Before everyone screams “DON’T USE TEXTBOOKS AT THAT POINT, JUST CONSUME NATIVE MATERIAL” at me, hear me out.
I’m doing that, I’m watching TV in Japanese frequently and I play visual novels. I passed N1 this summer, but I still struggle with reading novels. And I feel like I haven’t reached that critical mass of vocab and kanji recognition yet to read novels comfortably. I improved my English mostly through watching shows and reading books to a point where I could pick up any novel I wanted and read it, and I want to reach that point with Japanese, too.
Also:
– I really love textbook learning! It’s great to have a clearly defined goal of learning (e.g. a unit dedicated to a certain topic), where you are introduced to grammar and vocab in context (akin to Tobira)
– I have been grinding Anki for kanji and vocab for 4+ years now and I’m just tired of going through the flash cards again and again
– I made the most progress when I had some kind of textbook to work on
– if I have to do any more N1 textbook exercises I will shred my Shinkanzens to pieces
TL;DR: I’m looking for “classic” format language textbooks that will help me improve – beyond just N1 exercises
Thank you!
Edit: I got the point, I should read novels anyway. Nevertheless, I’d appreciate it if anyone who actually has textbook recommendations commented on the post.
8 comments
>I improved my English mostly through watching shows and reading books to a point where I could pick up any novel I wanted and read it, and I want to reach that point with Japanese, too.
even after reading your post i don’t quite understand why you aren’t just doing the same with japanese?
if you struggle with reading novels, read more novels, watch more shows, consume more native material… i don’t know if textbooks beyond N1 even exist and they don’t seem that useful anyway, because it sounds like you know enough from textbooks, you just don’t use the language enough to be comfortable with it.
i may be of no help because you’re so insistent on textbook learning, but it just doesn’t seem to me like textbooks are the answer here.
you wouldn’t want to sound like a textbook and native material doesn’t sound like textbooks either (so textbooks can only get you so far), so ditching textbooks beyond N1 is ideal, in my opinion.
also i wouldn’t waste time on anki either, just use the language, it works as a natural SRS if you read books and consume other media.
>And I feel like I haven’t reached that critical mass of vocab and kanji recognition yet to read novels comfortably.
so… *read more novels*. textbooks won’t magically make you comfortable with novels because textbooks are extremely different from novels.
i know this is not the answer you were looking for but i really see no other answer here, textbooks don’t teach you to read novels, you have to do the work without textbooks, just like you did with english.
I’m in a weirdly opposite situation in that I can read novels without issue but still haven’t passed the N1 lol. If reading more for longer amounts of time is the one thing you are trying to improve, my best advice would be to just start reading simple stories and slowly work your way up to more and more difficult and longer books. It’s a skill you can learn through practise just like any other.
That being said, there absolutely are textbooks for advanced learners you could use instead! Combine it maybe with a particular focus e.g. business Japanese or academic Japanese and look for 上級
The thing with reading is that the first few hours will be tougher due to the new writing style and vocab, but after that you start to get used to the authors writing style and it become smoother…. So try sticking with it for abit more.
There were some works that took me over 50hrs before I got ‘comfortable’ with the series.
I dont have any N yet but can play games/read novels etc. Just play and read more, anki etc.
I’m usually on the side of not shoving immersion level down beginners throats before they have a solid foundation but I would give you the opposite recommendation. A lot of non fiction aimed at adults is very accessible here for example and for novels you can find a whole range of difficulties. Read, ask questions and google a lot to understand nuance and usage. If you want textbooks get one intended for Japanese people for a topic you’re interested in
If you like textbooks, I would recommend studying Japanese textbooks aimed at Native speaker’s looking to improve their Japanese. Honestly I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I would be happy to ask my wife (Native Japanese speaker) if she knows of any books. I think it will give you the structure you desire.
