Customer Reviews

Berlitz Japanese in 30 Days (Berlitz in 30 Days) (Japanese Edition) (English and Japanese Edition)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pro: 1-Clear explanation of basic grammar. 2-Pronunciation speed slow enough to fit beginners.
Con: 1-Recording sound quality: harsh. Berlitz says, on the cover page, that the original publication was from another company (Ch & Tsui). I am not sure that the recording was originally from cassette tapes (very noisy background) ??
2- Binding: Same problems with other 30-days-series (I own French & Spanish 30 days) the binding was unsatisfactory. I can't open the book easily and the individual pages came off loose after few attempts.
I am not sure if the speaker(s) is(are) native Japanese.
3- Not enough Japanese characters.

The textbook in the package is well written and covers a lot of territory. However the binding (at least in the copy I bought) is very tight; the book tries to snap shut. My hands begin to ache after trying to hold the book open for a few minutes. Also troubling is the high level of background noise on the audio CDs, like they were dubbed from very old cassettes. If you are serious about learning Japanese you might consider Genki 1 or some other college textbook with cassettes if you can afford it; Japanese in 30 Days might be an alternative if you are on a tight budget and have strong hands.

I think this book is great. It is very intense if you plan to do all the lessons in 30 days, but possible if you want to learn the language. The grammar is loaded on you in very well written lessons. If you are looking for an easy way to learn a language, where you do not have to memorize grammar or words, you don't want this book. If you want to actually learn something, you do want this book.

I already speak Mandarin Chinese and it is not easy to learn a language. It takes time to build vocabulary and adjust your thinking to the language rules. I have always wanted to learn Japanese as well, and I really think this book will give anyone the correct direction to really do something useful with the language. Plan to work though!

The book's approach towards teaching Japanese grammar and vocabulary seems decent, but the poor manufacturing and poor editing of the book make it hard to use. The binding disintegrates quickly, which makes it hard to use for learning-on-the-go. The book appears to be an abridged version of a longer text - and thus many of the practice questions and answers are out of sync and/or missing, due to sloppy cut-and-paste work. Even worse, there are outright mistakes in the text - for example, on p. 72, "arimasu" is asserted to be the verb for "wash" in a practice sentence (it's actually "araimasu"; "arimasu" is a different verb which doesn't even make sense in context). Berlitz's lack of quality control is disappointing.

The CD is again scratched up; Is Amazon selling returned products. Buyer
of this kind of product can make purchases and downloads the CD on to iphone and returns them. The CD "cartboard" holder is too tight to take out the CD.

1-I like the book very much, being a beginner. Compared to other japanese instruction books, this one has a methodic approach to grammar and vocabulary. I give it 3 *, two minus * for the very bad and strange binding . Looks like all the 30-day series, Spanish, French...have the same problem of binding.
2-The CDs were scratched all over, being in a bad and TIGHT cover. I would give 1*.