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WingsToDiscovery's Avatar
WingsToDiscovery (Offline)
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Azabu-juban, Tokyo
08-06-2010, 03:35 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by willgoestocollege View Post
Japanese for Busy People and Genki are popular books to self study Japanese but I'm not a big fan of them. Japanese for Busy People uses a lot of Romaji whiles Genki uses a lot of English. I have a friend who is a non native English and told me he learnt more English vocab than Japanese in Genki.
I've actually had a different experience with Genki. It really does push a lot of English on you at first, but what makes Genki a gem IMO is that it literally forces you to learn to read and write in Japanese to progress. In the very first few pages of the book, you're already hit with hiragana and katakana, and by the 3rd or 4th chapter you're learning kanji.
Genki transitions for the student. By the end of the first book, all of the material is written in Japanese (including exercise directions), and you're forced to learn it to progress in the book. That's worth it to me.


I'm not a cynic; I just like to play Devil's Advocate once in a while.
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StonerPenguin's Avatar
StonerPenguin (Offline)
loves bein' gross ಥ‿à
 
Posts: 357
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: The Goddamn Bible Belt
08-06-2010, 04:44 PM

You know there's kana only versions of JFBP right? I used volumes 2 and 3 (kana ver) and I thought they were decent... I haven't used Genki though I would've liked to (I doubt they'd be any use to me now as I'm at a more intermediate level) I agree with WingsToDiscovery, a book that forces you to learn is the best I really with Living Languages "Ultimate Japanese" series was like that -- that book would be fantastic if it didn't use romaji the whole way through... (and if they had defined Ichidan and godan verbs properly...)

Also, I'm sorry but I have a hard time buying any 'manga' related Japanese textbooks -- it's just too nerdy (especially ones that use romaji)
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KyleGoetz's Avatar
KyleGoetz (Offline)
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Location: Texas
08-06-2010, 04:49 PM

I wonder if there are how-to-English books using X-Men...
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Pimpzilla (Offline)
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: America!
08-06-2010, 06:35 PM

You should try Genki. I found it to be a really helpful and easy to understand textbook. However, they gradually wean you off of romanji after the first couple chapters.
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kikujirononatsu (Offline)
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Join Date: Aug 2010
08-13-2010, 11:12 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamboP26 View Post
I'd like to suggest a Japanese Phrase book. I have it & it contains a list of Hiragana & Katakana. Also, various sentences (depending on situation) & a small dictionary at the back. Sentences & dictionary have 3 columns. The English, Kanji & Romanji. I found the link on Amazon.de, to avoid ordering problems.

Amazon.de - BBC Japanese Phrase Book

looks nice! thanks
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