Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese is a basic Japanese textbook for new learners of the language. The textbook is divided into 23 lessons that follow a group of character in real-life situations. These 23 lessons include vocab sheets, audio lessons, and conversational examples to help the reader learn basic Japanese in an easy-to-understand way.
Pros
- A favorite among many beginners — it’s stronger with a teacher, but still a decent self-study textbook.
- Better when you get the workbook (additional $$ required)
- If you like lots of characters and lots of illustrations, this is your kind of book.
- Audio examples on CD.
Cons
- Not as strong without the workbook.
- Fairly expensive ($75).
Final Word?
Genki is a great textbook for beginning Japanese learners who prefer physical texts. It starts at a very basic level and will walk you through several lessons to an intermediate stage of Japanese. However, Genki is also pretty pricy, costing about $75 US without the workbook. This is also only the first part of a series, so if you want to go any further, you’ll have to shell out for additional books. Still, a nice resource for those learners who need the hands-on, physical experience of a traditional textbook.
Pictures
Image from GoddessCarlie.com