I had hoped that by living in Japan and cramming my head full of kanji and vocab, I would eventually absorb a decent amount of grammar. Three months later and this definitely has not happened. My grammar is deplorable; it's time to hit the books.

What is the best way to go about this? What are the notable books and websites? I know some basic stuff, but I'm still definitely a beginner.

Thanks much!

There's a thread about AJATT that deals with learning Japanese via sentences (and context). In resources sticky there's other suggestions on where to look.

I think before you worry about AJATT, you should buy some good textbooks. Genki I and II is my recommendation.

@blackstockc

Check Tae Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese Grammar!
I have found it better than many books!

resolve Wrote:I think before you worry about AJATT, you should buy some good textbooks. Genki I and II is my recommendation.

Yes these were the books I used a bit before coming to Japan and then in Japan my tutor switched me to みんなの日本語 which I think are equally as good.

I liked that there was no English in みんなの日本語 but my tutor was there to explain anything I just couldn't grasp from the examples. If you are going to have a go at it alone then I would recommend the Genki texts as well.

I also like the minna no nihongo series. Though if you are going solo it might be smart to pick up the companion translation and grammar guide. It comes in a variety of languages. Both of the organized classes I took while in Japan used this series as their text.

alantin Wrote:@blackstockc

Check Tae Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese Grammar!
I have found it better than many books!

You're right, it's just so good! For me it's the Bible of grammar

It's no substitute for a good textbook, and according to my girlfriend some of the examples are a bit strange.

resolve Wrote:It's no substitute for a good textbook, and according to my girlfriend some of the examples are a bit strange.

Really? That's a problem, especially since I've put some of those sentences in Anki!

Anyway, reading that guide boosted my understanding of grammar like nothing before. It's easy to understand and (I think) uses a more natural approach compared to academical books. Every time I read a section of TK I was thrilled by my new power in the language.

I admit, though, that I had already studied a good part of that grammar somewhere else (but without grasping is as firmly).

EDIT:
and it wasn't boring in the least!

I'm not saying it's without merit, and the fact that it's a free resource has a lot going for it as well. But I think many people have a tendency to try and learn the language using only online materials, and I certainly wouldn't recommend his guide as a sole resource.

As for grammar, not much tops this book and the follow-up intermediate edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Basic-J...4789004546

resolve Wrote:As for grammar, not much tops this book and the follow-up intermediate edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Basic-J...4789004546

I'll second this. Yorkii introduced those books to me and they are awesome. It's a great reference, the explanations are interesting, and there are tons of example sentences.

Has anyone ever heard of a Japanese teaching series called: "ヤンさんと日本の人々"?
It's a series from the '80s but its definitely worth the while! It has about 40 half an hour lessons or so.

Thats one of the greatest resources I ever found for my studies. And it makes learning the grammar lots of fun too!

I think Minna no Nihongo supplemented by Tae Kim's guide or James Crippen's Dirty Guide to Japanese will not be too confusing, and set up some good habits for using primary materials right away. I like the Unicom JLPT books, too, for their clarity.

Other than the dictionaries wzafran mentions, I don't know that there is one good textbook for Japanese in English. Japanese: the Spoken Language would contend if it weren't all romaji, and most of the others are poor; Yokoso in particular is a train wreck, and they all suffer from "Language Book Speak." "[kana]watashihaanatani...[/kana]" And none of them really seem to go beyond 3Kyuu grammar-- has anyone else noticed this, or are there ones I've missed?