I’m nearing the end of Genki I (2 chapters to go) and also coming up on some notable burnout. I’d like to take a week off from the textbook before diving into Genki II, but I don’t want to just do nothing. Are there any recommendations of things I could read or listen to (or other things to do) to reinforce what I’ve already done?
I’m also thinking it would be good to have these kinds of options going forward so I can take occasional textbook breaks but still keep the habit going. So are there also suggestions of things that go past Genki I through Genki II?
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Actually, I just found an app called KawaiiNihongo that might be a good fit here. It’s too simple imo to be a serious learning tool, but it follows the Genki lesson plan and grammar explanations pretty much 100%. If you’re looking to take a break and just do some light review of Genki in the meantime it’s pretty good for that. And it’s fully voiced so you will get some listening practice in.
Try some graded readers; [there are bunch of free ones](https://tadoku.org/japanese/en/free-books-en/). On Tadoku’s scale, you should be able to handle level 0 and 1 by the end of Genki I.
Have a go at reading through some graded readers. They’re essentially like “children books”, but for older learners. You have various grades of book, depending on your Japanese proficiency.
When reading these readers, don’t bother looking up words in a dictionary; it’s meant to be a fun, casual thing to improve your reading. The illustrations will help convey what the text is trying to say.
How you should approach reading graded readers: [https://tadoku.org/japanese/en/what-is-tadoku-en/](https://tadoku.org/japanese/en/what-is-tadoku-en/)
A huge library of free graded readers that have audio with them too: [https://tadoku.org/japanese/book-search/?level=l0](https://tadoku.org/japanese/book-search/?level=l0)
I recommend the Quartet series for the textbook.
NHK Web Easy and other kids’ news sites, easy manga like Yotsuba and maybe something like Kiki’s Delivery Service (the book).
I’d also recommend HelloTalk or hiring a tutor so you can tighten up on productive skills.
I started with Satori Reader (a graded reader with lots of optional grammar explanations) halfway through Genki 2, but in hindsight I wish I had started with it sooner (right after Genki 1). It was exactly what I needed at that level and a nice break from doing all those grammar exercises. You can use it throughout all of N4 and into N3.
If you are just considering a week gap you won’t lose anything if you don’t study that one week.
If it’s to take a break, I recommend something fun easy.
Maybe try and watch an anime with Japanese subs. (One you saw before, as knowing the context helps a lot)
When I do breaks I do anki and nothing else.
If money is not an issue, you could try to hire a one on one teacher from italic or something similar.
If you live close to Japan, you could try and play a game with voice on a Japanese server. Prop not too fun if ping gets too high.
You can listen to Let’s Talk in Japanese podcast. It’s quite easy and fun.
why not try something completely different
write some haiku
do some kanji calligraphy, maybe include some watercolor paintings around them
download a recipe for something simple in japanese and work thru it and make the thing
pick up an origami book in japanese and follow it, you’ll only need to learn a handful of words like mountain and valley fold for the most part