How to study Genki alone

Japanese Language Questions
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Hi all,

I’ve been working through Genki 1 and am finding it great! (I got the shiny new third edition!)

I knew this was the case before buying, but there are lots of exercises that require a partner or group. So far I’ve been talking to myself a lot, and listening to the audio and replying to the wall.

While this is working well, I can’t help but think I might get more from some kind of learning partner or community. Does anyone have any good ways of getting through Genki group tasks alone, or know of anywhere to find people to potentially run through some of them with?

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Perhaps you can recruit some fellow Genki-ers into joining a Genki discord group.

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I feel you, would love to team up with some people but I have the second edition.

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According to this video there isn’t that much of a difference between the second and third edition - some changes in the order of things and some dialogues have been extended/modernized but I think in a studygroup it would be easy to share the most recent dialogues etc if need be.

My Genki 1 third edition is in the mail - would also love to join the study group if possible. :cherry_blossom:

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Thank you for the info! My husband got me Genki for my birthday a few weeks ago, but the third edition was sold out and he felt weirdly guilty about getting me the second edition (I literally didn’t mind at all) so I will also be telling him. I will keep an eye on this incase a study group happens, but I have literally no idea how discourse works and with time zones and stuff (I am in the UK).

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If you can afford it, I recommend getting a native teacher (via iTalki, since it is cheap and flexible) to help you along. These fundamental basic grammar points deserve to settle into your brain correctly without the misunderstandings that can occur with self study. Plus doing pair work with a native is infinitely more useful than with a fellow learner.

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Have you considered looking to see if there is a local MeetUp for Japanese learners? I know at this moment it is possibly going to be online only, but maybe there is someone that would be happy to help and is also looking to work through some scenarios in Genki they are unable to complete?

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I found Seth Clydesdale’s Genki Resources very useful for self-studying with Genki. I’m using the 2nd edition version, but the one I’ve linked is for the 3rd edition, which he’s currently working on.

Of course, it’s not the same as being in a classroom but it’s helped me to reinforce the topics covered. It might be easier to just practice what you’ve learned with a native speaker without relying on the Genki book. Or you could try and find someone else who’s also working through the book.

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I’m also from Europe so that helps with the time zone issue. :slight_smile: I’ve seen a previous study group that formed on Discord even though their timezones didn’t match, so I guess it’s possible to work around that too.

@Cascades how about you? still interested in a study group or you decided to go with a tutor (as mentioned in the other replies)

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I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Personally I think talking with non-native learners can even be more detrimental than useful, as it is easy to form bad habits. You’re going to hear a lot of broken pronunciations. Talking to yourself is great, as long as you confirm your talking by “shadowing”.

Overall, don’t worry if you don’t understand everything at first, and just go through the book. On the second review pass you’ll probably see stuff in a new light. You don’t need to ‘master’ the basics to keep moving forward. The faster you can get to actual Japanese the better.

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@momoni, @JollyTall

According to this video there isn’t that much of a difference between the second and third edition

Yah yah, when I went to Japanese evening classes a year ago they used both first and second edition and it’s almost identical to third so far! So don’t worry at all!

@JollyTall

I will keep an eye on this incase a study group happens, but I have literally no idea how discourse works and with time zones and stuff (I am in the UK).

Discord is just an app for messaging of voice chatting over :slight_smile: And I’m UK too, so no issue there for me!

@anon1067447

If you can afford it, I recommend getting a native teacher (via iTalki, since it is cheap and flexible)

Yes! I was looking at iTalki just the other day. I will definitely pay for some lessons at some point, but money is an issue at the moment unfortunately.

@yanklgarcia

Have you considered looking to see if there is a local MeetUp for Japanese learners?

I have, and I am starting my masters degree in September, and am hoping that there is some university thing I can join in with, but for now I am in the middle of nowhere :')

@Vaminta

I found Seth Clydesdale’s Genki Resources very useful for self-studying with Genki.

WOAH! This is incredible!! I didn’t know this existed and will 100% being using this going forward. Thanks a lot!

@momoni

I’d still be interested in a discord to talk about Genki 1 issues or to talk about excercises

I’m UK so we probably have the same time zone. What was the other study group did you see? Was it for Genki 1?

@morteasd

Overall, don’t worry if you don’t understand everything at first, and just go through the book.

I understand that the blind leading the blind isn’t the best thing in the world, but sometimes I just really want someone to talk something over with or to go through a group exercise with. Thanks for the advice though! I’ll make sure to be wary of setting bad habits in my head!

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What was the other study group did you see? Was it for Genki 1?

