Product Description

This new edition of the popular Japanese course for beginners has been completely rewirtten to make learning the language easier and more enjoyable than ever before. Written by experienced teachers and authors, Colloquial Japanese offers a step-by-step introduction to Japanese as it is spoken and written today. No previous knowledge of the language is required. Learning to read and write Japanese is made as easy as possible, with kanji, katakana and hirigana introduced gradually throughout the course. Colloquial Japanese is also suitable for use by those who do not wish to learn the script. Other features include: *Lively dialogues, covering a range of social and business situations *Lots of exercises with full answer key *Grammar reference section *Extensive English-Japanese and Japanese-English vocabulary lists, including both Japanese script and roman script *Index of kanji, giving on and kun readings 120 minutes of audio material, recorded on cassette or on CD, is available to accompany this course book. Recorded by native speakers, this will help you perfect your pronunciation and comprehension skills. With all the language support you need, Colloquial Japanese will enable you to speak, read and write Japanese with confidence.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #633066 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-30
• Original language: Japanese, English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Essential, but not enough by itself
Excellent. Graded kana introduction in first few chapters is perfect. Almost all basic grammar contained and many kanji. In fact this book has all that jap for busy people 1,2 and 3 have and that is the probelm. Its too fast, the grammar doesn't sink deep enough and your vocab is too thin. So to all beginning students buy this book, as well as JFBP they should complement each other perfectly.

ideal for business people
This book is especially practical for business-people, for the following reasons:
+ gets you speaking Japanese comparatively quickly
+ includes alot of business terminology
+ can be completed in 3 month's time
+ avoids "college"-topics such as 'what is your major?'
+ practical vocabulary for everyday use and conversation: family, hobbies, work etc.
+ good vocabulary build-up: the glossary lists around 2800 words

If you are not a business-person you would still benefit from using this book for these additional reasons:

+ the grammar is usually very clearly explained
+ the kanji characters are explained and practiced IN the chapters, and not listed in an appendix for you learn by yourself
+ the exercises are very varied
+ good amount of reading passages
+ it gets you learning hiragana and katakana gradually and not all at once

My complaints about this book:
- there are typo's here and there in the romanized script, so if you decide to use this book, follow the hiragana to get it correct !
- some parts of the grammar and some topics (like telling the time) was not explained adequately.

So overall, this book does a good job of teaching practical Japanese in a short amount of time and in a user-friendly manner.

I also recommend that the user gets this small, inexpensive and handy grammar book: Japanese Grammar (Barron's Grammar Series), it explains the basics of grammar very clearly and in romanized script.

Not so hot
The introduction of the kana, hiragana and kanji is at best messy, there are mistakes in the text and when often when trying to find the relevant kanji in the index one has to revert to using a dictionary. The idea is good but it gives the impression of being written hastily without regard for serious students of the language.