Japanese Textbooks

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Ultimate Japanese: Beginner-Intermediate

This is the primary textbook that I used in my study of Japanese and I must say that it is great. It is incredibly extensive (depending on the basis of comparison, it is equivalent to 1.5-2 years of college Japanese). In every chapter, it gradually teaches the Japanese characters, starting with hiragana, then katakana and finally some Kanji. It's filled with useful examples and dialogues and teaches all of the concepts in a useful progression. Needless to say, I highly recommend it.

It's also available in a CD version. I highly recommend making the extra expense to buy the CDs. In my time learning foreign languages, one big thing I've learned is that getting a handle on the accent and pronunciation early is extremely important, and if you don't, it's going to require 10 times as much effort later on. The CDs serve as a good method to get used to the sounds of Japanese and as a learning tool in the car, on the go, etc. It's not cheap, but not that expensive either. However, the paperback is surely a bargain. It would be well worth the price if it cost twice as much.

Japanese Verbs and Essentials of Grammar

I have no personal experience with this book, but here's what the JIP lessons' original creator had to say about it:

This book changed my life. Well, at least in the area of Japanese language ability ^_^ It's the best grammar book I've ever seen or heard of. I've looked through every book at 2 different Borders, as well as Barnes and Noble. This is truly the best one. I don't own stock in the company, nor am I selling the book. I just think it would do everyone a lot of good! If the book had cost me $150, I'd still say it was worth it.