This is because the Genki series is easier so you'll be more motivated to keep with it. If you aren't planning on seriously setting aside a chunk of your day, nearly everyday every week to sit down and learn Japanese, then Genki will actually be more useful for your learning process. Now despite all of that, I do feel there are some students whom I would actually recommend Genki instead of Minna no Nihongo, and those would be less committed students or 'casual' students. But I don't think this is much of a problem as you can easily buy many kanji books out there and supplement your kanji/supplementary vocabulary lessons with other resources. The other thing I can't review is Minna no Nihongo's kanji coverage as we use a separate kanji book. In a classroom environment, however, normally you'd ask your teacher for more explanation. With Minna no nihongo, you can attempt to learn the lesson completely in Japanese, and if you find your answers are wrong or you don't understand, then you can go back and read the English explanations. Despite this, I think this presents an opportunity for the student to learn Japanese in Japanese, and only fall back to English when there is misunderstanding. What is available is an English translation with grammar explanations but you will have to buy this separately. The main problem for self-study students with Minna no Nihongo will be the lack of English explanations in the main text. Now let's go over the downsides and what I can't review. 'An Intermediate Approach to Japanese' is probably one of the weaker intermediate books out there so I can't recommend it. Free Minna No Nihongo TextbookĪdditionally, when you finish Genki, you get to a dead-end: you have to switch to another series or find your own way of learning intermediate material (that most likely won't be effective). I think the reason for this is not just the fact that Genki covers less material but also the manner in which Genki relies on English explanations even for exercises. Meanwhile if you study Minna no Nihongo, you'll come to Japan, and feel like you've at least past the beginner level. My basic feeling is that if you study from Genki, and complete it, you'll come to Japan and still feel like you're missing something. Structured in a way where the text doesn't rely on English explanations* More grammar coverage, particularly: 〜ように、〜ために、ばかり、ところ、 て・で advanced usage-all of these points are very common in native speechĮxercises often point out the edge cases and force reuse of prior grammar/vocabulary More vocabulary coverage and more useful vocabulary introduced: Genki 1+2 claims around 1700, Minna no Nihongo is around 2100-2200 for the 初級 (shokyuu) levels. My basic recommendation if you're a beginner and you have the option to choose a textbook series, choose Minna no Nihongo. I've also studied a bit with intermediate books like An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese (aka Genki 3) and Tobira. I've heard a good number of language schools in Japan use Minna no Nihongo. In Japan the schools tend not to use Genki while many US colleges (like the ones I attended) do.
Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.3.Ī little background: I'm currently a language student in Japan but I've studied in the US. Minna No Nihongo Shokyu 2 2nd Edition Main Textbook. Title: 2000 Minna No Nihongo Shokyuu I - Shokyuu De Yomeru Topikku 25.djvu Author: spark Created Date: 2:37:45 PM.