Genki 1: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese

One can never say that a language learning book has ever been 'finished', but for what it's worth, I have worked through this volume, and found it more than adequate as a first introduction to Japanese. My volume came with its colored stickers and its own CD, from amazon.co.jp, but with the abundant resources on YouTube, don't think I ever felt the need to use the CD. On the whole, I just love the layout, the clear print, the copious exercise, and the tables of 139 kanji (Chinese-based hieroglyphics) and the glossaries and verb conjugations at the back. I don't see that any other textbook is actually called for, after this one (and its Volume II, which also I have worked through). The next stage, as far as I can see, is to get going show more with the kanji (aiming at some 1000), composing paragraphs, practicing listening and speaking, and increasing one's vocabulary. show less

The grammar explanations and pace of progression are not bad. The vocabulary choice is decent, as well as the (not many) dialogues and the reading sections.
What I did not like, especially compared to language learning books of other languages, especially European (take [b:Themen Aktuell|574462|Themen Aktuell|Hartmut Aufderstraße|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1175920847s/574462.jpg|561453] as an example, in this case for German), is that the exercise sections (both of the coursebook and the workbook) are not effective. They mainly consist of grammar drill repetition where an example is shown and all the further items just imply repeating the example with new words. There are almost no productive exercises (such as fill the blanks show more of a dialogues, decide which verb tense/vocabulary is more appropriate), as well as it totally lacks any review of and links to what happened in the past. Also the dialogues are few, and it lacks short dialogues to reinforce the communicative functions.
Still way better than equivalent Chinese learning books ([b:New Practical Chinese Reader 1 Textbook|1218932|New Practical Chinese Reader 1 Textbook|Liu Xun|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387700418s/1218932.jpg|1207409]), but a long distance from English and European languages courses. show less

There was some good material in this book, but I tried to finish it 3 times, and just couldn't. I guess, for me, it would be a better material for a classroom setting, rather than trying to go through it on my own.

This is one of the best books for the serious student who wants to learn real Japanese. It enables the student to read, write, listen and speak. The book can easily be used for self-study or as part of a classroom. Its only drawback is cost, but if anyone has studied a language before knows, it is an expensive undertaking.

Very easy to learn from. I would definitely recommend this book to someone interested in learning Japanese.

Laaja oppikirja japanin kielestä. Erilaiset taulukot ja kuvat ovat mukava lisä kielioppisääntöihin. Vaikka kielenä on englanti, kirjaa on mukava lukea.