Are there a lot of missing grammar points between Genki Two and Tobira?

4 comments

1. IIRC the beginning of Tobira has some grammar that overlaps with the end of Genki II

   However, the grammar explanations in tobira are (IMO) far more, er, badly presented than Genki II. They aren’t so bad you can’t use it at all, but boy do they have a lot of abbreviations. You basically need a glossary to read them.

2. >am I even going to be able to read some of Tobira?

   Going from Genki to Tobira has been the standard for people studying with textbooks for many many years now. It is not suddenly going to stop working. As long as you did all of Genki (including the readings in the back) and did not skip anything I am sure you will be fine, too.

3. There a bit of a jump, IMO. Not insurmountable, but while Genki’s final reading is something like a scant page long, Tobira’s opening reading is two pages.

   Quartet 1 is a much, much gentler introduction. The length of the readings at the start are about the same as the final Genki reading, then get longer more complex. The Chapter 4-5 readings are about as long as the first Quartet reading.

4. It’s a jump. It’s doable, but I personally did Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese between Genki and Tobira. I would recommend it, with some cautions.

   IATIJ has a bunch of grammar points Tobira doesn’t have, so that’s a plus. The difficult is in between Genki and Tobira, and it does a great job bridging the gap.

   The main downside is that the readings in IATIJ are boring, almost sadistically boring. It’s like they tried to make the dullest readings they could. For 15 chapters, pretty much every reading and dialogue is about being a college student studying abroad in Japan. I really had to push myself to finish. By comparison, Tobira’s readings were like a breath of fresh air because they were actually fairly interesting, again.

   IATIJ also focuses too heavily on aisatsu and aizuchi that are not commensurate with your level of vocab, grammar, and speaking skill.