GENKI: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese with MP3 CD-Rom Workbook I [Second Edition] w/ MP3 CD-ROM

This book is great for beginners. It presents the lessons in a gradually increasing difficulty. The exercises and audio samples are great for establishing the lessons you just took, I can say that they're effective. However, this book/workbook (I am reviewing them as one, I'm copy pasting this to the workbook review) is not without its fault. First off, it assumes you know your kana by heart already. Though that's aligned in my study plan (I purposely studied kana before opening this book), they should mention it somewhere in the book. Another fault are the English explanations, some parts have many unnecessary words. I won't claim to be a good English speaker or writer but as a customer, I expected to read simple and concise English from this book. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's easy to understand but it needs improvement. I also found the introduction to verbs a bit confusing. Maybe it's just me being a complete beginner, but I found simpler explanations around the internet. Be sure to supplement your studies with another source. For Kanji section, it needs improvement, but it's fine for Elementary level. Also, the book teaches the polite Japanese style, this is not a negative for the book, depending on how you look at it. Maybe it's fine if you'll be in a work environment. I just wish that they also focused more on a more local style of speaking. I heard online that the 3rd Edition fixes the issues I mentioned above. I didn't know about the new edition when I bought this. If you're buying now, be sure to buy 3rd Edition. Overall, I'm plased with the book. I can recommend this to others (Get the 3rd Edition if you're reading this now). I will buy GENKI II 3rd Edition when I finish this.