Hey guys, I've got a question

Since school is over, I finally have time to start with serious Japanese learning
I thought I'd go with selfstudy and decided to go with the Genki books (haven't bought them yet) because what I've read about them was mostly positive. Unfortunately I don't have the possibility to check them out in a bookstore, but what I've seen on pics seems good.
For more grammar after Genki, I thought I'd go with the A Dictionary of ... Japanese Grammar books. Now my question is, how much grammar is covered in the Genki books? Is the "Basic" book covered and I can go with the Intermediate one? And what's more, is this even a good idea? ^^

Thank you really much for your answers

Welcome. I know what it's like to be on summer!

Genki is a good beginner textbook for those who want to learn everything at once in a structured but unfortunately somewhat slow pace.

Most people here would recommend for self-study a set of different materials, and the best part is that most are free (or have free alternatives)!

For grammar, Tae Kim is probably one of the best free resources. The DoxJG are best of the best when it comes to English explanations of grammar. Beware, though, if you're looking to take the JLPT, there are apparently some N1/N2 points that are missing from the set. Otherwise they are amazing resources. It's best to pair them with another resource, like Tae Kim or Japanese the Manga Way (very good book), to use them as back-up in case you don't understand a listed grammar point.

They're also fun to read if you're a weirdo like me.

For vocabulary, downloading Anki is a must. The free core 6k deck is a good way to start learning vocabulary. I believe it also has audio?

For listening, listen, listen, listen! Listen to podcasts, watch anime, watch doramas, whatever. Subs2SRS is a program that helps break those down into cards, but generally should be attempted once you have some basis of grammar/vocabulary.

This is all assuming that you've done (or at least given a good try to) RTK. Or plan to do it con-currently (which despite the blasphemy, can be done). I'm doing RTK rather slow, but I have found that I recognize kanji better when I do the RTK counterpart properly.

Okay, I think I covered almost everything.

I'm actually going through Genki now (one chapter to go at the end of the first book). I'd say everything in the first Genki book (grammar wise) is in the BJG. The BJG has A LOT more grammar in it than Genki 1 covers, so after Genki 1 you will still want the dictionary. I can't say about after finishing book 2, as I haven't reached that far.

What I will definitely recommend, is that you use ADoBJG WITH Genki. I find Genki's explanations and examples quite lacking at times (I do have the older version, though), and even when they are sufficient, I get a much better grasp of the grammar points by going through it in BJG as well, as I will get more explanation and a lot more sentences.

Also, even if Genki 1+2 cover everything in the BJG, the dictionary is extremely useful because when you can't remember, or just want some clarification on something, it's much easier to just flip open the dictionary to point that you are looking for, rather than searching through Genki for it.

If you can't tell, I love the dictionary.

Hope that helps.

Thank you very much for these answers.

@nohika: I know Tae Kim, and I really like it. But I prefer books to learn with, it kinda reminds me of school and gives me a bit of pressure to continue ^^ But I'll definitely use it for further explanations. I actually do aim for the JLPT5 or 4 in december, but that might be a bit too early
As for the vocab, I like japaneseclass.jp, since it has a ranking system which motivates me But I'll also check out the core deks. Thx for the recommendation. Listening is no problem, I love animes xD
And yeah, I do RTK, but only at 290 so far ^^

@rahsoul:Thank you for the advice for using them simoultaneously. I would have used them one after the other xD I see you're doing exactly what I planned and it seems to work. Good to hear

nibill Wrote:Thank you very much for these answers.

@nohika: I know Tae Kim, and I really like it. But I prefer books to learn with, it kinda reminds me of school and gives me a bit of pressure to continue ^^ But I'll definitely use it for further explanations. I actually do aim for the JLPT5 or 4 in december, but that might be a bit too early
As for the vocab, I like japaneseclass.jp, since it has a ranking system which motivates me But I'll also check out the core deks. Thx for the recommendation. Listening is no problem, I love animes xD
And yeah, I do RTK, but only at 290 so far ^^

If you want motivation, there's a plug-in in Anki called AnkiEmperor that many people find very motivating. You're basically ruling Japan through Anki reviews.

It's a big adjustment from learning how you do in school to learning more efficiently, tbh. Genki is good and all, but it can be somewhat slow and inefficient and its vocabulary is geared towards a very basic set of situations. It's also pretty expensive.

Try and find subtitles (in Japanese) for the anime you listen to, so you can follow along and figure out what they're saying instead of blindly listening to something incomprehensible.

Genki is fine. It works well with ADBJG. Did that a long time ago. The audio is pretty good.

I found it *really* useful to scan the answer book and make flash cards out of the problem sets to practice grammar. (Fill in the blank, not multiple choice.)

Minna no Nihongo is also really good. It's all in Japanese, with separate English translations if you need them. It will get you about the same results, maybe with less-annoying dialogues. (Did they change the dialogues in the new Genki? I found the old dialogues annoying.)

Both series have an intermediate path as well, both are made by good companies. Both will probably set you back a couple of bills new, cheaper used.

@nohika: Thanks for your answer. What exactly do you mean by "...slow and inefficient..."? That it takes a lot of time to make progress and grammar is too less covered?

@rich_f: "Genki is fine. It works well with ADBJG." Thank you, exactly what I wanted to hear

And Genki isn't even that expensive if you buy it from amazon.jp, even with shipping fees it's not even close to what you'd pay in a shop here (at least here in Switzerland)