Wow. I’ve seen a lot of reviews for book 1 but this was hands down the best Chad. You are very engaging and I learned some things about my own book watching. We are in the middle of a huge re-design. When it’s done in about a million years maybe someone will send you a copy so you can give another untainted review. Either way thank you so much for doing this review!
Thank you so much George T___T this means a tremendous amount to me. I would absolutely love to take another review of it once a it’s redesigned! You know where to find me ☺️
If you're doing a re-design, please consider a version that doesn't use romaji at all. I got your book, but already knew hiragana so it was painful to use. Never picked it up again.
@@therealjetlagI see where you’re coming from. But I think it’s MAINLY targeted for beginners. Most people classify it as a “beginners textbook.” When you first learn Japanese, you don’t automatically know the alphabets, it teaches you that. But, apparently from what I’ve read starting in book 3 it’s just in hiragana and kanji. So, if you dislike the use of romaji that much you just have to get through the first 2 books.
Even though I don't think a single perfect textbook exists, when I started Genki I was completely overwhelmed. Then I started JFZ. The detail was great for me and introduced concepts in a way I could understand. Now after JFZ, I'm going through Genki again and feel more comfortable! George's videos are incredibly helpful as well! Thanks for the review :D
I've heard this a lot from beginners, how they got overwhelmed on one of the major TB's and needed almost like an introductory bridge before they'd feel more confident in it.
The Genki vs JFZ books really come down to how well you can retain info. Genki is great if you can handle a lot of information being thrown at you, and you can retain it well. If however you don't retain a lot, and struggle with reading especially then JFZ is the way to go. Personally I think the progressive system in JFZ is a life saver and helps a ton with reading. Also, Genki is designed to study in a classroom setting with other people, which can cause some difficulities if you are studying on your own. JFZ is more self studier friendly. It's odd that JFZ is the one with the youtube series, when Genki probably needs it more.
The difference between the two, for me, is that Genki is the kind of approach that Japanese people think is good for foreigners who want to learn Japanese. JFz is a book written by a foreigner who understands the problems of other foreigners trying to learn Japanese. I detest Genki, but JFZ really helped a lot.
If you are self-studying, then JFZ is indeed the best choice. The books don't overwhelm you with too much information at a time and the TH-cam videos on all of the lessons in the books are invaluable.
I took college classes with Genki I and II, it was too fast for me, and my professors were like jumping from one topic to another. I was able to retain a lot of vocabulary tho, because of quizzes, but I was too confused all the time, to the point I started hating Japanese, and when I graduated, I just wanted to forget everything. Few years later I decided to return to Japanese, and study on my own. Got the JFZ books, I remember most of the things, it starts slow, but I feel comfortable with the books, and I am learning new stuff. Thank you for the review.
I absolutely love this JfZ textbooks. I have the complete sett of all the books. I’m dyslexic so having a textbook that doesn’t feel so overwhelming is everything.
:o now I'm curious! As a dyslexic, how do you feel about some of the other major textbooks? Have you looked at any others? I'm curious to hear your thoughts! I actually get asked questions for people with similar conditions and sadly I can't ever answer them with the sort of perspective I'd like to give them
@@ThatsMyChad so far I’ve only tried genki and it was a big struggle. I like it in a way because it comes with audio cd and that helps a little. But so far it’s a really hard textbook. But JFZ is a lot easier because it doesn’t give to much information at the same time and the text is leas crowded. But again it takes time. So if someone wants to use ether than they have to be prepared for a long commitment. Sound is definitely the best. So having a book with sound alternative is a good starting point. I want to try more books in the future but haven’t gotten that far yet.
@@DannyJapanny 😂😂😂. Lol. Well I’m glad you are finding all my favourite TH-camrs 😂😂. Specially those who has something to do with japan and the Japanese language 😉
For everyone who is thinking about starting learning Japanese I can wholeheartedly recommend the JFP Series! I finished Book 5 literally today and the books + Georges videos are a huge motivator in order to keep going! Especially when you study alone at home like I do and dont have any friends or generally people who are interested in Japanese, having this videos and other people to talk to in the comments, live chat when he streams or the forums sucks you in! I am actually sad that there is no JFZ 6 or 500 because my next Textbook (I chose Tobira) will probably much more isolated, no hanging out with George after every lesson ._. The first book is actually available online for free if you go to his webside! Though I would recommend the physical books in order to use the workbook!
Is it true that JFZ 3 will be all written in Kana? I'm thinking about buying the whole set cause I tried learning Japanese twice in the past, but I gave up within a few days. I have the first book now and I'm hooked! It's just I'm annoyed with the amount of Romanji.
Nice review. The JFZ books are the reason I didn't give up with Japanese. George is almost always able to find the right explanation that clicks, for me, after I'm left scratching my head with other resources and even a bit bored at their lack of personality, as you say. He and his co-authors are easily some of the best out there for Japanese learning and keeping it fun. I like that the books don't rush you through hundreds of grammar points off the bat, and everything was presented at the right pace, again, for me, letting you absorb the contents properly. When you hit book 5 though, you'll see the amount being asked of you with each lesson quickly increase. I'm glad you were sent multiple books, because that's really where their strength begins to show. Building on your knowledge from the previous one. So, looking forward to your reviews on those!
for those who are confuse in my opinion its called "Japanese from Zero" because the JFZ series is like an elementary-ish level Japanese textbook while Genki series are for high school to college level learners. but JFZ itself uses a progressive method so from JFZ 1 to 5 its like going from elementary to college level. but yeah i only tried JFZ 1.
