Hi,

After finishing Genki 2, the level should be N4. Everyone says to do the Tobira or Integrated Approach, then the Kanzen 2 books.

But how about Kanzen 3 after the Genki books?? then follow with Kanzen 2?
Seems not many mention the Kanzen 3 book...is it too much overlap with the Genki books?

Thanks

Not having used the Genki books myself, I don't exactly know what they cover. However, if I remember it correctly, they are quite comparable to Minna no Nihongo 1&2 with respect to what they cover. If that holds, you can definitely pick up the 新完全マスター文法N3 book and skip the others you've mentioned. One nice thing about this pathway is that it nicely prepares you to study with the N2&N1 kanzen books:
While the N2&N1 books are completely in Japanese, the N3 book still has some explanations in English. So using the N3 book eases the transition.

Eventually I'd also suggest you to branch out your studies, assuming you've mainly used textbooks so far. Around the N3 level it's possible to start reading with some effort, and this will expand your exposure beyond the tame textbook Japanese. E.g. the 'Read Real Japanese' books are a nice option to get started.

I was watching Japanese subtitled anime well before I got to your level, and while it's tough at that stage it should come a lot easier to you now.

It will still be a struggle at first since it is unfamiliar territory but it will really help you to start grasping how Japanese works "in the wild" and getting an intuitive understanding. I wrote a more detailed explanation of how to get started here.

This isn't necessarily instead of going on to other textbooks, I read some too (but only read them). However you really don't need to wait any longer to start actually using Japanese rather than only studying it.

For grammar I found the Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese much more useful than the textbooks. It is clearer and goes deeper in my view.

so you think the Kanzen N3 book can replace the Tobira book? I just wonder why people here recommend the Tobira book as opposed to the Kanzen 3 book for transition to N2.

So far, after Genki 2, I started working through newspaper articles and watching dramas...very very slowly. Just consulting dictionaries when I don't understand something. Debating whether to continue doing this or moving onto the Tobira/Kanzen books. Checked out a Tobira audio sample, problem is the audio is read at an extremely slow pace.

I went from Genki to Kanzen N3. The progression feels natural, but I'm would recommend having a tutor that can help you with the book. Quite a few times the book omits some details or nuances regarding the grammar points. For me it has been a help to have the dictionaries of japanese grammar to support my studies of Kanzen.

I also happen to have Tobira, but I haven't been using it much. The explanations of grammar points are quite short too. But at least it provides more context to experience the grammar points in action.

Hinsudesu Wrote:I went from Genki to Kanzen N3. The progression feels natural, but I'm would recommend having a tutor that can help you with the book. Quite a few times the book omits some details or nuances regarding the grammar points. For me it has been a help to have the dictionaries of japanese grammar to support my studies of Kanzen.

I also happen to have Tobira, but I haven't been using it much. The explanations of grammar points are quite short too. But at least it provides more context to experience the grammar points in action.

I also recommend getting a tutor to help. The Japanese Online Institute has group lessons for N3 that actually use Kanzen N3. They have a trial where 3 lessons cost $9. You can look at the lesson syllabus beforehand and see which grammar point they will cover (they actually say which page in kanzen they're on).