Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Workbook II [Japanese]

This has been such a fun and useful book for those continuing their Japanese learning experience. I have really enjoyed reading it, and the new vocabulary are extremely useful, as I can now pick out many more words out of a Japanese conversation than before. Thank you, Genki II!

This was the textbook I used in Japan when I was a summer foreign exchange student in Tokyo during high school. I LOVE the Genki series. I could use what I learned from the lessons within five minutes of doing the homework for that day. While another reviewer was correct that the vocabulary and situations used in the lessons are geared towards students and homestays, I think it's still an excellent introduction to the Japanese language. If you get the grammar down, then obviously you can simply expand your vocabulary to suit multiple other situations. Check out the Genki online resources, too; they're great [...]

I learned Japanese as a second language from the Genki books, and now I use them to teach students of my own. This is by far the best Introductory Japanese book out there!

Genki II is just a continuation of Genki I. The quality is the same, and the comments here apply equally to both Genki I and II. Japanese is a very difficult language for English speakers to learn. If you've learned some French or Spanish (as I have), forget about it! Japanese is many times more difficult. That being said, Japanese is also more interesting, in that it has a completely different structure and forces you to think differently. Genki does a good job of presenting Japanese is an orderly fashion. The authors are all native Japanese speakers, and there are a few places where they make mistakes in English, but those small errors do not take away from the text. Genki could use a few more sample Japanese sentences, though. For example, when they present a new pattern, they often provide just a couple of examples when ten or twelve would be better. I suppose they assume (correctly) that this book will mostly be used in a classroom setting, and that the teacher will provide additional material. In the end, Genki is a good textbook, but you will need more help if you are going to learn to speak Japanese. That is not the fault of the authors, it is just the way it is.

I like the genki books. As you move through the book, the grammatical structures definitely build upon previously learned structures. The vocabulary is very practical. After just using the Genki books, I was able to go to Japan and communicate pretty well considering I only had three years of studying under my belt. The previous reviewer mentioned that it is hard for her students to remember the grammatical structures. I find that all the students in my class and I have been able to recognize structures and use them. This is mostly because we incorporate conversation in class so much. As long as you keep on using the structures, it will eventually come naturally. Hope that helped a bit!