Product Description

Business Japanese is a three-hour all-audio straightforward course that will help you to acquire essential up-to-date business language. You can use the course at any time - to dip into in the office or as a refresher before travelling to a meeting. Through realistic conversations and authentic material, the Business Zones will give you all the specialist terms you need for your role or your project. The CDs come with a booklet containing the transcript of the recorded material as well as a glossary listing all the vocabulary from the course. The accompanying culture book will give you tips on etiquette and business culture so you will never be stuck for something to talk about or worry about committing blunders.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #956875 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-30
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Sarah Carroll has spent five years as a language consultant, working in the global language and cultural industry serving both individuals and business. A graduate in French and the teaching of European language, Sarah is a keen linguist and is well known in the language world. She is the founder of the highly successful language learning website languageadvantage.com.

Customer Reviews

Excellent language book plus a culture book. And 3 CDs too.
I got the package this week and it had 3 audio CDs of business Japanese, with a little book of the transcripts and a culture book. I slapped all the CDs onto my iPod and have been playing them in the car where I can practise without anyone noticing me. I also found the glossary of Japanese business terms very handy; no one seems to have made one of those before.

But the big surprise was that is came with a 'culture book', which explains the ins and outs of Japanese business culture in a very businesslike way. It had some great tips on meeting and negotiating with the Japanese. A very professional and useful pack. Don't wait until you've checked in to your Tokyo flight; get it beforehand and get genned up.

Teach Yourself Business Japanese
I bought this item to help me improve my business Japanese as I could speak Japanese but needed a more business specific course with Cds so I could use it when travelling.

A quick summary of my pros and cons are below:
Pros
The subjects covered are very practical, informative and realistic
The real articles from the Dreamgate website are helpful for listening and reading comprehension (although see comment in cons below)
The textbooks are small and portable for travelling
The culture book is useful if you have limited understanding of the culture or customs.
Aimed at the more experienced speaker

Cons
The transcripts and glossary are in romaji (romanised Japanese) not in the Japanese scripts of Kanji, Hiragana or Katakana. This is a major drawback as the course is aimed at experienced speakers and was not mentioned on the product description. If studying a language you will also want to be able to read and write the phrases/words you are learning.
Apparently this was the publisher's idea even though the publication is aimed at the more experienced speaker.
The transcripts of the chapters do not have a vocabulary list at the start of each one like in the CDs. This would have been very useful in helping to learn the vocabulary for each chapter.

Overall is a professional and very practical course and I have found that the subjects covered are ones I would use in my everyday meetings. The CDs have been great for learning in the car. However without the vocabulary list or Japanese script in the transcripts of the chapters this course falls below my expectations.

This is not a course for those beginning Japanese as there are no grammar explanations. A good understanding of grammar is essential.