Japanese language students are incredibly lucky: There’s so much competition for Japanese learning materials that the quality of Japanese textbooks out there are extremely high compared to some other less-pursued languages (even compared to Korean textbooks for example).

In the 12+ years I’ve been studying Japanese, I have bought piles and piles of Japanese language books, always with the idea of looking for the one to rule them all.

In the end, no textbook is perfect: all have their strengths and weaknesses, but there are clearly some that are exceptionally well thought out, and will help you get you the best ‘bang for your buck’ in your Japanese study.

Without further ado, here are the 12 best Japanese textbooks we’ve found for self-study.

The 12 Best Books to Learn Japanese

1. GENKI I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese

If you took Japanese in University, this is probably the textbook you used. And love it or hate it, it’s still probably the best beginners Japanese textbook out there.

Published by the Japan Times, the Genki series is currently in its 3rd edition print run (2020 edition) and has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide.

There are no shortcuts with this textbook — you have to put in the time to learn and absorb the material. If you can work through to the end of this textbook, you’ll the necessary foundations of vocabulary, grammar, hiragana, katakana, and some basic kanji to build on.

The book is divided into 2 sections:

Conversation / Grammar focuses on learning vocabulary, sentence structure and culturally useful expressions via studying dialogues.

Reading / Writing focuses on teaching you kanji and reading comprehension via lessons that correspond to the Conversation part of the book.

Overall, while the Genki series still has some flaws that other textbooks have (for example, it teaches ‘Sayonara’ for ‘goodbye’, which isn’t very commonly used day-to-day in Japan), it’s still the best book out there to start learning Japanese on your own.

Pros:

• Accompanying CD for practicing pronunciation
• Lots of exercises to practice at the end of each chapter
• If you finish this textbook, you’ll have a fairly large vocabulary (about 50 words per chapter)

Cons:

• Unusual standard of romanization: ie. kiree instead of kirei
• Doesn’t include the stroke order for kanji
• Sometimes not 100% logical in its presentation (ie. teaching 5 color words, but then skipping the rest)

Notes:

• If you get Genki, we also recommend you get the workbook too.

2. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

There’s a reason why this book is known as the “Yellow Book” or “The Bible” among Japan expats. It is probably the best Japanese learning resource I have ever come across. Clearly and thoroughly written with great example sentences. If you are at a more advanced level, check out the “Blue” and “Red” books by the same authors.

Pros:

• Comprehensive and thorough
• Grammar points are explained clearly and with helpful examples
• Learn the difference between similar and often confused grammar points

Cons:

• This book is not a textbook — think of it as a dictionary of grammar (as the title says)

3. Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 Hours Each

In this book James Heisig applies his mnemonics method to learning to read and write the Japanese writing systems of Hiragana and Katakana. I found it really helpful when I was starting out.

Pros:

• Mnemonics that really help to remember each character
• Can teach you how to recognize hiragana and katakana in 3 hours each

Notes:

• If you already know kana, skip this one and jump ahead to Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji book
• If you’ve learned some kana without much difficulty, you may find this book ‘overcomplicates’ the learning

4. Kodansha’s Furigana Japanese Dictionary

This has to be the best Japanese-English dictionary in print form. Kodansha really gave a lot of thought to the layout and functionality of this dictionary — and it shows. This furigana dictionary is a must-have in the library of any serious Japanese learner, from beginner to N1.

Pros:

• Great section on how to conjugate regular and irregular Japanese verbs
• Example sentences to show how words are often used

Cons:

• If anything, it’s not big enough for some more intermediate or advanced users
• No information on intonation

Notes:

• Organized alphabetically by kana, not the roman alphabet
• No romaji, all furigana

5. Remembering the Kanji, Volume 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters

Heisig’s Remembering The Kanji is an invaluable book for mastering kanji, and this book should be required reading for all serious learners of Japanese.

