Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese

Genki #2

by Eri Banno, Yoko Ikeda, Yutaka Ohno

Published in Japan, Genki gives a beginning student of Japanese a solid grounding in all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Packed with easy-to-understand grammar explanations, a variety of exercises full of illustrations, and scenes taken from everyday life, the 23 lessons will have students enjoying the often tedious beginning stage of Japanese-language learning and will enable them to acquire a well-balanced ability to communicate in elementary Japanese.

Genres: Japanese Literature, Language, Japan, Nonfiction, Reference, Textbooks, Academic

392 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Mirta Stamenić · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is only one specific part I want to highlight,I think it was in Lesson 13 or 14, there was an exercise where you practiced giving advice to people, and one of the people was Jon-san, who said he didn't have a girlfriend. The options were: 1) go to a party, 2) join a club, and 3) give up. The Japanese sure are a brutal nation.

[Loran (Inked with Curiosity) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have extensively used this textbook throughout my college career and as I finish up a Japanese Minor I can honestly say Genki has been an inexhaustible resource for me. It's a textbook that anybody could pick up and teach themselves from because it is so clear. Japanese is honestly a very easy language but it seems hard and I think half of what makes Genki a wonderful textbook is because it makes Japanese accessible and it puts the language in a Western context. The lessons are structured in a way where they are always building off each other and reinforce important grammars over and over again. I just can't say enough good things about Genki and I'm honestly sort of sad that I'm finished with it.

[k · Rating 5 out of 5]

More difficult than Genki I but still doable, and uses a variety of kanji especially in the vocabulary section. If you're aiming for the n4 or n3, it would be a good idea to study the kanji included in the vocabulary rather than just what the textbook provides you. The grammar is slightly tricky but with practice it can be picked up, and at this level you're starting to get closer to reading actual Japanese rather than just kanas. Of course, it would be a good idea to look at other sources or textbooks for the n4 to get any missing information. This book might not prepare you for the n3, but it will prepare you for the n4 of the JLPT and after completing this book, you should be able to use basic Japanese without much difficulty even in conversation. This will help when you get to the higher levels.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genki II: The Genki-ing

This is an excellent book to learn Japanese.

I got a lot out of it.

It is a difficult language (much more difficult than mandarin), but really rewarding.

Check it out if you want to learn too!

4.5/5

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this book for learning Japanese! Very clear and easy to understand.
This is the book used in Genki JACS school in Shinjuku, Japan.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was at my last lesson, I finally realized that there was an entire romance story going on between Mary and Takeshi lol

What a bittersweet story. It made me go over all the lessons in Genki I and Genki II again. After reviewing all the lessons that piece a story together, I'm also glad that my Japanese has improved so much, thanks to this textbook. Months before, I had trouble understanding all those text (despite my Kanji advantage); now, I could skim through these text at ease. The grammar practices in this book really helped a lot.

[RC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and engaging. I worked through this as a kind of warm down after slogging through the more forbidding Miura “Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese” book. It was significantly easier than that book, at an upper-beginner/intro-intermediate level.

The reading material was often funny and engaging.

A useful second step after working through an elementary course.

[ギーカミ BOOKMARK°S]

DNF

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

tl;dr Definitely still recommend. If you can get access to it, it's very much worth checking out! (Just be sure to get the latest edition!)

Not tl;dr:

This review is essentially the same as my review of the first book, which you can read here. I recommend reading that review first since these two books are essentially one book split into two, their content and stylization is identical.

Though for this book specifically, the main difference for me, and why I knocked a star, is due to the advancement in grammar and it lacking in explanations. I feel due to the simplicity of the grammar taught in the first book, it can get away without deeper dives, so supplementary material isn't 100% necessary (but I'd still highly recommend regardless!). But here, this is where you'd really need it.

Outsourcing to places like Tae Kim, Japanese Ammo With Misa (YT), iTalki, or others would make a huge difference in your understanding. While this book /tries/ to go into detail, it just either couldn't or plain doesn't. (I feel they might've been limited to a certain number of pages for grammar, which is why they seemed to make them so short? Just a guess.) I remember this book being the start of my confusion back when I first read it in college, and where I started to burn out with the language as a whole. It started to get too complex too fast without deep information or nuances for me to grasp onto. Specific reasonings and exceptions, along with comparisons, aren't really at all present in this book.

Nevertheless, I'd still recommend this book. Since outside of a college setting, going at your own pace, and using additional resources to help fill in the gaps, make this book very strong and very helpful! Especially, again, with the back sections, which are so valuable and still my favorite part of these textbooks. (Not gonna lie though, that Beatles story still makes me feel...awkward >_> xD)

And for those curious about the JLPT: Genki I = N5, Genki II = N4.

As far as what your next book could be, you have options like Tobira, An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, Kanzen Master, and others. For me, since I already own IAIJ, I'll be going there next :)

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as great as Genki 1. I learned most of the second half of this book from experience living in Japan, but I taught myself the kanji throughout the second volume before I moved. Completely Genki I and Genki II before visiting Japan is in my opinion sufficient to helping transition a move or a visit to Japan, especially for someone looking to become integrated in Japanese society.

[Dasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irrationally structured, overly verbose and convoluted explanations of even the most basic grammar points, and catered primarily for university students.
Still, there is plenty of opportunity for controlled and freer practice, and the online resources are a great help. In retrospect, I would've chosen a different coursebook for self-study.

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's no Eats Shoots and Leave but is a great resource for learning Japanese. (I know how much I appreciated the Genki books, because when they were finished, I panicked about what the next textbook would be. Lucky for me the same company launched the similar-but-different-but-not-too-different series Quartet for people like me, and I'm so glad!)

