White Rabbit, Kanji Flashcards.
I find these cards really useful, they're small, compact and perfect for taking on a bus/plane/train and studying, I bought the first series secondhand for less than £10 and they have been so worth it! I haven't used the 'Kana' or series 2 or 3 yet, but have thoroughly enjoyed series 1 and they have been useful, so after December I will not hesitate in purchasing series 2. As they are flash cards, it is easy to make your own, but these do have a lot of helpful conjunctions as well as the stroke order, I would say not to buy them at full price, but they are defintly worth what I payed!
Price: not worth full price, but wouldn't hesitate to pay £20
Usefulness: essential, compact, and perfect for testing yourself on kanji knowledge.
Out of 10: 9/10
Genki Japanese course textbooks.
Perhaps one of the best book series I have looked at, this is one that I have stuck with, although, it can get repetitive, it is not quite as bad as some others! I think the repetitiveness is necessary though, the only thing I find frustrating, is that as they gradually introduce kanji, they do not have the stroke order, or the kanji in bigger print, so it is a hassle to cross-reference the kanji or record it for future use, this is not a big deal though, and I would recomend this series to most people, its pretty beginner friendly to, by the end of it, you will know most content for the JLPT N5.
Price: I would say this is worth full price, but you can get it VERY cheap of Amazon!
Usefulness: very useful, series 1 is good for beginners and the series extends well so you do learn!
Out of 10: 8/10
Japanese; the manga way.
I got this very cheap at a second hand store, in like new condition, I think it was about £2! I have never read it all the way through, but it is both fun and useful to dabble in and out of. it has short 2 or 3 panel strips written in kanji and kana from the start, it then breaks this up into Romaji, literal meaning, and translated meaning, it then has footnotes explaining grammar points, formal/informal interjections and culture notes, I think this is a great book for beginners, (and manga lovers of course) This book will help you with your reading and casual conversation, but it's not a book to souly rely on, just a fun book to read and pick up more casual phrases and written grammar.
Price: Very cheap on Amazon - recomended for about £15, but no more!
Usefulness: not very useful on its own, but makes a fun book to read on the side.
Out of 10: 7/10
Colloquial Japanese
I took this book out of my local library, which I highly recommend doing if your library has any foreign language books! I enjoyed the exercises, they were simple and fun, it included a lot of, write this kana in kanji and vise versa (if i remember correctly), which I found very useful, although, I wouldn't call most the content 'colloquial' it was fairly standard and similar to the content in most other books. If I remember correctly, the exercises begin fairly simple and are easy to follow, it also came with some tapes, but I don't have a tape player so wouldn't be able to tell you there quality!
Price: I would be happy to pay £20 for this, although I got it free from the library.
Usefulness: I thought it was very useful!!
Out of 10: 8/10
Japanese for Bust People
Another book I got cheap second hand! Which I'm glad of, as I don't think its worth full price and it certainly isn't for 'Busy People'! It's a pretty hefty book, very repetitive, and the execises are so boring (in my opinion atleast) I barely reached half way through this book, because I did NOT enjoy it, it was very business based! it may be some peoples cup of tea, but if I don't enjoy something I won't pay attention or want to learn from it; and this book was not enjoyable!
Price: I thought t was good for the £3 I payed, but would never pay full price!!
Usefulness: very boring, may be good for some - but not me!
Out of 10: 2/10
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