A little guidance needed.

[nikhilkhullar]

Hello friends,

I have done well with my JLPT N5 after one year of self study. I have studied around 120 Kanji so far, want to speed up now. As far as grammar is concerned, I have covered 25 chapters of Minna no Nihongo.

I intend to resume and infact, pace up my Nihongo studies, as am moving to Japan next month (Finally, the dream has come true.)

To re-inforce my concepts, and continue I am considering buying Genki textbooks. But, I do not have any teacher. Please guide me if it is better to study Minna no Nihongo lessons all over again, or to go with Genki, which I think will make things more interesting as I will get new kaiwas and situations. After finishing Genki, I believe I will advance to intermediate texts with a solid foundation.

Another question is that, I am getting a used copy of Genki first edition, reprint in 2004. Should I go with that or buy second edition ? I do have saved some money for the second edition, and can afford if they are worth it.

Please guide me. よろしくお願いたします。

Regards !

[Elfeera]

I have the second edition, and I am very happy with it, grammar is explained rather wel.

I cannot compare it against other books, I have only the first book, and only the first few chapter, but I like working with it much better than Japanese for Busy People, for example. It is easier to use for selfstudy (so no teacher needed)

However, I do think that you will learn so much more living in Japan than you could from a textbook...

[nikhilkhullar]

@Elfeera san

Thanks for the reply. I also have the same notion in my mind that MNN has left some blanks in my mind with regards to grammar because of the lack of a teacher or any real human speaking Japanese with me (besides listening in movies, doramas with subs) . Your reply further convices me to buy Genki.
Still uncertain about whether to go for 2nd edition or the first. The price difference is quite huge.

Regards !

[Elfeera]

Yeah, it is quite expensive, but for me, it was okay, I didn't have a first edition secondhand.
I think the first might be enough, especially because you are going to live there, and will get a lot of practice with real people.

The second edition has a CD-Rom, so it's wonderfull for me, because, at this point, it's the only Japanese I hear.

It depends on your needs ofcourse, I think it's okay, because I have time to study it, and not really planning on moving there (we are going on a trip in three weeks to Tokyo, but I will not master a language in three weeks:p)

If you have enough money, buy the second, if you're short on cash, with the impeding move, keep the first edition.
If you're in Japan and you feel the need to buy the second and you have money, than go for it:p

[TheDevilsAdmin]

I can't seem to find that much difference between first and second, I am currently looking at the first edition and it is just great :3
http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/faq_en#Q1
The FAQ, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference, I'd go with whichever is cheaper.

[clay]

The biggest difference (beside small corrections and expanded lessons) is the included CD as Elfeera mentioned. If having that extra listening practice is important to you, the 2nd edition will be far cheaper than trying to find the first edition CDs.

I'm glad Japanese textbooks are now including CDs. Not only is it a pain to stock textbooks AND CDs, they were at times as expensive as the textbook itself.