Product Description

Learn another language the way you learnt your own

You learnt your own language naturally and enjoyably: now you can learn Japanese in the same way.

You'll stick with it because you'll love it

Use the unique method perfected over fifty years by the celebrated psychologist and linguist Michel Thomas.

This method works with your brain, helping you to build up your Japanese in manageable, enjoyable steps by thinking out the answers for yourself.

You learn through listening and speaking without the pressure of writing or memorising.

You pick up the language naturally and unforgettably.

The NEW Japanese Foundation Course

An eight-hour, 100% audio method for learning Japanese, written by teachers Helen Gilhooly and Niamh Kelly. Join Helen Gilhooly, native speaker Mikiko Kurose and two students in a live lesson and within the first hour you will be able to construct simple phrases. You will learn the language with the students, hearing both their successes and their mistakes to keep you motivated and involved throughout the course. By the end, you will have the confidence to understand and speak Japanese.

Join the millions of people worldwide who have learnt a new language with the Michel Thomas Method

Contents:8 CDs plus booklet with Japanese phrases in romaji transliteration and English translation

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38011 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-25
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

Review
"A great way to learn; it's fast and it lasts". (The Daily Telegraph )

"Five minutes into the first CD, you already feel like you're winning." (Time Out )

"Michel Thomas is a precious find indeed." (The Guardian )

"Thomas makes it simple" (Sunday Times )

"Michel's methods will teach you effectively and easily" (Daily Star )

"Hugely inspiring" (Red )

"Ideal for any business traveller who needs to be able to get around confidently." (Sunday Business )

"Moving along at a relaxed, slow pace, punctuated by amusing anecdotes and jokes from the teacher, the new words, phrases and language rules are gently introduced and reinforced through subtle repetition without ever being tedious. In fact, despite a distinct emphasis on non-work, the course proves very effective and enjoyable, and its format is ideal for learning anywhere you like. So, if you only want to learn to speak the language, this course is highly recommended."

(Top Real Travel Product, Real Travel )

"Excellent for learning ... This entirely audio course is easy to use and quickly results in some useful ability in the new language. Great for the car."

(Adventure Travel )

About the Author

Helen Gilhooly is Director of the Language Faculty at Aldercar Community Language College, Derbyshire, UK and has taught Japanese at Nottingham University. She is author of various 'Teach Yourself' Japanese courses.
Niamh Kelly is Lecturer in the Japanese Department at Dublin City University, Ireland.

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Customer Reviews

Great Start to learning the Japanese Language
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Foundation course 5/5
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I had no knowledge of the Japanese language prior to listening to this audio course.

Following the course I have a basic grasp of Japanese language sentence structure and am able to make myself understood to a certain degree.

The way it teaches you is very well done. You find yourself recalling what you've been told far more accurately than any other language course I've taken.

The whole course is audio, no reading materials required.

An excellent beginner course.

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The Advanced Course - 2/5
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Unfortunately I can "only post one review per product set". Which is a shame as the advanced course is far inferior to the foundation. I typed up a detailed review before Amazon lost it for me.

However, in summary it's a different instructor who's ability isn't anywhere near the firsts. She endlessly tells the students their answers are "Perfect", sometimes even when their answers are quite obviously incorrect.

The female student gets virtually every other phrase wrong, with very basic mistakes, which are then explained at length by the instructor. Needlessly wasting time, as it could have all been edited out. It's fine to point out common mistakes people tend to make here and there, but throughout the course all it serves to do is break your train of thought.

The advanced course also comes on 4 disks whereas the foundation is on 8. Another disappointment as it feels as though despite the vast amount of time wasted on explaining basic errors the course is half as long and so feels rushed.

5 stars for the Foundation course. 2 stars for the Advanced course.

Overall I would heartily recommend the foundation course. But in hindsight I would not have bought the advanced course.

botched editing
The material they recorded for this advanced Japanese course has obviously been tightly edited to fit as much onto 4 CDs as possible (the foundation course felt more evenly paced). As a result there are some errors where the wrong answers were used. I noticed it when "I read while I ate" and "I ate while I read" were swapped around. It's a credit to the teachers and the Thomas method that I noticed these, but who knows what mistakes I missed?

Clear and simple
I've long been a fan of the Michel Thomas method (French, Spanish and Italian). His method seems to work despite all the irritations of the presentation: the habit of making the female student panic, the smarmy male student. But what is that method and can it function without the Great Man (who died in 2005). I suspect it differs for each of us. To me the Method is the marrying of pronunciation (he's a stickler for that) and useful phrases and sentences that allow one to speak at least to some degree in the language. One is not facing a wall of formal grammar which must be o'ertopped before you can ask Armand if the monkeys are amusing. Here you are up and running (well crawling) five minutes in. Additionally, Michel often used similarities in european languages to help you in remembering phrases.

Can this work with Japanese which (loan words aside) has little commonality with english?

I was very impressed: Helen Gilhooly is a rather less rambunctious teacher than Michel but is careful and precise, and her Japanese pronunciation assistant is most helpful. There are differences in style (and I would not know whether this is a good selection of phrases) but I found myself falling in line with the old ways. It helps that Japanese at this level seems a simpler language than the horrors of French.

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