My personal anecdote about this book: I struggled terribly with remembering Kanji before I came across this book years ago, and it helped me immensely. Although I’ve forgotten many of the mnemonic ‘stories’ I first learned, I still remember the meanings of most kanji.

Pros:

• Learn the ‘parts’ that make up a kanji
• Teaches you how to remember the meanings of hundreds of characters

Cons:

• Some of the keywords chosen in the book are ambiguous or strange (ie. rarely-used English words instead of its regular-use equivalent)
• You’ll only learn the basic ‘meaning’ of the kanji, so without further study you won’t be able to ‘read’ Japanese kanji or compound words

Notes:

• Some people report not being able to view kanji stroke order on the kindle version. Buyer beware!
• Most people pair this book with Anki flashcard software. I did this and 100% recommend it

6. Kanji in Context

So this is another kanji-related book. Kanji in Context allows you to build a strong vocabulary after using Heisig’s book.

Pros:

• Over 150 lessons that teach kanji within the context of writings

Cons:

• Might be hard to find or expensive outside of Japan

Notes

• Not for beginners — more intermediate to advanced

7. The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary

This is the best kanji reference dictionary that I’ve come across. The newest edition has the most common 3000 kanji, in a book that almost could fit in your pocket. An invaluable resource.

Pros:

• A visually appealing, well layed-out dictionary
• The ‘SKIP’ method used to look up kanji is quite ingenious
• Up to date, reliable definitions and examples

Notes

• Some people find the lookup method unintuitive (however I think this is rare)

8. JLPT Study Guide: The Comprehensive Guide to the JLPT Level N5 Exam

This JLPT N5 study guide was released in 2019 by Clayton MacKnight of JLPT Bootcamp and published by Tuttle.

If you’re just starting to learn Japanese, and are aiming to take the N5 test (or even if you’re in need of a refresher), I highly recommend this book. It has an easy to follow layout, great illustrations, and covers each topic at a good pace.

One of the best ways to prepare for the JLPT test is doing actual practice questions, which this book has plenty of. The practice sections include all the different types of questions that you’ll see on the actual test (kanji, grammar, reading and listening), so you’ll know which areas you’re prepared for, and which need more work.

If you’re working towards N5, this is the book for you!

Pros:

• More than 300 JLPT N5 practice questions included
• 3 printable N5 practice tests
• Accompanying audio for listening comprehension
• Printable flash cards for kana and N5 kanji
• Fun illustrations and dialogues

Notes:

• Ideal for students wanting to go from zero to N5 in a short amount of time.

9. How to Sound Intelligent in Japanese: A Vocabulary Builder

This book is aimed at students who already have a good grasp of Japanese and want to be able to sound, well, smarter by building their vocabulary with intelligent sounding words. If you’re looking for words and concepts that would impress a native Japanese with your ability, this is probably the one.

Pros:

• Good structure and categorization
• Fun learning for advanced students

Cons:

• Often vocabulary is quite specialized and difficult to use

Notes

• Recommended for N3 or above (not lower).

10. Read Real Japanese

This is a great book for making the tricky jump from intermediate to advanced Japanese. Of course, you can read “real” Japanese anytime nowadays online but it’s sometimes nice to have explanations for unknown expressions and writing styles you come across. The book contains eight varying and interesting essays by famous Japanese authors such as Haruki Murakami, Seiko Ito and Banana Yoshimoto.

I enjoyed studying with this book except for the author’s inexplicable usage of romaji in the vocabulary explanations. Why would an advanced learner still be using romaji? Anyway, it is an interesting read and you should be able to find it used for cheap on Amazon.

Pros:

• Helpful in making the difficult jump from textbooks to reading “real” Japanese
• Great selection from contemporary writers such as:
  • Seiko Ito
  • Momoko Sakura
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto
  • Banana Yoshimoto

Cons:

• The use of romaji in a book for advanced students is a questionable and unfortunate design choice
• Lack of sentence-by-sentence translation

11. Read Real Japanese Essays: Contemporary Writings by Popular Authors

The follow-up to the original is much improved with an audio CD included and the romaji scrapped! It gets difficult in some places and new kanji readings are only given once so it’s definitely for intermediate learners and up.