My quibble with the beginning of Genki I> (too much romaji) wasn't the case here. So my only quibbles would be:

1. too much vocabulary about the life of a student. I'm a 57 year old tourist. I'm never going to have to use words and phrases like home stay family or college major or beg my professor for an extension on my essay. No, I want to make restaurant reservations over the phone, ask the hotel desk if there's a different room with a desk in it, or (this happened a lot in Japan) explain why I happen to know so much Japanese, none of which got covered.

2. The sample dialogue character Mary-san seems like a real piece of work. It would be more entertaining if the authors admitted she was terrible and just went with it.

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)

[Spaghett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continues on from Genki 1 in exactly the same style and you should feel comfortable here if you finished the first. I continue to appreciate the no-fluff approach, every piece of text is relevant and it doesn't waste your time on anything. I do still have the gripe that grammar points from earlier lessons aren't always used in later lessons as much as they could be, some things did drop from my mind because they were kind of uncommon, but overall I'm feeling more confidant with my reading. There's a couple things I should review, but overall I think I got most of it and I enjoyed the occasional weird humor here and there. Will probably start Tobira next month so hopefully that goes well too.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The adventures of Mary-san continue (via example sentences and stories)! This book pretty much covers N4 Japanese. It does a decent amount of hand-holding, covering a few grammar points per chapter. It's maybe the most popular Japanese textbook, and for good reason. It's easy to follow and I learned a lot from it.

-1 star because there are far, far better alternatives to the Kanji section of the book (I like the app Wanikani and the book Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course as a supplement). Also, Genki refers to ichidan verbs as "u verbs", which is confusing - nearly all verbs - ichidan or not - end with a 'u'!

All in all, an excellent teaching tool for grammar and its solid choice of beginner vocabulary.

[Coicoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This textbook is a mess, but there are still some valuable resources within it. It's just a bit disorganized and disorienting.

Pros: There are some engaging dialogues and readings, and some of the audio samples provide helpful examples of the target language.

Cons: The grammar is presented and taught in a haphazard manner. Also, some of the audio samples are recorded rather poorly. Also, there is FAR TOO MUCH ENGLISH in the Textbook and the Audio.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Завершення двох томів Genki було непростим і довгим випробуванням. Але водночас воно було приємним. Ці підручники заслужено займають перше місце у моєму списку японських підручників, разом з Minna no Nihongo.

Я можу повертатися до цих корисних сторінок знову й знову, але тепер час рухатися далі і шукати для себе щось нове.

[JV · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finalmente. Pense num livro que me esforcei por não terminar... Sempre ansioso, às voltas com a pergunta: "e depois?" Fui pesquisando gramáticas e novos aplicativos para me instruir no japonês e acabei fazendo muitas coisas ao mesmo tempo. Agora que terminei posso me dedicar mais aos outros materiais que fui pesquisando e postarei aqui no GR à medida que for progredindo.

[Izzuddin Ahsanujunda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked up where the book 1 left off, this book continue to dig deeper into the Japanese culture and the language. With this book you are not only learning the Japanese language, but also the common sense and the people.

[Rin琳 · Rating 5 out of 5]

In one exercise of Lesson 15, “a famous prophet said that will be a big earthquake next week. Tell what the people will do in advance.”
みんなは水と食べ物を買っておいたり、大きい家具を捨てておいたり、うちを売っておいたりする時、武さんは？
たくさん食べておきます……
さすが、武さん!!!

[Dan Xia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to the Japanese language. Explanations are for the most part on point, and by the end you will know a significant amount of grammar structures and vocabulary. My one critique would be that there is a lack of "true" conversational Japanese that is used in every day life.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some very difficult grammar in this book but fantastic set up. I'm now almost ready for JLPT 4 and could probably pass now. I liked how the classes were set up and got quite attached to the characters.

[winnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely better than みんなの日本語. I wish the explanations for the んです form were better, but overall this was a great resource.

[Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good follow-up resource to learning Japanese.

[VampireNovelFan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good continuation but the material it's kinda boring.

[Danielle Mead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend the Genki textbooks and their corresponding workbooks for anyone learning Japanese.

[Fub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for everything, Genki Cinematic Universe. I'll never forget you, just like たけしさん will never ever forget メアリーさん

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

日本語上手

[Mikuwashi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book series of elementary Japanese for everyone (who can speak English, though) to take up and then polish their Japanese skills. I really liked the layout of each chapter and its consistency - starting it up with a dialogue (translated), vocabulary bank, grammar bank and then, when you're ready to go - the exercises, including the listening.

However, it's advisable to purchase the workbook as well, as all of the writing systems, namely hiragana, katakana and then kanji, as well as the way to write them, is taught in the workbook. There is also a vast amount of reading material put there - without the translation, though, but that's the fun of it - you get to read and translate it yourself, while testing yourself whether you remember the kanji you'd learnt so far. I highly recommend this book (which consists of 2 parts) for any beginner of Japanese out there.

[Michael Werneburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best of many, many Japanese books that I've had. It lays everything out in an orderly fashion, and has quite a bit of supporting examples and illustrations and exercises to drive home the lessons. Those lessons are well-sized for someone who's crashing through this difficult language, and I've found the examples and illustrative explanations refreshingly sophisticated. I had taken classes in groups or in one:one situations for about three and a half years the first time I lived in Japan (which was a five year span all in). But I think I've learned more in the six months I've been studying with this book than I did in all that time.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful textbook for Japanese instruction. The examples are very clear and the book is organized in such a way as to make the content fairly easy to digest. Overall I believe the book could use a few more examples to illustrate the nuances of a particular grammar item, which is the one way in which I feel Yookoso (An Invitation to Contemporary Japanese and Continuing with Contemporary Japanese) is sometimes better. Other than that, however, Genki is a delight to read and study.