In this day and age, why settle for just a textbook? How about a textbook that comes with a free life-time supply of interactive Japanese lessons on youtube? It exists, and it’s called Japanese From Zero.
Get started with book 1!
The current textbooks in the series are:
- Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals
- Japanese from Zero! 2: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals
- Japanese from Zero! 3: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals
- Japanese from Zero! 4: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals
- Also Kanji from Zero for those needing help getting their kanji down.
Also, look out for the much awaited Japanese from Zero! 5 which is in the works.
His youtube channel and website have become very popular amongst beginning Japanese learners. His success is probably partly due to the fact that he often hosts live youtube streams where he takes questions from the Japanese From Zero community.
I should also mention that this is also one of the only Japanese textbook series I have seen that is also available on Kindle (so far it looks like only book 1 and book 2 are available). Sometimes it is not always practical walking around with your textbooks. I, myself, have been enjoying a Korean textbook that I have for Kindle. If I forget my book but have my Kindle, I’m good to go! This literally gives you no reason not to study Japanese! You can find the Kindle versions of Japanese from Zero here:
So what do the books cover and which level should I get? If you are really just beginning, you should of course start with book 1 which will take you through the various Japanese characters (hiragana, he saves katakana for book 2). You will learn basic words like colors, greetings, etc… along with simple sentences such has how to say you like things, counting, and telling time.
If you are a little more advanced than that already, you can jump to book 2 which includes katakana, how to point to object (kono, sono, ano – these X, that X, and that X over there), conjugating adjectives, and words for the Japanese family structure.
Book 3 will focus more on kanji, kanji stroke order, indicating a time span with your verbs, the “te” form of verbs (a form used for connecting verbs with other verbs and making more complex sentences), making comparisons, and “when” clauses.
Book 4 builds upon the others with more grammar and more kanji. Here you will start learning about how to make your verbs more polite in Japanese, making lists, describing things/people (what people are wearing, for example), expressing the idea “have you ever…”, asking how to do something, expressing if/then-when clauses, expressing giving and receiving, and even more uses for the “te” form of verbs.
If you are looking to start learning with a more interactive approach to Japanese lessons, why not give Japanese From Zero a try?