
I don’t think beginners necessarily need work books because there are so many online resouces for them. Self-teaching while studying with a teacher will improve your Japanese much faster! If you do have a Japanese friend or teacher who can check your work and improve on your mistakes, that’s always a great help too.

(Each textbook below is linked to sites where they are explained further either in a review or official website.) Japan Language Centre (Europe) and Amazon (global) are a great places for buying books at a reasonable price. Getting text books can become costly, so it’s useful to know what you’re getting and that’s it’s the right one for your goal and learning method. If it’s for a job JLPT and business books are the best way to go as they give you clear goals with a certificate that shows your skills to employers. If it’s reading, you’ll need a book that focuses on kanji and lots of reading practice.

Your answer will mean that you need text books to focus on different things.

It could be to read manga, watch anime without subtitles, to be able to read/speak it while on holiday or for a possible career. Why are you studying Japanese? What’s your goal? Using text books to learn Japanese can be tricky business because they are often made for class studying rather than self study, but it doesn’t mean they’re not useful if you can’t afford the time or money for classes.įirst of all when studying Japanese it’s good to know the answers to these questions:
