Genki （げんき） I & II:
An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese
Eri Banno, Yutaka Ohno, Yoko Sakane,
Chikako Shinagawa, Kyoko Tokashiki
Published by: The Japan Times
If there would be a great resource for Japanese learning, it would be the ones published by The Japan Times. The “Genki” series is just among the best ones especially for beginners to the language. It has been a resource recommended by a lot of Japanese language professors and I’m glad to get a hand on these books as well.
The textbooks alone are quite comprehensive as it focuses on the following aspects of language learning which I believe is very vital in learning particularly Japanese – some or all of these are found in each chapter:
(会話) Dialogue Samples – the books show conversation samples on different situations which are quite relevant to ordinary life even for those who haven’t been to Japan. Vocabulary sets are also included here.
(文法) Grammar Points – they’re very helpful if you’re the type of learner who wants to learn the theory of the language and if you are more of a rote learner who learns a language by repetition or self-practice.
(表現ノート) Expression Notes – there will be notes on cultural expressions which can be unusual for beginners yet very important to learn if one aims to become fluent in the language.
(練習) Practice – obviously one wouldn’t be able to learn the language without trying out some exercises and practice questions to answer and fill in.
(読み書き) Reading Comprehension – you would probably spend a lot of time with this as the books provide tons of articles and stories written to train the learner mostly to read but also to understand and practice the things which were learned throughout the Dialogues and Grammar parts of each chapter. Kanji characters are also learned in this part.
The two textbooks would cost about $60-90 (depending where you would buy them) together without the CDs, workbooks and answer key. The CDs and Workbooks will extend all of the activities i mentioned but will cost you even more because they are sold separately. Amazon.com, Yesasia.com and other major online stores have them.
Personally, I do like how the structure of each chapter is so simple to follow and how practical are all the things that can be learned from both textbooks; However, I only used “Genki II’ cause it was required for my Japanese class in university.
In terms of applying the lessons I’ve learned from the book, I was able to try it out on some of my Japanese friends in university but not too much because the Japanese students whom I was making friends with were speaking English most of the time – which basically is something that they wanted to do outside of their country and I have to respect that. Nonetheless, it’s a great resource for Japanese Language Learning.
