Customer Reviews

Japanese for Busy People III: Kana Text (Vol 3)

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

 

 

This is not a very difficult book, which is both a good and a bad thing. Most people probably use this as a part of their class, and it is not too difficult to be used in self-study. Some grammar is introduced in a weird order - some very common (and not difficult) structures are introduced quite late. I liked "Shin Bunka Shokyuu Nihongo" a lot more, but wouldn't recommend it for self-study.

The kanji-reference in the end does not (if i remember correctly) include kanji learned in japanese for busy people 1 & 2, which IMO is a problem.
(correction: it seems they are included, i remembered wrong.)

Even if it has its problems it's not too bad. Would recommend it for self-study, if it fits your level (past JLPT4, maybe studying for JLPT3).

I lived in Japan off and on over the course of 15 years, and I formally studied Japanese (in college or at a private language academy) for a little over two years. Even so, my Japanese was a combination of "perfect" and "invented". This book proved to be an excellent refresher course for me, and my Japanese improved remarkably. I have no problems with kana, but my kanji knowledge was limited to only about 600 -- I was reminded of a number of kanji I should have known, and learned quite a few more that I hadn't known before. Japanese for Busy People III offers a wonderful blend of review and new material, with plenty of reading, vocabulary work, practice of both writing kanji and grammar work/substitution drills. Explanations of grammar are written in English and romaji, but the majority of the text is kana and kanji, with furigana where appropriate. I highly recommend this book, (and books I and II for those in the earlier levels of Japanese study) for self-study.

We used this in my high school as our Japanese textbook, and I loved its style and effectiveness. Great language book.