One of the most important desicions you will make when studying a language is what resource are you going to use to study from?
The question is always going to be which textbook should I get?
Whether you are a beginner and just starting out or you are looking to take on the JLTP exams. The books that you use can help or break your results. If you want to see reuslts you need a book that is easy to use and can get you there fast!
also the price is another important factor when buying a book.
A text book can either be a great motivator where you see your progress or it can break your process, leaving you drained and unmotivated to continue studying.
The reality is most bookstores do not stock textbooks or they might stock very few. On the other hand buying books online can be a challenge as you cnat really see the book you are about to buy.
So How do You Choose a Textbook?
So having personally used some of these books myself, i will give you a quick guide abou these books and where you can buy them.
Popular beginner books
Genki I + II
Genki books both I and II are probably the most consice and affordable easy to read and understand books for begninner level. These have been used extensively by loads of japanese learners and are found to be effective learning resources.
Pros:
Its a popular series, so you will find loads of information and decks online these digital flashcard decks are also available on Anki so go ahead and download them!
The book covers reading, writing, speaking, listening skills.
“Genki” I covers the JLPT N5 while “Genki” II covers N4,
The books are in English so its easier to understand the grammar points
Japanese For busy people
The series Japanese for Busy People has guided hundreds of thousands of students to a fluent, natural, and precise use of the Japanese language. Volume I teaches the absolute minimum amount of Japanese to live in Japan and handle everyday situations.
In the ten years since its publication, Japanese for Busy People has won acceptance worldwide as an effective, easy-to-understand textboook!
Minna No Nihongo
Minna no Nihongo” or translated as “Japanese for Everyone” is another well-established textbook. The book covers the japanese skills needed and introduces Kanji from the First lessons.
These books were written by japanese langiage teachers who are experts in their area.
The difference here is that is entierly written in japanese so a good working knowledge of japanese hiragna and katakana is needed before using them.
Howwever they are excellent preparations to score high on the JLPT test!
Japanese From Zero
Japanese From Zero offers an easy to understand Self-guided approach to learning japanese, especially if you are studying by yourself.
You dont need a japanese teacher to guide you and there is also an online community of people who can guide you to stuidy. The guy who made the book also has a Youtube channel and explains main grammer and kanji points.
Shin Nihongo 500 Mon Series(新にほんご５００問)
personally i love these books because of their size, they are small portable and you can study and work problems everywhere you go!
The books cover kanji, Vocabulary and Grammer questions.
They are a really good practice partner for the JLPT exams.
You can buy the books from White Rabbit Press from OMGJAPAN.com! its a cheaper option
New Kansen Master Series
hese are the heavy weights for learning japanese!
the shinkanzen series provides an indepth knowledge of japanese vocabulary, grammer and reading.
Although they are really good books they might be intimidating at first and are more geared towards the upper intermediate japanese readers.
Try Series
Try! is a great way to practice and practice and practice your japanese skills.
The book flows well and is easy to work your way through. There are numerous charts of different forms spread throughout the book that you can reference for those tough irregular pronunciations for some of the counters.