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[GreenEyes]

When I moved home from Japan last summer, I had to leave my Japanese language books . . . too heavy and cumbersome to bring with me. Now I'm ready to delve into my studies again and welcome suggestions for a good romanji dictionary (easier for looking up words), kanji dictionary (suitable for novices), and a textbook. Everything's a blur right now. I can't tell one book from the next on Amazon and don't remember what I was using in Japan. I still consider myself in the beginning stages of learning the language. I know basic tourist-grade Japanese and can read hiragana and katakana, but that's pretty much it.

Which books have helped you in your studies? And yes, I did the search thing, but as always I only manage to get a blank page.

Thanks.

[Glenski]

Best overall "romaji dictionary" I've found is Random House. Japanese-English and English-Japanese.

Good kanji learning dictionary is Halpern's.
http://www.kanji.org/kanji/dictionaries/learners/learners.htm

Textbooks are personal preference, IMO.

[Hoser]

I've used Genki I and II textbooks-I've found them to be extremely useful. Not to hi-jack this thread but, after you've gone through the Genki I and II textbooks-what next? What's the next step? Any recommendations?

[Inflames]

[GreenEyes]

The Genki books look good, but there's a lot of good feedback on the Japanese for Busy People series, too. Grrrr. Too many darn choices. I'm getting the White Rabbit kaji cards. They're great, had them before. It's fun carrying around a small stash of them to pull out of my purse and practice with. I want my text to be fairly portable, too, and dictionaries.

[Chris_Travel_the_world]

I agree that Genki I and II are good books. I've tried Japanese for Busy People and I enjoyed the first book a lot, but I didn't enjoy the second book as much. My favorite series so far is the Minna no Nihongo series. Just make sure to get both the exercise book and the grammar explanation book.

Anyways good luck with your studies,

[GreenEyes]

Thanks for your suggestions. The Minna no Nihongo series looks great. I love that the book is entirely in Japanese. I'm getting that book and the companion translation/grammar book, and also the workbook. One of these is out of stock at Amazon (in the States, anyway), so I'm ordering them through TheJapanShop.com.

Again, thanks!

[reasonJP]

Japanese textbooks are all absolutely dire, and it's stunning that no-one's really made the effort to bring Japanese texts in line with other language texts that are more friendly and accessible. It's a vague ambition of mine to do this one day, so if anyone wants to help me drag Japanese learning kicking and screaming into the 1980's (at least) let me know.

[elkarlo]

[barashkov1]

Hi,
I am currently living in Korea and have recently started learning Japanese on my own. I have read some stuff on this forum and want to purchase some books for learning from amazon Japan but unfortunately a lot of their site is only in Japanese � for example shipping rates. Could anyone who knows Japanese tell me what the shipping rates to Korea are? I would much appreciate it.

Also I would like to recommend BYKI (http://www.byki.com/) to fellow language learners. It helped me learn Korean a lot. Especially when at the beginner�s level I think it is a non-threatening way to build vocabulary. Basically it is a program of computerized flashcards with many other activities. If you purchase the Japanese version it will give you 2000 ready-made computerized cards for Japanese vocabulary and you can also make your own cards. It is often on sale at $30 US. The price keeps changing. Sometimes it is $50 US sometimes $ 30 US.

[GreenEyes]

My Genki textbook and answer key arrived from TheJapanShop.com (great people, excellent service). The book is just what I was looking for. And I have to say, I'm just as thrilled about the quality of the book (the off-white, thicker than average paper, and the layout and design) as I am the content. What a contrast to the Japanese for Everyone series. My goodness.

Now I just need to figure out the dictionary side of things. The Random House one recommended above seems to fall apart easily, according to reviews I've been reading. I wish I had access to an international bookstore so that I can browse my options. I need a basic (meaning: easy to use) kanji dictionary and a regular dictionary. I think romanjii would be best for ease of use.

There's also tons of great stuff available for free on TheJapanShop.com website. And I really like the site with the flashcards. They have a great system for learning new words and sentences. Great recommendation!

Cheers!

[GreenEyes]

There's a link somewhere on the amazon.jp site that allows you to view everything in English. But the link is in Japanese. I tried everything and nothing worked. I would love to know where it is.

[reasonJP]