Pros:

• Notes that explain cultural contexts and usage
• Narrated CD comes with the book
• Interesting contemporary essays from popular authors including:
  • Murakami Haruki
  • Yoshimoto Banana
  • Hirano Keiichiro

Notes:

• For intermediate students (if you’ve finished the Genki series, you could try this out)

12. Read Real Japanese Fiction

Similar to the last two books but for fiction. I don’t own this one but it has some good reviews so it is probably safe to assume it’s of the same quality as the others in the series.

Pros:

• Excellent selection of stories from well-known, established authors:
  • Kawakami Hiromi
  • Otsuichi
  • Ishii Shinji
  • Yoshimoto Banana
  • Kitamura Kaoru
  • Tawada Yoko
• Helpful notes in the back of the book
• Narrated CD comes with the book

Cons:

• Doesn’t include complete translations of all sentences
• Furigana next to every new kanji (could be a plus, depending on your level)
• Not organized by level of difficulty (the first story is harder than the second for example)

Honorable Mentions That Didn’t Quite Make the List

Nihongo Through Newspaper Articles

A solid offering from the Japan Times for building up your Japanese vocabulary. Each lesson presents a new article with vocabulary and exercises. There’s also two audio CDs included. A lesson a day will quickly improve your reading comprehension.

Pros:

• Comes with 2 CDs
• Great for building vocabulary to eventually read the newspaper

Cons:

• Difficult to find outside of Japan — it’s available to buy, but can be quite expensive! Recommended you search second hand.

Notes:

• For intermediate to advanced

Pimsleur Japanese

Not strictly a book, but it’s a great audio course for starting out in Japanese. Gets a bit too corporate for my liking towards the end of the 3rd series, but you will remember and be able to use what you learn with Pimsleur. You can sample Pimsleur Japanese for free with a Audible 30 day trial. Download the taster course here.

Notes

• A lot of people hate on Pimsleur (Why???), but it’s really good for beginners to get you speaking. Try it out if you’re just starting Japanese!

Making Out in Japanese

Ok, so not really a serious one, but you’ll definitely have a lot of laughs with it!

Pros:

• Fun and entertaining (and possibly useful, if you end up single in Japan!)

Cons:

• You might consider the phrases ‘too lame’ to use in real situations

Notes

• Contains language not suitable for younger readers

Kanji Study Cards

This is not a ‘book’ per say, but flash cards. Kanji study cards that accompany James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji (above). It is definitely nice having all 2048 kanji with their readings in one set and it saves you the effort of making the cards/notes yourself. If you’re lazy like me it’s a no-brainer!

Pros:

• Very helpful if you’re using Heisig’s method for learning the kanji

Cons:

• Expensive and difficult to find (used to be $100 on Amazon, now difficult to find retail)

Notes:

• Only useful in conjunction with the Remembering the Kanji book
• Cards haven’t been laminated so you can write your own notes on the cards. The downside of this is they can become ‘boro-boro‘ quite easily

So there you have it. There are probably more (I have spent a lot of money on Japanese books over the years) but those are — in my opinion — the best books to learn Japanese. Enjoy!

Michael

Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.

While many people think of manga as the comic book art form that gained prominence in the 20th century, it actually dates back to the 19th century in Japan and its development is tied to Japanese drawings that appeared as early as the 12th and 13th centuries. The wildly popular manga comics have now become a billion-dollar industry and include every genre imaginable, from comedy to science fiction to romance. Often confused with anime, manga refers to comics only, whereas anime typically means the animated version of those comics.

Manga is not just for kids, either: people of all ages and all walks of life read these comics, both in Japan and throughout the world. If you’re new to manga and wondering where to start (other than preparing yourself to get used to reading from right to left!), then we have some useful lists to get you started.

