Hello all! Progressing in my Japanese learning at uni and our sensei has made the switch to Quartet 1 & 2 for year three students. Looking at the text, it’s a major change from the almost child-like Genki series and there isn’t much supplemental studying available with the text (that I’ve found so far). Usually with Genki, I found studying to be easy to do as there were plenty of practice questions for grammar, but Quartet just feels a bit different. Even the homework doesn’t seem as straightforward – which I’m sure will be really helpful in time but at the moment I just feel a bit lost looking at it. For those who have or are working with Quartet, what does your daily study session include? Do you have any tips to make this transition a bit easier and less intimidating?
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>there isn’t much supplemental studying available with the text (that I’ve found so far).
The [TokiniAndy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZguoC5edy3c&list=PLA_RcUI8km1M5s3wym_WosknqVqaq03mL) video series for Quartet 1+2 is completed now and he also has a website with exercises that presumably follow Quartet (but it is not free and I have not used that one myself). And of course there are more and more [Anki decks](https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/quartet) popping up now (+ the publishers own vocab apps). That’s all I know of.
Highly recommend supplementing with Tokini Andy as another poster recommended. Also, just want to say that you teacher made the right choice with the text book. The other one, an integrated approach to intermediate Japanese is much worse.
I’m currently on Quartet chapter 4 after finishing Genki 2. I agree that there are a lot less exercises than Genki. I had a weekly class for Genki, but am self studying now with Quartet while I wait for my visa to study further in Japan. I’ll post my general progress through a chapter below. I work through the below in order at whatever pace fits my schedule at the time, but generally I take 2 weeks per chapter mixed in with other studying and immersion.
**語彙**
My personal approach to studying a chapter of Quartet is to start with the vocab section for the chapter, adding any new vocab to anki that I expect to see frequently in the future, and deciding whether to add any new kanji to my deck for that. This way I don’t need to reference a list of words just to do the readings later. I also read the example sentences for each word where one is provided.
**文法**
After that, I watch the Tokini Andy videos for the grammar points, pausing after each one to read through the book-provided example sentences and explanations. After doing both for a specific grammar point, I summarize in a concise way in my grammar notebook and list any relevant exceptions. (I keep a notebook for quick reference but otherwise don’t use anki or bunpro or anything for grammar.)
**読み物**
Next, I read the 読みのストラテジー page(s) in preparation for the readings. Then I do the readings. If there is a sentence or part of a sentence I don’t understand the phrasing for, I type it out into DeepL to double check if I’m following the meaning correctly. If I’m in the mood, I read the questions that precede the readings and either speak my answer aloud or think it out in Japanese in my head. The questions are way too basic to be interesting IMO.
**話す**
I read through the example conversations if I’m in the mood, but don’t practice with a partner or make up any fake dialogs. I get less out of this portion than any of the above. I’d rather be having spontaneous conversations with actual Japanese people about random topics than do a little scripted skit with another learner personally. If you don’t have conversation opportunities available, consider paying someone on Italki.
**書く**
I read through this section but don’t do a lot of longform writing practice personally. If there is a specifically compelling prompt I might write a paragraph or two.
**聞く**
I skip this entirely. I much prefer podcasts for listening practice. Some people prefer anime, but I find the visuals distract me. My main goal with listening is to focus on hearing all the words accurately and picking out the ones I know, and if possible getting the meaning as well. *Nihongo Con Teppei* seems to be at the perfect level for post-genki listening when I want to catch as much meaning as possible, and when I want to challenge myself with native content I listen to *Let’s learn Japanese from small talk!*
***練習***
To me, this is the weakest part of Quartet. I hate the fill in the blank style used by the workbook, and the small number of exercises for each grammar point. I sorely miss Genki for this part, but it is what it is. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I read through the answer key to make sure I agree with the answers, and sometimes I skip it entirely and move on to the next chapter.
Quartet is an intermediate text. It’s not going to be straight forward because you should be able to use the language and test your limits.