™ll drop the $ on genki atm, plenty of other resources in the sea :sweat_smile:

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Bunpro doesnā€™t really do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to teaching grammar. They do show you the structure of the grammar, and the site is good for reinforcing it and keeping it in your memory, but itā€™s not a replacement for a proper grammar teaching source. At least not as currently structured.

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Have you used Genki &/or would you recommend it over most other resources? I have a few grammar books already, plus the free resources on the internet, but nothing that includes a workbook (which is why Iā€™m considering getting genki). Iā€™m definitely not only using bunpro, just wondering if genki would be the best thing to compliment. Or if I had already learned past what it teaches.

edit: @Leebo

When I was at the N5-N4 level, I took lessons with a teacher and we used Japanese for Busy People. I didnā€™t love it as a textbook, but it worked fine in the classroom environment. I own Genki and have looked at it now and then to see whatā€™s in there, but itā€™s below my level at this point, so I donā€™t know if I can recommend it or not.

Iā€™m using Bunpro as a reference. However, looking at example sentences from Bunpro isnā€™t enough for you to consider a grammar point as learned. For each and every point of Bunpro, I check the recommended links and other extra sources in case I feel that thereā€™s something missing. Only after taking my own notes with example sentences applying the grammar point, I will consider it learned on Bunpro.

Right now, Bunpro is great to:

  • Review grammar that you previously learned so you have everything fresh in your mind.
  • See which grammar points youā€™re not doing so well (thanks to SRS).
  • Have an relatively organized list of new concepts to learn: this allows you to choose what to learn first and not to feel obligated to follow any order that a textbook might give.
  • Get access right away to high quality links related to a certain grammar point.
  • Quality service. Bunpro team never gave me a ā€œNo.ā€

Bunpro fails as:

  • It has some grammar points missing.
  • The SRS sentences donā€™t include all the possible functions of a specific grammar point.
  • It has some basic errors in terms of sentences, translations, etc etc.

However, Iā€™ve been following Bunpro since the very beginning (1/12 of the comments on the Bunpro post are mine) and I truly believe theyā€™ll be an extremely valuable source.

Personally, I believe the best combo to effectively learn grammar is:

  • Daily message exchange with a native: their level should be the opposite of yours: if youā€™re an N4 for Japanese, they should be an N3/N2 for English (letā€™s just imagine these N3/N2 exist). This will allow the conversation to continue while both being in considerable levels to make mistakes while both are forced to use both languages. Get a Japanese exchange partner that has a high level of English while your Japanese is still poor and youā€™ll tend to fall way more to English simply because you donā€™t know if the other person will totally get your Japanese/you get lazy. On the other way around, people with good Japanese skills should be looking for people with low English/Other language skills. That way, theyā€™ll be forced to work on the hard stuff and leave the ā€œeasyā€ stuff for the other part.
  • 1 on 1 class with a native teacher on a regular schedule. A good teacher. Self-learning is faster for most dedicated people. However, it is definitely a caos. ā€œDo I know enough of it?ā€ ā€œAm I getting it right?ā€ Forget about scheduling private classes the whole week. You should use private classes as a tool to get answers to your questions. Waiting for your teacher to do everything for you will only slow you down. Use them well.
  • Add Bunpro for the SRS and other aspects that I mentioned above.
  • Add several grammar sources to your belt. Thereā€™s no perfect textbook. Textbook A will rock for x grammar rule but suck for y grammar rule. Thereā€™s no one source fits all. Thatā€™s why instead of trying to find the perfect textbook, go with the most convenient solution to your learning. We lose more time with ā€œbureaucracyā€ than with actual learning :slight_smile:

This is my humble opinion :slight_smile:

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I nearly died of boredom using Genki. I just use Bunpro now, and I donā€™t bother with the links. I get loads of stuff wrong but eventually it starts to sink in. My only problem with Bunpro is sometimes it seems there are several possible answers, not that I can remember any of them.

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I havenā€™t used Genki. Iā€™ve considered it. Iā€™ve had good and bad experiences using textbooks for language. Some are good and some arenā€™t. I prefer textbooks with online practice. I do like Bunpro though because it has helped me learn various grammar and conjugation rules. Took me a while to understand some of them but I got the hang of it after multiple attempts. The app doesnā€™t explain the use for certain verb forms. You sometimes have to look it up. But overall, its not a bad app for $3 a month.

Is Bunpro working for you and do you feel you are picking up the grammar points outside of Bunpro? If you are, then thereā€™s no need for Genki. If you arenā€™t then you should supplement the studies with something else. Options to supplement Bunpro: Genki Textbook (there are dialogues, vocab and exercises I think the listening might be with this book), Genki Workbook (Just a book of exercises. You shouldnā€™t need the textbook), Minna No Nihongo workbook (This book has dialogues, exercises and listening), practice writing sentences on your own (take each grammar point and write sentences using the grammar point, if you do this you should have someone review them) or go over grammar/writing/speaking with a Japanese tutor/teacher. My point is that you have various options depending on whatā€™s available to you and what you need. I think writing sentences would be the most effective, but you would need someone to review what you are writing.

Genki 1 generally covers N5 while Genki 2 generally covers N4. The Genki Textbooks can bring up some more details that you wonā€™t get from Bunpro about minor grammar, phrases or words that you wonā€™t see in WK + BP. However if youā€™ve been learning vocab and grammar from SRS then it might be repetitive to what is in Genki. If youā€™re unsure you might be able to find a copy of Genki in a library, see if you can borrow the book from someone you know or see if you can find sample/preview pages online.

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