Japanese Textbook Recommendations

February 19, 2007 on 5:16 pm | In Books, Language | | Email This Post

I am often asked about textbook recommendations for learning Japanese. I finally got around to asking my most trusted Japanese teachers and friends about books they recommended for beginners… And narrowed it down to these.

The incredibly popular Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese.

japanese_textbook_recommendations

Genki has been receiving rave reviews. Clear explainations, a great audio suppliment, and resonable price make this a favorite. If I were to recommend only one book for the person who wants to seriously learn Japanese from scratch, this book would be it. Many universities also use Genki as a textbook. My University however, used another book called JSL, which I will introduce next.

One note regarding Genki. The answers are not in the textbook, so you’ll need to pick up the Genki answer book as well if you don’t have a native speaker available to check your work.

Japanese: The Spoken Language

japanese_textbook_recommendations

The JSL Series were used at my university when I was a student. The books have example sentences from serious societal situations, not just random conversations about people going for a walk in the park, or ordering things from a restaraunt. In this sense, this textbook is great start for those who want to eventually be able to use Japanese in their profession.

JSL is often critisized due to it’s heavy use of the Roomaji and notations to help readers with pronounciation. This shouldn’t be an issue however if you use the book properly by listening to the audio samples provided, and not rely on the Roomaji to get through the lessons.

The original version of JSL comes with audio cassettes, however there is now a CD version available.

Japanese: The Spoken Language CD-ROM for PC

In my second year Japanese class at Indiana Univeristy we used Japanese, The Spoken Language: Part 2. The roomaji was in fact annoying, however, if you’re a serious student you can write the stuff in Hiragana and Kanji in your notebook anyway. And also, as one reviewer on the Amazon site has noted, the roomanization is not the point of this book.

The strong point of JSL in the grammar explainations and example sentence quality. If you go through this book with the audio guides, and really drill the lessons, your Japanese will improve. There is a reason that many universities rely on this textbook to build the foundation for their early language students.

I would recommend the JSL series to students of Japanese who are ready to go a bit deeper, and are not necessarily looking for a quick Japanese crash course.

That’s it.

Now that I have said all that, if you can only get one book, get Genki.

Let me know in the comments what other opinions you have of the Japanese language textbooks out there!

- Harvey

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16 Comments »

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  1. Gravatar

    I personally really like Yookoso (Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku). Its very well structured, especially for a classroom environment. The grammar structures are clearly laid out, the book is incremental, and it has a nice blend of situational conversations and examples that really give insight to the nuances of a particular word or phrase. I can’t say much about the audio exercises however, as we only used those to supplement other audio material used in the classes, but from what I did hear they were at least clear. I’ve picked up some other books overtime and have never been able to get the same out of them as Yookoso.

    Comment by drew — February 19, 2007 #

  2. Gravatar

    well, i’m looking for a book to learn japanese, so i’ll take note on those books.

    i’ve found only dictionaries in brazil. none actually reached the grammar level =(

    so those ones i’m going to have them delivered by mail from amazon? or you can buy them in japan?

    Comment by berz — February 20, 2007 #

  3. Gravatar

    I too can lend my support to Genki, having gone through both 1 and 2. Unfortunately, it didn’t really take effect until after my two months in Japan, but I can testify that some of my friends who didn’t go, still manages to keep up in class these days by working hard with his Genki. The grammar explanations are particularly helpful, particularly when compared with my grammar handbooks, which although comprehensive, can sometimes be lacking in clarity. Bonus points given for weaning us off romaji after only the first or second week, really drills it good.

    Comment by Anders — February 20, 2007 #

  4. Gravatar

    Hey benz, I believe you -might- be able to find these books in Japan, but even if you can, it is better to buy them from Amazon US.

    In Japan in foreign bookstores the textbooks are usually marked up 1.5 to 2 times the marked cover price. It’s really crazy. Even though I am in Japan, if I see a book I want on the bookshelf at a store, often times I will order it from Amazon US and have it shipped to me, and it ends up being cheaper.

