Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Version [Paperback]

AJALT -Assoc. Japanese Language Teaching (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 4770019874 | ISBN-13: 978-4770019875 | Publication Date: September 1, 1995 | Edition: 1st Kana Version

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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

THE ASSOCIATION FOR JAPANESE-LANGUATE TEACHING (AJALT) has been recognized as a nonprofit organization by the Ministry of Education since 1997. It was established to meet the practical needs of people who are not necessarily specialists on Japan but who wish to communicate effectively in Japanese. In 1992 the Association was awarded the Japan Foundation Special Prize.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International, Ltd.; 1st Kana Version edition (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770019874
• ISBN-13: 978-4770019875
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars G-A-R-B-A-G-E, February 9, 2004

By 

Zachary Turner (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Version (Paperback)

I feel like I'm going crazy or something because looking at these reviews and finding that the majority of them are 5 stars or 4 stars makes me wonder if I'm coming from the same planet as the other reviewers. I have probably 30 books on learning Japanese, and this is the only one I have ever simply thrown away. I didn't even give it away, or sell it because I didn't want people to learn Japanese the wrong way. Among talking to other people who had used this book, it turns out this book had a reputation, and had come to be known as "The Tome of Suck". First let me list some better books, and then I'll explain why this book is so bad:

1) Situational Functional Japanese I, II, III (the absolute best! But make sure you get the drill book AND the notes book)
2) Japanese: The Spoken Language 1, 2, 3. While this series is second best, it is absolutely the BEST in terms of grammar explanations. The weird roomaji system is frustrating, but it's worth it if you can digest the explanations.
3) Genki I, II. Rapidly surpassing Japanese for Busy People in terms of popularity. Simple to understand grammar exercises, great exercises, very useful vocabulary, immerses you in kana right off the board forcing you to abandon the harmful roomaji.

Okay, now why is JfBP so bad? Well, first of all, they get progressively better. So Book 2 is mediocre, and Book 3 is not too bad (#1 above is still better). But Book 1. Whew boy. First of all, it pretends Japanese is simple. Instead of actually _explaining_ things, it simply tells you to start memorizing everything under the sun. As one example, there's something called the "-te" form of verbs, and instead of simply telling you the rule for making the -te form, it gives you a list of like 30 verbs and tells you "memorize not only the verbs, but also their -te forms". LOL! What a joke. Then it does the same thing with the negative forms. It's like "memorize the negative form of a verb as well as the dictionary form whenever learning a new verb". Duh, it takes MORE time to do that than to understand the rule (which is simple!)

Plus, if you're memorizing vocabulary then you're forced to do it with the word list in front of you, whereas if you're trying to understand a rule, you can think of examples in your head (say, while driving) and try to understand it and comprehend things that way. It's simply a waste of time in every respect to just memorize EVERYTHING.

Well, that's the approach the whole book takes to EVERYTHING. There are examples of this kind of silliness in every chapter. Nobody in my elementary Japanese class (which was 3 years ago) learned anything from this book, and we all fought very hard to get them to change the textbook, which they finally did. The reason I took so long to write this review is because I wanted to put this book out of my memory, but as it becomes more and more popular I felt I owed it to students of Japanese everywhere to lead you to a more rewarding experience.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A useful textbook for the highly motivated, April 11, 2002

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Version (Paperback)

There are two universal truths of acquiring a second language. First, there is no "quick method." It takes time and work. Second, self-study only gets you so far. Language is about communication, and that requires more than one person.

With this in mind, "Japanese for Busy People I : Kana Version" is a fine supplement to Japanese learning. While you will never learn Japanese solely from this product, the book will help you study and practice. It is definitely one of the best of it's type.

Taking the plunge into kana is essential for learning Japanese. This book does not teach you kana of any type, but assumes that you have learned them elsewhere (preferably from the kana workbook in this series). Hiragana and Katakana are used. There is no Kanji, as this is a beginners level text.

There is a focus on traveling businessmen, and most of the activities focus on traveling and getting around an office. However, the vocab used in these situations is useful and easily transfers to other situations.

Like all self-study books, you will gain as much out of "Japanese for Busy People I : Kana Version" as you put into it. Learning with a group of people is easier and more fun. This book easily adapts to a group, and would work best if you and a few friends got together to practice.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect start, January 28, 2003

By 

Pigumon (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Version (Paperback)

I love this series! This KANA version is designed to FORCE you to learn the correct pronunciation of japanese. Rather than learning japanese written in our own alphabet, which may lead you to speak it with OUR pronunciations, this book has all of the japanese words written in the Japanese syllabaries (kana) of Hiragana and Katakana. Where you might pronounce the word SAKE (rice wine) as "sacky" you will learn that all A sounds are "AH" as in "box" and all E sounds are "EH" as in "pen" -- Sa Ke. You might want to get the Tape or CD series to help you with pronunciation. Of course, before you start with this book, you MUST learn kana. Look for the Japanese for Busy People KANA Workbook ISBN: 4770020961. Once you've learned the kana (it takes practice but it can be done fairly quickly) you can jump right into Vol I of this series. Vol II introduces some KANJI, yet another set of characters, based on the chinese syllabary. Vol I has many situations to learn from with Key Sentences to learn, practice sentences, vocabulary, and even quizzes (answers are in the back of the book, wink wink). Vol I is a great start and you will really be able to understand and speak the basics! Buy this book! Come on! Do it NOW! I'm Here! What are you waiting for!?! Bennnyyyyyy!