There are a number of study groups that have formed over the years it seems. A quick search turned up these results 300+ member Genki Discord and some more study Discord channels.

I’m UK so we probably have the same time zone.

Yaai! :cherry_blossom: I’m two hours ahead of UK but that’s a relatively small time difference.

Yah yah, when I went to Japanese evening classes a year ago they used both first and second edition and it’s almost identical to third so far! So don’t worry at all!

Have you studied Japanese for a while? How far ahead are you in Genki? I’m just asking since I’ve studied Japanese before as well (it’s been a while though) and I was hoping to speed through the first half of the book if possible. @JollyTall have you also studied before or would this be your first time learning grammar etc?

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A quick search turned up these results 300+ member Genki Discord and some more study Discord channels

eek… I should have looked before asking! I guess laziness got the better of me.

Yaai! :cherry_blossom: I’m two hours ahead of UK but that’s a relatively small time difference.

Awesome! Maybe it would be possible to go over stuff together and with anyone else who may see this thread and want to partake :smiley:

Have you studied Japanese for a while? How far ahead are you in Genki?

My hobbies have taught me bits and bobs, like counting systems, directions & body parts, but I also took a year of evening classes at my university. These were quite casual, and only covered 3 or 4 chapters of Genki, but I loved it! I have a lot of time until September, so really want to grind the book until then! I went through chapters 1 and 2 in like 3 days because it came back to me very quickly, I’ll start chapter 3 today, and I think my chapter progression will slow down soon :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I’m not quite sure how to organise whatever we want to do, I imagine it would be pretty relaxed though. Whoever wants to be involved could agree to meet on one of these servers? Or we could just have a smaller private call some time to go through a set of exercises or something? Or we could just all join and use one of these servers independently :’ ) What do you think?

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I’ve just started with the second edition, so if there’s going to be a discord study group for Genki 2 I’d love to join! :slight_smile:

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GMT timezoner here too! would love to join a genki group :smile:

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Sounds great! Nothing like good old dialogue practice to enforce the language. :stuck_out_tongue: I also studied Japanese in uni for 1.5 years, made it to the first half of Minna no Nihongo 2. It was over 8 years ago though so I’m (super) rusty on most grammar.

When it comes to the already existing Discords - I’m a total noob when it comes to Discord and as such would gladly leave the choice up to the more knowledgeable users. I’d also prefer something super relaxed where we can ask questions, practice etc. No doubt it’ll be more fun to work through it together. :slight_smile:

@Sarabrina I’ve just started with the second edition, so if there’s going to be a discord study group for Genki 2 I’d love to join!

do you mean Genki 2 or Genki 1 version 2? If it’s the latter then version 2 and 3 are quite similar and you could still join!

@burgundy13 GMT timezoner here too! would love to join a genki group :smile:

Yasss! Let’s do this!

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@momoni this would be my first time studying grammar so I would probably be a bit behind compared to where it sounds like everyone else is.

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That’s completely fine! If we were that much further ahead we wouldn’t be starting from the very beginning after all. You’ll catch up to us in no time and then we can all fumble and complain together. :smiley:

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@momoni

I’d also prefer something super relaxed where we can ask questions, practice etc.

I totally agree :smile: I have joined that 300+ person discord a couple of hours ago (thanks for sharing!) and it would have many people at different stages, from not read the book yet to fluent. It does seem quite dead in there, people aren’t talking daily really, but i’m sure they’d be happy to help with any questions.

I might be tempted to make a small discord server for wanikani people who see this thread and maybe want to talk… frankly I’m nervous about asking people in a server that is big if they’d like to do something like go through some exercises with me or something. Would people be interested in this or is that too many servers/too much hassle?

@JollyTall

I agree with momoni, I’d have no problem going back over the exercises in the previous chapters and helping out! I only ever got to chapter 5 maximum and that was 1-2 years ago! Plus it sounds like both me and momoni aren’t wanting drill sergeant levels of study here ;p

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Ah, I guess that would make sense, 300+ people are bound to have different study speeds…

I’d rather avoid having to go through previous old conversations in that bigger group to make sure we aren’t repeating a previously asked common question so I vote for a new group. And if we run into any questions we can’t answer ourselves we can always ask in the forums.

I guess the new group would be for people with varying previous experience who are just starting out with Genki 1 (both version 2 and 3) and would like to be able to discuss any questions and roleplay the dialogues etc? We can just share the dialogues beforehand if need be so both version 2 and version 3 owners can practice speaking.

If @Sarabrina @burgundy13 and @JollyTall join then we’ll already be 5 people strong. :slight_smile:
please join

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