A small book to get slowly into Japanese language

[WingsToDiscovery]

I might try out Kanji in Context. I avoided RTK because when I began studying Japanese I knew I was moving to Japan and I thought it would be more beneficial to learn vocabulary as well, and I'd heard from a few sources that you won't learn that from the first volume at least. I actually picked up the first volume of GENKI, and although a little outdated (words like video tapes for example), I've found it a pretty good tool for self learning, albeit being an upper high school/college text.

[JamboP26]

I'd like to suggest a Japanese Phrase book. I have it & it contains a list of Hiragana & Katakana. Also, various sentences (depending on situation) & a small dictionary at the back. Sentences & dictionary have 3 columns. The English, Kanji & Romanji. I found the link on Amazon.de, to avoid ordering problems.

Amazon.de - BBC Japanese Phrase Book

[kikujirononatsu]

I actually have no idea about anything about Japanese but I want to change this before I start to study it on a University in a few Years ;-)


Thanks for all the responses. I'll check them out!

[StonerPenguin]

Hey Kyle;
Which books particularly did you buy? I see there's a reference book, a workbook and some other book for volume 1. Also, Over $50 bucks a book? Where did you get them?

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by StonerPenguin

Hey Kyle;
Which books particularly did you buy? I see there's a reference book, a workbook and some other book for volume 1. Also, Over $50 bucks a book? Where did you get them?

1. Reference book. I've heard from others that the workbook is a great supplement to the reference book, but I haven't used it. Maybe I could have learned even faster, but the pace I've kept up for a few months is way more than I ever could have hoped for. I'm basically doing 100 kanji per week with 80% retention. The caveat is that a handful of them I already knew, since I learned kanji as I saw them in Japan, rather than strictly from a book. So maybe I'm really learning 80 or so per week and strengthening my vocabulary with respect to the other 20?

2. The books are expensive because they're out of print. I bought mine at the university coop at my university in Japan back in 2004.

I know the author of the book because he was the head of the program I studied at in Japan at the time. I've made flashcards in Anki for about 1400 of the kanji and their related vocabulary. Once I've got all joyo kanji in there in a couple months, I'm going to email the author and ask him if I can distribute the flashcards to people at JF. Even if he says no, I'll strongly consider doing it anyway—I'm a lawyer with some knowledge of copyright law; I'll do some research and see if I can legally distribute without his permission under fair use.

The flashcards have been 99.99% of my kanji/vocab studies in 2010, so anyone looking to replicate my success could likely rely solely on them as well.

I suggest buying the book, but if you can't buy it but can wait for a few months for my flashcards, that is a passable substitute.

I know I keep going on and on on JF about KiC and my flashcards, but I'm so enthusiastic: I've had better improvement in my Japanese reading this year than ever since I was in Japan! It's not easy, but it's coming along faster than I could have hoped, and I'm very excited!

EXTRA!! EXCLAMATION POINTS !!!! FOR EVERY!BODY!!!!!

[willgoestocollege]

I don't recommend learning a language from a phrase book. They are use for traveling.

[StonerPenguin]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

1. Reference book. I've heard from others that the workbook is a great supplement to the reference book, but I haven't used it. Maybe I could have learned even faster, but the pace I've kept up for a few months is way more than I ever could have hoped for. I'm basically doing 100 kanji per week with 80% retention. The caveat is that a handful of them I already knew, since I learned kanji as I saw them in Japan, rather than strictly from a book. So maybe I'm really learning 80 or so per week and strengthening my vocabulary with respect to the other 20?

2. The books are expensive because they're out of print. I bought mine at the university coop at my university in Japan back in 2004.

I know the author of the book because he was the head of the program I studied at in Japan at the time. I've made flashcards in Anki for about 1400 of the kanji and their related vocabulary. Once I've got all joyo kanji in there in a couple months, I'm going to email the author and ask him if I can distribute the flashcards to people at JF. Even if he says no, I'll strongly consider doing it anyway—I'm a lawyer with some knowledge of copyright law; I'll do some research and see if I can legally distribute without his permission under fair use.

The flashcards have been 99.99% of my kanji/vocab studies in 2010, so anyone looking to replicate my success could likely rely solely on them as well.

I suggest buying the book, but if you can't buy it but can wait for a few months for my flashcards, that is a passable substitute.

I know I keep going on and on on JF about KiC and my flashcards, but I'm so enthusiastic: I've had better improvement in my Japanese reading this year than ever since I was in Japan! It's not easy, but it's coming along faster than I could have hoped, and I'm very excited!

EXTRA!! EXCLAMATION POINTS !!!! FOR EVERY!BODY!!!!!

Exclamation points!? Delicious! Please sir, may I have some more!?
Haha This is the first I've heard of your magic flash cards, so I don't mind you posting about them And thanks for the explanation -- I had looked for KiC before and wondered why they were so expensive...

When your flashcards come out I would gladly use them

BTW, Off subject; I kinda prefer multi-choice quizzes to flash cards JapaneseClass.jp | Note List Here, you can create your own notes to quiz from.

And yeah, I feel confident I know a fairly substantial number of kanji, however I have put so little time into formal kanji study it's not funny I would really like to try out what you're doing Kyle. Oh well, if I can't get it for a reasonable price I can always go the not so legal route... bwahaha

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by StonerPenguin

Exclamation points!? Delicious! Please sir, may I have some more!?
Haha This is the first I've heard of your magic flash cards, so I don't mind you posting about them And thanks for the explanation -- I had looked for KiC before and wondered why they were so expensive...

When your flashcards come out I would gladly use them

BTW, Off subject; I kinda prefer multi-choice quizzes to flash cards JapaneseClass.jp | Note List Here, you can create your own notes to quiz from.

And yeah, I feel confident I know a fairly substantial number of kanji, however I have put so little time into formal kanji study it's not funny I would really like to try out what you're doing Kyle. Oh well, if I can't get it for a reasonable price I can always go the not so legal route... bwahaha

I don't think there's a torrent for KiC anywhere.

[willgoestocollege]

Japanese for Busy People and Genki are popular books to self study Japanese but I'm not a big fan of them. Japanese for Busy People uses a lot of Romaji whiles Genki uses a lot of English. I have a friend who is a non native English and told me he learnt more English vocab than Japanese in Genki.

[Megabyte117]

Originally Posted by willgoestocollege

Guten tag. For Kanji I recommend getting a book called "Remembering the Kanji". You may have heard about it and I'm sure you can get it in the German language now.

I second this. Of course, this book is more of a long term investment. I've recently finished, and found that being familiar with the kanji has helped me more easily learn the readings and not confuse similar looking kanji when learning vocabulary. And Kyle is right when he says it's recommended to learn them in context.

As for books, I'd highly recommend Japanese the Manga Way. It's very efficient in covering most of the essential grammar points, and is friendly to beginners and intermediate students alike. It's also more fun than reading from a textbook like Genki. I also second willgoestocollege in avoiding it. I bought it when I was in Japan a year ago, and it's not worth the money. Japanese the Manga Way is cheaper and better.