Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese
- Downloads：2010
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-07-27 09:55:25
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Eri Banno
- ISBN：4789017303
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Genki outlines in 23 structured lessons all the fundamentals of the Japanese language。 Abundantly illustrated and containing a wide variety of exercises， Genki is sure to bring vigor to your classroom！ Though primarily meant for use in college-level classes， it is also a good guide for independent learners and is a nice resource book for teachers of Japanese。 Genki's authors teach at Kansai Gaidai University， which hosts the largest number of North American students spending their junior year in Japan。
Reviews
Amit Shrivastava
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After trying many books i am back to genki， i have the 2011 version， but truly enjoying it ， am at the very first few units though， still need to get good at katakana 。。。。 i like how they explain the cultural points in here as well 。。。
Gabriel
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日本語somewhat上手
Julia K。 Truitt
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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。 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。 。。。more
Sydney Field
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Best Japanese textbook for beginners！ Check it out if you want to learn another language。
Freya
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Didn't finish it in one go - Japanese can be scary in the beginning。 Having a more or less comprehensive resource helps。Cons for the book:- grammar not brought as a coherent system， but as lots of separated grammar points that *appear* to be unrelated （even though they are not）。- grammar points not always explained well （e。g。 nothing about godan vs ichidan verbs， instead we get the weaker and more complicated ru-verb vs u-verb explanation）。- intended for students （specifically monolingual US stu Didn't finish it in one go - Japanese can be scary in the beginning。 Having a more or less comprehensive resource helps。Cons for the book:- grammar not brought as a coherent system， but as lots of separated grammar points that *appear* to be unrelated （even though they are not）。- grammar points not always explained well （e。g。 nothing about godan vs ichidan verbs， instead we get the weaker and more complicated ru-verb vs u-verb explanation）。- intended for students （specifically monolingual US students）， which has its effects on vocabulary selection and wishy-washy grammar presentation。Pros:+ decent （enough） introduction to Japanese， if you don't want to deal with the oversupply of resources。+ more or less the anglophone textbook standard， so lots of forum posts， supplementary resources， etc。 Many unis use this book as well。+ each chapter has one difficult grammar point， and then some easier ones， preventing burn-out。+ you can build your Japanese skills up gradually， without having a lack of knowledge in one domain （kanji/vocab/grammar） hinder you in acquiring knowledge in another domain。 This is， in my opinion， the most important advantage of this series。 Without using Genki or a similar guide， you'll have to conquer the unavoidable deadlocks on your own。All in all， 3。5/5。I'll post a thorough review as soon as I've finished Genki II， but since they're basically the same book， this preliminary summary should do for now。 。。。more
Ashley Lambert-Maberly
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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 ob 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）。 。。。more
Chia-Yueh
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Great comprehensive book to learn Japanese from the beginning。 Works best with the workbook。
Sae
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I used this for when I was doing Japanese in college。 I liked it。 ^^
axxonn
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 hey。 it's nice hey。 it's nice 。。。more
Coicoy
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The Good:+The stories， interactions， characters， and illustrations are generally memorable+The reading exercises at the back of the book are goodThe Mixed:+-The book provides a decent introduction to grammar functions with some occasionally useful explanations。+-The book uses some English to help you follow along+-The audio for the dialogues is generally well-doneThe Ugly: -As another reviewer has stated， the presentation of the units and grammar is haphazard and hard to follow。 Also， grammar fu The Good:+The stories， interactions， characters， and illustrations are generally memorable+The reading exercises at the back of the book are goodThe Mixed:+-The book provides a decent introduction to grammar functions with some occasionally useful explanations。+-The book uses some English to help you follow along+-The audio for the dialogues is generally well-doneThe Ugly: -As another reviewer has stated， the presentation of the units and grammar is haphazard and hard to follow。 Also， grammar functions are not clearly compared。 And sometimes the book expects users to do activities it has not actually taught us how to do。 And the presentation of the exercises is not done in a learner-friendly way。 So， I've left confused by a lot in this textbook and have needed to seek other resources to actually learn and absorb the material in order to acquire Japanese。-English is overused and MUCH TOO MUCH time is spent reading and listening to English than the actual target language （i。e。， Japanese）-Some of the audio samples are recorded with low-quality recording， as though some of the voices were recorded using PC-internal-mics in the early 2000s。 。。。more
Rash Gibson
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I learned Japanese easily with this book and the disc it came along with。
