Genki 1!?!?

[kurasaki214]

ah. icic. well thank you ppl for all the help!

[Harold]

Originally Posted by filiadragongurl

To be honest, my professor said that Genki isn't a very good series for learning Japanese... I never used Genki 1, but used Genki 2 when I studied abroad in Japan and I guess it was okay, but I could kind of see where my prof was coming from. All the dialogues are kind of silly, especially considering that by the time you really learn Japanese you'll want to be using it for business, not for being an exchange student in high school... But by all means, it *is* a place to start, so go for it. I just wanted to mention that side too.

Oh, and the work book is filling out questions for listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and sentences for learning vocab and grammer. Also in the back is kanji practice.

The genki series is good for exercises, but everything else could be better. It's really hard to self-study because, although is brings back certain things sometimes, I find myself forgetting some of the grammar that I was taught earlier in the series. Take this from a person who's on chapter 21 out of 24 (I think it's 24. BTW, I'm in Genki II right now). Genki will not leave you ready for the "real Japan". I know I will still have to find more Japanese study books to be really ready.

The hardest thing about Japanese after kanji is the vocabulary. Almost no Latin or Greek roots (thank God for those few imported words!)...

[kurasaki214]

how long did it take you to get that far in the series

[Harold]

I started around late May (Like May 20th) and I've been studying off and on up until now. I will probably finish by this Friday (I can do about a chapter every 2 days.) The first GENKI took less time to do because I already knew hiragana before I had started it. Every night, I probably studied about 2 hours?

So... I've put in about 500 (give or take) hours of study.

[Harold]

To give you an idea of how much it takes to do a chapter, I'm on chapter 23 now. (It's the last one out of the whole genki series). Thanksgiving break has given me a LOT of time to catch up on my studies. I've been doing about 3 hours a day...

[kurasaki214]

ah. yeah. Like you, i already know some japanese before I have the book. I was gonna ask for both books for x-mas but i think I'll ask for genki 2 for my b-day in a couple months.



my favorite japanese phrase cuz its sooo random : あのねこはりんごを食べたところ

that cat.....just ate an apple!! haha yeah. I'm random.

[Harold]

Originally Posted by kurasaki214

ah. yeah. Like you, i already know some japanese before I have the book. I was gonna ask for both books for x-mas but i think I'll ask for genki 2 for my b-day in a couple months.



my favorite japanese phrase cuz its sooo random : あのねこはりんごを食べたところ

that cat.....just ate an apple!! haha yeah. I'm random.

Actually, that means "The place where that cat ate the apple."

[kurasaki214]

so i've just been told on this other forum.....but look at this.

here:Lesson 82
Ta Form + tokoro

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a simple add-on that states that you (or someone else) have done something just now. One similar to this, the Ta Form + bakari, was already covered in Lesson 74. The major difference between these two is that bakari has a kind of "relatively speaking" sense to it, while tokoro really means just now. For example, sono kasa o katta bakari (I just bought that umbrella) could be used even if the umbrella was bought a week ago because, relatively speaking, it's still brand-new. However, if tokoro were used in this sentence instead of bakari, it would mean that the person had just bought the umbrella a moment ago; or, in the least recent sense, that the person had just arrived home from buying it.

Here are some examples where tokoro is used frequently. Ima (now) is often placed before the verb to emphasize the freshness of the event:

Watashi wa ima kaetta tokoro. (I just got back now.)
Kodomotachi wa ima tabeta tokoro. (The kids just finished eating.)
Kono heya o souji shita tokoro desu. (I just cleaned this room.)
As usual, add desu to make a statement polite.

There is another handy use for tokoro, and that is with plain (Base 3) verbs with datta (plain) or deshita (polite) added on. It's used to convey "was just about to....":

Ima Sachiko ni denwa suru tokoro datta. (I was just about to call Sachiko.)
Watashi no saifu o wasureru tokoro datta. (I almost forgot my wallet.)

[Harold]

hy

Originally Posted by kurasaki214

so i've just been told on this other forum.....but look at this.

here:Lesson 82
Ta Form + tokoro

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a simple add-on that states that you (or someone else) have done something just now. One similar to this, the Ta Form + bakari, was already covered in Lesson 74. The major difference between these two is that bakari has a kind of "relatively speaking" sense to it, while tokoro really means just now. For example, sono kasa o katta bakari (I just bought that umbrella) could be used even if the umbrella was bought a week ago because, relatively speaking, it's still brand-new. However, if tokoro were used in this sentence instead of bakari, it would mean that the person had just bought the umbrella a moment ago; or, in the least recent sense, that the person had just arrived home from buying it.

Here are some examples where tokoro is used frequently. Ima (now) is often placed before the verb to emphasize the freshness of the event:

Watashi wa ima kaetta tokoro. (I just got back now.)
Kodomotachi wa ima tabeta tokoro. (The kids just finished eating.)
Kono heya o souji shita tokoro desu. (I just cleaned this room.)
As usual, add desu to make a statement polite.

There is another handy use for tokoro, and that is with plain (Base 3) verbs with datta (plain) or deshita (polite) added on. It's used to convey "was just about to....":

Ima Sachiko ni denwa suru tokoro datta. (I was just about to call Sachiko.)
Watashi no saifu o wasureru tokoro datta. (I almost forgot my wallet.)

hehe, that's one thing Genki fails to cover then.

[kurasaki214]

haha . i guess so. the site I've been learning from explains all of that kind of stuff. which i think genki wont so i'm trying to get stuff from everywhere.

its: Japanese Verbs - Introduction and Table of Contents