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Looking for a good self-study book..

corey

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15 Aug 2015
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I'm interested in starting to learn Japanese and I think I want to do it using a self-taught language book. I don't have much knowledge on Japanese at all yet so I'd want something for beginners, but I know some Korean and I've heard the two languages are somewhat similar. I bought the book Tuttle book "Mastering Conversational Japanese: Japanese for Beginners" because I bought a similar book for learning the basics of Korean, but it doesn't teach me how to write Japanese. I want a self-study book that teaches me to read/write hiragana, katakana, and kanji. I know that kanji isn't usually taught to beginners, but I want to learn it at some point so why not learn it from the start? I also would like if it came with a corresponding CD that would help me pronounce words easier (it would help but it's not totally necessary for me). Lastly I don't want to learn phrases only. I want something that could break down Japanese sentences so that I can form them myself. This is more recreational for me so I'm in no rush to learn everything at once - I want to be able to understand what I'm learning. If you know any book like this please tell me! I hope these requests aren't to unreasonable, but if they are, I'm open to anything! I'm just eager to start learning. Thank you!
 
I can recommend the Genki textbooks for complete beginners. Like what you're asking for, these are actual textbooks that teach the basics of how the language works - they're not phrasebooks. Audio CD's and exercise books are included.

They teach hiragana, katakana and about 300 kanji. Don't focus too much on kanji right from the start, grammar is more important: a solid knowledge of grammar lets you pick out the most important parts of a sentence, allowing you to get the gist of it even if you don't know all the words/characters.

Not sure about the comparison between Korean and Japanese... Even without knowing Korean, comparing a South Korean newspaper website to a Japanese one readily shows that the first one uses almost no hanja at all, while the Japanese one of course makes heavy use of kanji.
 
At the moment I am being tutored with a Japanese book titled 'Minna no nihongo'; Minna no Nihongo Shokyu I Dai 2-Han Honsatsu Kanji-Kana (Book & CD): Amazon.co.uk: 3A Network: 9784883196036: Books

Be sure to buy the translation book too, so that you can teach yourself. This book will tackle grammar and vocabulary in a lesson to lesson base. To learn to write Hiragana and Katakana I would recommend Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 Hours Each (Manoa): part 1 Hiragna : par: Amazon.co.uk: James W. Heisig: 9780824831646: Books although that isn't the text book I personally used. I can't seem to find that.
I'd also recommend downloading some Japanese apps. They can be a huge help.
 
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