I know sometimes the general learning questions are being critisized on Scritter, but most japanese learning forums and such sources appear to be inactive. So thanks in advance to anyone sharing their experience.

I am a beginner looking for resources. I do not want to join a class, I want to use my experience from previous foreign language learning to learn on my own (even though Japanese is much harder than my previous languages) and get a private tutor once I need to get speaking with someone else.

Right now, I have a course based in my native language (Czech), which appears to be of really good quality. But it is going to drop me somewhere in the middle of beginner level with no follow up. I am looking for resources to get me far enough to start using easier native media. I am looking for good price/value ratio. I need lots of audio, I need grammar explanations, I need exercises, I need lots of examples and context for vocabulary.

I've been searching the internet for info and found some resources worth consideration, could you give me your opinion? Could you give me ideas on things I haven't found?

Assimil Japonais sans peine: I like Assimils in general. But is it good at teaching such a hard language?

Genki: Is it comfortable for a self teaching user? It looks a bit dry, is it? Is there a follow up to Genki 2 for intermediates?

Yookoso, Minnnihongo and Nakama are too expensive but i'd consider them if either was the best thing.

Japanesepod101: they tend to have good resources but is the Japanese one good and the language there realistic?

Japanese for Busy People seems to be popular. From the reviews, I am not sure whether it is a good and up to date resource, am I wrong?

Adventures in Japanese. I really like the design of the new edition, it appears to be nicely done. But how far does the series lead as it is meant for high school students?

Tae Kim's grammar is quite an easy choice as it is free and looks good. But I heard a lot of praise on the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. Is it worth the horrible price tag?

Japanese in Mangaland looks as a really nice complement to any other course, do you have experience with it?

Do I need any kanji book alongside scritter?

A very quick answer as I don't have much time, but I know most of the resources as I've been trying to learn japanese for years and I think I gave a try to everything.
- Assimil japonais sans peine: avoid!!! Lots of mistakes, doesn't give you real bases, the worst assimil for most of the people.
- Genki is very nice, fun when you learn by yourself, has plenty of exercices, and has other volumes for intermediate level. I like it better than Minna no Nihongo, Minna is better with a teacher I think.
- Japanesepod101: too irregular, not easy to use, at least for me. I prefer "Erin's challenge", with videos and interactive questions. This site is free.
- Tae Kim is great, and free, so you should have it. Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar is, for me, a gold mine. You have a

an answer for any question you could have, for any grammatical use. I just love it. But it maybe too detailed when you just start.
- Japanese in mangaland is nice and fun, I like it, but it's not complete enough all alone, you have to combine it with other more serious methods. With the 2 of them, you learn seriously and with fun.
- Kanji book: of course you need a real kanji dictionnary, but you'll find plenty of them online for free.
Good luck with your learning.

And by the way, you should also try this website: Japan Activator. It's really great, and has tons of very useful resources, part of them for free.

Thanks a lot for all the advice!

I think I'll go for Genki. Is there any good reason to buy the new edition or does the old one suffice?

I'll try the Erin's challenge and save up for the grammar dictionary as I think I have quite a lot of time for it, I am taking the beginning slowly.

Kanji dictionary should be something online, I do not prefer paper dictionaries for daily use. I wonder more along the lines whether to get something like Heisig or any of those numerous "basic kanji" courses.

Japan Activator looks good, thanks a lot for the idea!

@Thawrea I think you'll find that if you ask questions like yours, where it's clear that you've done a lot of research yourself and really tried to answer your questions before asking, people will be very happy to help you.

Useful document passed around often on 4chan's /a/:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G5C7fCe07CDzYalZYZObzxv_fhw7RUNsLHiMAY-t7FA/edit#heading=h.5cbn76kgr3gp

Here are some of my thoughts on your resources (just the ones that I've used):

- Japanesepod101: I think it is excellent. I've been through it all the way to the upper intermediate level and it covers a lot of the things you want (audio, grammar, vocab, context). There are old style lessons and new style lessons and you need to decide what you want to study. They now have a brilliant iOS app which has really refreshed the system.

- Japanese for Busy People. I also thought this was very good. There are good grammar explanations, plenty of vocab, audio CDs etc. The three books in the series (green, yellow, red), will get you to the end of the beginner level (JLPT N4). The book is set in a Japanese context, which I think is good (the characters all work in Japan and go out to sushi bars etc.). The main issue is that at the end of the series, there is no intermediate follow up.

- minna no hihongo: I think this is best used with a teacher (I think there is a lack of explanations in English and some of the questions don't have answers: I might be wrong here though).

- Genki: I haven't used it. A lot of people like it. What I have used is the follow up series (Integrated Course in Intermediate Japanese = ICII): I think this is a similar format. In ICII, there are plenty of good grammar explanations, vocab, audio CD etc. I think Genki has the same format. The big issue I had with it is that it is set in an American context (it's all about westerners going to Japan as university students and comparing their experiences in the west to those in Japan. That always grated with me). The good thing about Genki is that when you finish the Genki series, ICII is a natural progression.

- Kanki dictionary: paper is old school. Paper was good for the ancient Egyptians, but time has moved on. I use the Midori electronic dictionary on my iPhone. You can easily enter words in hiragana and kanji by writing with your fingers.

- Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. It's worth its weight in gold. It might be very expensive, but paradoxically, it's also excellent value. It's published by the same company that publishes Genki and ICII (Japan Times) and I think there is some crossover.

Don't forget Skritter: also an excellent resource for learning kanji. But bear in mind that learning Japanese is about more than learning kanji.

Good luck in studying Japanese. It's really interesting and Japan is a wonderful country.

Martin