I spent $162 on Intermediate Japanese Textbooks so YOU don't have to - Quartet Review (and more)

What is the BEST Intermediate Japanese textbook? Detailed answer in this video. I will be covering the new Quartet 1 and 2 Intermediate Japanese textbooks, as well as Tobira, and An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese. Which textbook has the best grammar points? The best readings? The best listening? That's what we are going to find out!

I will also be announcing what textbook we will be using in the ToKini Andy Intermediate Japanese Grammar series, which will be starting around mid-April.

JAPAN IS USUALLY MUCH CHEAPER FOR JAPANESE TEXTBOOKS.

ToKini Andy OUTGREW PATREON.

0:00 Intro
1:04 Lesson Structure
6:01 Grammar Sections
8:38 The Readings
10:47 What I Liked
13:26 What I Didn't Like
16:24 Which Book We Will Use

[ryanisawesome]

Japanese is the only thing I get excited to buy a textbook for 😂

[ToKiniAndy]

I FORGOT! An important difference between Tobira and Quartet: After finishing Genki II, you would need some kind of bridge before Tobira, because the jump in difficulty is kind of steep.

Quartet DOES NOT NEED a bridge. It's a good next step after Genki.

ToKini Andy has outgrown Patreon. There is so much premium content now, that we decided to move (there were other reasons too).

[ThePinwheel]

I'm still working my way through the tail end of Genki 1, but your stuff is legit so good that when friends ask me about what materials I'm using for Japanese, I NEVER mention Genki without also mentioning your videos. This video alone is enough to tell me which of the textbooks I'm going to use once I get past Genki 2. I seriously hope your channel explodes in popularity in the coming years, it's so high quality.

[laachax]

Making me want to pick up quartet before I even finish genki 1

[candychan]

Tobira is a very good textbook. I like the readings, almost all of the readings are interesting and you will learn something about the Japanese culture. For Tobira, if you know well all the basic verb and adjective conjugations (present plain, past plain both positive and negative), you should be able to do Tobira. IMO, for intermediate Japanese, you need to know these verb forms inside and out (present, past, and both positive, negative): dictionary form (会う, 　聞く、食べる for example), て form, た form, ない form, as they are important for all the conjuctions and suffixes attaching to the verbs and adjectives and if you know them inside and out, then Tobira is not hard even after Genki II. The grammar points are very well explained (most of them have a detailed English explanation) with sentence examples. One major complaint about the grammar is that they are scattered, meaning they don't group it like the JLPT books where you learn similar grammar points together in the same chapter. In my opinion, you learn the grammar more efficiently if it is more "organized". I am Chinese, so Kanji is not a concern for me, I just learn as I go. I finished Tobira about 3 months ago and I am currently using 2 JLPT textbooks 日本語総まとめN3 (Nihongo Soumatome) and 新完全マスターN3 (Shinkanzen Master). Tobira covers pretty much all N3 materials (I would say 80%), so if you finish Tobira, you should be able to do N3. 日本語総まとめN3 (Nihongo Soumatome) is mostly review for me if you finish Tobira and it is very good to solidify what you learned in Tobira. 新完全マスターN3 (Shinkanzen Master) is a very good textbook but it is much more involved and more comprehensive and requires more work. If you can pass N3, then you should be able to visit Japan and can do daily Japanese conversation without much of a problem. I think it is possible to self study using Tobira but as it is better to hire a Japanese teacher.

[yashdsouza]

Andy san’s videos make me want to go from N4-N1 in 6 months🤣

[ニックだよ]

I bought An Integrated Approach way back, but will definitely be picking up the Quartet books so I can follow along with your streams. Still got a ways to go with Genki first, but I'll be there when I'm all caught up!

[krispy]

Cant wait to finish Genki so i can join you guys in Quartet! 🙌

[Cimpy]

Andy, I'm impressed with how your compositions and editing continue to improve over time. It can be overwhelming and difficult to know what resources to commit to, so this is an interesting topic. Love it!

[LSKk]

I was thinking of buying Tobira, but this is definitely making me reconsider. Either way, I'll be there! Thank you for your hard work making japanese easier to learn for us!

[sockonyoutube]

So excited to hear you’ll be doing an intermediate course!

[Coyoteclaw]

I still have to start and finish Genki II, but I hope to be there! It's pretty nice to hear there's a newer textbook that fixes the problem so many people mention about the difficulty jump between Genki and Tobira. I'm excited to check it out ^^

[linguaste]

Just finished Genki 2 this weekend, and was about to jump into Integrated Japanese. However I think I need to investigate Quartet, which I had never heard of before. Thanks for your very informative review.

[echelonangel]

...that moment when I've spent money on Tobira and Intermediate Japanese already 😅😅😅 I will totally be there!!!

[GenkimonGX]

I'll be there! I was considering buying Tobira this week, so this came at just the right time!

[acojo]

YES

Your videos are so easy to follow and they’re the main reason I’ve progressed as much as I have with Genki. It’s honestly made my day, knowing that you’re continuing to intermediate level🙌🙌

Onwards and upwards!

[thecurriest]

Having used both Integrated Approach and Tobira, this explains a lot about the shortcomings of those books! I've noticed some classes shifting to Quartet so I may give it a try.

[shakenbacon-vmeu]

I made it to the end! Now I’m off to your genki 15 lesson, hopefully one day I’ll be at quartet!

[anti-baka]

So far you're the only one that's reviewed Quartet. Thanks to ur video I know to get the Quartet books after Genki. Keep up the awesome work!

[itsabah]

ill be there...when i finish lesson 3 from genki that is