    Only trouble is you have to wait for the delivery…

    Comment by harvey — February 20, 2007 #

  5. Gravatar

    overseas delivery are that slow ?

    well, i have to save some money first anyway. since upon arriving i’ll be quite broke =p

    Comment by berz — February 20, 2007 #

  6. Gravatar

    Well, slow as in 2-3 weeks. I guess it’s not bad :-) But in our “instant on” society it feels slow to me!

    Comment by harvey — February 20, 2007 #

  7. Gravatar

    We use Genki too in our classes.seems to be pretty popular!

    Comment by karthik — February 20, 2007 #

  8. Gravatar

    Can someone clarify what product is being sold in the amazon link provided? It’s at least the textbook, but the page also mentions an “audio CD version”. Does that mean this link is the cassette tape version, or is it just the book alone. And is the CD version *just* a CD, no book?! That’s how it looks, which is strange considering it is more expensive than the book. Geez, if I am this easily confused just trying to order a textbook, how am I ever going to actually learn the language…

    Comment by Dennis — February 21, 2007 #

  9. Gravatar

    Dennis, I think it is the textbook with audio CD’s.

    See below, from the Amazon page.

    Paperback: 344 pages
    Publisher: Varsitybooks.Com (May 1999)
    …
    In-Print Editions: Audio CD (Com Disc)

    Comment by harvey — February 21, 2007 #

  10. Gravatar

    The JSL books also have a supliment that lists the exercises in regular, non-Romaji Japanese. At least, they did when I learned Japanese in college many years ago.

    Comment by Godzilla — February 21, 2007 #

  11. Gravatar

    I got my copy from here:
    http://www.thejapanshop.com/home.php

    In categories section at left, goto Beginners. Search for Genki. All the books, audio and answer keys are available.

    I’m stoked to see it gets the Harvey Nod o’ Approval!

    Comment by Clive — February 21, 2007 #

  12. Gravatar

    Hey Clive I was wondering what happened to ya. Long time no hear-from!

    Yeah it seems that GENKI is the way to go these days.

    Personally I want to get Remembering the Kanji after I am done with my school program now, but that is not technically a book I would recommend for beginners. If you’re a beginner who wants to hit Kanji hardcore and never quit… I would recommend it. But, it’s kind of an over the top method for someone who just wants to give Japanese a try.

    Anyway, GENKI is it!

    Comment by harvey — February 21, 2007 #

  13. Gravatar

    I heard that many people use the “minna no nihongo” series of books. I haven’t used that series myself, so I can’t judge it. The series that I used is called “Japanese for busy people”. It comes with CDs which cover almost all conversations that are printed in the book. I used it several years ago, according to my Japanese teacher have the books recently been updated. He is now even more enthusiastic than before about these books. I guess all the books I have mentioned can be bought via Amazon.

    Comment by J. — February 21, 2007 #

  14. Gravatar

    Digging through the reviews/comments cleared up the book/cd issue. The link originally provided here is for the textbook only. Workbook, answer key, teacher’s manual and CDs are all sold separately. Adding to the confusion, there are two versions of the CDs available - an original 6-CD set and a smaller/cheaper 2-CD “student version”. This page spells it all out: http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/whatis04.en.html It’s not clear whether Amazon is selling the CD 2-pack or the 6-pack, but I think it’s the 2-pack.

    Comment by Dennis — February 22, 2007 #

  15. Gravatar

    LOL Catch-22!

    To get these resources, the JapanTimes website has a How To Order link that directs you to a page entirely in Japanese.

    There is an English link at the bottom, that says you have to order from amazon.com.jp

    Comment by Clive — February 22, 2007 #

  16. Gravatar

    Well, i think anyway.
    :P

    Comment by Clive — February 22, 2007 #

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