I’m at chapter 30 of 50 in the Minna no Nihongo (MNN) Shokyuu series So I’m still a few months away from being done. I’ve seen mixed things on what to do next, and I’m just wondering what everyone’s thoughts are.
A lot of places say that after the beginner grammar, you should just go full immersion, and I am trying to incorporate that into my life. For reference, I am already trying to talk to people on HelloTalk, reading on Satori Reader, trying to get immersion through YouTube/Podcasts, and obvious WaniKani.
However, I wouldn’t mind getting into the immediate grammar so that I can actually understand things more.
I’ve heard that the MNN Chuukyuu books are less digestible, especially for solo learners like me, and that a lot of people didn’t like the jump.
I was seeing suggestions that Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese is a great intermediate grammar textbook, but I know nothing about it.
My main concern is that potentially going to a new textbook, there might be repeated things whereas Chuukyuu would know what I’ve learnt up to this point
Sorry that was a bit wordy, but any advice or opinions are appreciated! Thanks
It’s great that you’re getting into more native content! That definitely helps in learning grammar in general just through sheer exposure to it. I haven’t used MNN, but if digestibility is the main concern, have you thought about YouTube breakdowns of the content? They might give better sentences or explanation in addition to the textbook, and if 中級 videos are confusing, you could always find general videos of people explaining it to understand it better! I know that Tokini Andy did that for me with the Genki series, so it might help!
I finished MNN lesson 50 in the fall of last year. After reading different opinions online, I decided to try Quartet 1. But I just bought it earlier this month and have barely started it and am planning on watching Tokini Andy’s videos on youtube to go along with the lessons. I can’t say anything yet with certainty, but I like it so far. Maybe others who’ve used Quartet can chime in. I live in Japan so I get lots of opportunities for conversation practice and things like that, but I like having more structured grammar learning in addition.
I haven’t made a detailed study, but my impression is that the main “beginner” textbooks all cover basically the same ground, and so “intermediate” level material is unlikely to have major overlapping problems even if it’s from a different publisher.
For Tobira, the publisher’s website has a sample PDF with the front matter and an example chapter, so you can get an idea of what it’s like. (The structure looks quite similar to the intermediate textbook I used, where each chapter is centred around a two page reading passage which is designed to get you used to reading longer texts and also to bring in the grammar and vocab it is teaching in a natural context.)