Great review. I do feel like JPZ books should be review as the whole series not just 1 book tbh. Because it will take you 5 books to get the contents of genki 1 and a bit of 2 in terms of grammar. But to me the biggest JPZ seller is George’s videos for each lesson of the first 3 books . Is like you get a free teacher with the books lol
I want to do them all in one but sadly that would take a month to make one video XD The editing time alone would be insane! haha But books 3-5 will be one vid, and the kanji book one as well :) And I agree that if you want to talk about free value for a learning method I can't believe the other major hitters in the space haven't started supplementary content on a YT page yet! They're all still on CD's XD
I just started studying the JPZ and also heard how the genki books are really good textbooks for learning Japanese so I did eventually wanted to move over. However I was worried that once I finished this Series of JPZ which Genki book should I chose to get more in depth. Right now, since I'm nursing student, the JPZ books are to good at giving you bite sized lessons that keep you motivated and still have some time for other studies. would you recomend the Genki book 2 after finishing all of the JPZ series ?
Sorry this was late, guys! TH-cam decided it had an issue and held it for review o.0 Maybe you can see what they caught because this very PG textbook review certainly has me baffled as to why XD Anyways, thank you so much to Matthew and Fred for sending me these to review! I'll be reviewing books 3, 5 and the kanji book in following weeks! But if you want to see me review something else, you can add it to the amazon wishlist in my description and it'll be ready for anyone to sponsor a vid with it if they want (including myself haha)
I used Genki in college and bought all the JFZ books (just bought them all, I've been trudging through book one, not the books fault, I have a 1.5 year old son) and can say, Genki is great for a college course where you're forced to memorize and be tested and cram knowledge and have a teacher right there with you to answer questions and break it down. JFZ is perfect for at home, pick it up, do a quick lesson, watch George's videos (which are AMAZING by the way, he gives lots of fun stories and feels like a college lesson without the boring parts) and I'm super excited to go through all of the books!
He'll never see this 😅 But I'd be glad if I can get his brand out to more people. He's helped so many over the years break past barriers and encouraged them to keep going. Really respect the dude
i bought genki 1 and studied the first chapter and was getting it but not retaining it ALL it was fast and complicated .. when i started JFZ i already knew kana and very few about 20 kanji. JFZ explained the grammar well they introduce vocabulary at a good pace while also incorporating the vocabulary in each lesson. (this book also teaches you hiragana if you don’t know it already). I love this book i’m still working in it and plan to keep working in it. i also do plan on going back to genki and reviewing rather than just learning from 1 book
Great review Chad!! I use this textbook and I enjoy it. I just could't get my head around Ganki. Plus the fact George has his TH-cam channel adds extra value to the books and really goes through each topic with such detail, it's kinda like being in class! Keep up the great work looking forward to seeing what you think of the other books specially the Kanji one.
Got the books and I’m going to start. This video was a massive influence in my decision and I am excited to have a slower paced, deep dive text book. I am stating from zero. I’ll have to come back in a few months and add my thoughts. Love the channel and the content your putting out! :)
Japanese from zero was my first Japanese textbook. Its probably my favourite method of learning the kana and kanji because its integrated into the chapter and its so much better for me to do the kanji and then immediately see it in use and use it myself. Genki was my second set of textbooks and it threw me off so much that the kanji and the lessons are in different sections
I've been pretty vocal about my criticism of how most textbooks handle kanji haha I don't know if I like the kanji method in this more, but it certainly is interesting! Still doesn't beat just having a separate resource for learning it but it's cool seeing people try new things!
I tried 3 times to learn Japanese. Failed like a Russian soldier in Ukraine every single time. The forth time I used JFZ And it was so much easier. By far the best method for self learners.
my favourite part about JFZ is because of the "speaking naturally" part and also the part on 13:50 where it shows you how to write ふ in an easy way, wish you discussed those 2 parts.
I just ordered this book last week after seeing everyone saying how good it is. What made me go with Japanese From Zero was the TH-cam channel and the website that makes you feel like you are in class and George is the teacher. Every person I saw who had both Genki and Japanese From Zero said they liked Japanese From Zero best.
I saw George’s TH-cam before even buying this book and really liked the pace when starting out so bought the book off the back of that. My only criticism was the choice of vocabulary words (does a beginner need to learn ‘pillow’ etc?), in fact I probably found Chad’s channel looking to progress from JFZ. Genki is great but has less English explanation, has a separate workbook, and no official TH-cam videos (Tokini Andy is great though). A fairer comparison would be JFZ 1-5 vs. Genki 1 with workbook as I guess that’s closer in terms of pricing for a beginner.
Thanks for the video! I've heard good things about but I figured I should see a video to see what other people thought about it. Definitely getting on this. I've got practice with hearing Japanese and understanding words I hear, but I need practice with using it. This will help!
Genki says in the inside flap that it was made for college students or adults trying to learn on their own. Might be a reason why its goes faster. JFZ seems more for the general public.
Magnificent video! Many thanks to the author of the channel for the recommendations! The problem with many people is that they want to take a "magic pill" or get "secret knowledge" and immediately have skills and abilities. However, the truth of life is that knowledge, skills, and abilities do not come by themselves. You can't learn a foreign language without doing anything, without wasting your time and effort, just like you can't learn to ride a bike lying on a comfy couch, listening to lectures and watching videos about "modern methods of learning" on a bike. To really learn something, you have to really practice every day. You're going to fall down while you're learning, and you're going to get bumps - that's normal! The ups and downs of learning are an integral part of our lives. Motivation from success and depression from failure will always be your study companions. However, every student has problems in his or her studies that he or she lacks the knowledge to solve. It can be: poor memorization of words; no progress in language learning; the student can speak, but does not understand speech by ear; misunderstanding of grammar; incorrect pronunciation, etc. Agree that a problem you don't know how to solve is very demotivating. In order to find the answer to our question we have to spend a lot of time to read videos, articles and books by polyglots. In today's world, we have to solve problems as quickly as possible. I don't have time to study and analyze a huge amount of information. My goal is to master the basic knowledge of a foreign language as quickly as possible and already start earning money effectively in the international arena. I settled on the practical guide by Yuriy Ivantsiv " Polyglot's Notes: practical tips for learning foreign language". This book is always in my bag. If I have a problem while learning a language, I quickly find the answer in this book. There are many different techniques and tips for learning a foreign language in Polyglot Notes. I have made my own individual schedule and plan for language learning. Now I know what I am going to study, how I am going to study, when I am going to study and what results I am going to achieve. No problem could stop me! With an effective language learning plan my professional skills are more and more in demand internationally every day. Friends, don't stop there! Everyone has talents that millions of people around the world need! Learn the language and make your ideas and dreams come true! Thanks to the author of the channel for the informative and useful video! Your videos motivate me.
