If you’ve used the Genki textbooks, I’d like to know your opinion on them! Too fast, too slow, accurate grammar?
(Just as an FYI, I already have Genki. Just wondering the opinion of people who have used it all the way through.)
I went through Genki I + II, I thought they were a great way of establishing a foundation in grammar 
I highly recommend doing the accompanying workbooks as well for extra reinforcement and practice
It was the perfect pace for me, though I did skip the classroom/partner activity sections
6 Likes
I feel the same and did the same.
I don’t know what it’s like to start Genki from zero knowledge since I knew some basic stuff from before (chapter 6-7 included new grammar for me) but I absolutely loved it. I thought that it explained almost everything really well. Out of all the grammar that Genki I + II teaches, I can remember being confused twice throughout the whole series and that’s not too bad if you ask me.
1 Like
I bought it on a whim 3 weeks ago, and almost returned it, but the guys here told me to keep it.
Was a good decision, since I have already learn a ton of new things.
For me Genki was perfect. I have studied with Japanese for busy people and also with JLPT textbooks. None of them had such in depth grammar explanations.
- Good
- Bad
0 voters
No, there is no middle ground.
4 Likes
Great launching point. Setup and general flow is definitely easier while still going into more depth in each lesson than, say, JapanesePod or Japanese for Busy People. Still would say that there is no golden resource for any language: gotta pile your exposure thick. But I would highly recommend adding Genki to your exposure pile.
I have the first edition of Genki and not the second, so I don’t know if there is any difference.
I haven’t been far with Genki yet (and that’s only my fault) but I find it very well constructed and I wish I was in class so I could do everything it has to offer.
My sister is an English teacher and she told me that few English textbooks are as well made as this.
I also have the workbook and I think it is a must since it helps a lot to reinforce what you just learned.
By the way, I will find the chance to put a personal question about Genki and learning in general.
How should I learn to write/say the adjectives?
With the ~くありません endings
or the ~くないです endings?
I know the first one is the formal one and the other one sounds more natural. But if I would have to give a jlpt test, would the second option count as correct or not?
I am thinking to learn both at the same time, even if it takes me more time but I would like to focus on one if that is more preferable.
In any way I like Genki and when I finish the first one I will definitely buy the second one too.
Genki I and II were great for me. They also offer workbooks and an answer key, if you’re looking to do some additional practice. The explanations for grammar points were clear to me, and the reading passages they provided were a nice first step in beginner-level Japanese reading.
I have run into both. But, maybe because my base was Genki, kuarimasen sounds like the more formal and more standard version? Honestly, I would use kuarimasen through Genki and then just note that you might see/hear it differently. Your use and familiarity with the variations is going to grow extremely rapidly when you venture into real text, so I wouldn’t delay your study too much worrying about mastering two forms when you really only need to be functional in one at this time. But really it’s up to you and your goals: do you feel like you would have achieved more by being able to convey/understand an idea one way and then use your time to progress to another point, or will you feel like you achieved more by being able to convey/understand the same idea two different ways? Self directed study has so many options.
1 Like
doesn’t matter which textbook you use, speed depends more on your comprehension than on the book. just do it from start to end.
my “textbook” was japanesepod101, after pimsleur/michel thomas taught me the absolute basics.
i started with “beginner” and did absolutely every single episode up to and including “upper intermediate”.
i then stopped at “advanced”, because i arrived in japan.
i got precisely what you would expect: great listening comprehension, solid grammar knowledge, clean pronunciation. i didn’t do line-by-line and the pdf files, so zero reading. learned kana on memrise. doing kanji here.
see how this works? as long as you stick to your guns, you will progress. there’s no faster way, your brain can’t grow new pathways more quickly anyway.
all this is years ago now. i’ve been in japan for 6 years, and while i wish at times i’d have done (and finished) wk earlier (i came here in 2015 for a some-months-stint), i can’t say i have regrets. i’m a competent illiterate, but working on that last problem.
I highly recommend doing the accompanying workbooks as well for extra reinforcement and practice
I hear this a lot but it never worked for me. How did you manage to check your work? Unless you’re doing in person lessons or something, the workbook just felt like it would reinforce bad habits or give me undeserved confidence.
Like, if I answer everything in the workbook completely wrong there’s no way to really check that, and I might start thinking the wrong thing is correct. When I was going through Genki I only did the exercises that had an associated audio CD component, since in the CD the answer is said about 5 seconds after the question, giving you time to get it right (or wrong) on your own first. But that’s only like half of the questions, if you’re lucky, and those questions are very scripted drill-type questions, nothing really freeform (by necessity of the format).
^^includes answers for workbook and textbook exercises for Genki 1 and 2.
3 Likes
You can also post the questions and your answers on HelloTalk and have Japanese people correct you. Just also help with their English and it works wonderfully.
1 Like
Genki is… 
3 Likes
I think Genki is a great starting point. My only complaint is that the content is heavily aimed towards students, and a lot of the vocabulary is oriented towards student life and academics.
As a lawyer who has been out of school for a few years, I’m not sure how many times a day I need to ask about someone’s major.
Although I look pretty young, so during my trip to Japan I did find myself having to say, fairly often, 私は学生じゃないです。弁護士です。
1 Like
I’m late to the party, but overall I like Genki. I’m long out of college so the storyline isn’t overly compelling, but I found what I was learning to be better than what I was getting out of Japanes for Busy People. My main complaint is that the audio files are on discs, and Japan Today doesn’t seem to think they need to move into the 21st century by making their audio files available for download. In fairness, this seems to be the case with a lot of Japanese companies (you think Japan is so tech forward until you live there and get your carbon copy, hand written paystub — they did eventually upgrade to a Word printout). But I don’t own a CD ROM and I’m not going to buy one just for this. If anyone has a contact — please tell them to leave ancient history behind!
hey if you want the audio files I have them all! just let me know and I’ll send a link to you on Google drive or something
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.