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Question about certain Japanese learning materials

Hytherion

後輩
11 Aug 2015
15
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Hi everyone. I've started learning Japanese not long ago using Tae Kim's guide as my main resource. Its a really good guide but I felt like I wanted a textbook to guide me along my learning journey.

After googling, it came down to two choices, namely and not surprisingly, genki and minna no nihongo. Some people said that minna no nihongo is better in that it exposes you to more japanese (making it more challenging as well) so that when you are in Japan, you can actually understand and communicate with the locals there better. Is that true? If thats true I would like to go with minna no nihongo as my aim of studying japanese is to communicate in japanese and be able to read light novels/mangas/passages.

Also there is the Japanese version of minna no nihongo and there is an asian version of minna no nihongo. Which version should I get?

I think i will get "A dictionary of basic japanese grammar" as an extra reference book in addition to minna no nihongo or genki. It has really good reviews.

Please advise me! I tried searching the forums for the differences between the asian edition of minna no nihongo vs the original edition but to no avail.
 
Completing the beginner's textbooks won't give you enough to read novels, light or otherwise, but they will give you a good start and a foundation to build upon. Choose whichever appeals to you more. The Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar is a good resource and has the extra advantage of having two follow-on companion volumes, with entries cross-referenced between volumes. You can get the Intermediate and Advanced volumes as the need arises.
 
Completing the beginner's textbooks won't give you enough to read novels, light or otherwise, but they will give you a good start and a foundation to build upon. Choose whichever appeals to you more. The Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar is a good resource and has the extra advantage of having two follow-on companion volumes, with entries cross-referenced between volumes. You can get the Intermediate and Advanced volumes as the need arises.
Yes. That's my eventual goal so I'm looking for a place to start. Do you know the difference between the asian version of minna no nihongo vs the japanese version? I'm not sure which to buy.
 
Yes. That's my eventual goal so I'm looking for a place to start. Do you know the difference between the asian version of minna no nihongo vs the japanese version? I'm not sure which to buy.

I have no idea. Perhaps you could compare the pirated pdf versions online and try to figure out the difference.

Make sure you get any associated workbooks and audio materials for whatever textbook you decide to use.
 
Minna No Nihongo, from what I've seen, is really designed for learning in Japan with a Japanese teacher for people of a variety of native languages, so you need the correct set of books for your native language. For English, this will be (from my school's website):

1. "Minna-no Nihongo-Shokyu 1 Honsatsu" This book is written in hiragana and katakana, not romaji.
2. "Minna-no Nihongo Shokyu 1 Honyaku The Translation & Grammatical Notes" This book provides a translation of the sentence patterns, conversations etc. in Minna no Nihongo .Can be used in conjunction with the Main Textbook.

Genki will probably be easier for a native English speaker to use for self-study.

For self-study, I'd recommend Genki if these two are your options.

For study within a classroom environment, I'd recommend whatever the teacher tells you to get.
 
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