Post-Genki studying advice

Japanese
#1

Hi folks,

After taking a break from Japanese after the N4 exam (failed by 5 points oop) and finishing Genki 2, I have the motivation to brush the cobwebs off and get back into my Japanese studies.

I was wondering where people went after they finished Genki 2? Do you recommend the Quartet series? Or since those grammar points are right here on Bunpro is there any point in buying the textbook? I’m steadily continuing with both N3 vocab and grammar decks here and am back into WaniKani although it’s been a slow restart!

Reading was the weakest part of my N4 results, so I’d like to improve that. Also, general comprehension and speaking ability because there have been a few times recently where someone has asked me something and I know what they mean but I struggle to remember the correct response. That could be part of not studying for a few months though!

Any advice is welcome!

Thanks :slight_smile:

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#2

After Genki 2, I went for the Quartet books. I managed to get about halfway through the first one before I tired of the more formal studying from textbooks. Not a reflection on the book at all - I think they are excellent. Indeed the grammar explanations really helped reinforce those that I’d encountered here on BP.
As for reading, I’d recommend heading over to learnnatively.com and their forums. It’s packed with fellow Japanese-learning readers, and I’m sure you’ll quickly find something suitable and interesting for you.

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#3

If it’s any consolation I think reading is my strongest suit and I found the N4 reading in Dec '23 exams to be a bit harder than all the practice exams / books I used (and I used a lot)

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#4

Tobira or An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese are quite popular…
Personally after Genki in class, we went through Chuukyuu e ikou (but this was a long time ago…).

Buying Kanzen Master N4 Reading maybe a good idea? That way you will have a chance to test yourself and improve with an appropiate material.

Books are still great in my opinion as everybody learns differently and as a way to see different explanations, for testing and having material that is just right while learning.

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#5

I haven’t used Genki, but my general advice would be to definitely continue with another textbook. I wold personally recommend 中級へ行こう and 中級を学ぼう as a follow-up to that, but I also like the TRY! series. I have no experience with Quartet but is seems to be popular.

Aside from textbooks, this is also when you should try to get into reading materials written for natives. Try some childrens novels (角川つばさ文庫 has a bunch that are adapted from anime movies like 君の名は or 天気の子), and get into watching Japanese TV. You could try playing video games in Japanese as well. There’s going to be a lot of stuff you don’t know, so you will be looking up a lot of words but it’s all part of the learning process.

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#6

The Quartet books are a great follow up to Genki. However, like with the Genki books, they are much better with a teacher (or at least a partner), for a few reasons:

1- You’ll be pushed to do everything, including writing the essays for each chapter, and the role play conversations.

2- Someone will be able to grade you on your assignments.

3- It nice to have someone who can explain to you the different nuances between grammar points, as well as answer any questions you may have.

Of course, you can study all by yourself, but it won’t be as fruitful IMO. The same applies to pretty much any textbook you pick. It’ll be WAY better to go through them with a Japanese teacher.

HTH!

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#7

I want to second exactly what you said. This is exactly what I am doing. I’m on Quartet L10 right now with a personal teacher, and am reinforcing through Bunpro. Does it work? We’ll see this December!

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#8

At least it worked for me, and I was able to pass the N3 test in December of 2022. Make sure you read a lot, to the point of being able to read fast and comprehend everything the first time, because the reading section goes by quick!

Good luck!

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#9

After Quartet 1, I did The Great Japanese 30の物語 初中級 to focus specifically on reading comprehension. They have three levels. (These books are from the same publishers as Tobira, so it is a similar system.)

Level 1 初級 人

https://www.9640.jp/nihongo/ja/detail/?962

Level 2 初中級

https://www.9640.jp/nihongo/ja/detail/?798

These are done best with a teacher to answer the questions in each chapter.

Also, if you want to focus on passing the JLTP reading comprehension you could also use:
日本語N3文法・読解まるごとマスター 日本語能力試験・日本留学試験読解対策シリーズ

They have all the N5-1 levels available.

I agree with everyone here, Quartet is great because it focuses on all the four abilities. But if you want to focus only on reading for a bit of time, then there are other options to help you and then you can go to Quartet to reaffirm what you’ve learned as well as challenge yourself.

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#10

If you have a bunpro membership, you can have alot of sucess with bunpro for practice, and cure dolly for explinations. I used Jalup once I finished Genki myself.
Try watching netflix with Japanese audio and Japanese subs. (Hajimete Otsukai is the easiest thing on Netflix right now).

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#11

Oh, for reading practice lots of people like NHK easy news.

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#12

Great suggestions everyone, thank you!

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#13

Not going to advocate for one book over the other, but if you (or anyone else) do end up using Tobira and are self-taught, I think using this website would provide a ton of added benefit

Allows you to do all the exercises and get them graded, etc. Same person who did the popular Genki I/II books

Good practice all in all I’d say if you decide to go down the Tobira route. Or I suppose you could always use it as just random practice if you feel inclined~ :skier:

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#14

Maybe this video helps:

The main complaint I’ve heard between Genki 2 and Tobira is that the gap is too wide between levels. Tobira seems to jump right into N3 (or it gets there quicker), while Quartet 1 has a review section and the gap is smaller between Genki 2.

At the end, you can choose to start with one, and choose to continue or change course as you progress. I was halfway Tobira, left it and then started Quartet 1.

If I had known about the Tobira exercises resource that @EdBunpro (thank you!) shared, I would have continued with Tobira. It is an excellent resource!

The exercises make Tobira a pretty compelling option! Also, The Great Japanese 30の物語 is from the publishers who made Tobira, so if you wish to do Tobira after The Great Japanese 30の物語 初級, you will find it a nice transition between them. Probably enough to bridge the gap between Genki 2 and Tobira.

Best!

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#15

I personally continued with Quartet because only using Bunpro doesn’t really work for me. I tried several times and always fell of the wagon so to speak. I need textbooks for structure and a sense of accomplishment while working through them.
I have a Journaly account so I upload several of the writing assignments there and a Japanese person who is following me, is giving me feedback there.

I really like natively for book recommendations and also Wanikani book clubs. Don’t worry you don’t have to pay anything for joining a book club you only have to have an account. But natively also started to have more book clubs. I also managed to get myself a line manga account and can enjoy reading Japanese manga legally. But I‘m not sure how easy it is to create an account if you don’t live in Japan.

#16

If you’re going to watch Japanese stuff on Netflix, I highly recommend the Language Reactor browser plugin (which also works with Youtube). It’s particularly useful in the pro version since it then allows you to track your vocabulary in the subtitles, but the free version is quite useful as well.

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