The layout and flow of information is interesting and logical.
![best book to learn japanese for beginners best book to learn japanese for beginners](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IIDsJ7CaCyo/maxresdefault.jpg)
Once a word has been introduced, it always appears in hiragana for the remainder of the text. However, even those with a less-than-masterful grasp of hiragana will swiftly find their ability increasing, through constant reinforcement and repetition. Learners of Japanese should start with hiragana. Learners of English start with the alphabet. It starts with the assumption that the learner has become familiar with hiragana, which is an absolute necessity when studying Japanese. To begin with, there is absolutely no romaji. It is possibly the best, most comprehensive beginning Japanese text that I have seen, and if I were to teach a Japanese course, this is the book I would choose for my students. "Elementary Japanese" does everything right. Using this book will give you a very good foundation of Japanese grammar, and its weakpoints can be addressed in later courses since the most important part in the beginning is learning the basics. Another drawback to this book compared to Genki is that it includes less cultural information. Even so, this form is the most useful for daily conversations, so it's only a drawback for some people. The reason for this is that this book was designed for UC Berkeley students, and the department was designed so the second year focused more on casual Japanese than the first year.
#Best book to learn japanese for beginners series
Its appendices are much more thorough than Genki in every respect, making it easier to reference (if you get the second volume, its appendices reference both volumes, making that the definitive version to use.) However, one drawback of this series is that it focuses mainly on normal polite Japanese (- forms). There are vocabulary (both E->J and J->E), verb conjugation, grammar, and kanji appendices. This book is also a wonder reference since it has many appendices. The CD is a great way to practice listening comprehension. Unlike Genki, the audio portion of the course is provided with the book, so you don't have to pay extra to practice listening. This is a great way to learn because all the kanji you encounter in the examples should be ones you know. Words that were previously written in hiragana are replaced with kanji once you learn it. The kanji lessons are integrated in the lessons, unlike Genki, which has them in the back. There are more examples and the grammar points are more thoroughly explained. This textbook explains grammar very well, and it goes much more in-depth than Genki. I've compared this series to the highly praised Genki series, and I strongly prefer this one. Elementary Japanese is one of the best textbooks for starting Japanese.