Minna No Nihongo: Bk. 1

This is already the second book we use in our japanese evening classes in Germany. Using this book requires an intermediate level in japanese, because this textbook is a monolingual edition. It is necessary to know at least all Hiragana and Katakana. Kanjis are translated into Hiragana, although the translation is written in very tiny letters above the Kanji in question.

The monolingual edition offers the advantage, that the student must learn the alphabets and new vocabulary regularly, otherwise he is not able to understand the texts and tasks.

But how do you learn new vocabulary, if this book offers no lists? Every single word you want to learn must be translated and explained in all forms by your teacher. The book offers no summary. Of course one is able to get all words translated, but in return you have to buy a different book, for example "Minna No Nihongo: Kanji - English Edition Bk. 1".

The same with grammar: this edition offers absolutely no explanations, only some excercises. The grammar is explained in another book, which is "Minna No Nihongo: Translation and Grammatical Notes Bk. 1".

The one big disadvantage Minna no Nihingo offers is that you cannot use one book alone to learn Japanese. You have to buy several more books for an complete overview. And in Europe these books are rather expensive.
This is why I rated this book with only three of five stars.

For learners in german speaking countries I rather recommend one of these books:
"Nihongo de dooso" oder
"Japanisch im Sauseschritt".

Minna No Nihongo: Bk. 1This is a Japanese langauge text book at middle level difficulty. It is written entirely in japanese script including instructions so it is not suitable for complete beginners. It is aimed at learners who are beginning to master japanese script but want to improve their reading and comprehension skills of authentic japanese. It is printed in Japan and so is fairly expensive new but good second hand copies are available.

This book is best used in a class situation. I have used it in night classes in the UK and in Japan. It looks very hard for total beginners as there is little romaji (if you don't know hiragana then get the notes too).
This book was designed with native kanji readers in mind (like most japanese text books) so if you can read Kanji it makes it much easier. Furigana (with hiragan above the Kanji) makes for slower reading I find.
Japanese for busy people was deisgned for westerners so you might consider that book too. I use both.

I have used this book in conjunction with 'Japanese for Busy People'. This book are all listed in hiragana and katakana, therefore it is not suitable as a stand-alone for beginner. There are numerous exercise and vocabulary between each lesson. The lesson are not only text based but have illustration to guild the user around the topic of concerned. Basically it is an exercise book for beginners.