Zaid Sparrow
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Highly recommended to anyone who wants to learn japanese。 This book covers everything thing JLPT N5， contains grammar and a lot of vocabulary。 Must read for any beginner learner of japanese。
Tiffany
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Great for teaching n5 Japanese basics。 I have tried many books and found this to be one of the best and most easy to follow
Olivia
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This was the textbook I used for my beginner's Japanese language classes， and I thought it was very helpful。 Some of the grammar explanations were a little difficult to understand without the supplemented explanations from my professors， so I am not sure how helpful this textbook would be without a class， but I am sure the internet can help supplement where the textbook falters。 If you are at all interested in learning Japanese， I think this is a good start。 This was the textbook I used for my beginner's Japanese language classes， and I thought it was very helpful。 Some of the grammar explanations were a little difficult to understand without the supplemented explanations from my professors， so I am not sure how helpful this textbook would be without a class， but I am sure the internet can help supplement where the textbook falters。 If you are at all interested in learning Japanese， I think this is a good start。 。。。more
Rebecca
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This book helped me make the leap from knowing some Japanese words to being able to have simple conversations in Japanese。 After finishing Genk 1 and 2， the workbooks， and some courses on Memrise， I am around level N4。 Good luck in your studies， this is a must-have！
Leah
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A good beginner Japanese textbook that covers a bit of everything， including conversation， vocabulary and grammar。
Ruth Lee
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I simply enjoyed Genki。 Not just the grammatical bits， but each unit deepened my understanding about the difference between modern Japanese and Chinese culture（ not to mention English as I had to learn the language through English texts） Who can say no to a textbook with a captivating narrative in it？ Lingua Latina， Cambridge Latin， Athenaze are probably the other three I personally ran across that nailed it at telling a good story while letting me learn the language。 It’s no Wheelock :-）
Megan
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This textbook is very useful both for taking a course that uses it， and for independent learning。 It has an associated workbook with additional practice， as well as audio files for pronunciation。
Alix
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A wonderful book for those learning the Japanese language。 Recommended by my boss when I taught English in Japan and was the book used in my Japanese class in college。
Esra
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If you're already familiar with the language the first couple of chapters are really easy。 But later chapters helped me to remember and organize intrinsic grammar into charts。 Though if your first language is Turkish or some other language that follows the word order of Japanese， the explanations are made in comparison to English so they might be confusing。 That's why I skipped some explanations but pragmatic explanations were really useful （such as don't say x because it's rude。。。）。 However， I If you're already familiar with the language the first couple of chapters are really easy。 But later chapters helped me to remember and organize intrinsic grammar into charts。 Though if your first language is Turkish or some other language that follows the word order of Japanese， the explanations are made in comparison to English so they might be confusing。 That's why I skipped some explanations but pragmatic explanations were really useful （such as don't say x because it's rude。。。）。 However， I don't think this book will teach you pragmatics quite well。 It does provide some explanations about the degree of politeness， though not comprehensively。 You'll need to do extra reading for that。 。。。more
Spaghettiman
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I've tried other Japanese Textbooks and while they were fine in their own way， Genki is the one that really made everything click。 I've done a lot of Vocab and Kanji before starting this， so I didn't have to take extra time to learn those through this book， and therefore I can't really say how long it should take for someone starting from zero， but I absolutely loved how Genki does the grammar lessons。 I had tried Human Japanese before and it had a tendency to go "We'll get to this later， just a I've tried other Japanese Textbooks and while they were fine in their own way， Genki is the one that really made everything click。 I've done a lot of Vocab and Kanji before starting this， so I didn't have to take extra time to learn those through this book， and therefore I can't really say how long it should take for someone starting from zero， but I absolutely loved how Genki does the grammar lessons。 I had tried Human Japanese before and it had a tendency to go "We'll get to this later， just accept it for now"， whereas Genki just gets things out of the way right now。 Some of the topics in each chapter seem kind of disparate， but there is zero filler and each little section has a very to-the-point explanation of each grammar rule you need to know。 I spent about a week on each chapter ， doing about 5 or 6 pages a day just soaking in each part and doing the lessons。 By the end I feel really confident with the reading that's been taught so far。 As far as producing sentences， I still need more practice with Verb conjugation， but I'm really happy with the results。 。。。more
