clay wrote:
For self study, do you think the workbook is a good idea? At least for Genki, I usually recommend only buying it IF the student has a teacher or someone who can check and make recommendations. Of course the Answer Key does have answers, but it isn't able to deal with variations or style issues.
I can't really speak for Genki, but I got the Workbook for "Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese".
I really wish there was an answer key I could find for the text itself, as well as this workbook ( yes, there is stylization, but the main idea of the exercises answer gets across that I find QUITE useful in the back of Japanese for Everyone )
Maybe I am missing something, but not having an answer key REALLY makes the xercises next to useless since it does not necessarily give you the confidence that you KNOW the material.
I would get the Genki workbook if I used Genki, especially if I had a friend also doing the text alongside me. I have the advantage of having a friend who is an English Major, also studying Japanese, he is using Genki and will be using IAIJ soon as well. He is ALWAYS ahead of mee, no matter how hard I work, which is a great motivation tool, I don't want to get too far behind, and he doesn't want me to get ahead of him. We have the advantage of being able to review each other's work ( though him review mine before I can review his

)
To end, I think the workbooks are great, but REALLY would be best if they came with answer keys!!!
I hope IAIJ releases one...