An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese

by Akira Miura

Long selling book for learning Japanese, speaking, listening, reading and writing are all covered. Includes 2 audio CD's

Genres: Japanese Literature, Reference, Textbooks, Language, Japan, Nonfiction, School

Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Akira Miura is emeritus professor of Japanese at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he taught all levels of Japanese as well as Japanese pedagogy for more than thirty years. A native of Tokyo and a graduate of the University of Tokyo, he received his Ed.D. from Columbia University. He is also the author of English Loanwords in Japanese, An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, Problematic English Words Written in Katakana, Japanese Cultural Episodes for Speed Reading, and Let's Get to Know Japan! His translations include Sakae Tsuboi’s Twenty-four Eyes and Takeo Suzuki’s Words in Context.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5? 4? stars. Feel more positive about this one since I used it with my tutor and we had fun with it xD

I used this textbook back in college, directly after the Genki series. Unfortunately that was at a time when I was pretty burnt out. But I'm back at it again! Used this to help prep for and pass the N3! (woo!) JLPT level wise, this covers enough for the N3, and has a handful of N2. A decent alternative if you can't get your hands on or happen to have Tobira.

Each chapter contains cultural notes, dialogues, typically one reading section, vocabulary (from those readings), grammar explanations (there is a LOT of grammar per chapter, heads up Genki folk!), group/pair work, and a small small handful of problems. The CDs that come with this book are a bit of a requirement, as some of the problems involve answering listening questions. (The CDs also have all the dialogues/readings on them.)

Do note though, that the book contains no answer key. That's something to be mindful of if you're using this by yourself.

The biggest downside for me with this book is the lack of problems. I had forgotten that they didn't contain much of any. Apparently there is a separate workbook with additional exercises but I don't have it. If you're coming into this from Genki, don't expect much in the way of exercises here! They revolve mostly around pair/group work, so I ended up skipping them, and used the book solely for its other contents. (This isn't to say you /have/ to skip them, just that I chose to.)

To that end, this book does drag a bit more than the Genki series did. It helped SIGNIFICANTLY for me to use this along with one of my tutors.

It's important to note, that the dialogues/readings do NOT have any translations apart from the vocab list. Compared to the Genki series, there is significantly less English and hand-holding. This includes furigana. Grammar explanations also offer few example sentences, descriptions, or comparisons with similar grammar, so I strongly advise to use additional resources to assist you.

The particular version I have is from 2008, so things are a /little/ outdated. While studying with my tutor, she pointed out a few discrepancies, and there was the rare oddly worded bits, but it wasn't anything substantial.

If you're looking for an intermediate book, this one isn't bad. Especially, like I said, if you can't get Tobira.

[k · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decently made but can be boring...
I have this textbook, the material is not that engaging and they throw a lot more grammar points in your face. It's good if you're aiming for N3, in terms of reading practice and grammar and it covers some from n4 but I would still suggest studying Genki II before using this to transition better. Luckily doesn't use much furigana on the kanji so you really have to force yourself to read, which is good practice for reading actual native material. Also explains instructions in Japanese, and sometimes uses English (though it's mainly Japanese) so it immerses you more in the language than Genki I&II. The problem I have is how few exercises are provided here, but other than that it seems like a good book.

If you can't get Tobira, this is a good alternative. It has a lot of the N3 kanjis and some from N2 as well from what I noticed. Mostly N3 though, but I would suggest getting another backup textbook after finishing this.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Approach To Integrating Japanese Is Intermediate At Best

This is an excellent book for learning Japanese.

I have learned mandarin, and I can attest - Japanese is much much more difficult.

This is a great help, and I am slowly getting better with the language.

Check this book out if you are struggling with beginner Japanese and wish to take the plunge towards an intermediate study.

4.2/5

[Jolie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not particularly enjoying this book. Having learnt the basics from Minna no Nihongo before, switching to this book has made learning Japanese hard for me.

I'll just break down the good and bad things about this book:
- the good:
1. The author puts Japanese cultural situation for each chapter, which is nice. This is probably the best aspect about the book. Although most of the situation centers around international students living in Japan. So I guess the cultural situation would not be much of a help for other categories.
2. The reading and conversation is quite challenging. They are also based on real life situation, which is also quite nice. Although they can get too boring at times.

- the bad:
1. Not systematical. I have to keep on flipping to previous chapters to check on the old grammar structure, because they don't put similar looking or similar meaning grammar together! It is absolutely a pain in the ass if you want to learn grammar through this book!!
2. Narrow translation. The authors give translation of new words after readings. However, the translation is too narrow, most of them only can fit for that sentence only. It will be absolutely awkward for other situation. So, I also don't recommend learning new words with this book.
3. I don't know about other people, but I like learning Kanji one by one (per character, not per word). For me, learning Kanji this way will make it easier in the future to guess or read other words through combining the Kanji that I already know. This book, on the other hand, works differently. So, from the compilation of new words from each chapter, the authors take them out and make you learn Kanji from them. From the words. So, you have to discover by yourself again how to read the Kanji in the different way (because you know Japanese Kanjis have many ways to read them).
4. Unappealing format. The textbook is simply boring.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is packed with great information, and gets right down to business from the start. Each chapter is centered around a short essay, with a list of vocabulary, Kanji, and grammar items (actually more like expressions, the book assumes you've learned most or all the basic grammar) to accompany the piece. The format is terse, giving the student a large amount of room with which to mold the book to their own method of study. While it's definitely suited for study as part of a Japanese language course, highly motivated independent readers will no doubt find it an excellent resource for independent study too. The book can be a bit unforgiving for readers with only a moderate proficiency, however, so most readers will should have at least some mastery of the Genki II or Yookoso: Continuing with Contemporary Japanese level material, and indeed language studies in general, before attempting this course.

[Othy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had a lot worse Japanese books, and this one wasn't on the "horrible" pile, but it wasn't on the "awesome" pile either. Thus the three out of five stars. It is, though, the only intermediate book I've really found in English, so I don't suppose it's all that bad...

[Honorata · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I finished Genki I&II plus several JLPT4 preparation books I was really motivated and felt like I'm making progress learning Japanese. This book took forever to finish while my enthusiasm went down and with it my confidence. The sentences weren't inspired (how many variations of 勉強する can we squeeze in?) , the grammar progression didn't make sense at times (why does it feel like I'm learning expressions by heart instead of grammar?), the reading comprehension jumped all over the place in its levels. Looking back, I wouldn't recommend it because my experience with it was very tiresome.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely awful. Explanations in English and making up English equivalents to grammar works in the first two books of beginner Japaneses (Genki I&II, Mina no Nihongo I&II, etc.), but doesn’t work well for intermediate/advanced. Switch to a grammar book written in Japanese with English support references instead.

[RC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat forbidding and austere for the Japanese student trying to move beyond the stall-out of the intermediate blahs. Much less English handholding than in Genki II, and a bit dry at times, but worth the challenge in the end. Some of the readings and dialogues were actually pretty funny. It was a tough row to how, but I did feel a sense of accomplishment when I finished.

On to Tobira, and then the Kanzen Master books for the N3 this December.