I just finished course 1 online (which is free). It was great, and I'm moving on to course 2 which which is $9 USD per month ($13 AUD). Other material I tried such as Genki just felt like hard work, JFZ is a smooth, natural challenge.
On course 3 now, still highly recommend. Only downside I've found: 70% of audio (listening practice) is way too fast or unclear for beginner students, you need to be patient and press replay many times to understtand the spoken sentence.
@@MrPatrickRevuelta i realize this is an older post... but i use a program for musicians called AMAZiNG SLOW DOWNER. it lets u slow down the tempo without changing the pitch. i use it to slow down guitar riffs while keeping the riff in the same key. this works great for slowing down the fast tempo of Japanese without changing the pitch of the speaker voice. it truly is an amazing slow downer. i mean, u don't have to replay anything :)
Love the vid! I don't normally try to use books (idk I just don't like them) but I might try out this one. On another note, in future videos could you make sure the sound isn't only in one ear. It's fine at first, but it distracts from the video after a while.
I only found out from the comments there was an issue :O It's not normal for all my reviews. The weird thing is I used the same mics, same inputs, everything! Just for some reason only one ear came through o.0
Honestly this book sounds like a better option for me, because I’m already learning German, Chinese and French. So I would rather have a book that has a slower pace so I don’t get too much at once.
I have just come across this review. I'm really at the beginning of Japanese. At the moment I'm doing Duolingo but I have a couple of apps that help me write hiragana but I haven't reached the Katakana yet but it is slowly introducing. I know Duolingo may not be best for learning Japanese so I was looking for something more user friendly as I am self studying. I was between Genki and this book. From what I heard Genki might be too much for me for now. I prefer to learn slowly but surely than fast and not remembering anything. Slowly catchy the monkey as the British people says!
Every comment you say? This seems to be a tricky question so worth throwing out there: How would you recommend studying a language like Japanese to someone who works full time or is very busy? Do some resources or techniques work better when you can't do what the 'youtube polyglot' crowd suggest and just fully immerse yourself in the language for 10 hours a day? These books look like a good value middle ground for casual self study!
Funnily enough, over the last 9 years or so for me I worked full time, sometimes multiple jobs, including youtube, and still got to a point in my Japanese that I was able to live and work in the country :) So you can do it, you're just now playing on hard mode! Because each minute you spend in Japanese is now more important since you have less minutes to dilly-dally unlike people who don't have a career/family etc. So how do you do it? I'm not selling you a textbook or method, so I can just tell you what I did more or less (although feel free to adjust with how busy you personally are): 1. learn 10 words a day, and input them into an SRS flashcard system like Anki or Memrise. Ignore words that sound the same in both languages, as your brain will pick those up on their own. 2. Start with Remembering the Kanji from the beginning, and learn 5 a day with the same SRS. 3. Start inputing creatively. Sometimes I had time to sit and watch anime or something, sure. But other times it had to be podcasts while driving, reading manga on the train/bus to work, Japanese music on the job and then looking up the lyrics on my breaks. It's real work and anyone that tries to tell you it's not is trying to sell you something. 4. Finally, have an organized way to learn the grammar, but don't focus too hard on it in the beginning. You'll naturally figure out the grammar from listening/reading the language A LOT, but some things you just won't get and so I always did like 10-15 minutes a day of structured grammar learning from a YT video, a textbook, an online teacher... just whatever you have. And if you do all of this consistently, passionately, over a long enough period of time (and I mean years), you'll actually get there :) It's not rocket science. The Immersion crowd are like speed-runners of languages. They find the most efficient way to acquire a language, and it's true: it is the most efficient. But not everyone is trying to speed run Minecraft, some people just like playing survival and enjoying building the forts and progressing over a longer period of time. So don't let the speed runners ruin your game :) Play at your pace with consistency and goals and you'll eventually beat the nether dragon.
@@ThatsMyChad Woah! What a thought out reply, thanks for that! It's been hard to find learning methods with the youtube algorithm very much favoring the immersion/polyglot speed learners. ^^'
Love the video. Just a note, you're audio is only coming out in the left channel through most of the video, makes it really hard to listen to unfortunately
yoooo I found another hidden gem youtuber!! Btw I may be going to genkijacs when covid is over, or when the borders of Japan open up. Would you still recommend going? I'll probably going for 3 - 6 months.
If it wasn't for them teaching the kana so slowly I would be on board with it being an ok book, but I can't imagine asking a learner to know over a hundred vocab words without knowing the kana.
A lot of the criticism I see is from that. Personally I think it's reasonable to ask anyone studying a language to just learn the basic alphabet first, but I was curious how this approach would pan out so I'm glad someone did it!
does it have sense learning Japanese, which I am fascinated with, knowing I will never use the language in life/never go to Japan? Just because I love the languge and culture? I am Polish and unfortunately in Poland there are very few japanese natives and only in japanese language schools which are damn expensive
My dumbass really stood there looking at you gesturing with your hands for a solid two minutes until I realized I only had the right headphone in and your voice was instead playing on the left xD
I think after JFZ 5, it will get you a little above N4, but not N3. There is a gap. Mainly the kanji. I don't know if KFZ 2 fills that gap, but there is Wanikani. Usually after whatever beginner textbook series you use, Tobira is next.
