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So, im new to Japanese and i can roughly speak a few words/phrases. ive tried looking online for free lessons but none of them are very helpful. So, i was looking for a good text book to help me learn more. So, does anyone know of any really good text books that are easy to read/learn from and about 20-40$ bucks.
Thanks ^-^

I use lean japanese the fast and fun way and it's about well it says it's $18.95 it the usa and $26.50 in canada so look for it on ebay.com

I 2nd the "Genki" textbook suggestion. Very comprehensive and easy to understand.

I personally always suggest the Japanesepod101.com podcasts or Learn Japanese Pod if you want to get into some Kansai-ben (Kansai dialect). This, of course, is based on what you truly want to focus on. I am all about conversation which has put my kanji and reading skills on the back burner. Anyway, use the podcasts to hear the Japanese spoken. Use the textbook(s) to get your reading and writing skills down. 3nodding

This is a little late of a response (one month to be exact) but I hope I can still help you out. The Genki series seems like a good choice, many people have liked it and say good things about it, although I haven't used it. I did take a look at it though and it looked good but Elementary Japanese by Yoko Hasegawa seemed to be better, at least for me. Elementary Japanese is what I used and I loved it. Although it can be hard for self study because it is very heavy on content and has a small amount of actual "fun" activities. It was intended for classroom study but the explanations are more then good enough for self study. Really if you want something that is no non-sense strait to the point Elementary Japanese is for you, but if you want something that will be a bit more exciting but most likely slower then Genki is for you. Either way you can't go wrong with either of those books.

As a side note http://www.guidetojapanese.org/ is the absolute best website I have found for Japanese learning. It has amazing explanations and example sentences, and has over 90% of Japanese grammar. I personally don't even use a book anymore, I use this.

Hope I was of some help smile

DON'T BUY GENKI! It's truely not worth the money unless you've got the money to have a tutor back you up. I doubt you can find one that's not used and all torn up with highlighting everywhere for that price either. You can most likely get it used for 45$ Minimum! I would HIGHLY suggest Japanese from Zero 1. It's made by the people who own the site www.yesjapan.com. It's a great way to start off not to mention you will also want to try some internet sites to help get you on your feet as well. Good Luck!

I went out and bought a book called "Japanese Demystified" recently. I doubt it's the best out there, but it wasn't that expensive. I've at least found the exercises in it really helpful cause it gives you a chance to practice what you've learned.

Japanese Demystified which i got from barnes and nobles about 25 bucks very helpful covers every nook and cranny of the language after each chapter/lesson theres always a test to review the chapter if you get a bad score you have to review the lesson again at the very end of the book theres an exam lasting about more than 10 pages on the whole book the only thing that it really doesnt cover is kanji.The books pretty big too and its a self-learners book no tutor needed.oh and youll need a japanese/rommaji dictionary some words they use an examples they dont define but the books filled with practices and exacples and it has akatakana and hiragana chart its really good