Hi, I’ve been learning hiragana and katakana on and off for the past two years because i keep getting unmotivated. Now I’m finally serious about learning Japanese, and I want to ask which beginner book would be best for me as a beginner who completely has no idea about the best way to learn. I’ve asked around, and I know that the best way for me is to learn in my own way, but I work best when I’m following something like a guide or when I know what I’m doing and what I’m learning from it(or know what my goal is ).
I’ve asked around and heard about these books:
• Japanese From Zero
• Genki
• Minna no Nihongo
Could you please explain what each book is best for and which one worked best for you?
This is the study plan I’m thinking of based on what others have suggested:
• Review and relearn hiragana and katakana (again)
• Then move on to kana practice
• Learn at least 10 or more vocabulary words per day
• Study everything together after that, like vocabulary, grammar, and kanji at the same time
I’m a high school student, so I can’t get a tutor or attend paid classes right now. And also English isn’t my first language either. it’s easy for me to learn Japanese because my first language is very similar to Japanese pronunciation
If you know any good websites, apps, or teachers, please recommend them. Especially if you know any websites or apps that are premium but only require a one-time payment.
I can’t comment on the other options comparatively nor do I know how exactly you learn best to give a “definitive” recommendation here- but I have been using the Genki textbooks myself and can really attest to their quality. I’ll lay out some of the key points and if they sound interesting or fit your needs then I would say it’s worth exploring the option;
Digestible. Every grammar lesson is very condensed and brief to be easy to follow and understand, while not compromising on the quality. Very dense and always tangibly feel meaningful. Some are as quick as ~half a textbook page, so it’s seldom a large investment if you want to try and make some regular day-to-day progress.
Provides relevant vocabulary lists at the start of each chapter. Good for referencing as you work or as a tool of introducing some foundational vocab to practice with before you dive into the grammar. It’s divided into sections like nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. so it’s all organized, usually no more than 2 pages worth, and has Kana and Kanji forms if applicable
Supplementary diagrams and illustrations to better contextualize the material, along with more realistic conversations to see grammar points in applicable action rather than only in fragmented textbook examples
Lots of extra supplementary notes to learn about Japanese culture and other relevant topics that can enhance the experience
Designed to be extremely user friendly and specifically for beginners
Provides lots of opportunity for practice- especially if you use the supplementary workbooks which I highly recommend. Also an app which has more practice opportunity like listening exercises
In your case as a beginner, they also provide Hiragana and Katakana practice- along with a nice little curated supply of foundational Kanji to get you introduced
They’re also a very popular resource so there’s plenty of people that you could discuss them with online if you looked around, and sites like Bunpro.com (which might not be necessary at the start, but is a great digitial option for continued grammar practice as you continue) have really great SRS lists of their grammar and vocab points if you want to get consistent practice with the content until reaching a ‘mastery’
Japanese From Zero tends to get good word-of-mouth too from what I’ve seen, and Minna no Nihongo also is quite liked but is much less user-friendly as far as I am aware (the whole textbook itself is in Japanese, I believe, compared to something like Genki which is not)
If you find that you work well with self-guided textbook learning- the way you have outlined your plan and strengths seems to line up well with what Genki offers. Worth consideration, at the very least
One of the advantages of Minna No Nihongo is that the main book is Japanese and the explanation book is in many other base languages, so maybe see if you can get it in yours!
Otherwise, just go for Genki as it has a recent update and is so popular you’ll always be able to get help here or YouTube (Tokini Andy)
Sample them and see what works best for you. Maybe one of them will stand out, or maybe you’ll prefer to use two side by side or maybe you’ll end up not using a textbook at all.
Many people really enjoy Genki but I found it super annoying myself. Doesn’t mean that they’re wrong, just that it wasn’t a good fit for me.
I personally mostly used Take Kim and Cure Dolly for the very basic grammar, then mostly Bunpro and looking up stuff I encountered while reading.
Your English seems very good, I wouldn’t worry about that. “Laddering” languages can be fun and motivating!
This text book also has a lot of extra books that work with it. Most notably is the audio book that allows you to listen to most all dialogue in the text book. 1 is free the other one with the additional audio is not.
There is an online version too so need to get the cd book.
Besides there a native speaker that explains the grammar really clearly and in a fuss free presentation on YouTube. It’s really neat. @Takashi_teaches_Japanese
It’s also in English.
Currently he is working on book 2 (n4) and has released videos till lesson 32/50.
I am using the books my self and I am on lesson 32 so if you have questions feel free to ask.
I can’t really comment on the textbooks as I haven’t used any of those (I’ve heard good things about all three that you’ve mentioend, and honestly a lot of times being motivated enough to actually do a textbook from beginning to end is more important than which textbook it is).
But as far as apps/websites that are Premium only but only require a one-time payment.
WK has its lifetime sale right now of course, though WK is only for kanji and vocab that reinforces said kanji.
MaruMori has its lifetime sale right now as well and it does kanji, grammar, vocab, and you can make vocab lists for additional stuff not in their official course.