As someone who had this book I would disagree. These books do not really teach beginner Japanese well. You are better off watching videos for free on youtube. They start off ok then it becomes much more complicated for someone starting Japanese. Not to mention my wife taught University level Japanese in the US for several years and would agree. The Genki books are pretty much the same. Too difficult for someone just starting.
I feel like it is really easy to understand at a beginner level because videos on TH-cam aren’t the best for creating a foundation in which you are able to build upon. Grammar is super confusing and if you struggle with the text book explanation you can go through his videos he created which explain it I suppose in a more digestible way. But at the end of the day it’s more down to matter of opinion.
JFZ was my first textboook purchase but I didn't like the mixture of kana and romaji and the fact that there were no verbs in the whole of the first textbook until the final chapter. That was three years ago, perhaps it's changed. I wanted to learn grammar, not endless lists of nouns, so it wasn't for me. I switched to Genki which I really liked.
The JF0 book I have definitely has verbs earlier than the last chapter, so maybe sometime between your version and the 7.0 I'm holding changed it :) But I also really love Genki! It's what I used when I was studying in Japan so there's some nostalgia tied to it
@@ThatsMyChad I just checked, I have the 6th edition from 2015, and it looks like the first verbs (other than 'desu') are in chapter 10 when they teach you 'please give me'. I can see now that there is a lot of foundation information in it. I still wouldn't want to learn from scratch from it, but I could probably benefit from skimming through it now.
Hi! Can someone tell me that if I had learned hiragana and katakana from japanese pod 101 which part of the book do I have to buy? From the starting or from which part and except the 6 parts do I need to refer to any other textbooks if I want to be a beginner to intermediate
Japanese from Zero 1 teaches you Hiragana, book 2 teaches you Katakana and after that, boom 3 to 5 teach you the same kanji as Kanji from zero. So no, you don't need to know kana or Kanji to start with book 1
15:31 I proudly made my automobile purchase decision on the basis that it had a cd player instead of a portable music device plug-in port. Also, what does QR stand for? ...Ah, hell, let's get it all out there: I still own a photo camera that uses FILM! Cower before my mighty obsoleteness!! Muahahahahahahaaa!!! 20:46 Uhhh, there was a pay wall? !?! I'm a hacker and I didn't even know it! ......It makes me nervous that all of the other comments here are about books and learning and important stuff, then here I come with my immature, off-topic, weaboo, Chad fanboy remarks. My apologies, everyone, for lowering the IQ bar.
I don't really like this book. The kanji one is useless and the regular books are really slow. After like a year of using these, you'll have just finished the equivalent of genki 2. 472 words when it said 800, wew.
yeah that's why its called "Japanese from Zero", the JFZ series is like an elementary-ish level Japanese textbook while Genki series are for high school to college level learners. but JFZ itself uses a progressive method so from JFZ 1 to 5 its like going from elementary to college level.
@@tankeryy1566 "college level" Japanese just uses minna or genki anyway. They go through it at a way slower pace than the average learner would self studying anyway. No disrespect to college learners, I'm speaking from experience lol
Am I the only one who used JFZ but didn't follow up with the TH-cam stuff because George gets too much into the details of everything and it's pretty distracting 🙈
Wow. I’ve seen a lot of reviews for book 1 but this was hands down the best Chad. You are very engaging and I learned some things about my own book watching. We are in the middle of a huge re-design. When it’s done in about a million years maybe someone will send you a copy so you can give another untainted review. Either way thank you so much for doing this review!
Thank you so much George T___T this means a tremendous amount to me. I would absolutely love to take another review of it once a it’s redesigned! You know where to find me ☺️
If you're doing a re-design, please consider a version that doesn't use romaji at all. I got your book, but already knew hiragana so it was painful to use. Never picked it up again.
The Romani is fine it's from beginner to advanced maybe it's literally from zero you can literally choose the path u have reached
@@therealjetlagI see where you’re coming from. But I think it’s MAINLY targeted for beginners. Most people classify it as a “beginners textbook.” When you first learn Japanese, you don’t automatically know the alphabets, it teaches you that. But, apparently from what I’ve read starting in book 3 it’s just in hiragana and kanji. So, if you dislike the use of romaji that much you just have to get through the first 2 books.
@@ClaraWalksHome-254 Or you use a completely different method.
Even though I don't think a single perfect textbook exists, when I started Genki I was completely overwhelmed. Then I started JFZ. The detail was great for me and introduced concepts in a way I could understand. Now after JFZ, I'm going through Genki again and feel more comfortable! George's videos are incredibly helpful as well! Thanks for the review :D
I've heard this a lot from beginners, how they got overwhelmed on one of the major TB's and needed almost like an introductory bridge before they'd feel more confident in it.
That’s what I plan to do!!!
Hi! what JFZ book were you on when you hop back in Genki?
The Genki vs JFZ books really come down to how well you can retain info. Genki is great if you can handle a lot of information being thrown at you, and you can retain it well. If however you don't retain a lot, and struggle with reading especially then JFZ is the way to go. Personally I think the progressive system in JFZ is a life saver and helps a ton with reading. Also, Genki is designed to study in a classroom setting with other people, which can cause some difficulities if you are studying on your own. JFZ is more self studier friendly. It's odd that JFZ is the one with the youtube series, when Genki probably needs it more.
Agreed with this. Genki requires other content creators to produce lessons for it whilst JFZ does not.
The difference between the two, for me, is that Genki is the kind of approach that Japanese people think is good for foreigners who want to learn Japanese. JFz is a book written by a foreigner who understands the problems of other foreigners trying to learn Japanese. I detest Genki, but JFZ really helped a lot.
If you are self-studying, then JFZ is indeed the best choice. The books don't overwhelm you with too much information at a time and the TH-cam videos on all of the lessons in the books are invaluable.
