I’m talking about the value of using it over using PDF’s. I would prefer a book, but what are some decisive advantages of a hard cover book?
For me, the PDF is a little hard to read. I prefer the hard copy. But if you don’t have trouble reading it no problem.
The hard copy is heavy and rather large. It has a nice feel to it though, it’s enjoyable to read from and personally I love books so I just like having it around the house.
I still have photocopies that my teacher makes me from it though to work from because I can carry then around easily.
Essentially it is the same material so there is no advantage to it over personal preference.
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I have the hard copy of the Genki I textbook but not the Genki II one. I’ve found the workbooks are generally better to have in hard copy form than textbooks, obviously because you can write in workbooks. The Genki I textbook was useful in that I could bookmark pages, but you can do that with a PDF too. I sometimes wrote in the textbook in the kanji reading passages, but other than that there’s not much difference from a PDF.
I think the hard copies are great. I’ve got a tab for each chapter, plus the sections in the back, and it just makes it so much faster to flip through and find something than a pdf.
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I really like to make notes in my textbook and highlight grammar points. You can do that stuff in PDF files, of course, but I prefer to make notes by hand in a hard copy. I also find it sticks better that way, for me at least.
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I much prefer the hard copy Genki. While you can make notes and bookmarks in a pdf copy, I find the notes stick in your memory better when you’ve written them by hand, and it’s easier to find bookmarks in a book than in a pdf. That said, there are 3 people in my class using genki on their tablets, so in the end, personal preference! I definitely recommend buying the workbooks though.
That is completely true. When you write by hand things when you are learning it you create an additional connection between the memory and motor areas from the brain, along with some more different areas (I do not know how to explain properly in English, so this is a very short resume), so It would be easier to remember (catch the memory in your conscience) than if you only read or view something.
There is a funny story about this. If you study lay down in the bed for an exam, you would do a better exam if you do it while laying down on the bed, because this will activate better the memories since you are doing the same you were doing when studying. (Just a Funny fact)
I have them both, definitely worth it in my opinion, I don’t mind paying for textbooks though.
I tried the .pdf a while ago, but couldn’t get into it as on my laptop I get distracted so easily and everything. Also reading on your screen is quite different from paper, being able to take easy notes and all.
I am using a different textbook at the moment and I believe they are really worth it.
Hard copy of anything is better. Just feels nicer, and draws you in more.
Since the publisher doesn’t sell a PDF copy there is really only one choice.
I don’t use Genky, but I recently bought my first hard copies of Japanese text books after having studied for long using either PDFs or photocopies.
For me, having the hard copy is kind of an extra motivation, to be honest. There’s just something to seeing the whole of the book, as intended, and noticing how you advance through it that kind of makes you want to keep trying. I don’t think I could go back to PDFs if I wanted, and I don’t want to because most of them just don’t look clear enough.
I bought the book but I use a pdf because I have bad eyesight and can only read the book with a magnifying glass. I mainly use it at home and have a very big screen (43 inch). I think the book should be available as a pdf so I have no qualms about recommending it in either format. I actually have ocr’d a copy to make it searchable. Either way, make sure you have the answer book and all the audio files. It’s maybe worth having the workbook too. I copy bits of the book via copy image to Evernote, and I annotate the pdf and the Evernotes.
The votes are in: hard == good.
…what?
Get the hard copy. It’s easier to quickly reference and flip back and forth with actual pages. I was naughty and used my school’s free unlimited printing to download the PDF and print both textbooks and workbooks. That way I didn’t spend any money on buying Genki I and II.
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