Intermediate Japanese: Your Pathway to Dynamic Language Acquisition (Audio Included)

by Michael L. Kluemper, Lisa Berkson

Intermediate Japanese is a complete Japanese self-study textbook and language learning package for intermediate learners -- who want to become fluent in the Japanese language and have fun while doing it!

In the new intermediate level installation of this highly-acclaimed series, continue to learn Japanese with an engaging storyline (a time travel adventure!) that unfolds as you learn, keeping things interesting and adding the motivation needed to master new material. The emphasis is on real-life situations drawn from contemporary Japanese culture; authentic written, visual and oral elements are embedded in the lessons. In this new volume with manga-style illustrations, Kiara and her friends Ben and Kenichi continue their adventures with Tomo's time machine. Their encounters with Japanese historic figures and traditional Japanese culture are brought to life through the use of realistic dialogues, images, and audio and activity files.

Another unique aspect of the book is its progressive approach to the study of Japanese kanji. As the basic building blocks of Japanese communication, kanji characters are emphasized here more than in other textbooks and are taught as an integral part of learning Japanese spoken vocabulary, rather than separately. By the end of this book, learners will have mastered 150 additional kanji, for a cumulative total of 300 kanji in the series -- enough to match the requirements of the AP Japanese Exam.

Intermediate Japanese is accompanied by an audio disc tailored to the lessons and free web-based multimedia resources with additional learning materials, exercises, games, and tips. (A workbook with corresponding one-of-a-kind practice activities is available separately from Tuttle.)

Thanks to the engaging design of the text and active bonus materials, independent learners and classroom students alike will find Intermediate Japanese an accessible and enjoyable way to master their continuing study of the Japanese language.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2011

About the author

Michael L. Kluemper began his study of Japanese language in 1987 as an art education student, initially to learn more about the people who created the ceramics in which he was so interested. Kluemper was a JET Program participant from 1990-93 in Akita-ken, and has been teaching about Japanese language and culture since that time. He has been teaching both Japanese language and visual arts at Jasper High School, Jasper, IN since 1999. Serving as a board member for the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers from 2001-08, Kluemper served as president, newsletter editor, and on national task forces for the implementation of a Japanese AP course, National Board Certification for teachers, and various advocacy campaigns. He has been involved in long-term planning committees for the council as well as ACTFL (The American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages), and was a member of the first AP Japanese Test Development Committee. He is a College Board Consultant for the AP Japanese program has presented on various issues from advocacy to aligning courses to standards at conferences across the country. Kluemper teaches Japanese at the high school level at Ballard High School in Louisville, KY.

Reviews

[Rain Mirage · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a lot of technical errors. There are many points where the furigana has been incorrectly formatted as normal kana, so the reading of a kanji will be placed directly after the kanji itself in the text E.g. "寿司が好き" would become "寿司すしが好すき". This is very distracting and makes reading difficult. This textbook is for low intermediate learners and not appropriate for solo learners. It fails to translate or provide furigana for some kanji seemingly at random. This is annoying when the kanji is one that a learner of this level could not be expected to know.