If you’re learning Japanese, manga offers you a wealth of story choices at different levels, from beginner to advanced. Even one of our favorite language learning hacker Tim Ferris admitted to using Manga to learn Japanese and other languages.

The Best Manga of All Time According to Reddit

Reddit is a popular resource for all things Manga, with users sharing new favorite stories they have discovered as well as commenting on some of the all-time classics. With more than one million members, reddit’s manga community will keep you in the know on the manga you should be reading. Lists such as “The Official Top 100 Manga of all Time”are enough to keep anyone busy for a while!

And if you’re still skeptical that manga will pique your interest or entertain and inform you, consider the breadth of genres covered. Manga includes every storyline imaginable, from those that touch on important historical elements of Japanese culture to those that hit on relevant issues of the times, such as the bullying epidemic, LGBTQ issues, or even devastating natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

The Many Different Genres of Manga

As one recent article pointed out, manga is aging with its population: new stories aimed at older readers account for the fact that these readers want to see themselves in stories, not just as characters on the periphery. Perhaps in time it will be named its own category, but for now the types of manga you should familiarize yourself with as you search its genres are

Shonen: manga targeted to an audience of “tween” boys

Shojo: manga targeted to an audience of “tween” girls

Seinen: manga intended for adult men

Josei: manga intended for adult women

Kodomomuke: manga for younger children

(source: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/12/27/beginners-guide-manga)

It should be noted that a serious threat has been posed to manga in recent years in the form of piracy. Unfortunately, the same web-based audience hungry for new manga has the option to effectively steal it. There is an entire industry based on scanning the pages of physical books and making them available, without authorization, online. This has had a serious impact on manga sales, and in turn the bottom line for the authors and publishers who create them. If you truly enjoy this important art form, be sure to purchase it from credible sources, so that the talented artists who create manga will not be forced to give up their craft!

8 Manga Classics

We’ll start with 8 Manga classics that everyone should read, covering a wide range of themes and interests:

1. Naruto, by Masashi Kishimoto

The message in Naruto is a familiar and also appealing one, as it illustrates the dreams of an orphan boy who aspires to be the best ninja. Just as we rooted for Annie to win the heart of Daddy Warbucks, we will cheer for Naruto in his quest!

2. Sailor Moon, by Naoko Tekeuchi

Talk about girl power! Sailor Moon tells the story of Usagi Tsukino, a magical warrior who is charged with protecting the earth from evil powers.

3. Astro Boy, by Osamu Tezuka

This one is a must-read for anyone new to manga: Astro Boy is one of the most popular manga of all time, telling the story of a scientist devastated by the loss of his son, so he replaces him with a robot.

4. Ace of the Diamond, by Yuji Terajima

The American pastime is beloved in Japan, too, and we see this illustrated in a manga about baseball. The main character is Weijun Sawamura, and he is recruited by a high school with quite a baseball legacy. Any sports fans are sure to connect to Manga by starting with this beloved tale!

5. Akira, by Katsuhiro Otomo

Akira is a wildly popular 1980s manga, focused on a biker gang in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo. The title character is shrouded in mystery and the sci-fi action has made this one a fan favorite for generations.

6. Inuyasha, by Rumiko Takahashi

The present meets the past when high schooler Inuyasha falls down a well and time travels to ancient Japan. Fans of both fantasy and history have loved this wildly popular manga series that has generated several feature films.

7. Barefoot Gen, by Keiji Nakazawa

For those with an interest in military history, Barefoot Gen is the perfect manga series. In it a six-year-old boy named Gen lives through the horror of Hiroshima, and its lessons are still as relevant today as they were for the WWII generation.

8. Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami

Before the Hunger Games, there was Battle Royale: a manga thriller focused on a group of students who are forced to kill one another. This one is not for the faint of heart!

