What i know of the four subject in the first chapter of Genki the subject with least opportunity to use is Asian Studies. I would guess that these four are the most common majors of students who takes Japanese in American Colleges.
Another thing about the university subjects is to introduce the concept of katakana by the way. I believe the first katakana words you learn are university subjects that are rather new such as Computer Science (コンピューター).
Another reason chapter one starts about school is that you wanna learn how to say your age, introduce yourself, what subject you study (or studied) and so forth. Chapter 1 accomplishes that by learning you how to say the time and how to count. They need some kind of subject matter to dress these topics up in, and school is gonna be most applicable for most people.
Lastly on the note of the vocabulary, it’ll also introduce some patterns to people who pay good attention (a lot of repeated kanji in the words: sensei, ~nensei, gakusei and daigaku) which will allow you to later on have a little epiphany like “Oh! Right! Now I get it!”
Teaching methods are complex, and are designed around you using every aspect of them: the vocab lists, the exercises, the explanations, the audio readings. Like you said yourself: why spend money on an expensive book if you’re not going to make use of it in full.
It’s more to do with the fact that the teacher will almost certainly tell you how to say your own major in Japanese, so it doesn’t need to be included. The included majors in the book also happen to be very useful words on their own (computer, economy, history, English, Japanese.)
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Actually, one does need all this vocabulary - that is, if the goal is fluency.
In one’s native language one has a trove of words which one does not use in years but still understands instantly when one hears them. That is fluency. If one strives for fluency in Japanese, one needs a trove of vocabulary words too (alongside all the other aspects). There is never any harm in learning vocabulary - sometimes it just could be not the best use of your time right now. But that is pretty personal and individual and not easily answerable on the Internet.
Questions like OP’s always seems to me like someone looking for excuses to not do something cause it’s hard and maybe a little bit pointless right now.
To which imho there is only one real answer: No, in general it is not pointless, but it yes, it is hard, as language learning is hard, but if it is pointless right now to you only you can know.
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I used genki II in 2010 and never touched the book again
Now going back to vol 1 third edition it is really odd becuse now at level 11 I know several kanji and in that book there are lots of hiragana for the words I already know in kanji form, it confuses my mind!
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I speaking about 1 and 2 edition of genki. In the first edition the subjects are Japanese, History, Economics and Asian Studies. If they changed this in 3 edition thats good. By the way doesn’t genki starts teaching Katakana in second chapter?
Recently begun trying to tackle Genki again (after a lengthy absence). I found I was avoiding studying grammar altogether due to the pressure I was putting on myself to memorize all the vocabulary in the book. Approaching the book with the mindset of “this is just exposure practice, I don’t have to memorize everything” made me more inclined to practice, which has worked for me so far (and even helped me pick up some new words along the way).
If you have the time and motivation to memorize all the vocab from Genki - great! But if the thought makes you avoid studying, then best not to. A book that sits on a shelf will teach you nothing.
I am thinking about returning for a second pass at Genki I (with an emphasis on vocab) once I have a rough exposure to the grammar concepts and completed the workbooks for Genki I and II. Won’t bother memorizing the vocab terms I never use in English, though (e.g. like all the different forms of postage! Might be useful if I ever had to mail something in Japan, but otherwise can’t see it coming up too frequently).
I am following WK (lvl 10 at the moment) as well as using the Genki (half way through first book) in Japanese course offered via Zoom.
Here is my experience:
WK makes it easier to learn new words. But with very little context. Yes, there are sample sentences for each new kanji and words but those sample sentences are way too advanced and often there are multiple other things i don’t know in those sentences. So it is frustrating and now i don’t even bother myself checking them anymore. Also i think WK is better at helping me for reading. I rarely recognize the words i am supposed to know when i hear them from TV. But way easier if i see them printed.
Genki is otherwise. it often just teach you one meaning of the word and with sufficient exercises, they stick better. I realized i recognize those words more compared to WK when i hear them in the wild. There is probably added benefit of learning them in a classroom setting. If you are studying them by yourself, it might be a different experience.
my two cents, hope that helps.
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