Japanese

Rating:
Summary: Of course it's better to buy the entire Level I course but..
Review: ...the "Quick & Simple" is an affordable substitute for us who just can't afford the (slightly outrageous) prices of the "full" Pimsleur courses. Listening to these tapes/CDs is a great way to "jump-start" your Japanese learning in a natural way that doesn't take too much effort. In my opinion it's essential if you're learning Japanese on your own. After having used them the first time you have two (three) choices. Keep them as an aid to get the perfect pronunciation or sell them. (Or give them to a friend who wants to learn Japanese but needs a little push in the right direction.) Also I think the tapes/CDs are great if you want to learn Japanese without romaji but still don't want to begin by learning kana. With these tapes/CDs you can listen and get a basic vocabulary without having to ever read a single Japanese word in Romaji! (Btw: if you can afford it you really should buy the full version!)

Rating:
Summary: Of course it's better to buy the entire Level I course but..
Review: ...the "Quick & Simple" is an affordable substitute for us who just can't afford the (slightly outrageous) prices of the "full" Pimsleur courses. Listening to these tapes/CDs is a great way to "jump-start" your Japanese learning in a natural way that doesn't take too much effort. In my opinion it's essential if you're learning Japanese on your own. After having used them the first time you have two (three) choices. Keep them as an aid to get the perfect pronunciation or sell them. (Or give them to a friend who wants to learn Japanese but needs a little push in the right direction.) Also I think the tapes/CDs are great if you want to learn Japanese without romaji but still don't want to begin by learning kana. With these tapes/CDs you can listen and get a basic vocabulary without having to ever read a single Japanese word in Romaji! (Btw: if you can afford it you really should buy the full version!)

Rating:
Summary: Indeed Quick & Simple
Review: Having lived in Japan for 9 years, I've used many programs to learn Japanese and this approach has been the best by far. The Quick & Simple tapes are not to teach you the language, but to give you the ability to interact with the Japanese on a small scale. The tape sets that follow this one are much more comprehensive for those interested in learning the language and not just enough for a vacation. I got these for my daughter & 10-yr-old granddaughter a month or two before we all went to Japan (where my bilingual son & his wife live). They loved the tapes & used what they learned while we were on our vacation in Japan. The Japanese loved them for trying and made a fuss over them! My son thought they would only be able to say hello & good-bye but was impressed that they were able to do a lot more. This approach may not work for everyone, but for my family it has been excellent. My next tapes will be the Pimsleur Italian tapes as I plan to be able to speak Italian when I go to the Olympics in 2006!

Rating:
Summary: Good concept but much to brief
Review: I liked the approach on the CD. You listen to the speaker and repeat, slowly building your vocabulary. There are no grammar rules taught. The CD discourages you from looking at any book, something that I don't agree with. Some things I have to see in writing before I remember them properly. The main shortcoming of this CD set is its briefness. It claims that at the end you "can hold a real conversation in Japanese". However, this conversation will be extremely basic - far less than what a traveller in Japan will need. Example: You'll be able to order something in a restaurant, but only sake or beer. You can ask where Hibia avenue is, but unless it's "here" or "over there", you won't be able to understand the answer. All in all, the approach is good, but this CD set is not meant to teach you Japanese. It rather wants to give you a taste for the concept so that you will order the far more expensive comprehensive set. (Far more expensive even with respect to $ per CD or lesson.) For these reasons, I'll only give it three stars.

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.

Also, as much as I love Pimsleur courses, they're still wildly expensive, even with Amazon's sometimes-substantial discounts. (...S)ell them after you're done. You won't need them anymore.

Rating:
Summary: wonderfully quick and simple.
Review: I've gotten these Pimsleur Quick & Simple CDs in Japanese, Italian, German, Russian, and Hebrew. They were a wonderful easy way to go into a foreign language class with a little working knowledge of the language and pronunciation. Also, I really recommend these as an inexpensive way to learn pronunciation of a foreign language. Many times I buy a language text book and teach myself with it in my spare time. These Pimsleur Quick & Simple CDs are a great, and in many cases cheaper, way to learn the pronunciation of a language so you can move on to an even more inexpensive media of language learning: used books.

Rating:
Summary: wonderfully quick and simple.
Review: This is the eighth set of CD's that I have in the Pimsleur Quick and Simple series. As usual, I'm never disappointed. Learning Japanese with the Pimsleur method is so much fun. I'm just fascinated as to how much information I've retained within a few short lessons. I also feel very comfortable speaking the language, once I've learned it. This set of CD's teaches the student a lot about the Japanese word order and a few tidbits about the Japanese culture. I usually supplement the rest of my Japanese education with the "Lonely Planet Japanese Phraseook", until I can afford the comprehensive set. In conclusion, I would recommend "Quick and Simple Japanese" for anyone who wants an introduction into this ancient and exciting language.

Rating:
Summary: You get what you pay for
Review: This program is a great place to START learning a language-- it is quick and simple japanese for about 25 dollars. I have read many reviews complaining that the material listed here is too easy, and too basic to really use if you want to learn any "real" foreign language-- well thats a given. Its quick and simple...

It does exactly what it promises to do in 8 easy lessons. You dont just learn set phrases... which would be quickly forgotton, you learn new functional words, and are forced to actively respond, and interact with the lessons. Not repeat as i've seen stated here in other reviews. You actually begin recombining, and guessing how to use the language from the first lesson-- you are prompted to make new phrases the tutor did not teach you-- (though a correct version is given to verify if your guesses are accurate).

But if you really want more indepth, you are going to need to buy something a little more comprehensive. if you dont ever see yourself buying the more expensive pimsleur courses, maybe you should save yourself some money up front, and really pursue a program that has the features you will want eventually now.

I've seen other criticisms about the lack of reading material... this is on the box-- its actually something Dr. Pimsleur states as a positive-- its not as if the course was misleading in some way. The idea here is to teach you a language like you did when you were a child, by just listening, and participating... and of course making mistakes. Written Language, and Spoken Language are only loosly related in an objective sense. Sure its best to have both, but reading ISNT REQUIRED to have a conversation, or function.

Think about it... by the time we enter school we are talking--maybe not about monet, or King Lear, but we can speak. Reading does not come so naturally to anyone.

This point is especially relevant in asian languages which don't use the roman script-- learning Kanji literally takes enourmous amounts of effort, japanese buisnessmen take Kanji courses, and this is an unnecessary complication for a quick and easy course. and as any serious student of japanese will confirm, romaji isnt very useful in the real world.

-- plus, when you are in japan... if you can speak.. you can ask almost anyone to read something to you outloud if you cant yourself-- the japanese are very polite, and the ability to communicate verbally again sidesteps, to a small extent, the unavoidable reality of becoming instantly illeterate.

But if Audio only isnt for you, then this probably isnt the best course--but at 25 dollars, it might be worth trying out-- you just might surprise yourself.