General Common
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Good book for beginners if you want to learn all the way
Stanley
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man can speak Japanese now wikced
Rin琳
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I very much appreciate this book。 My only problem with it is the audio doesn’t speak Japanese in a natural tone （sometimes creepy） nor in a normal speed。 みんなの日本語 does an excellent job in this respect。Following is not a review， but my note of learning Japanese。Some people are lying: For Chinese （for Shanghainese） Japanese is just as hard as to any non-native speaker。This book is at least 100 times better than the Japanese textbooks in Chinese。 The latter one at best tell you how to speak in the C I very much appreciate this book。 My only problem with it is the audio doesn’t speak Japanese in a natural tone （sometimes creepy） nor in a normal speed。 みんなの日本語 does an excellent job in this respect。Following is not a review， but my note of learning Japanese。Some people are lying: For Chinese （for Shanghainese） Japanese is just as hard as to any non-native speaker。This book is at least 100 times better than the Japanese textbooks in Chinese。 The latter one at best tell you how to speak in the Chinese logic with Japanese characters， like google translator。 I happened to read one comment to one post， on the “Quora copied to China”， with the title of what it feels like when you finally get to speak Japanese as well as a native speaker。 That comment in Japanese said the author’s Japanese is very good， except actually no Japanese speaks in that way in real life 。。。 Speaking of google translator， one of the worst Japanese learning tips is to study by googling the translation of our own native language。 For example， when Japanese wants to express “welcome” what they literally say is “You’re here”; before starting the meal to express the appreciation， what they literally say is “I accept it” instead of “Bon appétit”。 And if we learn pronunciations by google translator， I bet we cannot make Japanese understand us。Tae Kim’s guide to learning Japanese is a quite good supplement to textbooks， although on the reddit some reviews are not that positive and it’s totally free（people say you get what you pay when mentioning Tae Kim’s guide）。 Sorry but Japanesepod 101 is a waste of time and money， although the Japanese host is cute。 Hinative is awesome to get the clear answers of questions like what’s the difference between this one and that one。Ah， I almost forget my favorite Duolingo: there is no other place to learn how to say sentences like “You are drinking my cat’s milk。” “He is my wife。” “The Japanese classroom is on the 19th floor， but there is no 19th floor” “I leave you my children。” “My bear drinks beer。” “The dog sleeps with the penguin。” “Lonely men drink。” “He looks like a crepe。” 。。。 。。。more
Raj
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Ah the memories I have of this whilst I studied Japanese in Canada。Great book for beginners and really helpful Kanji section at the back！
Chant
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I never like using a textbook to learn languages。 Period。 The textbook tends to sterilize the language to a game of shuffling symbols according to a certain logic of that given language。 Language text books are basically math but instead of numbers you're dealing vocab and in the case of Japanese you're dealing with hiragana， katakana， and Kanji。Genki is like any other textbook you'll find on the market。 Dialogues， vocab list， and grammar explanations。 For some students of a language this is fin I never like using a textbook to learn languages。 Period。 The textbook tends to sterilize the language to a game of shuffling symbols according to a certain logic of that given language。 Language text books are basically math but instead of numbers you're dealing vocab and in the case of Japanese you're dealing with hiragana， katakana， and Kanji。Genki is like any other textbook you'll find on the market。 Dialogues， vocab list， and grammar explanations。 For some students of a language this is fine， but personally I don't remember half the grammar， the vocab goes in one ear and out the other， and the situations are boring （to be expected from beginner material in any language）。 I do the majority of my Kanji/vocab study through SRS （Anki/Wanikani） and grammar through just reading +1 reading material （see Stephen Krashen's language acquisition）。 Genki for my purposes was just used to read basic Japanese and going over the grammar explanations （roughly）， again， I don't study language， I want to acquire it， so the grammar exercises and whatnot are not much use for me。 With that all being said， Genki is a solid textbook for people that like learning languages through it。 I imagine the majority of people that got this textbook was because it was required in one of their Japanese classes （most North American college Japanese classes use this textbook）。 。。。more
VampireNovelFan
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Good foundations
Martin
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One of the most popular Japanese intro book。It's good if you start from nothing。I think it would be even better if they dropped the usage of English almost everywhere at one point。 It also needs more casual Japanese。The examples are very young adults oriented: college， host families， parties。 One of the most popular Japanese intro book。It's good if you start from nothing。I think it would be even better if they dropped the usage of English almost everywhere at one point。 It also needs more casual Japanese。The examples are very young adults oriented: college， host families， parties。 。。。more
Pedrita Postrero
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This is very exciting。
Storm
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