Looking fer a Genki Japanese 1 lesson plan
December 13, 2006 10:19 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for some ideas to effectively use the Genki 1 textbook to start teaching myself Japanese.

I've managed to pick up a copy of Genki 1, the Genki 1 workbook, and the accompanying CDs. I'm looking for some ideas/lesson plan to use all three of these aids. Should I focus on the workbook first, focus on the reading and writing section of the text first, etc. I basically already know hiragana and katakana ("know" not "mastered") so I know those sections will be a good reinforcement. So any suggestions on how to effectively use these three items is appreciated.

I know, I know:
1) Go to Japan and immerse yourself - financially not going to happen unless I win the lottery (note to self: start playing the lottery).
2) Work in Japan - Interviewed with a couple of the English schools and didn't get anywhere. Guess I wasn't genki enough for them. Sadly, no international companies have called me despite my stellar (not) resume.
3) Take a class - Local community college doesn't have a beginner's course until next fall

I'm not looking for a magic pill, just a good lesson plan/ideas on how to use these items.

Tusen takk - wait, dang it, wrong language
posted by badger11 to Education (6 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
I would suggest downloading or lending some Pimsleur tapes/CDs in Japanese. Do one segment a day, and in around 3 months you'll have a solid base of spoken Japanese.

As for the Genki books - work through each chapter slowly and be sure to read the dialogs over and over again.

In my opinion the Genki CDs suck. You say you have the workbook, so you should probably go ahead and buy the answer key too - it's available online.

Definitely don't worry about Kanji yet. Yes, they are pretty. But three years from now, even though they started off as pretty, they will haunt your dreams.

Good luck.
posted by matkline at 11:14 PM on December 13, 2006


If you haven't already, check out TheJapanesePage.Com forums, maybe search them for Genki. I know there are plenty of people there doing the Japanese self-study thing and Genki is one of the more popular textbooks. がんばって!
posted by zengargoyle at 11:51 PM on December 13, 2006


The Pimsleur CDs aren't bad, they'll give you some basic usage, but not any of the "why" of it. They're good if you have a commute to listen to them. I listened to Pimsleur 1 as support for my tutoring, but a friend with through several complete French courses and felt it really left him hanging when anyone was speaking French to him went "off script". They also speak... very... slowly...
not realistically, and I could swear that the presenter had a Chinese accent.

Interviewing for Language schools outside of Japan and inside Japan is very different. If you can get yourself to Japan you can pretty much get a job teaching English*. In the States they won't even consider you if you don't have at least a bachelor's degree. I have one in English and they didn't take me in San Francisco.

Where do you live? Is there any chance you can find a native Japanese person to converse with or have tutor? A native speaker in any capacity is incredibly valuable. If you can find a knowledgeable Japanese tutor, I recommend the "みんなの日本語" books. ("Minna no nihongo" or "Everybody's Japanese") At minimum you'll need the "All in Japanese" workbook, and the "translation in your language (English)" book. They also have optional CD's and kanji workbooks if you feel they're necessary. They're really great for good understanding of actual applied Japanese language and usage. Though they're not really for self learning.

I honestly haven't used the Genki pack, but they're pretty popular, so should be a lot of support for them.

My tips for learning Japanese are:
1) Don't waste your time on any class material that is in "Romanji" or using the English alphabet to phoneticaly pronounce Japanese. It's a waste of time and will hurt your study later when your books go over to Hirigana, Katakana and Kanji. You'll virtually never see anything written in Romanji anywhere in Japan. Instead learn Hirigana first. It's the general use phonetic alphabet and what Japanese children first learn.

2) Remember foreign languages often don't make sense. sometimes the answer for "why?" is "because". Remembering this can keep you from getting frustrated.

3) Speak it whenever you can. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Hell, especially make mistakes. When I'm in America I'm pretty shy, but in Japan, though far from fluent, I'm a talking machine. The speed I learn is directly related to how much I speak to others.

4) Listen to it. Rent anime or Japanese movies and watch them subtitled, then rewatch them only in Japanese. Or watch the Sunday imported Japanese programs on that independent TV channel that no one ever watches.

*Not a guarantee, but I've never heard of anyone getting turned down from every school they looked at.
posted by Ookseer at 2:59 AM on December 14, 2006


1. Create flashcards for the vocab and grammar points of each chapter. Use spaced repetition (I use VTrain).
2. When you feel you're ready, put the flashcards down and try to read the entire chapter without looking up any words.
3. Write down words you don't recognize and add them to your flashcard collection for the chapter.
4. Rinse and repeat.
posted by blahtsk at 8:10 AM on December 14, 2006


Response by poster: Thanks for the answers
posted by badger11 at 12:23 PM on December 14, 2006


The workbook approach was helpful for me initially--
I didn't expect it to be, having been sold on the 'learn by doing' story, but having slogged through sentence constructions in the workbook made a huge difference in my ability to learn more rapidly. E.g., when learning a new verb, I was comfortable with the conjugations right away, so could put it to use immediately...this is important especially in 'verb heavy' languages like Japanese. So I'd say doing that is a good start--
supplement with tapes, and as others have said, ditch romaji immediately. It will reinforce 'Americanized' pronunciations, as opposed to kana, which will keep you in the land of Japanese phonetics.
posted by slipperynirvana at 12:31 PM on December 14, 2006


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