Learn Japanese Nihongo the Fast and Fun Way

by Carol Akiyama, Carol Akiyama

English-speaking travelers to Japan will find this informal introduction a painless way to gain a fundamental grasp of Japanese. The color-illustrated book, which in this version includes four accompanying audio compact discs, presents words and phrases for meeting and greeting people, asking directions, getting hotel accommodations, dining, shopping, getting help in an emergency, and much more. The book's extra features include a 40-page pull-out bilingual dictionary that uses phonetic spellings of Japanese words, language quizzes and puzzles, and perforated pull-out vocabulary cards. The set of compact discs is new with this edition. They offer help with pronunciation and include bilingual dialogues to help travelers develop basic conversation skills. This language teaching program is suitable both for adults and older children.

Genres: Education

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

Reviews

[Arlian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the best summary of the book is this: The book halfway wants to be one step up from a phrasebook that you would stick in your pocket and stumble through when you are traveling in japan, but it also halfway wants to be a "real" language books. It fails at both.

I'm currently a student at a Japanese language school in SF and I wanted another workbook to give myself a little extra homework from. Alas, I found this book to be very poor.

I'm a little confused as to who exactly this book is aimed for. While the subject matter is overtly tourist focused, the content seems to assume that the reader already has some sort of grasp of the Japanese language.

The concept behind the introduction of vocabulary is...sorta almost a good idea? But the execution of it doesn't quite succeed. The chapters begin with a semi-lengthy conversation. One half of the page is written in romajii (the roman alphabetic transcription of kana) and the right side is the english translation. Again, I think this could be a potentially good way exposing students to a language. However, in this particular book the authors also try to combine some sort of "immersion" teaching style as well.

Instead of every new word being introduced as vocabulary, only a few words out of the conversation will be highlighted and have their direct English translation given. This might not have been a problem, but the other words are frequently not in the dictionary that accompanies this book, either. Another thing that is troublesome about their highlighting system is they will frequently highlight an entire (relatively complex) sentence and give an english translation for it that is not particularly specific. And they do this from the first chapter, when the reader (theoretically) doesn't have enough vocabulary to really single out and identify specific vocabulary words when they are used in a long string.

It's also problematic because complex *words* are used almost immediately, without introducing the simpler forms. Negative past-tense words are used regularly before explaining the the verb-tense rules. Particles aren't properly introduced or explained. (Chapter 2 has a little chart, but it doesn't explain particles like "made" or "kara", nor how they work with other words despite the fact that the very first chapter uses both of them.) The numbers aren't even introduced until chapter 5, yet the second chapter uses complex number counters like the number of floors, or the number of rooms, and the amount something costs.

For a chapter 2 example:

...futa heya yoyakuu ga shite arimasu...
...Oheya wa juurokkai de gozaimasu...

This is translated as:

...we have a reservation for two rooms...
...Your rooms are on the sixteenth floor...

How is one to learn (from this) what is going on, or how this applies to them? Os the word for room "heya" or "oheya"? Why does Futa mean two when ni means two? How does juurokkai mean 16th when the word for "the 16th" is totally different and different still from just plain 16? I know the answer to these questions because I am taking a class. Another reader might not be so lucky.

You are then 'quizzed' on the conversation, but the quizzes aren't actually designed for memory retention. A question will be asked in japanese and you will given the answers in multiple choices form to pick from. Not exactly a problem, except both the answers and questions relatively long, so it's unrealistic to expect people to actually understand what is being asked or answered, it's more likely in fact, to be too HARD to figure out what is being asked for answered. Thus, the reader is encouraged to look at the answers or simply look back at the dialogue and compare (without comprehension) what the original dialogue with the answer-options.

I have an acceptable grasp of the language, including being able to read and write a bit (though I am not literate by Japanese Standards) so I was able to figure out what was up (plus I have multiple Japanese dictionaries to help me out!), but I have a hard time imagining what other readers would have an easy time of it.

[Swiftsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't manage to finish reading it. Prioritized examination studies.