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Rating: 
Summary: "... LIFELESS Language Complete Courses...."
Review: As a language teacher, I was extremely disappointed with the enclosed textbook and CDs. The book consisted of a series of vocabulary lists, short, decontextualized phrases and grammar lessons. The audio CDs were one person simply reading through the vocabulary lists and phrases. The course was not structured in meaningful ways to help the learner retain the language or communicate in Japanese. The addition of some authentic dialogs with audio recordings would have improved the course significantly.
Rating: 
Summary: good book set , still needs work
Review: I had this book set for over 4 years, and I have to say it is pretty good at teaching japanese (I picked it up pretty fast using their recommended study plan). But it still needs work...............
PROS:
Native speakers on the CD help you speak japanese clearly and tune your ears to fleunt spoken japanese .
Proper Verb and Sentence structure lessons
Essential Words and Phrases are given and explained
Japanese Dictionary and Pronunciation Guide
Japanese Grammar supplement in back of the book
Easy for absolute beginners
CONS:
Native speakers only cover the *SELECTED* words in the book.
No Kanji or Kana are used with the lessons (although there is a japanese alphabet section in the back of the book)
Even though grammar is explained, it could be simplified with using charts instead of blocky paragraphs.
Rating: 
Summary: A good review tool but not for those first starting out.
Review: I seldom review something until I finish it be it a book or a CD. But in this case it will be quite awhile until I finish this. Only knowing a few words in Japanese, I bought this to learn Japanese from the ground up. The CDs are in Japanese and says the bolded words in the text but does not say what the phrase means, the only thing I have heard that is in English is the Lesson Number. While it is great to hear the words and get used to the sound of the language is does nothing to help you learn the meaning of the words. There is not enough space between the words/phrase to let you say them. The Course Book is a necessity in the early stages until you learn what the phrases mean. Which makes driving and trying to use this course hard. It does not contain computer program that compares your pronunciation or allows you to play games to help you learn the language. The course is very dry and boring. I would not recommend it to those just starting to learn Japanese, but as a review tool.
Rating:
Summary: Halfway through
Review: If you just want to learn the skin of Japanese like you did in high school Spanish class. This is a good book to start from. However, if you're a serious learner who wants more than just Yamaha, Suzuki and Toyota, you better find other books.
The souls of the Japanese are Katakana and Hiragana. At least from the reading and writing aspects. Forget about those impossible-to-learn Chinese characters in Japanese (for those whose native languages are originated from Romance). If you image to order cousins in a Japanese restaurant with Japanese in the near future, without learning Katakana and Hiragana, your dream will never be realized.
For beginners who may or may not want to know much of Japanese or for those who have some interesting about Japanese but don't want to involve too much, this book, yet, is the one. With help of those CDs recorded by native speakers and easy-to-understand content, it is well designed for Americans to have first contact. The lessons are arranged from easy to hard which won't frustrate you from the very beginning.
Several misspelling and without Katakana and Hiragana, I hardly recommend this book to anybody who wants to learn serious Japanese. However, for those people I mentioned above, it is not a bad book to start with. Sum up and divide by two. I got 3 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid beginner course - if you have patience
Review: If you just want to play this one in your car as you drive, don't bother buying it - on the other hand, if you want to learn Japanese effectively, and plan on taking the time to study, this series is the best out there.
I used this for a year before moving to Japan, and its method of giving you an 'example sentence', showing you where the noun/verb etc goes, basically giving you a 'template' so you can create your own sentences. From experience, this is exactly how you must learn a foreign language. The CD isn't cluttered with English sentences - it is all Japanese, which is what you want.
Listening to the cd alone will help tune your ear to Japanese, and as you are learning, you will be able to pick it up more and more as you go along. Just be aware that you will need to study the book to make any progress, but if you do study the book, you will improve by leaps and bounds.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: Japanese is a very difficult language. You will become very frustrated at times. You could possibly get gray hairs. I bought many books but this had to be the best; it's a godsend. The book covers many different topics and gives conversations and examples. At the end, it has an extensive grammar section, that is very, very helpful. If you want to know japanese very well, this book won't do it all. It doesn't contain traditional japanese script, just the romanized form. So if you want to know how to write japanese, you have to get a separate book. Konnichi wa
Rating: 
Summary: not for in the car
Review: The CDs only contain Japanese, which makes them frustrating to listen to unless you already have the meanings memorized or if you have the book open in front of you. Definitely not for learning in the car.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but needs more...
Review: This package, or rather the coursebook, needs further instruction for grammar so you can make up your own sentences completely. There is a little chapter at the end on grammar but its not quite enough. However, this almost-perfect set is well worth the money. Enjoy...
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