Genki vs. Living Language textbooks

I've been using the textbook 'Genki' for the last while rather than the Living Language one I had been using. The main reason behind my switch is that my Japanese partner in crime used Genki for the class she took, so it's easier if we work from the same material.

Here are some of my thoughts on the textbooks:

Genki
- lots of practice exercises, including oral and written
- no answer keys! I think this textbook is meant to be used in a classroom situation with a teacher and classmates.
- hiragana and katakana are essential after chapter 2, kanji introduced by lesson 3-4. This is good if you really want to immerse yourself in Japanese script and gain a lot of fluency, but it takes a lot of pre-studying. Learning vocab becomes a lot more difficult if you don't have a good grasp on the script.
- grammar explanations are sometimes confusing. They tend to throw all the info on a topic (e.g. adjectives) at you in the span of one lesson, which can be a lot to absorb. At the same time, this lessens the chance of developing bad habits because you don't know all the rules yet.
- no cd's/audio reinforcement as far as I know... at least not for students. The teacher's book may have something... or maybe your teacher is just supposed to demonstrate for you.


Living Language
- some practice exercises with answer keys, mostly written and multiple choice
- regular review tests
- mostly in romaji for the first 7-8 chapters, and gradually introduces the hiragana/katakana characters. This is good if you haven't sat down and memorized both alphabets before beginning to study anything else.
- grammar explanations are quite clear, with lots of charts. They also introduce the grammar one point at a time, and add details as they go.
- comes with cd set! This is excellent for pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, etc. The cd's also have a 'learn on the go' section, which means you can listen to them without the textbook in hand and learn a lot.

This is all I really have to say for now, but I'm sure I'll think of more later!