I don't want to say Japanese books are bad, but they perhaps are not as mature as let's say textbooks for Spanish or French. Often they follow the rigid philosophy that one must memorize tombs of grammar before speaking, enforce extreme formal polite pattern of speech useful to speaking only to sensei (teacher), and have topics used in perhaps 1% of situations one will encounter in Japan. Sure, I'm sure going to the post office or hospital are important, but I don't see this as a common conversation topic useful in practicing grammar, especially for beginners.
An even greater problem is the introduction of grammar rules. For one, they are not aligned to what you would take in JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Exams). Secondly their introduction is both disjointed and incomplete, which limits their usefulness. The grammar rules become little islets in these texts. I think many might find it difficult to connect the scattered grammar rules. (I'll show specific examples in future posts).
These texts like Genki and SFJ (Situational Functional Japanese) make learning Japanese difficult and inefficient. Unfortunately though, these texts are probably some of the best text books out there.
An even greater problem is the introduction of grammar rules. For one, they are not aligned to what you would take in JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Exams). Secondly their introduction is both disjointed and incomplete, which limits their usefulness. The grammar rules become little islets in these texts. I think many might find it difficult to connect the scattered grammar rules. (I'll show specific examples in future posts).
These texts like Genki and SFJ (Situational Functional Japanese) make learning Japanese difficult and inefficient. Unfortunately though, these texts are probably some of the best text books out there.
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