The Top Manga Of All Time (an Imperfect Reading List)

1. Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama, Published by Kodansha
   
2. Bad Boys by Hiroshi Tanaka, Published by Shonen Gahosha  
3. Baki the Grappler by Keisuke Itagaki, Published by Akita Shoten  
4. Black Jack by Osamu Tezuka, Published by Akita Shoten  
5. Bleach by Tite Kubo, Published by Shueisha  
6. Boys Over Flowers by Yoko Kamio, Published by Shueisha  
7. Captain Tsubasa by Y?ichi Takahashi, Published by Shueisha  
8. Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama, Published by Shogakukan  
9. City Hunter by Tsukasa Hojo, Published by Shueisha  
10. Crows by Hiroshi Takahashi, Published by Akita Shoten  
11. Devilman by Go Nagai, Published by Kodansha  
12. Dokaben by Shinji Mizushima, Published by Akita Shoten  
13. Doraemon by Fujiko Fujio, Published by Shogakukan  
14. Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, Published by Shueisha  
15. Dragon Quest: Dai no Daib?ken by Riku Sanjo, Koji Inada, Published by Shueisha  
16. Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima, Published by Kodansha  
17. Fist of the North Star by Buronson, Tetsuo Hara, Published by Shueisha  
18. Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa, Published by Enix (2001–2003)  
19. Gin Tama by Hideaki Sorachi, Published by Shueisha  
20. Glass Mask by Suzue Miuchi, Published by Hakusensha  
21. Golgo 13 by Takao Saito, Published by Shogakukan  
22. Great Teacher Onizuka by Tooru Fujisawa, Published by Kodansha  
23. H2 by Mitsuru Adachi, Published by Shogakukan  
24. Hajime no Ippo by George Morikawa, Published by Kodansha  
25. Hunter × Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi, Published by Shueisha  
26. Initial D by Shuichi Shigeno, Published by Kodansha  
27. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki, Published by Shueisha  
28. Kinnikuman by Yudetamago, Published by Shueisha  
29. KochiKame by Osamu Akimoto, Published by Shueisha  
30. Major by Takuya Mitsuda, Published by Shogakukan  
31. Minami no Teiou by Dai Tennoji, Rikiya Go, Published by Nihon Bungeisha   
32. Oishinbo by Tetsu Kariya, Akira Hanasaki, Published by Shogakukan  
33. One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, Published by Shueisha  
34. Ranma ½ by Rumiko Takahashi, Published by Shogakukan  
35. Rokudenashi Blues by Masanori Morita, Published by Shueisha  
36. Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki, Published by Shueisha  
37. Sangokushi by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Published by Ushio Shuppansha  
38. Sazae-san by Machiko Hasegawa, Published by Kodansha  
39. Shizukanaru Don – Yakuza Side Story by Tatsuo Nitta, Published by Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha  
40. Shoot! by Tsukasa Ooshima, Published by Kodansha  
41. Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue, Published by Shueisha  
42. The Kindaichi Case Files by Yozaburo Kanari, Seimaru Amagi, Fumiya Sato, Published by Kodansha  

Barnes & Noble Recommendations

Once you make your way through this list, take a look at what our friends at Barnes & Noble are recommending in 2019:

January Manga picks from Barnes & Noble

February Manga picks from Barnes & Noble

March Manga picks from Barnes & Noble

April Manga picks from Barnes & Noble

May Manga picks from Barnes & Noble

Recommend reading

https://iexaminer.org/two-books-to-read-that-will-change-ones-perception-of-manga/

https://www.widewalls.ch/japanese-manga-comics-history/

McCarthy, Helen. A Brief History of Manga. Ilex Gift, 2014.

Editorial Team

Our Editorial Team is a group of language learning enthusiasts who are passionate about testing new apps and finding the best ways to learn a language.

Since then, Amazon have made some progress in harmonizing much of the Japanese Kindle Store with the Amazon.com site. This is great news for Japanese learners around the globe. It is now possible to access Japanese language titles without all the previous hassle. From classic novels to manga in the original, there is a lot to choose from.

So how can you find some good content to read in Japanese?

