This is a decent book, but I got bored with it pretty quickly to be honest. The exercises were... meh... But there isn't many good books at that level, so it's certainly not bad. =)
Don't sleep on the audio CDs! 😄 They're great for speaking and listening practice. Such as immersion, shadowing, pitch accent practice, listening and comprehension and timing your responses to the narrated questions. Plus if you're particularly ambitious you can make anki flashcards with included audio (cutting tracks via audacity), like making i+1 cards for new vocab, make cards where there is only audio and test your ability to understand what's being said. Maybe at your level you don't need that extra bit of help but I'm almost done with Genki 2 (my next book is integrated approach to Japanese) and using the tracks has been really helpful. I love books with audio. I prefer mp3s but CDs are fine too as I can just rip them with an external drive when needed. But yeah, the CD's are another tool that's worth using and spending some time with. ^_^ Other than that, it's great to see these videos Chad, you've been so helpful over the years that I've been studying Japanese! 💕
Jahayra C If you’re including recordings for your flashcards, especially for single words, you can save time by using ready mp3 files with pronunciation at forvo.com :) I also make „talking” flashcards on my Anki.
@@JeykaPL ooh I might try that one day. With Forvo however I remember I had to pick and choose the voices which is great for hearing men and women say it but might add an extra distraction to the process. With genki you're pretty much spoon fed the words. So I would just cut select/cut/save the audio through audacity. I've done it for about 8 chapters, and at first I was rather slow, but I'm so used to it now I can get through vocab of 50/60 words in 30-40 min just cause I can see and recognize the sound pattern of the file. But I'm always up for trying new things, thanks! 😁
Thank you for this review! As someone who was interested in this textbook your review helped me get the insight I needed. I've heard that there is also a textbook called AOZORA which has better online reviews overall. Are you familiar with it? Any thoughts?
hello! i passed n3 last year and i finished minna no nihongo intermediate II (which covers n3 grammar + a bit of n2/even n1). i wanted to know your thoughts about the Images of Japan textbook? especially the 中上級 and 上級 levels since i don't see ANYONE speaking about them online. i'm still hesitating between the textbook you're showing here and the one i'm talking about ! :(( thanks a lot!
Andrew I love Tobira. I use it in conjunction with the kanji and the grammar workbooks. I also use Anki cards and use the website audio for listening practice. I really took my time and did not try to rush. I found that my language skills progressed in an organic matter. By the end of the book I am able to read newspaper and understand TV drama. I can speak reasonably well, but I still find that my writing contains lots of unnatural Japanese. I am thinking of going for JLPT N3, but still undecided. What about you?
Tobira is way below this. At least the one I flipped through, if it's a series I didn't read any that were this level. Honestly this book is pretty much for anyone who really doesn't need a textbook anymore to learn words or grammar. Tobira I still put solidly at intermediate.
@@ThatsMyChad would you say this could serve as a good next step to tobira? it seems like there arent that many intermediate->advanced textbooks out there, or at least they're not as prominent in the JP learning community
@@LeoSkyro The reason for that is honestly, you don't need a textbook at that level. You just need native materials (which even after market tend to be way cheaper than textbook books). I haven't thumbed through Tobira in awhile, but from what I remember it's a pretty standard intermediate document. If that's the case, this might be a touch tough, but with a good grammar dictionary and spending some time word loading (cause that's where the real gap is here, this assumes you know closer to 7-10k words) then you could use it if you want.
I'm at the last Tobira chapter now, after a looooong, over a year and a half of constant revising and learning, looking forward to using this book now!
It's a fun little book to get you reading for content instead of just connecting words and meanings! Hope you enjoy this and good luck on your way to advanced! :D
The lack of answer key kinda sucks in their lower level book, An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese. It doesn’t have an answer key either and that’s especially painful in the workbook (because in the textbook there’s almost nothing that needs answer key, apart from listening BUT they did upload the answers for that on their webpage). However, the workbook consists mostly of filling the gap grammar tasks (usually completing a sentence, you’re either given the first part or have to fill in the middle part of sentence) and without answer key you cannot check if you got the grammar correct. I guess it mostly designed for classes with a teacher who can check your workbook. Sucks for those studying on their own.
Ooooooh I was looking at this book the other day and I'm quite interested. Might just get this hopefully after I pass N2; I just have too many books right now.
Yo chad! I think it's weird lol I started studying Japanese 4 years ago, found your channel 3 years ago and a lot of the textbooks that you recommended I have ended up using. Ironically enough, you said that you went to the GENKI school in Japan right? This summer I'm supposed to go to one of the 3 GENKI schools in Japan. I was researching about the textbooks that they used yesterday ( They said that I'll most likely be in the intermediate- high intermediate class) and I find this video now. lol
Gopher Lee no just the advanced Japanese ones I’ve had. I’m not a big fan because I’ve found it easier to just use dictionaries or word lists with a grammar dictionary and native materials. Cheaper and goes farther.
Thank you Chad for the excellent review! I'm also hoping to find someone or some people to tackle this book with... I actually got about halfway through 中級から上級への日本語 in college before getting swamped. However, that feels like forever ago, so I'd like to start over at the beginning. I recently "finished" Tobira and I've been working through the Kanzen Master and Sou Matome N2 books while doing stuff in Japanese (reading, gaming, watching TV, etc). If anyone knows a good place online to find study buddies let me know! Thanks.
Great videos chad, love your hard work to help us know what to look for to study Japanese. Am really interested learning Japanese, what's the best book for self study Japanese from 0? Are Genki 1 or Nihongo So-Matome N5 friendly for first time learners?
I don't consider the matome series instructional, they're basically test prep and review. Genki, on the otherhand is one of two flagship beginner textbooks that is meant to bring a foundational understanding. The other is the Minna no Nihongo series.
Scot Mc Pherson it’s the link under the patreon link that says “sponsor the channel!”, I really should rename it to make it obvious, sorry about that!!
