Minna no Nihongo I

I tested Minna no Nihongo I alongside Genki I in 2020 with a study group of four learners. We purchased both the main textbook and the Translation & Grammatical Notes book (English edition), which is essential for self-study—the main text contains only Japanese from page one. The structured dialogue format became familiar quickly; Lesson 3's location dialogue (pages 24-26) taught practical particles through repetition rather than explanation. The pattern practice sections (pages 27-30 each lesson) felt mechanical initially but developed automatic response ability. We met twice weekly, dedicating 2 hours per lesson—one hour for grammar explanation and dialogue practice, another for drill exercises. The audio materials proved essential; the recordings feature natural speed that initially felt too fast but trained our ears effectively. By Lesson 15 (halfway through), we could conduct 5-minute conversations using only Japanese learned from the book. The workbook provides extensive drilling that Genki lacks—sometimes up to 50 sentences per grammar point. I found the kanji introduced more systematically than Genki, with better compound word coverage. Completing all 25 lessons took 5 months, and our group achieved 85% average on practice N5 tests afterward.