Quick question here. Just kinda wondering for those who did genki 1&2 university what kind of level each book completed is at. Like 101 102 201 202 ect.

in community college, genki 1 was first year, genki 2 was second year.

same at my university...

Some universities use one book per term.
Some offer 2 streams: book/yr for elective students and book/term for Japanese majors

Anyone know what kind of level genki 1&2 compare with for jlpt. If my guess is correct 1&2 might get you JLPT3 with some extra study.

N4. In order to N3 you would have to a lot of extra studying.


Genki 1/2 Covers
300 Kanji
about 1500 words
This is roughly what is covered on N4

N3 Tests
600-650 Kanji
3000+ Words

I recently finished two years of college level Japanese, and thought N3 would be a small reach, but it is quite a Jump, so much so that I'm skipping the JLPT this year, and doing a ton of review of the past two years, with a plan to start N3 material in Janurary

I think N4 is a small reach from G1+G2, there's definitely some vocab and some grammar to pick up.

Of course N4 used to be the original level 3, so maybe that's why it's thought that Genki corresponds with N3.

kainzero Wrote:in community college, genki 1 was first year, genki 2 was second year.

Does your college call genki 2 "intermediate japanese"? My does. For some reason it bugs me.

Genki 1 is first year at mine, and Genki 2 is second year. Second year class is called intermediate at mine as well.

[Zgarbas]

Mine also calls vol. 2 Intermediate(ok, it's minna no nihongo, but it's pretty much the same thing. We also have year 1 for vol.1 and year2 for vol.2.

I think that's because the use the normal classification for such courses. Normally once you get the basic gist of a language(basic grammar, a few hundred words, pronouns etc.) you're considered Intermediate. This is obviously not the case with Japanese, but it would be weird to have all the other courses with "year 2: Intermediate level" and just Japanese with "year 2: Totally still a beginner level. ".

My university used Genki1 in the first semester and Genki2 in the second semester. My Community College had them in the first and second year respectively (4 semesters total). Level is around N4 I think. The next book would be "An integrated approach to intermediate Japanese" which puts you around N3.

I know my university uses Genki.

Beginner (Two semester parts 1010, 1020)
They get up to Chapter 8 in Genki

Intermediate (Two semesters 1040, 1050)
They get up to like Chapter 16 (Genki II)

Advanced (Two semesters 2001, 2002)
Semester 1- Genki II (16 - (I'm guessing we'll get to 20?)
Semester 2- Genki II ( I assume whatever's left)


I didn't take the Beginner or Intermediate classes, but I studied the parts of the books this summer to test into the "Advanced class" after discovering that is all I had to do. Pretty nice series indeed.

My university used Genki 1 for first year. Genki 2 for second year. Genki 1 for first semester 3rd year, and Genki 2 for second semester 3rd year. There was no fourth year material. Nobody learned anything.

Genki 1 should be first semester. Genki 2 should be second semester. Any slower, and you'll wind up forgetting grammar faster than you can learn it. It'll be more difficult to get a comprehensive overview of the basics which is what beginner level is supposed to do.

Both books are basic beginner level. At the end of Genki 2 you will be ready to start lower-intermediate level material. I'm not sure how this corresponds to the JLPT, but I was able to bootstrap my way through intermediate level without much trouble(Anki + KiC + どんな時どう使う日本語 + drill books) in order to pass JLPT2 not long after finishing Genki 2 in an intensive course on study abroad.