Rating: 
Summary: Much better than any other program...
Review: I know it's expensive - buy the 4 lesson cd/cassette starter set first. You will be buying the beginning 4 lessons twice but you'll know exactly what your getting.I have 4 other programs: Living Language, Rosseta Stone,
Instant Immersion, Transparent Language - as well as a dozen books on learning Japanese - trying to learn from them has been torture compared to Pimsleur. Japanese (and Korean & Chinese) is twice as hard to learn because the are written with characters instead of the alphabet.
You can't sound out words. I recommend you pickup a few Romanji books - which are Japanese words written alphabetically - a good one is "Japanese in 10 minutes a day". The biggest advantage of the Pimsleur system is that you will learn to understand Japanese spoken at full speed. Other methods have you build a vocabulary then go on to grammar so you memorize and memorize and then you are asked a question in normal everyday Japanese and are lost - after all, do you speak "proper" English all the time?
Rating:
Summary: Pimsleur Japanese I
Review: I lived in Japan (Chitose, Hokkaido) for almost 4 years as a language-developing child. I plan to go back for a visit and possibly to develop business. The Pimsleur method is effective. I remember the phrases, and constructing new sentences is increasingly easy. I converted the CDs to MP3 format, and I use my MP3 player during my YMCA workouts in the morning. (As I repeat the phrases sotto voce, people often enquire and praise the effort. I also get a good measure of my cardio routine rate of perceived exertion.) The sound quality is great throughout the dynamic range.
Rating: 
Summary: Nihongo ga sukoshi wakarimas
Review: I love this Japanese course. I have done the first 3 lessons and can do them perfectly. I took 2 years of high school German and can only remember "Ich spreche sie Deutch nicht ser gut"(and I don't write it so well either). I only gave this 4 start because it should include written material so you can make sure you are pronouncing the words correctly. Before I looked it up in the dictionary I thought sukoshi was spelled skoshi because it sounds that way. Here are some tips for this course: Do each lesson at least 2 times or until you get 100%. Use the pause button. Do only 1 lesson a day. When you are finished try to repeat the dialogue in your head or aloud throughout the day over and over.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Beginning
Review: I rated it five stars because it satisfied my requirements. I do not know how it compares to similar products. An evening walk was the only time I had available to learn Japanese. Pimsleurs audio-only approach requires a concentration level consistent with a leisurely walk. (It was too demanding to learn while driving.) I walked an hour per night for four months to complete Pimsleurs Japanese I, II, & III. I listened to two thirty-minute lessons each night. I also spent a short amount of time preparing vocabulary cards that I occasionally reviewed. Normally I learn by reading and analysis, but I wanted to improve my aural learning ability. At times the rote learning frustrated me. At lesson 27 of Pimsleurs II, I capitulated to my analytic side and spent an hour studying Japanese verbs. My ear was hearing slight sound changes in the verbs, and my mind wanted to know what was going on. After understanding why the sounds were changing, I forced myself back to the aural-only approach. What did I learn? I learned a small kernel of Japanese consisting of about 350 words (about one word per mile) and a handful of common speech patterns. There was almost no grammar instruction. Of the Pimsleurs course material I recognize 95%, I recall about 80%, and I speak fluently about 50%. When I speak with native speakers, I often stumble over words and phrases that I spoke easily while walking. However, I can speak many sentence patterns fluently, i.e. without thinking first. This is significant progress for me. My pronunciation is sometimes careless which confuses listeners. The Pimsleurs course is not a replacement for the immediate corrective feedback from a tutor. I tested my comprehension ability by listening to Japanese television (NHK). I understood less than 5% of the news programs, about 10% of the melodramas, and a little more than 10% of the children shows. I think this is not too bad for 120 hours of self-instruction. Recommendations: learn hiragana first so you can transcribe phrases you hear on the CD, use a playback device that has a cue/review function to rapidly review native pronunciation, and don't start unless you plan to study or use Japanese beyond Pimsleurs III. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Pimsleur Content
Review: I spent about a 40 days on the Level One tape, listening to each lesson. My process was to:
- Try to listen to a lesson each day
- Review the last half a previous lesson if I found it was difficult.
- Pause the tape frequently and try to say the sentence in Japanese before listening to the answers (I took 45min to an hour on each lesson this way)
- Don't write anything down! Weird but I've got a tendency NOT to memorize or recall things if I have them written down.
I've got to say the Level One tape gives a good grounding in sentence structure and grammar. Not a lot of vocabulary (I recommend unforgettablelanguages.com for that). Still, if I'd just borrowed a book from the library and spent as much time on it as I did listening to these tapes, it'd be cheaper and I'd get the same material out of it. :)
The real PRO of this tape lies in its repetitiveness and mobility. Reading a textbook would make me want to go to sleep.
I remember about 98% of what I listened to. The 2% has to do with word placement in a sentence... I still mix up those de's and ni's. Doh.
Rating:
Summary: value for money!!!!
Review: I think it is value for money because "why buy something cheap that you never get past the first chapter...". Where are you saving money??
I have completed Japanese comprehensive level one. When I studied each lesson I would write out the main conversation, then looked up any words I didn't know.
I agree with what others have said, it would be easier to learn if there was a transcript of the dialogue. As soon as I write things down I comprehend it quicker.
