Hello. I’m about to reach level 10 and I think it is a good moment to drill grammar seriously. I have got Genki I and II, and also Take Kim’s book. How do you think I should work around them? Should I focus on Tae Kim, or Genki, or both? If the latter, then how should I go about reading them?
Thank you.
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I think you should choose one of those two as your main source of grammar study and use the other in case you wish to see a different way of explaining a certain grammar point, or in case you weren’t convinced with the explanation of your main source of grammar. I personally would choose Genki as the main grammar source and Tae Kim as a side resource. If you go for Genki, make sure you also do the workbook.
If you feel like you have a bit more time, there’s vocab lists of Genki/Tae Kim around (check Anki or Kitsun). You could learn the used vocab as you go with the textbook, and it will surely help you with getting unknown vocabulary out of the way and make your grammar studies smoother 
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Yes, that sounds like the best option. I simply wavered upon seeing how straightfoward Tae Kim’s is, but I guess Genki’s practise is too good to let pass. I’ll do as you say. Yes, I have lots of free time now, so I’m happy I’ll finally be able to do this.
I think I’ll simply consult with Take Kim’s after having learnt a grammar point in Genki.
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I’ve not gone through all of Genki 1 yet but I’ve been enjoying it so far. The exercises are fun and worthwhile and the stories aren’t half bad! I’d recommend it for sure and the workbook is a nice supplement too.
Also, if you’re able to pick up a copy of ‘A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar’, I’d definitely say it’s worth the money! If you’re stuck on a certain grammar point, the dictionary should set you right and explain it well.
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Tae Kim is good, but its lack of exercises is a killer. I also don’t like how he approaches some grammar points and from my experience, struggling with grammar is a “good enough reason” to procrastinate and not study grammar. Genki seems more genki, in that aspect :b I still recommend checking blogs/videos online about the grammar that you’re learning. Nothing better than getting a different perspective on it. Different explanations from different sources will click, at least that was my experience
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Genki has been great for me so far! I do have Tae Kim as well but I dont use it as my main source of grammar.
Bunpro also has grammar points divided by Genki lessons so that can be good for additional practice for you as well.
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The grammar SRS site BunPro also offers a Genki path. In other words, it’s set up to be complimentary to Genki.
It orders grammar points as they are covered in Genki, so that you can keep putting the learned items into practice as you go through the book.
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That sounds helpful. Do I have to pay in order to access that possibility or is it free?
Thank you! I will review all grammar points differently as you say.
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I made it up to chapter 3 in Genki I. I think I’ll pay a look at Take Kim’s after chapter 4 (workbook included) and then go see Bunpro. Thank you!
As far as I remember there’s a free trial for BunPro. So you can use that time to decide whether BunPro is for you or not.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
Correct! 30 Day free trial Im using it now haha
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Yes
KawaJapa on YouTube.
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I recommend using Genki for your primary study and Tae Kim for supplemental study. Genki gives more straightforward, easy to understand explanations for grammar points, and it has a ton of exercises in the textbook and the workbook, and the listening portion is great too. Tae Kim is good for some things, but for some grammar points I feel he doesn’t offer much explanation. You could also check out imabi for supplemental study, it’s a free online resource that goes into great depth with grammar points. It’s a bit intense to use as a stand alone study, but if you want extra clarification, it’s great for that.
As for reading them, this is how I study with Genki:
- First, check out what vocab is coming up in the chapter and add any unknown vocab to Anki. If it’s vocab that uses kanji I haven’t learned yet in wanikani, I learn it in hiragana rather than teach myself a bunch of new kanji before they show up in WK.
- Go through the grammar points, taking notes in a word document and copying down example sentences into another word document and adding some to anki to practice.
- Once I’m done with that, I go through all the textbook exercises. For the ones with a listening component, I use that. I also do all the exercises in the workbook. It takes more time to do all the textbook and workbook exercises, but I come out feeling much more confident with the grammar points having done that.
- Once I’m finished with the chapter, I read the dialogue at the beginning of the chapter. I then listen to it without looking at the text and try to understand what’s being said. I usually repeat this until I can understand it fully without looking at the text. Genki’s listening exercises might not seem helpful with understanding real spoken Japanese, but it helps you get started with it, and it helps you understand what words and sentence patterns sound like.
When I don’t understand a point or I need more clarification, I usually search it in Tae Kim’s guide first. If I don’t find anything helpful there, I check Imabi. If I’m still confused, I’ll watch a Japanese Ammo with Misa video on it.
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If you care for a contrary opinion, I recommend Tae Kim and explain my reasoning here. I do provide my thoughts on scheduling time with Genki, though, so my post may still be useful to you if you’re not interested in Tae Kim.
Cheers!
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Thank you for taking your time to write this. I can’t believe I didn’t consider skipping the kanji I didn’t know yet and learning the hiragana spelling instead. It saves a crazy amount of time.
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Thank you. Yes, that is why I also was doubtful about Genki. I’m a native Spanish speaker, so Take Kim’s actually made a sense for me.
So I only started leaning Japanese about two weeks ago. I learned hiragana, katakana, and now I am her learning Kanji and I’m almost done with level three.
I am not sure what a good time is to start learning grammar. A lot of sources I read said I should know 1,000 kanji before I start any grammar.
Was this your experience? When did you start with th textbook?
Start grammar now, it will complete the puzzle on how to use the vocab you know. Don’t wait, there is no point knowing a 1000 words and you can’t use them, the more grammar and vocab you learn the better your comprehension becomes.
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