Should i do JFZ 1-5, then start with genki after
@@zhonglishusband6988yes
@@zhonglishusband6988a girl names ginger garden made a video wich books to use
I took college classes with Genki I and II, it was too fast for me, and my professors were like jumping from one topic to another. I was able to retain a lot of vocabulary tho, because of quizzes, but I was too confused all the time, to the point I started hating Japanese, and when I graduated, I just wanted to forget everything. Few years later I decided to return to Japanese, and study on my own. Got the JFZ books, I remember most of the things, it starts slow, but I feel comfortable with the books, and I am learning new stuff. Thank you for the review.
I absolutely love this JfZ textbooks. I have the complete sett of all the books. I’m dyslexic so having a textbook that doesn’t feel so overwhelming is everything.
:o now I'm curious! As a dyslexic, how do you feel about some of the other major textbooks? Have you looked at any others? I'm curious to hear your thoughts! I actually get asked questions for people with similar conditions and sadly I can't ever answer them with the sort of perspective I'd like to give them
@@ThatsMyChad so far I’ve only tried genki and it was a big struggle. I like it in a way because it comes with audio cd and that helps a little. But so far it’s a really hard textbook. But JFZ is a lot easier because it doesn’t give to much information at the same time and the text is leas crowded. But again it takes time. So if someone wants to use ether than they have to be prepared for a long commitment. Sound is definitely the best. So having a book with sound alternative is a good starting point. I want to try more books in the future but haven’t gotten that far yet.
if you have finished all the books.... how good is your japanese? I mean would you consider yourself as a begineer or intermidiate ?
I find you everywhere Elias 🤣🤣 hope you're well
@@DannyJapanny 😂😂😂. Lol. Well I’m glad you are finding all my favourite TH-camrs 😂😂. Specially those who has something to do with japan and the Japanese language 😉
For everyone who is thinking about starting learning Japanese I can wholeheartedly recommend the JFP Series!
I finished Book 5 literally today and the books + Georges videos are a huge motivator in order to keep going!
Especially when you study alone at home like I do and dont have any friends or generally people who are interested in Japanese, having this videos and other people to talk to in the comments, live chat when he streams or the forums sucks you in! I am actually sad that there is no JFZ 6 or 500 because my next Textbook (I chose Tobira) will probably much more isolated, no hanging out with George after every lesson ._.
The first book is actually available online for free if you go to his webside! Though I would recommend the physical books in order to use the workbook!
at what JFZ book are you conversation level
Only I found with the books were the typos and such in terms of the actual Japanese. Ran into far more mistakes than not so it was a turn off for me.
Is it true that JFZ 3 will be all written in Kana? I'm thinking about buying the whole set cause I tried learning Japanese twice in the past, but I gave up within a few days. I have the first book now and I'm hooked! It's just I'm annoyed with the amount of Romanji.
Nice review. The JFZ books are the reason I didn't give up with Japanese. George is almost always able to find the right explanation that clicks, for me, after I'm left scratching my head with other resources and even a bit bored at their lack of personality, as you say. He and his co-authors are easily some of the best out there for Japanese learning and keeping it fun.
I like that the books don't rush you through hundreds of grammar points off the bat, and everything was presented at the right pace, again, for me, letting you absorb the contents properly. When you hit book 5 though, you'll see the amount being asked of you with each lesson quickly increase.
I'm glad you were sent multiple books, because that's really where their strength begins to show. Building on your knowledge from the previous one. So, looking forward to your reviews on those!
I'm hoping someday I can even add books 2 and 4 to review! I think the fuller the picture I see from this series the cooler it becomes!
for those who are confuse in my opinion its called "Japanese from Zero" because the JFZ series is like an elementary-ish level Japanese textbook while Genki series are for high school to college level learners. but JFZ itself uses a progressive method so from JFZ 1 to 5 its like going from elementary to college level. but yeah i only tried JFZ 1.
I think it's more of an elementary level to a middle school level more than. College level
Ah! They put a chapter in on typing Japanese!
That's something the other books neglect a bit, I think.
My absolute favorite Japanese book! It's just so easy to follow and everything really stuck in my brain for the long term.
Great review. I do feel like JPZ books should be review as the whole series not just 1 book tbh. Because it will take you 5 books to get the contents of genki 1 and a bit of 2 in terms of grammar. But to me the biggest JPZ seller is George’s videos for each lesson of the first 3 books . Is like you get a free teacher with the books lol
I want to do them all in one but sadly that would take a month to make one video XD The editing time alone would be insane! haha But books 3-5 will be one vid, and the kanji book one as well :) And I agree that if you want to talk about free value for a learning method I can't believe the other major hitters in the space haven't started supplementary content on a YT page yet! They're all still on CD's XD
I just started studying the JPZ and also heard how the genki books are really good textbooks for learning Japanese so I did eventually wanted to move over. However I was worried that once I finished this Series of JPZ which Genki book should I chose to get more in depth. Right now, since I'm nursing student, the JPZ books are to good at giving you bite sized lessons that keep you motivated and still have some time for other studies. would you recomend the Genki book 2 after finishing all of the JPZ series ?
Sorry this was late, guys! TH-cam decided it had an issue and held it for review o.0 Maybe you can see what they caught because this very PG textbook review certainly has me baffled as to why XD
Anyways, thank you so much to Matthew and Fred for sending me these to review! I'll be reviewing books 3, 5 and the kanji book in following weeks! But if you want to see me review something else, you can add it to the amazon wishlist in my description and it'll be ready for anyone to sponsor a vid with it if they want (including myself haha)
You should get the middle books too
Your 1st book might be a counterfeit, there is a video on George's channel on this topic in case you want to check
I used Genki in college and bought all the JFZ books (just bought them all, I've been trudging through book one, not the books fault, I have a 1.5 year old son) and can say, Genki is great for a college course where you're forced to memorize and be tested and cram knowledge and have a teacher right there with you to answer questions and break it down. JFZ is perfect for at home, pick it up, do a quick lesson, watch George's videos (which are AMAZING by the way, he gives lots of fun stories and feels like a college lesson without the boring parts) and I'm super excited to go through all of the books!
