Rating: 
Summary: hmm is 3 stars too much?
Review: This book does not teach at a fast pace at all. When I completed just one semester of Japanese I already amassed 3Xs the vocabulary than what it has presented in this book. If you want to study at a slower pace then go ahead and get this. It does possess some properties that make it not totally bad but remeber that there are also better, CHEAPER, books out there. If you are studying outside of a class atmosphere using either a Japanese friend or the internet chatrooms you will have better luck with this book than a normal text.
Rating: 
Summary: "Getting Started" Took a Whole Semester
Review: This book is poorly organized and gives little independent feedback. In our 100 level class we spent a whole semester just on the introductory section (some 80 pages long). These authors believe that you can't do a thing with Japanese until you've learned kana, but meanwhile they expose you to a myriad of other concepts without explaning anything. The glossary in the back is in kana also, making it impossible for the beginner to find anything.
Rating: 
Summary: Best I've seen...
Review: This book isn't perfect, but it's by far the best one I've seen as of yet.This "Yookoso" book goes very in depth for grammar, which is extremely helpful. People who are looking for a "phrasebook for anime fans" should not use this. This book introduces the Japanese language from the very beginning and builds onto it in an efficient way. It introduces new verb and adjective forms gradually so you have enough time to get used to the ones you have learned previously. One problem with this book is that the amount of vocabulary introduced in each chapter is excessive. It's very hard to memorize more than 50 words per chapter, so if you are teaching yourself, you can divide them up to make it a little easier. In addition to adequate (and understandable) grammar explanations, this book gives many, many examples of usage in each chapter. Once you read through the explanation and examples, you can do the exercises with ease. The first edition of the book has the answers in the back so you can check them. Japanese is a language made up of uniform syllables, so it's very easy to pronounce. However, I've noticed that some people still have problems with speaking, so I recommend the audio CDs along with the book. Buying the lab manual/writing activities book isn't a bad idea either. Overall, this is by far the best book I've used yet to actually learn Japanese. Once again, if you only want to speak like an anime character, buy something cheaper. But, if you really want to understand the language (and this book REALLY helps with that), then buy this book. It's definitely worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: At first I hated it, but then.....
Review: When I first started using this book, I hated it. I had to memorize classroom phrases ("Write it, please", "Open your book, please", "Pair up with a partner, please") without any explanation of the verbs or grammatical structures involved.
But once I got past the first 80 pages and finally got to the grammar portion, it was a lot better. I COULD buy a book that explains the grammatical structures in Romaji (Roman alphabet) rather than Kanji/Kana(Japanese characters)....and indeed I would learn the structures a lot faster. However, I find that the struggle to read the grammar lesons in kana/kanji increases my motivation. Even the other Japanese textbooks that DO teach in kana have accompanying romaji as a crutch. Lucky for us Yookoso! readers, we cannot "cheat". Because of this, I can go to a Japanese news website and, even though I am only on Ch. 4 of the text, can surprisingly read some of the news on the website.
I am only giving this book "4 stars" because "5 stars" means perfection. And Yookoso! is far from perfect. There are many hiragana typographical errors in both the text and workbook which, to the self-study person, can be very confusing. Additionally, the index is quite poor....words are not referenced by page number. They are referenced by chapter number. Additionally, the vocabulary lists at the end of each chapter do NOT include all of the vocabulary words introduced in that chapter. Someone earlier said that the exercises in the workbook were tedious and boring. Well, good! They are meant to be repetitious so that you can do them in your sleep and never forget them. The textbook is set up so that you cannot forget any of the previous vocabulary and grammar lessons that you learned in prior chapters. In other words, you have to read and study this book from front-to-back. Most other Japanese language resources are written so that you can jump in anywhere in the book and learn a new concept. The reason the former is preffered is because it forces you to build your vocabulary and grammar skills before you learn new ones. As I stated in my title, I used to loathe this book and almost dropped the course because of it. But once I got used to it, I realized just how lucky I was to finally "snap" and get used to it. Don't skip class. Read the book. Listen repeatedly to the accompanying CDs. Do ALL of the exercises in the book and the workbook (whether they are assigned as homework or not). And remember this: US high schools use this same textbook. In other words, it AIN'T that difficult! :)
Rating:
Summary: At first I hated it, but then.....
Review: When I first started using this book, I hated it. I had to memorize classroom phrases ("Write it, please", "Open your book, please", "Pair up with a partner, please") without any explanation of the verbs or grammatical structures involved.
But once I got past the first 80 pages and finally got to the grammar portion, it was a lot better. I COULD buy a book that explains the grammatical structures in Romaji (Roman alphabet) rather than Kanji/Kana(Japanese characters)....and indeed I would learn the structures a lot faster. However, I find that the struggle to read the grammar lesons in kana/kanji increases my motivation. Even the other Japanese textbooks that DO teach in kana have accompanying romaji as a crutch. Lucky for us Yookoso! readers, we cannot "cheat". Because of this, I can go to a Japanese news website and, even though I am only on Ch. 4 of the text, can surprisingly read some of the news on the website.
I am only giving this book "4 stars" because "5 stars" means perfection. And Yookoso! is far from perfect. There are many hiragana typographical errors in both the text and workbook which, to the self-study person, can be very confusing. Additionally, the index is quite poor....words are not referenced by page number. They are referenced by chapter number. Additionally, the vocabulary lists at the end of each chapter do NOT include all of the vocabulary words introduced in that chapter. Someone earlier said that the exercises in the workbook were tedious and boring. Well, good! They are meant to be repetitious so that you can do them in your sleep and never forget them. The textbook is set up so that you cannot forget any of the previous vocabulary and grammar lessons that you learned in prior chapters. In other words, you have to read and study this book from front-to-back. Most other Japanese language resources are written so that you can jump in anywhere in the book and learn a new concept. The reason the former is preffered is because it forces you to build your vocabulary and grammar skills before you learn new ones. As I stated in my title, I used to loathe this book and almost dropped the course because of it. But once I got used to it, I realized just how lucky I was to finally "snap" and get used to it. Don't skip class. Read the book. Listen repeatedly to the accompanying CDs. Do ALL of the exercises in the book and the workbook (whether they are assigned as homework or not). And remember this: US high schools use this same textbook. In other words, it AIN'T that difficult! :)
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