Basic Japanese (Berlitz Basic Series)

Rating:
Summary: Better than Advertised
Review: I haven't actually purchased this volume, but I had the chance to borrow it from my local library. I've used several "Learn Japanese Fast and Easy" style books with little to no success. This audio casette and book set really helped me get right into the swing of things right away. Within about a week I'd already mastered the appropriate questions and responses covered in the first three chapters. Not only that, but I was beginning to piece together my own sentences from scratch, asking questions not ever covered in the book. Although I'll always recommend study with a group or at least a willing partner, this is one of the best methods that I've seen thus far to help you learn Japanese at your own pace on your own.

Rating:
Summary: A very good introduction to the Japanese language
Review: This is the first "learn Japanese" book/tape set I have purchased, and I was pleasantly surprised. The book dives right into the Japanese dialog (at a total beginner's level), following the tapes word for word, and explaining each word as it goes. The set consists of 24 dialogs of about 8-10 minutes each, using the same main characters throughout (which helps to keep the dialogs more interesting). The book also contains a small but useful reference section and a glossary of every word used in the dialogs. The dialogs do not present a large vocabulary of words, but rather concentrate on explaining verb conjugations for a small but useful set of verbs. This makes it easier to learn the different forms of the verbs, but don't expect to have a huge vocabulary at the end of the lessons. Overall, I felt it was a great introduction. Japanese is certainly not an easy language to learn, and it definitely takes a lot of time and patience, but this set can help guide the way. Certainly worth the cost, my main complaint is that there is not more, or sequel intermediate set.