Customer Reviews

Introduction to Modern Japanese

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

 

 

Full disclosure: I cheated. I studied the Mizutanis' "Introduction to Modern Japanese" while I was living in Japan, so I was immersed as well using the book. I went there with no previous Japanese experience. There's pros and cons to that. I picked this up to help me learn Japanese.
Some things about the book--
A) It is a system that works. It works only *IF* you take the time to study it and learn the basic sentence patterns, you will learn Japanese. The book teaches basic sentence patterns, then begins substituting different nouns/verbs into those basic sentence patterns. This is huge, as sentence structure is very different from English. You have to learn these. Knock rote memorization for its limitations, but pattern repetition--whether in your own home learning English as throughout your childhood years or working on a tighter schedule with a Japanese book in your study--is the key to learning a language. This isn't the only way to learn language (compare immersion and experience), but repetition is the one used in this book. If you don't want to spend some amount of time--30 to 45 mins a day let's say practicing, then give up now and save your money.
B) Get the audio tapes. I wish they had CDs now. These are invaluable. Don't get the book without the tapes. At first blush, the example Japanese you hear at the start of each chapter is too fast and difficult. The example frames the sentence patterns being taught in each chapter and gives them context. It also uses normal speed dialogue. This is very tough to follow at first. Get used to backing up and re-playing multiple times, BUT when you get it, you get it. You can pick out words, sentences, context when you hear them in real life.

C) If you want to practice, rent movies with Japanese. Not all movie types are useful. Samurai films are out b/c they use old Japanese; compare to learning English via Shakespeare. Action anime films are off the island b/c the character lips don't move like a real person as they speak; another negative, they use a bunch of whacked out words b/c the storylines are so removed from reality. Slapstick comedy is probably not a good choice either. Movies with lots of slices of real life will seem slow, but...they give decent examples of real life dialog. "shall we dance" is an example. No monsters, aliens, or samurai, but if you go to Japan, probably you won't meet a monster, aliens, or samurai, but you might want to meet someone for okanomiyaki some day...

I would give this product 5 stars if they had a CD/mp3 audio to go with the book.

I used this book for a couple of weeks until my sensei changed the texts while I was in Japan. This is a good self learning though and I intend to pick it back up eventually.