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supermayo8a's review against another edition
5.0
This book was such a big challenge for me. I feel very proud and happy I was able to finish it, even though it took me almost 2 years. The beginning was the most difficult part by far. Getting into the new alphabet, completely new and alien words. But after hours and hours of grinding, I almost shed a tear when I could read the final story in this book. Finishing this book has been one of the hardest challenges of my life. The second half of the book was much easier and I managed to get a steady and consistent pace in the last few months! I cannot wait to move on to the next one and keep this consistent pace! By the way, finished this 3 hours before the New Year 2024! Hurray for me
randomprogrammer's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent for self study. Audio is available on a free phone app, and excersizes can be done online. If you are choosing between the 2nd and 3rd edition, choose the 3rd. It makes real improvements in grammar explanations and usefuleness of the vocabulary lists. It is also a more polished work overall.
altruisticlatte's review against another edition
5.0
I haven't attempted to use any other textbook to learn Japanese because this is the book all my elementary Japanese classes used. Looking at it, I probably could have learned straight from the book because it's really good at explaining the grammar points. The examples are relevant (most of the time) to those that are only learning to travel. I think it's also adorable that there's kind of a love story that bloom between the little cartoon example characters.
My entire class really loved this text book. I will be continuing on with the Genki II book for my intermediate Japanese studies.
My entire class really loved this text book. I will be continuing on with the Genki II book for my intermediate Japanese studies.
ashleylm's review against another edition
4.0
It's okay, and given the alternatives, might even be the best. I didn't find myself drawn to it, I wish Kanji were more integrated (e.g. start us out really slow, teach us "I eat," "I ate," etc., using proper Kanji, and move forward with reading and grammar at the same rate. That would appeal to me, at least. As a 55 year old man, I'm not drawn to the dialogue examples (I want to learn how to say things like "what's a really good restaurant that's not so famous I can't get into it? Money's no object" rather than "what will you do on summer vacation?" Plus, Mary seemed really bitchy.
On the plus side it mostly works, it's integrated with a lot of other systems (e.g. you can set BunPro to match its chapters, there's a zillion Anki study sets for it, etc.) ... it's fine. But as for "a book to read and inspire," no, it didn't really do that for me. I won't be returning to it fondly (as I do, say, to "7 Types of Ambiguity", one of my favourite English grammar books).
*Returning to bump it up a star to 4 stars because to be fair it's only intended to be a textbook, and I did learn a lot. Plus it has so much ancillary support, and the dialogue videos online are really cute. Yes, it's not a literary masterpiece, but a literary masterpiece wouldn't effectively teach Japanese.
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
On the plus side it mostly works, it's integrated with a lot of other systems (e.g. you can set BunPro to match its chapters, there's a zillion Anki study sets for it, etc.) ... it's fine. But as for "a book to read and inspire," no, it didn't really do that for me. I won't be returning to it fondly (as I do, say, to "7 Types of Ambiguity", one of my favourite English grammar books).
*Returning to bump it up a star to 4 stars because to be fair it's only intended to be a textbook, and I did learn a lot. Plus it has so much ancillary support, and the dialogue videos online are really cute. Yes, it's not a literary masterpiece, but a literary masterpiece wouldn't effectively teach Japanese.
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
thaisokubaro's review against another edition
4.0
Gosto demais dos exercícios de kanji e como não deixam o furigana ao longo do livro, diferente do Minna. Porém, as gramáticas são muito corridas, quase 5 tópicos por unidade, muita coisa.
sreddous's review against another edition
5.0
This is a superbly effective and efficient textbook. I used this textbook series when taking my first three years of Japanese language classes at Florida State, and then my cousin used them in self-guided Japanese language study, and both of us found that these books were enormously instructive. These books know which 'order' to introduce grammar structures and vocabulary to build lesson upon lesson, and they're told through a charming and cute story of a student from the USA studying in Japan. Definitely recommend for anyone taking school-led language classes OR self-led study.
kitty_witty_cat's review against another edition
3.0
Fairly good instruction, though I wish they would explain some things more beyond, "this is just how it is in Japanese." I hate how they keep romaji around at all. It's very distracting when reading, and doesn't help. The sooner you memorize hiragana and katakana, the happier you'll be, and the easier Japanese will be for you.
I do like the layout, with vocab, grammer, and the reading to help bring it all together. The pictures are helpful, and clearly represent what they are supposed to. They don't introduce kanji too early, or overload you, but I prefer my separate kanji workbook from a different publisher.
The readings are generally pretty good, not being too easy or too hard. Mary can go jump off a cliff, though.
All in all, it's an okay textbook, but there are better options out there. I will say that it is a good starting place to begin learning Japanese and easy to get a hold of. It has been awhile since I used it, so maybe I'm not a fan because I've seen it too much... Anyway, a solid 3/5.
I do like the layout, with vocab, grammer, and the reading to help bring it all together. The pictures are helpful, and clearly represent what they are supposed to. They don't introduce kanji too early, or overload you, but I prefer my separate kanji workbook from a different publisher.
The readings are generally pretty good, not being too easy or too hard. Mary can go jump off a cliff, though.
All in all, it's an okay textbook, but there are better options out there. I will say that it is a good starting place to begin learning Japanese and easy to get a hold of. It has been awhile since I used it, so maybe I'm not a fan because I've seen it too much... Anyway, a solid 3/5.
pastaviking's review
3.0
This relies heavily on a complementary CD, which is sometimes helpful, and sometimes not. Since i went through this as a textbook, I probably didn't have the casual reading experience.
However, I didn't always find it easy to follow. The book assumes that you follow its internal logic/navigation system, which I never quite clicked with. I wanted/needed to see many more examples of verb conjugation, etc. and they simply were not provided. You would not a lot of outside help to actually learn things with accuracy.
In some ways, I preferred this to the previous textbook I used (published by the Japan Times)... but it still seems that someone can swoop in and dominate the US Japanophiliac market.
However, I didn't always find it easy to follow. The book assumes that you follow its internal logic/navigation system, which I never quite clicked with. I wanted/needed to see many more examples of verb conjugation, etc. and they simply were not provided. You would not a lot of outside help to actually learn things with accuracy.
In some ways, I preferred this to the previous textbook I used (published by the Japan Times)... but it still seems that someone can swoop in and dominate the US Japanophiliac market.