[steven]

Oh man...

Well, I apologize for my late message.

I used Genki in college and started on "genki II". While it was better than "Adventures in Japan", I still don't like it. I haven't looked at my book in years, and I can't reference it now as it's sitting in a closet thousands of miles away.

To put a long story short any Japanese I've ever showed Genki to has laughed when they saw it. Wings to Discovery is right, there is a problem with keigo. If I remember correctly, there were "scenes" in the book where friends were talking with each other with です/ます, which is something that doesn't really happen. I think there was even a part where a couple talks to each other all formally like that. The word choices in the book were also strange if I remember. Anyways, I distinctly remember my BS Alarm going off every time I opened that book (as well as Adventures in Japan).

The last textbook I bought was "yokoso". My teacher suggested it (I think she's one of the writers or knows one of the writers or something like that). It seemed better, but to be honest I didn't get too far before I just gave up on textbooks.

If you're looking for a "supplement" to Genki, get "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" as it will help explain some of the more vague explanations in textbooks. You might also look into different communication books that talk about English Speakers (I have books that are from the points of view of Americans in particular) and Japanese speakers.

The bottom line is that Genki alone will not cut it. I think that most textbooks alone won't cut it though. Anyways, good luck with your studies!