Learning Japanese with Genki

[Dennisu]

I will be going to university in a few months where I am going to learn/study Japanese. I've seen the booklist of 2011-2012 and I saw that they used the Genki textbook/workbook.

I was wondering if anyone has experience with Genki, how was the experience while learning and can you use most of what you learned from Genki in real conversations when in Japan?(in a way that you can understand and communicate in most situations and not just the pre-assigned conversations you have learned from the book)

I've been learning german out of a book on high school, but when I went to Germany myself, I sometimes felt myself puzzled about what they were saying because the book was just focussing on pre-assigned conversations and not so much on real life conversations

I hope I made myself clear.

 

[mitch2526]

Hi,

We use Genki in our Uni. I think that the book is good. It's fast. Good for self studying even hehe.

It's in polite form, if you were expecting daily conversations with friends.

 

[Dennisu]

okay thanks, I should be able to learn some Japanese that you use around friends with my penpals so that isn't to much of a problem

 

[cscc]

Genki's good for the classroom, that's for sure. I tried using it for self study but it didn't work out with me. One thing that really irked me though was that the textbook was very very dry. Also, the questions are done like this:
Person 1: お元気 です か？(ogenki desu ka)
Person 2: はい、 元気 です。(hai genki desu)
This is not word for word. But something along those lines.

 

[Dennisu]

Genki's good for the classroom, that's for sure. I tried using it for self study but it didn't work out with me. One thing that really irked me though was that the textbook was very very dry. Also, the questions are done like this:
Person 1: 窶堋ｨﾅ陳ｳ窶ｹCﾂ 窶堙??堋ｷﾂ 窶堋ｩﾂ？(ogenki desu ka)
Person 2: 窶堙坂?堋｢ﾂ、ﾂ ﾅ陳ｳ窶ｹCﾂ 窶堙??堋ｷﾂ。(hai genki desu)
This is not word for word. But something along those lines.

Ah yes, many language textbooks ask questions that way, kind of annoying because you just don't talk that way in real life.

So it comes down to somethign like this?:
Person 1:Has your holiday been fun?
Person 2: Yes, my holiday has been fun.

Instead of an awnser you'd more likely give when someone asks you:
Person 2: Yes, I've been to X with my friends for X time (and possibly details of what you have done etc.)

Do/did you use another way to self-study, if yes , what did you use?

 

[cscc]

Exactly.

I used Tae Kim's guide to japanese grammar (it's a website you can google) which is as dry as dry can get. I use other supplements as well: Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication and All About Particles. I never regret those two purchases. JSPFEC helps you talk like a real person and AAP is a cure to the bane that are particles.

Good luck in your Japanese studies!

 

[Dennisu]

Hmm okay, I will look into perphaps purchasing those after learning some basics. You can learn of JSPEC as a beginner right?

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[cscc]

Yes, you can use JSPEC as a beginner but I suggest you at least learn the kana first.

And you're welcome. Glad to be of help!

 

[Dennisu]

You mean the katakana writing system?

 

[cscc]

Hiragana and katakana both. They're collectively known as the kana syllabary.

 

[Dennisu]

Ah I see, I can write and recognize hiragana already (although very slowly), I just have to look into the 'ten-ten' mark to get those in my head.
I will start learning katakana in the next few weeks.