|
 |
Which books/courses for Japanese? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5837 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 5 07 December 2008 at 7:09am | IP Logged | ||
|
I've been putting off learning Japanese for about 2 years, I've been preoccupied with other things and never really had the time. However, I feel now fairly motivated to study it, but I'm not sure which books to use.
The books I currently have are: Genki 1 Japanese for Busy People Colloquial Japanese Which book do you feel would be best to use, as I want to start off with as solid a text book as I can to avoid as many confusions as possible to start with. I can read Kana to a resonable degree, so course which uses that solely isn't a problem. Thanks for any advice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| unzum Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom soyouwanttolearnalan Joined 6920 days ago 371 posts - 478 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 5 07 December 2008 at 11:36am | IP Logged | ||
|
Genki is the one that is always highly recommended. I haven't used it that much but it seems to be similar to Japanese for Everyone, which is what I use and I love it.
I wouldn't really recommend Japanese for Busy People. It uses romaji too much and doesn't introduce enough characters. Also, almost every single exercise seems to be pattern drills, which gets really boring after a while. It's also very oriented towards business people learning Japanese; if that's your situation then that's fine but it's kinda boring for anyone else. I haven't really used Colloquial Japanese but the reviews on Amazon look okay. Genki will give you the best start, in my opinion. Of course, there's nothing wrong with following more than one course at a time, in fact it's very helpful. For extra vocabulary try iKnow! and for reinforcing the grammar you learn from textbooks try the video course Let's learn Japanese 1 & 2; both fun (& free) study options. Good luck! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5988 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 3 of 5 07 December 2008 at 1:05pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I bought an older addition of Japanese for Busy People about five years ago but found it hard to work with and forgot about learning Japanese until this year. In retrospect, I think this was because I bought the kana version and at the time I tried to jump into the textbook before making a serious effort to learn the kana and became frustrated. I didn't have access to the audio to go with the textbook and think this would have probably made a difference. I also find it much easier to read text written in kanji (with furigana), whereas the text in the first volume at least of JFBP is all in kana.
I have been working with Genki as my primary textbook this time around and it has worked for me so far. I would say that JFBP is oriented towards business people and Genki towards university students and this certainly influences a lot of the vocabulary that is taught, however they both cover similar ground in terms of grammar. As you already own a selection of textbooks, it would probably be worthwhile to have a go at a chapter or two from each of them and see which approach you prefer. Ultimately, any textbook is "incomplete" and in time you will find yourself supplementing your studies with other material. I also second the recommendation for Let's Learn Japanese - it's incredibly cheesey but I have found it really useful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 4 of 5 11 December 2008 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | ||
Thanks for posting the link to the Let's Learn Japanese video course. Do you know where it's possible to find the accompanying textbooks online? Edited by stelingo on 11 December 2008 at 3:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| darikuri Newbie Australia Joined 5823 days ago 2 posts - 3 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 5 22 December 2008 at 12:45am | IP Logged | ||
|
I haven't owned or used the books you mentioned so I can't comment on them, sorry.
I hear "Minna No Nihongo" a lot, and there are a few websites which have test material based on the learning content in this book series. An exchange partner of mine used to teach Japanese in The United States (she is a Japanese person) and she owns the Minna No Nihongo books. They have lots of example conversations and dialogue, with exercises. A REALLY useful quiz website is the University of Nagoya's Grammar Online intranet. I use it frequently to test my grammar knowledge and find out where my weak points are. http://opal.ecis.nagoya-u.ac.jp/webcmjg/ Despite which book you start with, you can always look up information on the internet to help complement the text in the book. You're very lucky that there is a wealth of information available for free on the internet for Japanese, when just a few years ago it was mostly textbook and teacher only support. Use the textbook as a guide for what to study (e.g. grammar points to learn) and research the rest online. That's my advice. 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