1. Do a simple search

By simply searching for “Japanese Edition” you will be presented with 240,000+ choices on Amazon. You can then navigate the menu in the top left of the screen to browse various categories and genres. Pretty impressive eh?

2. Search for the title + “Japanese Edition”

If you know the book you are looking for, then input the title in English with our new friend “Japanese edition” following after.

For example, if you wanted to read Harry Potter in Japanese, you would simply search for “Harry Potter Japanese Edition”, as shown below.

It’s not a failsafe method, but if the book is relatively popular then this search alone should give you the full Japanese version.

3. Make Wikipedia your friend

If inputting the English title doesn’t work, there is a small chance that the title exists on the Kindle Store but with its Japanese title.

Find the Wikipedia entry for the book then switch to Japanese to get its Japanese title.

Then copy and paste the title in the Kindle store to see if anything shows up.

4. Look at the Amazon Japan store

One strategy I have employed is to look at the Japan Kindle Store to see what is popular in the categories I enjoy reading about. You can then copy and paste the Japanese title to see if it is available on Amazon.com. This method is a bit hit and miss as many titles still aren’t sold outside of Japan, but it’s worth a try.

In the case where you tried the exact title on Amazon.com and it isn’t available, then you can always set up an account on the Japan store and purchase content that way. It’s a pain, but it’s still better than the alternative – not being able to find anything you want. There is plenty of Japanese manga available too for those who enjoy it.

Clearly, the boundaries that do remain are copyright-based rather than technological ones. Here’s to hope that Japanese publishers will begin to see the light. Happy reading folks!

Did you find any interesting Japanese books lately? Let us know in the comments.

Rohan

Rohan has spent years studying Japanese, Chinese and Korean, and currently lives in Japan. He created the perapera pop-up dictionary plugins to help other learners of Chinese and Japanese.

Happy New Year everyone! I don’t know about you, but the New Year has got me motivated to get back to studying languages and reading more Japanese. I also plan to take the N1 this summer. I will touch on that in future posts. Another of my long-term goals is to become more literate in Japanese and to read books that Japanese people read.

I like reading Japanese news and blogs like Itai News on my PC and iPad but I have always wanted to read more Japanese content offline. It’s more relaxing with a book and looking at a screen all day makes my eyes sore. However, I hate looking up kanji and new vocabulary manually. It takes a lot of time and distracts me from the book I am reading. This and a lack of space in my tiny Japanese apartment has meant that, over the years, I haven’t bought that many books in Japanese. Up until now, there haven’t been many Japanese e-books available either. Well, I have finally found my solution.

Amazon’s answer to e-books in Japan

As you may well know, Amazon released the Kindle Paperwhite in Japan at the end of last year. I preordered mine and have been pleased with it so far. It’s a beautiful product and much lighter and easier to use than the previous models (My Kindle 2 looks like it came from a different century!). You get a Japanese-Japanese dictionary with it as standard which really lightens the load of looking up new words. Granted, the lookup function is not quite as good as Perapera (a tricky feat to be fair :)) but it’s much better than trying to work out the readings and manually inputting words into an electronic dictionary.

One big downside at the moment is the Kindle Store in Japan. Amazon have apparently struggled winning over Japanese publishers who are hesitant to embrace e-books and see their cosy business model crumble. The lack of publishers definitely shows. Compared to the Amazon.com Kindle store, the selection of books is woefully lacking. Hopefully this improves in the future (knowing Amazon it probably will!). That said, according to Amazon there are already more than 10,000 free e-books available which should keep Japanese learners busy for a while.

Also, as far as I am aware, the Kindle Store for Japan is only available for people in Japan with a Japanese IP. I haven’t been able to find much information on this, but it would be good if someone could provide some more information on this. Anyone?

What am I reading?

So far, I have been reading the following free books:

Kokoro

I admit that I have not read a lot of Japanese fiction. I’m usually more of a non-fiction guy but figured I’d give this one a short as one of my colleagues highly recommended it.