George would be proud
He'll never see this 😅 But I'd be glad if I can get his brand out to more people. He's helped so many over the years break past barriers and encouraged them to keep going. Really respect the dude
@@ThatsMyChad let's make him know👍
@@luizemanoel2588 :o how? He’s way too big for my little neck of the woods to notice
Just realized you meant the author and not Zimmerman
You made me sad with this comment, you said it in a strange way. I'm happy George is doing okay
i bought genki 1 and studied the first chapter and was getting it but not retaining it ALL it was fast and complicated .. when i started JFZ i already knew kana and very few about 20 kanji. JFZ explained the grammar well they introduce vocabulary at a good pace while also incorporating the vocabulary in each lesson. (this book also teaches you hiragana if you don’t know it already). I love this book i’m still working in it and plan to keep working in it. i also do plan on going back to genki and reviewing rather than just learning from 1 book
Great review Chad!! I use this textbook and I enjoy it. I just could't get my head around Ganki. Plus the fact George has his TH-cam channel adds extra value to the books and really goes through each topic with such detail, it's kinda like being in class!
Keep up the great work looking forward to seeing what you think of the other books specially the Kanji one.
The YT channel is so underrating. I can't believe the other textbook companies haven't invested in that benefit instead of the CD's
Got the books and I’m going to start. This video was a massive influence in my decision and I am excited to have a slower paced, deep dive text book. I am stating from zero. I’ll have to come back in a few months and add my thoughts.
Love the channel and the content your putting out! :)
How’s it going so far?
Japanese from zero was my first Japanese textbook. Its probably my favourite method of learning the kana and kanji because its integrated into the chapter and its so much better for me to do the kanji and then immediately see it in use and use it myself. Genki was my second set of textbooks and it threw me off so much that the kanji and the lessons are in different sections
I've been pretty vocal about my criticism of how most textbooks handle kanji haha I don't know if I like the kanji method in this more, but it certainly is interesting! Still doesn't beat just having a separate resource for learning it but it's cool seeing people try new things!
I tried 3 times to learn Japanese. Failed like a Russian soldier in Ukraine every single time.
The forth time I used JFZ And it was so much easier. By far the best method for self learners.
my favourite part about JFZ is because of the "speaking naturally" part and also the part on 13:50 where it shows you how to write ふ in an easy way, wish you discussed those 2 parts.
I just ordered this book last week after seeing everyone saying how good it is. What made me go with Japanese From Zero was the TH-cam channel and the website that makes you feel like you are in class and George is the teacher. Every person I saw who had both Genki and Japanese From Zero said they liked Japanese From Zero best.
I saw George’s TH-cam before even buying this book and really liked the pace when starting out so bought the book off the back of that. My only criticism was the choice of vocabulary words (does a beginner need to learn ‘pillow’ etc?), in fact I probably found Chad’s channel looking to progress from JFZ.
Genki is great but has less English explanation, has a separate workbook, and no official TH-cam videos (Tokini Andy is great though).
A fairer comparison would be JFZ 1-5 vs. Genki 1 with workbook as I guess that’s closer in terms of pricing for a beginner.
I’m going to be honest, by the cover I thought they were trash
Same Lol
The cover is overkill, It makes me think it’s for teenager otakus who want to learn japanese to get a waifu.
@@imnobodywhoareyouu I agree with you and the cover is also cheaply made, mine is completely destroyed 😩
It’s a shame, really. Felt the same. The book series is so much better than it presents itself. Hopefully it gets a cover redesign in the future.
@@imnobodywhoareyouu i agree.... i was hesitant to buy it but i did so lets see how it goes lol
Thanks for the video! I've heard good things about but I figured I should see a video to see what other people thought about it.
Definitely getting on this. I've got practice with hearing Japanese and understanding words I hear, but I need practice with using it. This will help!
Glad I could help! :)
Genki says in the inside flap that it was made for college students or adults trying to learn on their own. Might be a reason why its goes faster. JFZ seems more for the general public.
Thank you for the review! It helped me weed out which books to buy. Looking forward to your books on Amazon.
Yes please do reviews of all the books in the series!
Magnificent video! Many thanks to the author of the channel for the recommendations! The problem with many people is that they want to take a "magic pill" or get "secret knowledge" and immediately have skills and abilities. However, the truth of life is that knowledge, skills, and abilities do not come by themselves. You can't learn a foreign language without doing anything, without wasting your time and effort, just like you can't learn to ride a bike lying on a comfy couch, listening to lectures and watching videos about "modern methods of learning" on a bike. To really learn something, you have to really practice every day. You're going to fall down while you're learning, and you're going to get bumps - that's normal! The ups and downs of learning are an integral part of our lives. Motivation from success and depression from failure will always be your study companions. However, every student has problems in his or her studies that he or she lacks the knowledge to solve. It can be: poor memorization of words; no progress in language learning; the student can speak, but does not understand speech by ear; misunderstanding of grammar; incorrect pronunciation, etc. Agree that a problem you don't know how to solve is very demotivating. In order to find the answer to our question we have to spend a lot of time to read videos, articles and books by polyglots. In today's world, we have to solve problems as quickly as possible. I don't have time to study and analyze a huge amount of information. My goal is to master the basic knowledge of a foreign language as quickly as possible and already start earning money effectively in the international arena. I settled on the practical guide by Yuriy Ivantsiv " Polyglot's Notes: practical tips for learning foreign language". This book is always in my bag. If I have a problem while learning a language, I quickly find the answer in this book. There are many different techniques and tips for learning a foreign language in Polyglot Notes. I have made my own individual schedule and plan for language learning. Now I know what I am going to study, how I am going to study, when I am going to study and what results I am going to achieve. No problem could stop me! With an effective language learning plan my professional skills are more and more in demand internationally every day. Friends, don't stop there! Everyone has talents that millions of people around the world need! Learn the language and make your ideas and dreams come true! Thanks to the author of the channel for the informative and useful video! Your videos motivate me.