It’s not a textbook though, but I’m thinking of the website like https://blognihongo.com
There are plenty of grammar points that’s not covered in JLPT and even comparison of similar grammars. All written in japanese
I understand the appeal of textbooks! I think I was in a similar situation, after passing N1 I still wasn’t satisfied with my level and was looking for some systematic ways to improve, i.e. find a textbook that will take me to let’s say C2 (CERF scale) and I didn’t find anything like that to this day. I gave up on looking for a textbook and to be honest lost interest in further learning for a long time. I was just consuming media without noticably improving.
And one day I decided that I want to comfortably use Japanese after all and here’s what helped me:
1. Stop lying to myself that I know N1 material very well, correctly recognize jouyou kanji and fully understand what I’m consuming.
2. Learn kanji, like really learn them. Actually, writing helped in my case but I don’t know, if someone can perfectly recognize (while being honest with themselves) kanji without learning how to write them then it’s probably enough.
3. Re-study N1 material (and all other gaps I noticed/notice)
4. Reading while gradually increasing difficulty, like there’s no shame in going down with the difficulty to novels rated as suitable for N3 (for example using [https://learnnatively.com/](https://learnnatively.com/)), actually, I noticed that for example ふしぎ駄菓子屋 銭天堂 (my guilty pleasure) even though is rated as N3 novel uses a lot of grammar patterns from N1. So I guess there are multiple levels of being able to read, you can read and get a gist or you can read and feel like you’re reading in your native language. That rating is probably based on the former.
5. Watching a lot of youtube. I started with channels for learners, like [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh-GhnQ7qDQmS6Bz3pGc1Mw](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh-GhnQ7qDQmS6Bz3pGc1Mw) and then gradually moved toward content for natives. To me, it helps with learning new expressions but probably can be replaced with more reading.
Still, there are some substitutes for textbooks that I used and liked:
1. Nihongo no mori e-learning platform.
2. Free MOOCs [https://gacco.org/](https://gacco.org/), there are even interactive exercises for some of them.
3. This book for understanding keigo (no exercises): [https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B06XVZFW5M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o01?ie=UTF8&psc=1](https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B06XVZFW5M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o01?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
4. This for understanding the language in modern literature (has exercises): [留学生のための近代文語文入門](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%95%99%E5%AD%A6%E7%94%9F%E3%81%AE%E3%81%9F%E3%82%81%E3%81%AE%E8%BF%91%E4%BB%A3%E6%96%87%E8%AA%9E%E6%96%87%E5%85%A5%E9%96%80-%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB%A3%E3%81%AE%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%A8%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%82%92%E7%9F%A5%E3%82%8B%E3%81%9F%E3%82%81%E3%81%AB-%E5%BA%B5-%E5%8A%9F%E9%9B%84/dp/4883198979)
5. This for improving understanding of books (has exercises): [これ一冊で必ず国語読解力がつく本](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%93%E3%82%8C%E4%B8%80%E5%86%8A%E3%81%A7%E5%BF%85%E3%81%9A%E5%9B%BD%E8%AA%9E%E8%AA%AD%E8%A7%A3%E5%8A%9B%E3%81%8C%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8F%E6%9C%AC-%E5%BE%8C%E8%97%A4-%E6%AD%A6%E5%A3%AB/dp/4796646485)
6. And this for more pleasant review of learning material than going through beginner textbooks again (has exercises): [実力アップ!日本語能力試験1・2級対策 文法・語彙編](https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%AE%9F%E5%8A%9B%E3%82%A2%E3%83%83%E3%83%97-%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E8%83%BD%E5%8A%9B%E8%A9%A6%E9%A8%931%E3%83%BB2%E7%B4%9A%E5%AF%BE%E7%AD%96-%E6%96%87%E6%B3%95%E3%83%BB%E8%AA%9E%E5%BD%99%E7%B7%A8-%E6%9D%BE%E6%9C%AC-%E7%AF%80%E5%AD%90/dp/4896894316)