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Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Version (Vol 1) Editorial Review:
How can the Kana Version of Japanese for Busy People help you learn Japanese?
Japanese for Busy People is, as the title suggests, a concise course for busy students who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese as effectively as possible in a limited amount of time. This new Kana Version has been adapted and redesigned to reflect current thinking on Japanese-as-a-second-language education. Romanized Japanese, often criticized as being the main obstacle to accurate and fluent pronunciation of the spoken language, has been omitted in favor of native hiragana and katakana scripts. Learning kana from the very beginning will also facilitate a smooth and fast transition to kanji study. Enough vocabulary and grammar have been provided to enable the learner to communicate in uncomplicated adult Japanese, without having to memorize excessive amounts of vocabulary and language patterns that are not immediately useful. Exercises and Quiz sections also appear in kana to reinforce written and oral comprehension as well as production skills. Japanese for Busy People has been prepared under the guidance of a working group of experienced Japanese language instructors who reviewed and tested the material in an authentic classroom environment.
The Kana Version of Japanese for Busy People 1 is the ideal textbook for anyone who wishes to learn real, natural, conversational Japanese and actually communicate with native Japanese speakers. It also provides a solid foundation and a valuable resource for those who would like to go further with their study of the Japanese language.
This new Kana Version includes:
* new introduction explaining how to use the text at home or school
* new, larger, and easier-to-read typography
* new, classroom-friendly, eye-catching page design
* clear, concise explanations of how the language works
* full English-Japanese/Japanese-English glossaries.
Customer Reviews:
Get the non-Kana version if you really NEED to learn Japanese
I moved to Japan after taking a few Japanese classes and using a few different textbooks. After living here, I can honestly say that the stuff I learned from this textbook has been more useful than most other Japanese books I've had. While this book isn't perfect, the "useful daily expressions" section immediately introduces phrases that everyone living in Japan needs to know. The dialogs are reasonably simple for beginners and include real life situations instead of just school-related situations. Things aren't always taught in order of importance or usefulness, but this book covers a lot of the fundamental aspects of Japanese grammar quickly, giving a solid understanding of the basics. On the other hand, the translations are not always literal enough to see the differences in the way Japanese and English speakers explain things. Almost nothing between English and Japanese is explained using the same words. That's one of the reasons why learning Japanese is so difficult.
I do not recommend the Kana version of this book because it's too tedious. In Japan nothing is written completely in Kana anyway, so it's pointless to practice reading in all Kana. If you want to learn Kana, I recommend getting the Kana workbook, learning it, and forgetting about it until you can read enough Kanji to decipher some REAL Japanese writing. Kana is just one small aspect of Japanese and not the most important one to focus on. Plus it's so tedious to read in Kana that it will probably prevent you from studying and slow down your overall learning process.
If you are in school, don't need to speak Japanese anytime soon, and have a lot of time on your hands, then you might enjoy the extra practice of reading Kana. If you're busy and really need to learn Japanese, I would recommend the Romaji version of this book instead.
Avoid this text if possible
A lot of reviewers basically say to avoid this text, and I agree. However, if you are taking this course at a college or university, you probably can't change the text prescribed by the school or professor.
This text's first printing went with romaji (English letters for Japanese words), presumably under the assumption that kana and kanji are too complex for the average student studying Japanese. After many complaints, this version was released. However, instead of starting off with romaji (like the book "Yookoso") and gradually moving to hiragana,katakana, and kanji, there is no romaji whatsoever. Where will people learn their kana? I guess the authors assume you are either a prior student of Japanese, or that you will learn before you use this book?
I took Japanese for two semesters about six years ago, and stopped studying due to graduation and work. I started taking it again last September, and this is the book (well, they use the non-kana version) that the local graduate school uses. I can't use another text, so I have no choice but to use this book.
Going through the chapters, it seems that the lessons are not well structured. Instead of rules or tricks to learn conjugations, you are simply told to memorize lists. My previous experience in undergraduate was with a text called Yookoso, which offered a simple and systematic method to learn adjective and verb conjugations. For example, you would learn the "ta" form of verbs,which made learning the "te" form very easy. This book does not do that,and when you get to "te" form, you are simply told to memorize a list.
So, if you are self-studying, I would not recommend this text. Otherwise, if you are a student in school, you should obtain other texts to supplement your learning.
Why does this book even exist?
The standard version of "Japanese for Busy People 1" has kana and romanization. This book just has the romanization removed. By adding "kana version" to the title they make sound as if the other version doesn't have kana. I say if you don't like the romanization then just don't use it. How is a beginner supposed to use this book? Especially a busy beginner.
Not effective
Grammatical structure in this book is not addressed properly. Asking students to memorize numerous verb conjugations is difficult and tedious. It would be far more effective to have students learn the rule for verb conjugation. That way they can apply it to any verb. This book takes this approach to most other grammatical technicalities, making it difficult for a student to learn Japanese effectively.
Not good at all!!
Just like the review below I didn't liked this book. Though the first lessons weren't too bad as they are easy to understand and helpfull to get you started in Japanese. But while getting further in the book it really gets bad ( actually it moves from a 3 star rating to a below 1 star , which explains the 2 stars that I gave).
Yeah, the memorizing by head is such a wrong way to learn a language. In my humble opinion I think that to learn a language you must know what you're doing (i.e. grammar). For example, I had to learn about five chapters simultanious, just to get a vague idea what the -te form was used for. But no, not a word about how to form it. At that time I started to use Genki next to it. Then I actually realized how bad the book was.
Another thing is that this book is a Kana version. It's a lot better than Romaji, but the way they present it, it is merely usefull to get fluent in Hiragana and Katakana (Oké, I know that's why it's called kana version!) It would be a lot better if some kanji were inserted in the text, together with furigana, just like the second and third books and other textbooks by the way.
My advice: if you really want to spend your money on this book, I suggest you to study the first part of it. It's not that bad, and it is a good introduction to Japanese. When you really start to like learning Japanese, stow this book somewhere where you can not see it and begin to use Genki or better 90 days of Japanese (see my list)(even better, use both) The first lessons of Japanese for Busy People are a certainly a good introduction to Genki as this book might be a little hard and therefore demotivating for complete beginners.
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