I just finished course 1 online (which is free).
It was great, and I'm moving on to course 2 which which is $9 USD per month ($13 AUD).
Other material I tried such as Genki just felt like hard work, JFZ is a smooth, natural challenge.
On course 3 now, still highly recommend.
Only downside I've found: 70% of audio (listening practice) is way too fast or unclear for beginner students, you need to be patient and press replay many times to understtand the spoken sentence.
@@MrPatrickRevuelta i realize this is an older post... but i use a program for musicians called AMAZiNG SLOW DOWNER. it lets u slow down the tempo without changing the pitch. i use it to slow down guitar riffs while keeping the riff in the same key. this works great for slowing down the fast tempo of Japanese without changing the pitch of the speaker voice. it truly is an amazing slow downer. i mean, u don't have to replay anything :)
My left ear really enjoyed this video.
😂👍
I’m sorry I’m so late!! But it seems like a great series overall and his TH-cam channel offers great supplemental practice and understanding.
I definitely recommend this book if you’re trying to study alone
Oh my!!! I've been waiting for so long for a review on JFZ!! Thank you 😀😀
Love the vid! I don't normally try to use books (idk I just don't like them) but I might try out this one. On another note, in future videos could you make sure the sound isn't only in one ear. It's fine at first, but it distracts from the video after a while.
I only found out from the comments there was an issue :O It's not normal for all my reviews. The weird thing is I used the same mics, same inputs, everything! Just for some reason only one ear came through o.0
@@ThatsMyChad Oh I see. Sorry, that happened to you then! I guess that I'll just have to watch the rest of your videos lol :D
I'm on Book 2. These are amazing books!
Honestly this book sounds like a better option for me, because I’m already learning German, Chinese and French. So I would rather have a book that has a slower pace so I don’t get too much at once.
well this was funner (is that even a word?) than most book reviews, and Japanese From Zero looks fun too. Kudo's to the Chad
Thank you so much Amanda!
I love this book and I am using it right now
I have just come across this review. I'm really at the beginning of Japanese. At the moment I'm doing Duolingo but I have a couple of apps that help me write hiragana but I haven't reached the Katakana yet but it is slowly introducing. I know Duolingo may not be best for learning Japanese so I was looking for something more user friendly as I am self studying. I was between Genki and this book. From what I heard Genki might be too much for me for now. I prefer to learn slowly but surely than fast and not remembering anything. Slowly catchy the monkey as the British people says!
This video was very helpful! thanks! 👍
Why do I feel like the girl on the cover is from "Seitokai yakuindomo"
You should do a review of wanikani
I'm working on it! :D I gotta do the community sponsored vids first haha
Every comment you say?
This seems to be a tricky question so worth throwing out there: How would you recommend studying a language like Japanese to someone who works full time or is very busy? Do some resources or techniques work better when you can't do what the 'youtube polyglot' crowd suggest and just fully immerse yourself in the language for 10 hours a day?
These books look like a good value middle ground for casual self study!
Funnily enough, over the last 9 years or so for me I worked full time, sometimes multiple jobs, including youtube, and still got to a point in my Japanese that I was able to live and work in the country :) So you can do it, you're just now playing on hard mode! Because each minute you spend in Japanese is now more important since you have less minutes to dilly-dally unlike people who don't have a career/family etc.
So how do you do it? I'm not selling you a textbook or method, so I can just tell you what I did more or less (although feel free to adjust with how busy you personally are):
1. learn 10 words a day, and input them into an SRS flashcard system like Anki or Memrise. Ignore words that sound the same in both languages, as your brain will pick those up on their own.
2. Start with Remembering the Kanji from the beginning, and learn 5 a day with the same SRS.
3. Start inputing creatively. Sometimes I had time to sit and watch anime or something, sure. But other times it had to be podcasts while driving, reading manga on the train/bus to work, Japanese music on the job and then looking up the lyrics on my breaks. It's real work and anyone that tries to tell you it's not is trying to sell you something.
4. Finally, have an organized way to learn the grammar, but don't focus too hard on it in the beginning. You'll naturally figure out the grammar from listening/reading the language A LOT, but some things you just won't get and so I always did like 10-15 minutes a day of structured grammar learning from a YT video, a textbook, an online teacher... just whatever you have.
And if you do all of this consistently, passionately, over a long enough period of time (and I mean years), you'll actually get there :) It's not rocket science. The Immersion crowd are like speed-runners of languages. They find the most efficient way to acquire a language, and it's true: it is the most efficient. But not everyone is trying to speed run Minecraft, some people just like playing survival and enjoying building the forts and progressing over a longer period of time. So don't let the speed runners ruin your game :) Play at your pace with consistency and goals and you'll eventually beat the nether dragon.
@@ThatsMyChad Woah! What a thought out reply, thanks for that! It's been hard to find learning methods with the youtube algorithm very much favoring the immersion/polyglot speed learners. ^^'
Love the video. Just a note, you're audio is only coming out in the left channel through most of the video, makes it really hard to listen to unfortunately
yoooo I found another hidden gem youtuber!! Btw I may be going to genkijacs when covid is over, or when the borders of Japan open up. Would you still recommend going? I'll probably going for 3 - 6 months.
Japanese from Zero is 44€ and Genki around 88€ in my country😢
If it wasn't for them teaching the kana so slowly I would be on board with it being an ok book, but I can't imagine asking a learner to know over a hundred vocab words without knowing the kana.
A lot of the criticism I see is from that. Personally I think it's reasonable to ask anyone studying a language to just learn the basic alphabet first, but I was curious how this approach would pan out so I'm glad someone did it!
