I’m currently on level 11 of WK and feel confident in the amount of vocab I know (it happens so fast thanks to this blessed site ). I also took Japanese classes in community college a few years ago, but reading and listening to Japanese is still hard for me due to the fact that after those classes, I have largely ignored grammar. I know how to form very basic sentences, but anything more complex I find myself needing to turn to a translator ashamedly—and even those things aren’t accurate all the time!
I have a copy of the Genki 1 textbook that I purchased ages ago and lately I’ve been feeling inspired to start working through it on weekends.
I’m curious to know whether people who have used the Genki textbooks got what they needed grammar-wise. How much do the first two textbooks cover? Would you recommend it as a method of learning Japanese grammar?
Additionally, what textbooks or resources would you recommend I look into to after Genki to further my studies?
Genki 1 and 2 cover, roughly, the equivalent of N5 and N4 grammar. Working through both of them will be sufficient to start working on conversational skills or reading native material (although it will be difficult at any point!). The same publisher, the Japan Times, makes Quartet 1 and 2 which cover, roughly, N3 and N2 grammar. So you can continue using essentially the same textbook series if you want.
I’ve finished working through both Genki books and am working on Quartet at the moment. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Edit: It would also help to know what your goals are with the language, that way we can help you to come up with a study plan to achieve your goals. Are you looking to read anything in particular?
I used Genki 1 and 2, and they’re a totally fine choice. They’ll get you the info you need to get started and yeah, they’re roughly N5 and N4.
Quartet is indeed the most logical step after Genki if you want to go that route. Depending on how sick of textbooks you are at that point, it’s not a bad place to consider stopping formal study and learning independently through reading and listening (which is a transition you definitely want to make sometime regardless). What I did was finish those two, use Satori Reader as a bit of an onramp (it’s a paid site with stories for learners that includes built in grammar explanations, definitions, and translations if you need them with voiced audio as well), then just read and listened to Japanese and looked up what I didn’t know.
Satori isn’t needed, just an easing in that I personally liked. And I mean technically you can start reading and learning that way as early as you can stand it, I just think post Genki 2 is a fairly good point to consider it.
It would also help to know what your goals are with the language, that way we can help you to come up with a study plan to achieve your goals. Are you looking to read anything in particular?
Currently I just want to be able to read manga and watch anime without subtitles lol. Being conversationally fluent would definitely be nice too as I want to travel to Japan when I can afford it.
I second @Daisoujou’s testimony for going rogue after doing the basic grammar. There’s nothing wrong with continuing with textbooks of course if you so desire, but I remember that when I just started studying Japanese and I was looking into resources I would see people talk about Genki I and II and Quartet and Tobira and Minna no Nihongo and probably a few others and it spooked me a bit because it made me wonder if you really needed to go through that much textbook material to start engaging with the language on your own terms. Fortunately the answer is no, although again if you like textbooks then go wild!
Yes, also seconding that you don’t necessarily need to work through a million textbooks to get started. I would say that at least a base level of Genki 1 and 2 are a good idea, but you can start reading before you’ve finished them; I certainly did.
Perhaps also setting the expectation right. Being able to parse sentences or having insight in parsing is one thing, but knowing most vocab to read reasonably fast (subtitle or text paired with audio) or doing well when dictionary isn’t convenient to use is going to take a long while.
About parsing, that would be either teaching guide, or explanatory reader like Satori Reader, or forum discussions like Japanese Language > Book Clubs or Japanese Language > Grammar (Short Grammar Questions / Questions not grammar)
About vocab, many people use frequency list or make a list from the target material, but alternatively, it is always possible to read something a little more difficult, and take time to use a dictionary alongside.
After going through Genki 1 and half of Genki 2 (while doing the partner exercises and reinforcing the grammar using Bunpro), I was in a good position to join my first Absolute Beginner Book Club.
After that I continued reading + looking up stuff I don’t understand while:
Finishing Genki 2,
finishing the missing N4 grammar points on Bunpro,
taking a long pause from explicit grammar studies (but continued to read while looking stuff up) and
finally finishing the N3 grammar points on Bunpro.
That’s where I am at now. Since my problem is mostly vocab I don’t feel a particular drive to continue doing more explicit grammar studies, but at some point in the future I’ll go through the N2 grammar on Bunpro.
So, my recommendation is: Genki 1, Genki 2, Bunpro… and reading, reading, reading and more reading.
edit: Ah, looks like I essentially went the @Daisoujou route with less Satori Reader and more Bunpro.
It’s a good path, has served me well to get quite far along with no more explicit studying
I was saying this before and people I know far along in Japanese seemed to agree – ultimately if a grammar resource is half reputable it’s definitely sufficient. When it comes to anyone who got decently far into the language, what they used at the start varies significantly, as does when they moved onto other things past (or sometimes in conjunction with) explicit study. But making the switch to doing “real Japanese” and it becoming a habit you stick with is pretty much THE tipping point that you’re gonna make it.
The Genki books are amazing. Well structured and a mix between grammar, vocab etc. Also the pictures really help. And apart from textbook there are workbooks too. So I definitely recommend to start with both Genki I and Genki II and while they of course don’t cover all grammar, they give you a very good base. They are meant for classroom learning but many people also use them while studying on their own. There is also a lot of complementary material for Genki which you can find on the internet (exercises, podcasts, ANKI decks etc.).
After Genki I think the choice isn’t that obvious and many people have mentioned options here. I also quite liked “dekiru nihongo” to just mention another one. I’m at the moment using “nihongo alive” which is all about casual Japanese that is spoken in informal settings.
I think it really depends on what you’re looking for after Genki - focus on more grammar? get away from textbook Japanese to more natural/casual Japanese? or start practicing Japanese for work settings? Depending on the answers to these questions you will find the best book for you.
I know that with the contents of N5 and like half of N4 (which would be the two Genki books), and a level 2X on WaniKani, I was able to fuzz through the first Dragon Quest (the phone/Switch version with kanji)
You want to be at a point where there might be one or two things per line you don’t get, but you can size up the bits you don’t understand and research them. “I don’t know this word” or “this part looks like some advanced grammar I haven’t studied yet” is much more encouraging than staring at a full wall of “What?”.
You can also get surprisingly far in conversation if you’re with someone with the patience. Don’t know the exact term for a more complex idea? String a bunch of baby words together to get to it. The “station platform” is also “the place with a number you go to to take the train”, and “holidays” is also “days with no work”, etc… That won’t land you a public-facing job with a business-level fluency requirement, but people will appreciate it. Plugging common English nouns inside Japanese grammar can also carry you. 95%+ of Japanese adults you will meet have had to drill a bunch of English vocab in high school.
What you don’t want to do is spend years only studying in classes, textbooks, and apps, with zero real exposure, waiting to become perfect before you start trying. Here, someone dropped 600 episodes of Anpanman on Archive dot org:
Even if it goes too fast and you don’t get half of it, I’m sure you will get some of it.
). I also took Japanese classes in community college a few years ago, but reading and listening to Japanese is still hard for me due to the fact that after those classes, I have largely ignored grammar. I know how to form very basic sentences, but anything more complex I find myself needing to turn to a translator ashamedly—and even those things aren’t accurate all the time!
