Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese with MP3 CD-ROM Textbook & Workbook Set

Genki #1, Workbook

by Eri Banno, Yoko Ikeda, Yutaka Ohno

SET OF 2 BOOKS! Includes Workbook and Textbook. GENKI is a highly acclaimed series of integrated resources for learning elementary Japanese through a well-balanced approach to all four language skill areas-speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

Genres: Japanese Literature, Japan

ebook

Published March 1, 2011

Reviews

[ジェシカ]

Two classes of Japanese done!

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

In truth, I got the Genki I and II, but suddenly became a violinist and had to abort. That's fate for you, but I think I got something to say for those considering to learn Japanese on their own:

The Genki series is perfectly suited for students and autodidacts alike. Every chapter introduces a small amount of words and rules (aka vocabulary, grammar, expressions, etc.) and focuses on reading and writing exercises that can be done alone well, with the exception of only a few you really need a class for.

However, I don't think the books alone will be enough for some hobbyist learner at home (like me).

1) You will want to head over to tofugu.com/ and check out their first step guides. Learn hiragana and katakana before you do anything else, and use the memory-games, worksheets and other resources they offer. If you're dedicated and motivated you can learn all 90ish characters in a weekend. (though, if you buy the Genki package from amazon, you'll get laminated cheat-sheets for reference.)

2) You will want to continue with learning kanji, for which I utterly, absolutely, insistently recommend wanikani.com. The idea is simple: If you want to learn a new language, any language, you will first want to learn their alphabet. In the case of Japanese, hiragana, katakana and kanji make up that alphabet. Romanji doesn't count, unless you want to stick out like a sour thumb in every conversation ever, thanks to your horrible pronunciation, an remain illiterate where even most elementary phrases are concerned.

By this logic you would have to finish all 3000 kanji wanikani can teach you before considering Genki, and by the way people are known who managed that feat within a year of using said platform. But, in fact, you can do this side by side with the Genki exercises, and it will boost your Japanese learning extremely.

The Genki exercises take up a considerable amount of time, especially if you do this as a hobby next to your daily chores and full time job. You won't do them everyday (most likely), though you will feel rewarded for every chapter you accomplish.

WaniKani, on the other hand, you can do every day with ~20 minute sessions for your reviews and lessons. The trick is to pace yourself correctly, but nothing is ever lost and it doesn't hurt to not do all the reviews once in a while. WaniKani is an efficient, if not the efficient platform for memorizing kanji, which is what you want to do.

But if you are utilizing these online resources to support your Genki exercises and progress, you should feel well on your way in very short time. Personally, upon reaching level 6 on WaniKani and heaving gone way into chapter 2, I was already reading authentic Japanese news for children on my mobile, without a translator-app at hand. (Tofugo will give you tips and links to available reading material for all levels, hence my recommending it.)

I hope you will find these books as educational and fun to work through as I have, and wish you well on your journey towards fluent Japanese! Onigaishimasu! :D

[Amelia Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

These two books helped me learn Japanese easily

[Lina Alablani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for self-study. Organized and easy to understand. All the examples written in kanji had furigana which made it easy to focus on the grammar rather than suddenly turn it into a kanji lesson.
The second part of the book has reading and writing practices which is great. Also, it has so many exercises to practice the grammar points.