Underrated channel!
my right ear: 🔇 my left ear:📢
Sold. 👍🏼
OK I'LL TAKE THAT
please try making a review about the book called "Basic Japanese Grammar (March 10, 2011)" by Everett F. Bleiler
Added to amazon list!
@@ThatsMyChad omg didn't think I would get a reply, also big thank you for making this reviews, it's really helpful!
I’m gonna get the complete set thanks!!
does it have sense learning Japanese, which I am fascinated with, knowing I will never use the language in life/never go to Japan? Just because I love the languge and culture? I am Polish and unfortunately in Poland there are very few japanese natives and only in japanese language schools which are damn expensive
Just added this to the cart on Amazon
You should review the 2500 kanji dictionary jlpt n5-n1. Would love to see how it compares to kodansha
My dumbass really stood there looking at you gesturing with your hands for a solid two minutes until I realized I only had the right headphone in and your voice was instead playing on the left xD
Oh noooo 😂😂 I’m so sorry dude, this is an old video so luckily the rest of my reviews didn’t have such a problem
Hey, just a random question. Do you know what JLPT level these books will put you at when you complete them?
I think after JFZ 5, it will get you a little above N4, but not N3. There is a gap. Mainly the kanji. I don't know if KFZ 2 fills that gap, but there is Wanikani. Usually after whatever beginner textbook series you use, Tobira is next.
According to my researches: N4 for the grammar and N3 for the vocabulary.
Very interesting Video. Thank you!
Could someone please send Quartet textbook to Chad for review? I am curious to see how it compares to Tobira..
“AJATT Master Race” 😂
As someone who had this book I would disagree. These books do not really teach beginner Japanese well. You are better off watching videos for free on youtube. They start off ok then it becomes much more complicated for someone starting Japanese. Not to mention my wife taught University level Japanese in the US for several years and would agree. The Genki books are pretty much the same. Too difficult for someone just starting.
I feel like it is really easy to understand at a beginner level because videos on TH-cam aren’t the best for creating a foundation in which you are able to build upon. Grammar is super confusing and if you struggle with the text book explanation you can go through his videos he created which explain it I suppose in a more digestible way. But at the end of the day it’s more down to matter of opinion.
Keep up this content Chad.
JFZ was my first textboook purchase but I didn't like the mixture of kana and romaji and the fact that there were no verbs in the whole of the first textbook until the final chapter. That was three years ago, perhaps it's changed. I wanted to learn grammar, not endless lists of nouns, so it wasn't for me. I switched to Genki which I really liked.
The JF0 book I have definitely has verbs earlier than the last chapter, so maybe sometime between your version and the 7.0 I'm holding changed it :) But I also really love Genki! It's what I used when I was studying in Japan so there's some nostalgia tied to it
@@ThatsMyChad I just checked, I have the 6th edition from 2015, and it looks like the first verbs (other than 'desu') are in chapter 10 when they teach you 'please give me'. I can see now that there is a lot of foundation information in it. I still wouldn't want to learn from scratch from it, but I could probably benefit from skimming through it now.
Hi! Can someone tell me that if I had learned hiragana and katakana from japanese pod 101 which part of the book do I have to buy? From the starting or from which part and except the 6 parts do I need to refer to any other textbooks if I want to be a beginner to intermediate
Partial of the first covers kana but thats about it
Everyone so far has told me not to use Genki without a teacher. Has anyone done it solo?
I'm using it solo and feel completely lost.
Could I start with Japanese from zero 1,or should I go through Kana and Kanji from zero first? 🤔
Japanese from Zero 1 teaches you Hiragana, book 2 teaches you Katakana and after that, boom 3 to 5 teach you the same kanji as Kanji from zero. So no, you don't need to know kana or Kanji to start with book 1
Is it good for learning??
Next time, put your audio on stereo
Man that audio was driving me crazy, left channel only for the main review. Really disorienting
I have and like the JFZ but I wish it had a mobile app.
Is that the legit version?
Do you know korean or any other Asian languages
I can read in ancient greek from school? XD And I know a bit of Russian from a Georgia trip I just finished :D But no other asian languages
4:31
15:31 I proudly made my automobile purchase decision on the basis that it had a cd player instead of a portable music device plug-in port. Also, what does QR stand for? ...Ah, hell, let's get it all out there: I still own a photo camera that uses FILM! Cower before my mighty obsoleteness!! Muahahahahahahaaa!!!
20:46 Uhhh, there was a pay wall? !?! I'm a hacker and I didn't even know it!
......It makes me nervous that all of the other comments here are about books and learning and important stuff, then here I come with my immature, off-topic, weaboo, Chad fanboy remarks. My apologies, everyone, for lowering the IQ bar.
Hey film cameras are SICK and don't let anyone tell you different XD And I do own a car with a CD player... it just doesn't run hahaha
It’s hard to take the book seriously as a textbook with that anime cover art [literally judging a book by its cover 😂]
The take of the century 😂
良いわ～！
I don't really like this book. The kanji one is useless and the regular books are really slow. After like a year of using these, you'll have just finished the equivalent of genki 2. 472 words when it said 800, wew.
yeah that's why its called "Japanese from Zero", the JFZ series is like an elementary-ish level Japanese textbook while Genki series are for high school to college level learners. but JFZ itself uses a progressive method so from JFZ 1 to 5 its like going from elementary to college level.
@@tankeryy1566 "college level" Japanese just uses minna or genki anyway. They go through it at a way slower pace than the average learner would self studying anyway. No disrespect to college learners, I'm speaking from experience lol
@@bobfranklin2572 you self studied? which book did you use?
@@tankeryy1566 uh. Tae Kim, rtk and And The tango books
@@bobfranklin2572 aight.
Am I the only one who used JFZ but didn't follow up with the TH-cam stuff because George gets too much into the details of everything and it's pretty distracting 🙈
sold!