Botchan

Another famous novel by Natsume Soseki that most Japanese seem to have read.

The Japanese Constitution

I downloaded this because I fancied reading the post-war original in Japanese but unsurprisingly, it is boring as hell.

I have also bought one paid book, Michi Wo Hiraku (The Path) which is a Japanese business classic that I have always wanted to read. The author, Konosuke Matsushita, founded Panasonic so I guess he knew what he was talking about.

So all in all, there are some negatives but I can still recommend the Kindle Paperwhite as a great tool for intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese. As I progress I will update you on what I am reading. I will also share in another post how I am using my Kindle to learn and review new vocabulary.

Rohan

Rohan has spent years studying Japanese, Chinese and Korean, and currently lives in Japan. He created the perapera pop-up dictionary plugins to help other learners of Chinese and Japanese.

Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide

If you buy only one book for Chinese, get this one. Easily the best book I have found for everything. It is split into two parts, Part A for the structure of Chinese and explaining all the grammatical features, and Part B for situational Chinese like how to describe things etc. Explanations are solid, provides tons of example sentences and everything is in Simplified and Traditional characters.

Pimsleur Chinese

Strictly speaking, it’s an audio program, but Pimsleur is a great method for learning Chinese conversation. It’s also one of the best tools out there for getting an authentic sounding accent. You can try out Pimsleur for free by signing up for a 30 day Audible trial. Download the Chinese taster course here.

Practical Audio-visual Chinese (Traditional)

My friend in Taiwan swears by this series and he used this at his language school when he studied in Taiwan. He was on book 3 and was at a very impressive level of Chinese. Comes with CDs and has workbooks if you want them. Only Traditional characters and starts with teaching you Zhuyin, but also has all the sentences in Pinyin as well. I am on book 3 now also and have to say it is my favorite course book.

Colloquial Chinese: The Complete Course for Beginners

This was actually the first book I used for Chinese that a friend recommended when I was starting out. A solid beginner course that is lesson based and comes with CDs. Spent a good bit of time with the pronunciation using this one. Another good option if you are looking for a starter course. Also has an intermediate book as well in the series.

New Practical Chinese Reader: Textbook 1

If you want more of a course-type book this series is a good introduction. I did the first book in their series using Simplified Characters. Concise and nicely organized. Would recommend it as your first introduction to Chinese and Chinese characters. Especially good if you like the dialog lesson format. Comes with CDs.

Conversational Chinese 301

Bought this one when I was in China. It goes at a faster pace than the above course, but would still say it is good for beginners. Either one of these are a good introduction course. No CD though, so take that into consideration.

The Michel Thomas Method: Speak Mandarin Chinese For Beginners

For working on speaking this is probably the best starter course. Harold Goodman does a good job of introducing the tones with concept of colors as an aid for remembering them. I love the Michel Thomas method and have used this series for other languages as well (French, Russian and German!).

Remembering Simplified Hanzi: Book 1, How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Chinese Characters

I don’t actually own this book but I’m a big fan of the method and used it to learn all the Kanji in Japanese with the original “Remembering the Kanji” book by the same author (see my Japanese book reviews). Comes in Simplified or Traditional versions.

Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters

Since I did Japanese before Chinese, I had already done my time learning 2000 characters, so I don’t actually own this one either. My friends at a language school love it though, and the method sounds very similar to the “Remembering the Hanzi” mnemonic system. So I would just pick either one and stick with it.

Chinese Demystified: A Self-Teaching Guide

A good overview of the Chinese language. I personally would buy the Modern Chinese Grammar over this one if I could only choose one, but that one can be intimidating since it is rather thick and does read a bit like a textbook with alot of explanations using grammatical terms. If that puts you off and you want a gentler overview of Chinse, but still with solid content, I would recommend this one.

Rohan

Rohan has spent years studying Japanese, Chinese and Korean, and currently lives in Japan. He created the perapera pop-up dictionary plugins to help other learners of Chinese and Japanese.