I have also completed "Japanese for busy people book 1 with the tapes"(a very good book too!!). I have bought "Learn in your car - Japanese" from audible.com and have completed level one, excellent for expanding you vocabulary.
Rating:
Summary: It Serves It's Purpose
Review: I'm 16 years old, I'm homeschooled, and I've been studying Japanese for 2 years right now. I was weary about such an expensive audio CD course for Japanese, but I gave it a try, and the conclusion I can draw is that it does what it's meant to do. An introduction (Level 1 of 3, so you can't expect deep coverage) of Japanese that starts you on your quest to Japanese mastery, or gives you a *really* good basic overview of the Japanese language. As you've probably already read, each lesson is about 30 minutes long, and you should try to listen to one lesson a day. How did I do it? I sat in a room and concentrated on the lesson (I also cleaned the house frequently). Would I do just as well if I were focusing on driving in addition to listening to an audio course? I don't know. But I got it to work really good for me, and this mainly has to do with one's own circumstances, not the quality of the material itself. If you have trouble on a lesson, just listen to the same one again (the same day, if you have the time), listen to it again the next day before you move on to the next lesson. I did this, and I felt I benefited greatly from this. I finished Japanese I, and I am currently studying one lesson of Pimsleur Japanese II a day, and I'm on lesson 20. It's still working great, I'm listening to the audio lessons in addition to my regular studies. I plan to get Pimsleur Japanese III as I finish Japanese II. To sum it up:
Pimsleur is the BEST audio-language learning company, period. Audio-language-learning courses and companies are never going to be perfect. They will almost always lack in one way or another. There has yet to be made the *perfect* language-audio course, but this is as close as you can get. A great introduction to Japanese, and it is a GREAT (I mean, GREAT) boost if you're studying this in addition to regular study of Japanese. (I felt that Japanese I was good enough that I just got my Pimsleur German I today.)
Rating:
Summary: a few tips
Review: I'm currently using Pimsleur to learn Japanese and Cantonese, and I'm thrilled with my progress. Pimsleur has a truly effective system for learning language painlessly and effectively. I've noticed, though, that on many Pimsleur reviews here on Amazon, people say they needed to listen to each tape 4-5 times before they felt they knew the material. Fortunately, that's not necessary. Here's how to make equal progress on just one listening: Each time you're prompted to come up with an answer on your own, *stop the tape* and give yourself time to think before you get interrupted by the soundtrack. If the tape gives you the answer before you've come up with an answer yourself, you haven't learned anything.
Rating:
Summary: Substitute for Classroom Instruction
Review: I'm just completing the Level 1 CDs, which I use in conjunction with "Japanese for Everyone". The CDs were an acceptable substitute for the conversational aspect of a class. (A class would be ideal, but I couldn't find one.) The constant switching between English and Japanese prevents you from fully entering Japanese-language mode, but hey, what else can they do on audio CDs? There's the strong advantage of being able to listen in the car, but drive carefully; it took some practice before I could concentrate on both the road and the CDs.
I found it useful to listen to each lesson twice, the second time pausing the CD after each new phrase and writing it down (not while driving :-). This formed a more concrete memory and provided concise notes for later review. A pace of one lesson per day (or two days at most) is ideal; slower is almost as bad as going too fast.
Although the CDs are repetitive and don't teach a ton of vocabulary, they help to develop natural language patterns, correct grammar, and a decent accent.
Rating: 
Summary: It's ok. Not worth the ridiculous price.
Review: I've bought tons of Japanese-learning material, both book and software, and most of it at least partially disappointing regardless of price point. Pimsleur, despite its lofty hype and even loftier cost(!), is no different. It's ok, but it's not the holy grail that most reviews would have you think it is, with my own reasons summed up thus: 1) You don't learn as much as you think you do. Yes, the method is sound, with the interspersed repetition and gradual introduction of new material, but the actual amount of language knowledge attained by the end of it is a LOT lower than one would hope. 2) The method (any method, in fact) NEEDS written material. I know it is a "selling point" of Pimsleur that it is audio-only, but in fact the course narration and design subtly discourage the student FROM writing things down or using other written material in conjunction with the course. I won't belabor the "why" since it's just plain common sense, but the bottom line is that some written material helps learning. Period. These courses are in bad need of some quality manuals/workbooks/whatever. 3) The speakers aren't very good. On Pimsleur I, for example, the female doesn't sound native in her pronounciation, and the male speaks WAY too quickly...ridiculously so! It's one thing to speak at a natural speed to get the ear "used" to what one hears in a natural Japanese conversation, but when the speaker speaks so fast that he practically mumbles half-sentences, that's an entirely different story. Despite everything else, this was my single biggest beef with these products, and lest the importance of this shortcoming escape you, remember that this is pretty much an all-audio course(!). The quality control on such a fundamental aspect of the product is pathetic. 4) The cost is way, WAY too high. Successful (and not successful) as this method may be, you know that it's too expensive before you even buy it, hype-to-high-heaven notwithstanding. Take my word, it's simply not worth the insane price. It is simply not THAT much better than other available material that it's worth spending several factors more for. If you're able to get it for less, then yes, you'll get some learning value out of it, but bear in mind the above points...it is very over-hyped, and even more over-priced.
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