UniLang

こんにちは!

I'm not sure if I wrote the thread's title correctly or not . I thought for sure I had my own Japanese thread, but after much searching I guess I don't. Anyway I am making this thread to help keep myself motivated in Japanese and to help with some of the mistakes I constantly make and maybe try to write simple journals. I am still a beginner in Japanese and currently working through Genki 2. So I will be posting my Japanese updates and questions here. But my Japanese is not very good, so there will be lots of mistakes. I am trying to focus on Japanese and Korean while I have some free time this summer.

ありがとうございます

2017年7月12日

こんにちは。

Today, In Japanese I worked on my Kanji handwriting and read a a little bit of my new Japanese an essential grammar book. I really like it and it is a good reference and definitely explains some things in more detail which is awesome. So today I learned about だって which from what the book was saying can work as a conjunction and a particle. So I'm guessing it can mean : because, but, even and also. I also learned about なら which the book explains it can directly follow an adjectival nouns and is roughly translated into if. For example:
買い物なら渋谷がいいでしよ。

あなたが行くなら私も行くたいです。

Meera wrote:あなたが行くなら私も行くたいです。

行きたい*

As I'm always interested in good quality Japanese resources, I'm curious what book that is. Is it the one by Tuttle?

Nice thread by the way, Meera. As I'm a bit lower level then you, I'm not sure how much help I'll be to any of your questions, but I'll certainly be following this.

Yasna wrote:

Meera wrote:あなたが行くなら私も行くたいです。

行きたい*

ありがとうございます

księżycowy wrote:As I'm always interested in good quality Japanese resources, I'm curious what book that is. Is it the one by Tuttle?

Nice thread by the way, Meera. As I'm a bit lower level then you, I'm not sure how much help I'll be to any of your questions, but I'll certainly be following this.

It is called Essential Japanese Grammar by Mashahiro Tanimori and Eriko Sato, it is by tuttle So far I really like it.

ありがとう！

księżycowy wrote:ありがとう！

いいえ.

How are the Genki textbooks? I've never used them myself, but I have them on backorder at Japanese Centre.

As for grammar textbooks, I can really recommend Schaum's (which I have an older edition of). Great overview of every important bit of Japanese grammar, in my humble opinion.

They are pretty good in my opinion. Of course this is said by someone that has forsaken using Genki and has instead is using Minna no Nihongo, but I still think they are a very good textbook.

księżycowy wrote:They are pretty good in my opinion. Of course this is said by someone that has forsaken using Genki and has instead is using Minna no Nihongo, but I still think they are a very good textbook.

I don't mean to hijack Meera's thread (sorry, Meera!), but since you were the one to answer my question: I'm curious, what made you go with みんなの日本語?

I'm sure Meera wouldn't mind.

As for your question, I suppose it was a few things. 1) I think that there is a TON of Japanese in みんなの日本語. The Lesson book is exclusively in Japanese and most of the workbooks are 95% in Japanese, if they aren't totally in Japanese. Genki has soooo much English it's a bit annoying to me personally.
2) The text gives me a good challenge because of all the Japanese and forcing me to recall all the grammar and vocab from the grammar/vocab book (which is the only book in the set that has a bunch of English).
3) I also like the size of the lessons a bit better. They are smaller, and I feel they are less bogged down then Genki. A typical lesson in MnN is about 4 pages in the lesson book, and about 4 pages in the grammar book (excluding the workbooks here). In Genki a typical lesson is around 20 pages long.
4)The grammar is more throughly explained in Genki, but I find the "bitesized" explanations in MnN more my style and just as effective as their Genki counter parts. I don't feel as though I need as much of the explanation that Genki gives. To me at least, it seems like the two textbooks are trying to get to the same place on a subject, but Genki takes the long way. MnN is like, here it is, now see how it works in the exercises, example sentences, and the dialogues. It's a lot more inductive.

Short version: I like the use of a TON of Japanese in the MnN materials, and the lesson size. And it's a more inductive textbook.
It just depends on what you're looking for as to which you would want to go with. Genki holds your hand more, while MnN challenges you more. The cost might also be a factor, as Genki is about 60~70$ for the textbook and workbook where as for everything for the Beginner I materials for MnN you're looking at an easy 100$, if not a bit more.

I could PM you a few links for you try them both out, if you wanted. Nothing beats seeing for yourself.

Wow, thanks for your helpful reply! And yes, I would very much like the links. Maybe they'll make me cancel my Genki order?

Astrum wrote:How are the Genki textbooks? I've never used them myself, but I have them on backorder at Japanese Centre.

As for grammar textbooks, I can really recommend Schaum's (which I have an older edition of). Great overview of every important bit of Japanese grammar, in my humble opinion.

Hello Astrum, yes they are very good! They are probably my favorite resource for Japanese that I have used so far. (I mean I haven't used a ton of stuff but yeah ). They are really fun too, they have good vocabulary, vocabulary that I find I use a lot or hear a lot, they have some good cultural references in there and the set up is pretty good. I would definitely get the workbook with it

Meera wrote:

Astrum wrote:How are the Genki textbooks? I've never used them myself, but I have them on backorder at Japanese Centre.

As for grammar textbooks, I can really recommend Schaum's (which I have an older edition of). Great overview of every important bit of Japanese grammar, in my humble opinion.

Hello Astrum, yes they are very good! They are probably my favorite resource for Japanese that I have used so far. (I mean I haven't used a ton of stuff but yeah ). They are really fun too, they have good vocabulary, vocabulary that I find I use a lot or hear a lot, they have some good cultural references in there and the set up is pretty good. I would definitely get the workbook with it

Thanks a bunch, Meera! And sorry again for stealing your thread.

Astrum wrote:

Meera wrote:

Astrum wrote:How are the Genki textbooks? I've never used them myself, but I have them on backorder at Japanese Centre.

As for grammar textbooks, I can really recommend Schaum's (which I have an older edition of). Great overview of every important bit of Japanese grammar, in my humble opinion.

Hello Astrum, yes they are very good! They are probably my favorite resource for Japanese that I have used so far. (I mean I haven't used a ton of stuff but yeah ). They are really fun too, they have good vocabulary, vocabulary that I find I use a lot or hear a lot, they have some good cultural references in there and the set up is pretty good. I would definitely get the workbook with it

Thanks a bunch, Meera! And sorry again for stealing your thread.

Its okay I don't mind

こんにちは。今までメイラではなくミーラかと思っていました。申し訳ありません。何か質問とかがあった時は、是非残してください。韓国語の質問でも気軽にどうぞ。

Hey, I've been thinking your name would be /miira/ rather than /meira/, sorry! If you have any question, I'll be happy to help you. The same for Korean as well.

Karavinka wrote:こんにちは。今までメイラではなくミーラかと思っていました。申し訳ありません。何か質問とかがあった時は、是非残してください。韓国語の質問でも気軽にどうぞ。

Hey, I've been thinking your name would be /miira/ rather than /meira/, sorry! If you have any question, I'll be happy to help you. The same for Korean as well.

Hello Karavinka! Sorry for the late reply but thank you so much I think you are right.