City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese

.Japanese for Busy People: Romanized Version Bk. 1 (Japanese for Busy People)
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: Association for Japanese-Language Teachi

August 01, 2006

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.Japanese for Busy People: Kana Version Bk. 1 (Japanese for Busy People Series): Kana Version Bk. 1
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: Ajalt

August 01, 2006
This is the book recommended by most teachers. I used it before I went to live in Japan. However the way it is set out and the language taught is too formal and rigid.

By far a better choice for the learner is the Genki series which is far better written and includes a lot of less formal expressions useful for every day conversation. FOr a more serious learner minna no nihongo is also far superior to Japanese for busy people.

Overall I would avoid this book like the plague and spend your money more wisely. If you have a lazy teacher then but this book.
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.Let's Learn Hiragana: First Book of Japanese Writing
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: Yasuko Kosaka Mitamura

1985-05
This has to be the best learning tool ANYONE can use when attempting to learn Hiragana. I have just started to learn Japanese and felt it important to learn both Hiragana and Katakana. Over the past week I have been using this for about an hour a day and have already attained near fluency in Hiragana.....PAINLESSLY!
Seriously I have just worked through each page and am astounded with the results! I felt it would take months of dilligent study to remember the "countless" Hiragana, but the brilliantly structured approach and clever excercises made it SO easy I just had to share my feelings. While only half way thorough the book I was SO impressed I decided to purchase both the "Let's Learn Katakana" and "Let's Learn Kanji" from the same series. ... Read More:
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.Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Book/CD Pack (Teach Yourself Languages)
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: Helen Gilhooly

November 20, 2006
I am completely new to the japanese language and this book has taken me from not being able to speak a word beside "konnichiwa" to having actual conversations with japanese friends. It is perfect with the CD so that you get the pronounciation right, as the language is so different from english and there is even an opportunity to learn some of the script. However, if you are looking to be able to read and write japanese properly, this is probably not the best suited book for you. But for people who want to speak and write/read in romaji: BUY THIS BOOK
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.Oxford Beginner's Japanese Dictionary
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
from: OUP Oxford

September 07, 2006
Oxford beginner's Japanese dictionary is pretty good on the whole for the aspiring student of Japanese, but is by no means perfect.

On the plus side, all of the Japanese is in kana (you *need* to know kana if you ever want to learn the language properly), and the most useful/common kanji are given next to each translation. The selection of words matches the needs of a beginner well, meaning that you don't have to trawl through endless pages of useless vocabulary to find what you want. There are also grammatical examples to accompany some of the translations; however, some of these are quite advanced, and since a literal translation is not provided they aren't quite as useful as they could be.

There is a useful grammar section in the middle, ... Read More:
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.Let's Learn Katakana: Second Book of Basic Japanese Writing
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: Yasuko Kosaka Mitamura

1985-12
before I started to read this book I only though that Katakana was used for words borrow for other countries. so with that in mind I was quite shock to find out how wrong I actually was. it is use for many more things then you would expect like names on animals and plantes. I would recomment though that you at least know Hiragana before you read this one, to get a more easy way to understand it, and it has all what you need to know like it's sisterbook "Let's learn Hiragana"
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.Basic Kanji Book: v. 1
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: Chieko Kano, Yuri Shimizu, Hiroko Takenaka

April 01, 1991
This book really works for me. It has a multiple approach, understanding the Kanji thro' their picture origins, compounds, radicals... You will need to complete this with a good set of Kanji cards and a japanese reader (children's stories and books are excellent, my personal fav is kodomo biberu). You must work very hard writing and rewriting the Kanji to learn them by heart. There is variety, exercises, writing, reading, you break the 50 Kanji barrier with some solid work and then get to 100 quite quickly, with the 100 Kanji really solid, this helps enormously in reading. After that I really enjoyed Read Real Japanese (but I would call this well advanced). Basic Kanji book 1 is an excellent base tool, but it won't do the work for you, you must scribble away and ... Read More:
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.Japanese for Busy People 1: Workbook (Japanese for Busy People Series): Workbook Bk. 1
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: Ajalt

November 09, 2006
This book really works for me. It has a multiple approach, understanding the Kanji thro' their picture origins, compounds, radicals... You will need to complete this with a good set of Kanji cards and a japanese reader (children's stories and books are excellent, my personal fav is kodomo biberu). You must work very hard writing and rewriting the Kanji to learn them by heart. There is variety, exercises, writing, reading, you break the 50 Kanji barrier with some solid work and then get to 100 quite quickly, with the 100 Kanji really solid, this helps enormously in reading. After that I really enjoyed Read Real Japanese (but I would call this well advanced). Basic Kanji book 1 is an excellent base tool, but it won't do the work for you, you must scribble away and ... Read More:
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.Japanese for Busy People: Bk. 2 (Japanese for Busy People)
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: Ajalt

March 31, 2007
I agree with the previous two reviews. Overall this is a very good book and introduces an easily digestible mixture of grammar, vocabulary and speaking/reading in each chapter. The included CD really helps to give you much needed speaking and listening practice. The exercises are a little repetitive though, and the "everyday" situations that are introduced are geared a bit too much towards business. However, of all the Japanese textbooks I have seen, this is by far the best. Especially useful for people trying to learn Japanese on their own.
Highly recommended.
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.Minna No Nihongo: Bk. 1
City Travel Guides > Books > Japanese
by: 3A Network

March 01, 1998
This book is best used in a class situation. I have used it in night classes in the UK and in Japan. It looks very hard for total beginners as there is little romaji (if you don't know hiragana then get the notes too).
This book was designed with native kanji readers in mind (like most japanese text books) so if you can read Kanji it makes it much easier. Furigana (with hiragan above the Kanji) makes for slower reading I find.
Japanese for busy people was deisgned for westerners so you might consider that book too. I use both.
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