Migaku has frequent sales for its lifetime.
BunPro has a lifetime option as well. Not sure about how often it goes on sale.
JapanesePod101 has a lifetime though it’s quite expensive and I’ve never seen it go on sale ($599 I think it is, very expensive). They also have a 2-year sub for $84 by using VIP65 coupon.
And there are some good free sites too like Renshuu and many others.
PS: Don’t get Rosetta Stone Japanese, not even if the lifetime goes on sale, it’s not worth it. At least not for its Japanese course, it’s really not very good.
Did you self study Genki? If you don’t mind, what was your process? Would you read a chapter and then complete all lessons before moving on to the next chapter or would you jump around?
I’m currently not progressing much because I want to complete the exercises first but find it hard because it feels like such a big time commitment compared to reviews on here.
I’m still early into Genki but I have been using Bunpro for a while as well. They have decks that are ordered according to many popular textbooks so I would recommend to look into that as well.
Just for a little more information about the Irodori textbook path that catwithcookiesandtea mentioned before:
It was created by the Japan Foundation with a focus of being able to use Japanese in a daily life situational thing. Its got A1 and A2 (elementary 1 and 2) levels of study, which are levels on the CEFR scale. This directly correlates to by the time you’re done with A2, you would be around N4/breaking into n3, based off the chart they released.
(They’re actually adding a CEFR score to the JLPT scores that folks get back starting this month as well apparently! Always neat to see where you’re at on multiple scales.)
This course was created for folks with the goal of visa acquisition… but it can be useful for anyone! Just depends on what type of setup you want. They have the PDF’s of the textbooks on their site, along with their course (and an app for practicing).
Could be an option if you’re looking for cheap as possible and more bite sized pieces.
I have Genki and Tobira.. but mostly listen to Game Gengo’s Genki Guides (Because i’m a sucker for video games).
I do self study, yes, though typically in pretty short bursts and I supplement it a lot with Bunpro.
Each larger chapter has little subsections that introduce one grammar point each, and each of those has ~one page of practice material in the accompanying workbook. Tackling a full chapter in one sitting is a lot, but when broken up it tends to be more inviting.
My workflow tends to be something like;
Read about a new grammar point in Genki
Do the respective workbook practice page
Look up same grammar point on Bunpro (to reinforce with a second explanation)
Add into Bunpro SRS so it’ll show up in longterm practice
Depends on the complexity of the topic, but typically that is a 20ish minute long process if I had to estimate? I think the sweet spot is 2 of those a day but if I have more time/motivation I’ll do 3 or 4. Doing too much at once tends to be overwhelming and not leave proper time/space for mental reinforcement, so slowburning through the content there while practicing other stuff (like Kanji/Vocab here) tends to be a winning combo for how I learn, at least.
I tend to do the content in order, but if I continually encounter a grammar concept in supplementary learning or in native material- I will often search and add it into Bunpro to ‘formally’ introduce it, then it evenutally showing up in Genki is mostly just a nice refresher.
I also take digitial notes as I study so I usually write my own explanation of the concept and rules to better reinforce the idea, plus practice with making a few of my own example sentences.
Not sure if my methodology is for everyone, but generally speaking I think Japanese grammar is a “slow and steady” learning process. Take it one step at a time, and really let those steps sink in before trying to continue forward. Any progress is good progress
Yeah, slow and steady is preferred over fast and loose. I restarted on Bunpro because I felt I had gone to fast and the grammar points wasn’t sticking.
I used Minna no Nihongo, and tried to understand skits and complete exercises. I don’t think other books would be much different, but it’s more about overall understanding via grammar, plus “some” vocab and Kanji.
I also used Tae Kim as an overall grammar crash course.
I saw another translated textbook here – Marugoto, which I haven’t looked into.
English is a second language for me too, and I occasionally look up not only vocabularies, but also popular culture and general knowledge…
I couldn’t decide and ultimately just had to pick one and stick with it. I went with Japaneese from Zero and I like it. I really like that you can play the examples and hear the audio in the browser and as you go on it start displaying all the text in japanese and then you can change it to see the english translation.
I also found an Anki deck that includes the vocab from the lessons so I can drill that as well. My daily practice two months in is now about 30 mins of WaniKani a day (usually in two sessions). 15-30 mins of Anki, another 15-30 Mins of Japanese from Zero (I’m trying to go slow so things stick, and I go back and review a lot), and at least 10 mins of immersion by listening to Japanese podcasts.
I feel like this combo is working really well for me, with lots of the vocab crossing over between JFZ and WK which helps reinforce it.
Hi, and thanks for answering. I just want to ask What else can I use to learn Japanese if not textbooks. If you know any helpful apps, plss suggest some
After the Irodori/ Marugoto website for about 3 months I tried Genki but found it too boring and overwhelming so I went to the JFZ 1, finished it with the youtube videos then went back to finish Genki. So maybe dip your feet into the free Irodori website at first. If you are a slower learner I would say go to JFZ1 but if you usually understand concepts quickly, skip it and go to Genki 1 imo.
