Rating: 
Summary: Some good, some bad
Review: I like that this set includes CDs that are entirely in Japanese. They have some very realistic conversations, uninterrupted by English, that are great for listening to just to get the feel of the language. What I didn't like was that the CDs that did include English often offered translations that I considered to be rather inaccurate. My biggest complaint was that one of the CDs was entirely in Italian--quite a shock, I tell you, when you load it into the car CD player. Fortunately, it was one of the CDs with English translation that I didn't like anyway. Annoying nonetheless. This set offers some good Japanese conversation for those that are studying Japanese in a class setting, but I would use it as a supplement and not depend on it to learn the language.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 stars
Review: I only have one complaint - A few of the excercises at the end of each lesson seem to come up with questions that have not been taught yet. And a tip: To help you remember all the new words and get a good workout on reading Japanese, do a google search for "JFC flashcard." It's a free flashcard program that helped me tramendously.
Rating: 
Summary: in at the deep end
Review: I searched Amazon for hours before settling on this one, so I suppose that it is the best. However, it dodn't work at all for me personally. I _like_ learning languages. I am fluent in German, to the extent that I am occassionally taken for a native speaker, have very good french and good latin, but I just couldn't hack it with this book. I can only imagine that it is due to the approach. Where other language courses start by giving you a few nouns and a few verbs & make them into stilted & unnatural sentences, this one throws you striaght into natural conversations - but they seemed just too complex for a beginner. The course does look very good though, with a large, well laid out book & all of those CDs. I think that I might start with a Japanes for Dummies sort of book; then, when I have a little bit of knowledge, I could come back to this one.
Rating:
Summary: Useful Tool for Brushing Up and Expanding Vocabulary
Review: I studied Japanese for 2 years at college level 11 years ago and also spent 2 months in Japan then. Since that time, my Japanese has suffered considerably since I live in the States and have very little opportunity to practice. I am travelling to Japan this year and really want to be able to communicate with native speakers. I have been using this series for the last 3 months and it has been a very useful tool for re-learning what I have forgotten as well as expanding my current vocabulary. Some of the lessons move a little quickly and should use a few more verbal examples when introducing new usage. I think it might be a little difficult for someone with absolutely no Japanese experience, but for people wanting to brush up (and not waste time learning to count to 10) it's great.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for Japanese learners
Review: I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to begin learning Japanese. It is very easy to understand and takes readers gradually through hiragana, katakana and some kanji. It's even good as a reference for those with some experience in Japanese, though the letter writing section mentioned in the description does not exist.
Rating:
Summary: This book is great! I highly recommend it!
Review: I've looked at a few Japanese books that are confusing, doesn't explain things thoroughly, and hard to understand, but this book is really helpful. It explains verb conjugations, particles, how and why the sentences are formed the way they are, Kana and some Kanji. It also has a handy list of key words at the end of the lesson as well as a two-way glossary at the end of the book. I think that this book is very helpful and if you are serious about studying Japanese, you can't be without this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great for really learning Japnese
Review: I've used primarily the book, but the cd's are very useful for getting pronunciation right. I used the book for a few months and really did learn a lot (I didn't believe it until I took a class and stuff actually made sense without having to really strain, I was pretty supprised). The book teaches exactly the way you need to learn. They teach sentance structures, sentance particles, how to put sentances together, how to read real dialogue. I find myself reading the dialogue at the beginning of a chapter and struggling for 20 minutes or so, then reading the chapter and really understanding what I struggled through, then going back and reading it again and understanding it fully. I actually used this book for 3 months before I lost it on a plane. I then purchased a few other books to see how they are, but I have just recently purchased a second copy of this book, I didn't find anything else taught at this level. Do know that this book isn't for your casual reader, it aims to teach you fluency and you will have to take quite a bit of time with it, but it does a good job of teaching you effectively and efficiently if you'll put in the effort to learn the language.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent course, but bring along your ambition and effort!
Review: If you don't mind me writing a review after completing only the first ten of the course's forty chapters, I have to say that this is the book that turned me from a dabbler in Japanese into an actual student. Each chapter systematically covers various aspects of the language (vocabulary, sentence construction, nouns, verbs, connectors, etc.) in an orderly fashion. Even after the first 2-3 chapters you probably will be able to write a short story in Japanese, albeit with strict parameters that lessen as you move further into the book. Nonewithstanding what's in the book, the key becomes what is in the student? Prepare to do the dirty work of making up your own homework assignments and really putting a lot of effort into the task at hand, including re-reading each chapter countless times. I found that by making summary notes on the most important concepts of each chapter, and by typing up English-to-Japanese (and vice-versa) vocabulary homework lessons, then xeroxing and working on them every few days, that I was retaining what I read much better. You basically become the teacher and the student...except when playing the CDs, which do a great, concise job of covering what is in each chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Course for Learning the Language Right
Review: The Living Language courses take you through exercices in pronunciation then into essential phrases and words.
I found this course extremely useful to build enough Japanese to move through the country without the aid of English. You may want to carry a dictionary as an additional aid.
I constantly received complements on how good my accent was by Japanese people.
Rating: 
Summary: Chotto hayai!
Review: The material in this book is excellent, as the cover of the book states it is equivalent to 2 years of college study. However, while that might be the case I found the pace of this book too fast. One definitely does not get enough practice of the material covered in the chapters (some of it is NEVER practiced or tested), so a few days and chapters later I would forget what I'd learnt. And just to reemphasise, the pace of the book is very fast. Might be good if u had Japanese people around all the time to practice with, but if you don't - something like Japanese for Busy People will go down much better. Although the material in the book is excellent - the quality of teaching is mud.
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