Learning Japanese can feel overwhelming at first and there are many textbook options available. Genki is one of the most well-known choices among beginners, but today we want to introduce another excellent resource that often flies under the radar: the Marugoto series by the Japan Foundation.
Marugoto takes a Japan-first approach to language learning. Instead of translating everything into English, the books immerse you in Japanese from the beginning. This helps you learn to think in Japanese instead of mentally converting each sentence.
Book series we recommend: Marugoto （まるごと）
Marugoto is a series of language learning books put out by the Japan Foundation. Several Language schools use them in Japan.
If you’re looking for a structured, beginner-friendly system created by trusted Japanese educators and designed to develop both real-world communication skills and cultural understanding, Marugoto is an excellent place to start.
What is good about this series is that each level is divided up into りかい(“rikai” or Understanding) and かつどう(“katsudou” or activities). You can also register for a free account and get access to the audio prompts. The pages in the textbook clearly mark which audio prompts you need so it will allow you to hear the Japanese instructions.
The beauty of this system is that is forces you to listen and learn in JAPANESE, thus helping you think and talk in Japanese instead of translating from English (or any other language) into Japanese.
Marugoto Book Website: https://marugoto.jpf.go.jp/en/
Additional resources for learning Japanese:
Japan foundation website: https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/publish/japanese/
There also offer online Japanese classes you can take. They offer these in person in many large cities as well as online: https://marugoto.jpf.go.jp/en/e-learning/
While learning Japanese is IDEALLY done in Japan, using the Marugoto series will help you get the basic foundations. If you are just starting out, we highly recommend their resources to help you on your Japanese learning journey.
Bonus: Writing Hiragana and Katakana
When first learning Japanese, you will quickly learn about the multiple writing systems that we employ. Japanese technically has two alphabets that are commonly used in addition to the Chinese characters called Kanji.
Hiragana and Katakana are two versions of the same phonetic sounds. For example, あ and ア are both the same phonetic “a” sound (pronounced more like “ah”.
While apps and digital learning can be helpful, physically writing out the characters will help you solidify your understanding of the alphabet. In fact, some language schools will hand you the chart on the first day of school and ask you to write in all the correct characters. Learning to write the alphabets in Japanese with pen and paper will help solidify your understanding greatly.
Below are links to the downloadable charts to practice writing:
You can download a hiragana chart here and download a hiragana writing practice chart here*
You can download a katakana chart here and download a katakana writing practice chart here*
Note: these resources are from https://happylilac.net/ if you go specifically the hiragana page and the katakana page you will find other writing practice resources as well.