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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great review of spoken Japanese, January 11, 2007
This review is from: Drive Time: Japanese (CD): Learn Japanese While You Drive (All-Audio Courses) (Audio CD)
I had taught myself reasonable gaijin Japanese years ago, to the point of being able to carry on a reasonable conversation. I used Drive Time Japanese to refresh my memory and language skills before a recent trip to Japan. The 4 CDs are easy to listen to and provided a useful review. I also learned some expressions and vocabulary that came in handy. The course could be better organized for typical daily activities. I'm also not sure how much someone completely new to Japanese would really learn. OTOH for the price how wrong can you go? Some other reviewers have criticized the lack of instruction in reading and writing. Hello, guys, this is, like, "Drive Time Japanese"? It's to listen to while you, uh, drive? You don't want to be reviewing your katakana while changing lanes!!
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fast and thorough, June 1, 2007
This review is from: Drive Time: Japanese (CD): Learn Japanese While You Drive (All-Audio Courses) (Audio CD)
Coming from the Pimsleur method of learning Japanese, this audio course felt rushed, and I felt I couldn't absorb as much information. The vocabulary words are shot at you 10-15 at a time, and there is little review before the next set of vocab, causing me to have to listen to each 1-minute-long "mile marker" over and over again. This is to Pimsleur as trying to memorize a dictionary is to learning from a textbook. It just doesn't seem prudent to listen to in the car because I find myself either listening to the 1-minute tracks on repeat until they sink in, or listen to a bunch at a time, and retaining nothing because the quizzing and recall flies by so quickly. Also, the response time is extremely short. I can barely answer the question in English in that amount of time. ALL THAT SAID, a strong vocabulary is necessary obviously, and I am eager to get to a level where this tape will be useful for me. For right now, I'm going to settle for the Pimsleur method of simple vocabulary, and focusing on grammar and sentence structure.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not good for tourists, June 19, 2008
This review is from: Drive Time: Japanese (CD): Learn Japanese While You Drive (All-Audio Courses) (Audio CD)
This tape course is great for people who really want/need in-depth Japanese lessons or review. You get a good idea of sentence structure and pronunciation. However, if you are trying to learn some basic Japanese for a short-term trip, this is not the tape for you. You need to know how to ask for basic items (food, beverages, train tickets, the bathroom). I've travelled to Japan once, and plan to go again, and I don't think I'll need to know how to say "It's a big new car" or "Let's go to a concert" to a total stranger on the street. Buy this tape if you need some support for reglar Japanese lessons, or just want to generally improve your understanding of the language for business or regular travel. Nice set-up, but not practical for day-to-day needs.
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