Genki I
by Eri Banno, Yoko Ikeda, Yutaka Ohno · first published 2011
7mentions
5recommended by
6HN commenters
2017–2026first – last mentioned
83% recommend17% critical
Why HN recommends it
Widely used beginner Japanese textbook, praised for being well structured, with updated contemporary examples and useful culture notes. Suited to self-learners and classroom students alike.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…structures" as mentioned in the article are a good thing because it gives you more leeway to make "mistakes." If you're learning Japanese in school, or even if you're learning it on your own, I recommend the Genki I and Genki II books, and the corresponding workbooks. If you really enjoy it and want to come to Japan to use your newly acquired language skills, I'm confident that after getting through those 2 books…
on “How we invented new ways to teach Japanese” ↗…Duolingo it's fine. I put in an hour every day towards Japanese (with a full time job + life on top) so I know I'm in a privileged position when it comes to language learning. I used the following: - Genki I, II The classic Japanese textbooks. They're pretty good and have tons of exercises. Do the exercises! - Tae Kim's Guide http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar Alternative guide written by one…
on “Facebook Still Tracks People on Yelp, Duolingo, Indeed” ↗Japanese. After several failed tries, I got the Genki I book and improved a lot. Also pimsleur audios we good. Also have a teacher I Skype to when I need help.
on “Ask HN: What are you learning in 2019?” ↗We used Genki I back in high school, and recently I picked it up again. Now I'm through Genki II and can definitely recommend them. They were both updated a few years ago with more contemporary examples and really useful…
on “How we invented new ways to teach Japanese” ↗…iOS app. - If you want to read the language, start studying a Kanji deck. - If you want to speak/listen in JP, start an audio course such an Pimsleur. - Make your way through Minna no nihongo and/or Genki I. - Google around for Japanese graded readers for beginners, to practice reading "real" content that has been synthetically simplified. - Start reading community posts in Japanese language learning communities,…
on “Show HN: Japanese Complete Book 1 Released” ↗…knocking out 100-140 review items (both recognition and recall). Now it's just part of my daily routine and I genuinely still enjoy it. I invested a lot of initial time with flashcards while working through Genki I+II just to lay some solid foundations, more like 200-300 review items a day (knowing some Chinese was my main headstart with this). +1 for Skritter. I was an early user way back in 2011 for Chinese,…
on “I did 98,000 Anki reviews. Anki is already dead” ↗…Like so much pedagogy, this feels like a good example of "hey, here's a quick-and-dirty heuristic for how this thing works, but just keep in mind that we'll explain how it really works later on". Except Genki I+II never mentions the terms 「一段」or「五段」at all. (it's similarly criminal that they never introduce pitch accent either, but that's another story). My advice to anyone getting started with Japanese would…
on “Simple hard way to conjugate Japanese verbs” ↗