Which Genki text book level should I get?

[kentaku_sama]

Well I've finaly decided to get some actual material withpre written exersizes and grammer and stuff and I thought genki would be best. I decided I'd get the answer key and text book. The question is which level 1 or 2?? I've studied online for years but I only know enough to talk like a 5 year-old in the actual country. There are alot of phrases I don't know and even though I know alot of particles, I haven't really practiced them. Though I know like 400 kanji but not many words.
Should I get level 1 or 2? I think level 1 would be best though because I get to practice the basics first again.

By the way, I live in North Carolina USA, How much does shipping cost for these books?

[richvh]

I'd say... see if your local library has (or can get through inter-library loan) a copy of Genki 1, and see how much it covers that you haven't learned yet, then make your own decision based on that.

[wccrawford]

Since you haven't gone through Genki 1 and you aren't near fluent, chances are that Genki 1 holds things you don't know yet. How much is the question...

If you really can't follow richvh's suggestion (which is really what you should do) then I would choose Genki 2. Whatever you missed from Genki 1, you'll probably get somewhere else... Or Genki 2 will reference it and you'll know it's missing. At that point you can look it up online or in a grammar book.

Really, I wouldn't worry about it. Also note that some nice users have make Genki lists on iKnow, so you can study the vocab there if you are missing that.