Japanese for Busy People 1: Romanized Version Paperback – 10 April 2012

This is a very good book. It is well-designed and illustrated, and the aesthetics of the book inspire me to study it.If you buy the kana version, you are forced to learn and practice hiragana and katakana from the beginning, which is vital to your studies in Japanese. I would recommend that you learn the kana from the internet before you buy the book, just because it's frustrating to receive the book and not be able to read it immediately (there is a chart in the front of the book but it doesn't give you tips on remembering the kana, it's just for reference). Kanji are completely ignored in the first book - there are mixed views on this, but I am rubbish at remembering Japanese vocabulary and so being forced to write things out phonetically using the kana helps to reinforce in my mind both the pronounciation of words and the idiosyncracies of the Japanese spelling system. Kanji are introduced in later books.Grammar-wise, the book is light on explanation and also omits mention of the informal forms of verbs. Regarding the explanations, I think that there is enough in each lesson for the purposes of that lesson. There is one weakness - which is remedied in book II - but if you want to avoid some rote memorisation, you might want to do some Googling about the general rules for forming the te-form and changing from dictionary form to nai-form. Apart from this, I would say that the use of drills means that you will acquire an instinct for what is correct, even if you don't understand why, and this reflects the way we naturally acquire our own native languages. Regarding the omission of the informal forms, I think that trying to teach everything at once is confusing, so I like the book's approach. I have just purchased Book II, and the informal forms are covered in there.The stories and themes are based in work environments, which makes it more relevant to adults, but in terms of content and vocabulary, I'd say that the vocabulary isn't business specific - it can be used in all situations, as it is all basic stuff. Also, I survived my first two months in Japan using the vocabulary in Book I - it's surprising how little you need to survive and make yourself understood!I also like that the book is divided into 25 short lessons, each covering a few points; as a "busy person", I find that I have just enough concentration, tolerance and time to get through one lesson in a day. Sometimes with learning, especially independent learning, it's important just to be able to keep up the momentum to keep progressing, and I think that this series helps you to do that.

This is actually a very good book/CD set. Japanese is not an easy language in any respect least of all the rate at which it's spoken, the many elisions in speaking that can catch a beginner out. The book claims to involve about 60 hours work. There are copious exercises that encourage writing hiragana and drilling the grammar, and the CD material is clear (for the most part) "target dialogues" delivered at standard speech rate. The earlier ones are fairly simple and introduce the foibles of elision (sliding one word into the next, missing vowel sounds in certain circumstances, not others) and the rhythm of the language. Time spent on these (and trying to mimic the texts aloud) is well spent.However, I've found with Japanese that more than one learning source is a good idea particularly for building vocabulary and speaking/listening comprehension so I use this book with the Pimsleur Japanese 1 and 2 - expensive maybe but worthwhile for memorising and getting the rhythmic flow and inflexion quickly. The set can be downloaded here or from the Pimsleur site. I tried the Genki series and found it too awkward for self-tuition and gave up on it. Besides it seems aimed at the younger student (at school) and class work.My only (and very slight) criticism of Japanese for Bury People I was the complete omission of any Kanji. To progress, one will have to learn some sooner or later and a few simple ones, say, the numbers and a few very popular ones wouldn't have hurt.A final comment: if you aren't very familiar with Katakana and Hiragana, the Romani version of the book may be best for you. Tables of both are given in this book so you may get by with a vague familiarity and a lot of looking up!

I am currently learning Japanese via an online evening course and this book is a godsend in forcing me to read in hiragana rather than Roma-ji. This means I am picking up vocabulary and verbs etc really quickly and can read the hiragana more and more confidentlyIf anyone is starting their journey of studying Japanese then I would very much advise you to buy this book

I bought this book because I wanted to start learning Japanese by myself. It’s great and really easy to understand. The only thing you have to know before starting this book is how to read hiragana. I definitely recommend it

Ho comprato questo libro per studiare da autodidatta il giapponese, ne avevo già uno completamente in italiano, ma devo dire che questo libro mi ha sorpreso.Sono 11 lezioni divisi in capitoli, interessante che ogni lezione ha il suo prezzo di grammatica e poi tanti esercizi... In più in ogni esercizio metti in pratica la grammatica del capitolo più concetti per formulare la frase... Quindi ogni esercizio ti insegna qualche parola nuova e come formulare bene le frasi. Il libro è in inglese, ma un inglese elementare, mal che vada si usa Google traslate, gli esercizi sono molto intuitivi grazie anche all' esempio che riporta.Non vi è nessuna lezione per imparare l hiragana il katakana o i kanji.Davvero ottimo lo consiglio vivamente.Arrivato in ottime condizioni imballato per bene. Amazon soddisfa sempre.

Very useful sections that comprise several different aspects of the Japanese grammar in context, making it very simple and easy to assimilate and practice what you learn!

It was a good book but they missed out on kanji which is a minus point nevertheless a great textbook

Kana version easy to ready n understand. No need to travel all the way to get the book. Sent to your door step, easy n convinence