Customer Reviews

Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Version

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

Reading some of the negative reviews about this motivated me to write. The first and foremost thing about learning a language is that there is no "instant method". Learning a new language (especially when you're not in a place where the language is used regularly) requires a lot of focus, dedication, and effort.

So how does this book fit into all this? It provides you with a solid concept of basic Japanese grammar and vocabulary. You're not going to have mastered Japanese by the time you finish this book, but (with the proper amount of studying) you should be able to read and write _basic_ Japanese sentances. The speech style of the book is primarily in the formal/polite tone. Some might think that this is a downside, but speaking informally to a stranger in Japan is somewhat rude.

More advanced topics (informal speech and the like) are covered in Books II & III (I highly recommend those also).

The important thing though is to make sure that you have a setting in which you can interactively use (i.e. speak, read, & write) Japanese. While watching anime, reading manga, and the like might help a bit, nothing replaces real interaction with real people.

When you finish the Book I, I recommend going over it again to refresh yourself on any concepts that you might have forgotten.

This book is very good, I don't know how to say it other than that. I recomend it more than the normal version BUT you must first know ALL heragana and it helps to be in the process of learning katakana (but it is easy to learn as you go). This version differs from the normal version in that there is no translation of the heragana into phonetical sounds, as in you wont see "ohiyou gozaimasu" but only the heragana equlivent. they explain that it is proven to help learn the language if you just through out the alphabet. Not to confuse anyone, the book is in english helping you learn japanese, and in my opnion it is very good.

I recomend this book to anyone

This book covers the grammar very nicely and many people I've known to use it love it. However, it really depends who you are. The book is geared more to business Japanese - which is great if that's what you need, but boring otherwise. My major complaint with this book is it's presentation of vocabulary. It simply throws hundreds of random words at you many of which you don't really need.

Having said that, the grammar is clear and the exercises are good. Probably 3/5 if you don't like random vocab and aren't interested in business. 4/5 otherwise.

After nearly three years of struggling to learn Japanese with hardly any success, I was ready to give up. Most books are unbearably difficult to understand, or they do not give enough information to learn the language efficiently. Finally, after not learning hardly anything, I decided to try one last book, and if it didn't work, I was ready to give up.
I decided to go to a local bookstore to find anything there, and the lady that worked at the front desk reccomended that I use Japanese for busy people because it had helped her. I got on the internet and did some research to find that the Japanese for Busy People series is what I wanted to use. I decided to get the Kana version because I heard it was better to learn using actual Japanese characters.
When I got my new book I found it was very easy to follow. The information is introduced in a way that makes it simple to learn and doesn't overload on information at the very beginning. Now, after four months of using the first book, I am simply amazed at the progress I have made. This book really does help.
I'm not sure if I would reccommend Japanese for Busy People for the absolute beginner because it might be confusing, but it is great if you already have a basic understanding of the language, and you can read the Japanese script. All in all, Japanese for Busy People Kana version is the best tool to use for learning Japanese.

I just love this book. The lay out is simple and easy to follow. For best results, use a "Learn Hiragana" & "Katagana Book" and then get the JFBP Kana Version. That way one can avoid romangi (Japanese written with English letters) which only slows you down from learning real Japanese. Its best to use this book in combination with the workbook. I use the book on my own, but having someone to ask questions to is imperative.

The book does have some shortcomings. Other reviewers have pointed out that book does a poor job of explaining form constructions, instead, it directs one to memorize a list of verbs/adj/etc. I agree this is not the way to go. This deficiency is easily overcome by a class or tutor. My Sensei does a good job explaining how verb/adj/etc structures are formed... so the book's failure to do so is no big deal. If you are learning on your own... this could be a problem.

Having a teacher is a good idea in the beginning anyway as it will give you a chance to practice speaking and listening. I actually started using JFBP on my own because my class book (Japanese New College Text) is just awful.

First off, this textbook is used by a lot of North American Japanese language courses. It's also used here in Toronto by some of the high-school language programs.

This review is of the Kana version of the book (note the different ISBN number).

Japanese has been increasingly popular over the last 2 decades. Initially, it was spurred by interest by business and trade... Remember the Japanese business fears of the 80's?

Nowadays, a second wave of interest in the Japanese language has been triggered by pop. culture. Children and young adults are being exposed to Japanese anime and popular culture resulting in a resurgence of interest in learning the language.

The AJALT wrote this series and there are actually 3 books in the series. Be careful though, this version is written in Kana... the Japanese alphabet with English notes and grammar tips....

There is a parallel version that is written in Romaji... Japanese in the English alphabet with phonetic pronounciation...

It is tempting to get the Romaji versions of the texts as you can save the time of learning Kana... However, I recommend this Kana version to anyone that is interested in learning the written as well as the spoken language. The Kana alphabet is easy to learn and just takes time... At the end of it, you will be MUCH better at Japanese than if you stick with the Romaji. In addition, the Romaji has some pronounciation slips and courses in Japanese are increasingly emphasizing the use of Kana only fromt he beginning.

The text's strengths focus around its well written and structured approach. Each chapter/lesson is written in small bites so that it can be easily digested.

This text makes self-study possible in that everything is really presented easily. Vocabulary is dispensed at a reasonable pace with lots of quiz and practice segments to hammer in the concepts.

In addition, since there are 3 textbooks, completing this series will give you a solid foundation in conversational Japanese.

There are 2 immediate weaknesses I can identify. The first is that the grammar is presented in example format. This is great if you want to learn conversation only, but is a little weak on its own. The second is that the vocabulary is a little skewed toward business use. I have covered university course materials and you would have to complete all 3 books to cover as much material as the first 2 years of a university progam.

So what do I think... If you want to start learning Japanese on your own, this is a great textbook... It is easy to follow and well written. You will greatly enjoy this text and there is a clear progress line with 2 more textbooks afterwards.

However, this text alone will need to be supplemented by a grammar text for the serious learner at a later stage. In addition, I highly recommend spending the extra time to learn the Kana alphabet and get the kana version of the book.

I watched my teenage daughter learn Japanese from this series over the past year, and I am amazed about how quickly she learned to speak elementary Japanese using these textbooks. I recommend those new to the language to begin not with the Kana (Japanese symbols) version, but with the English phonetic version. Until the basic Kana characters and their pronunciation are mastered, this book can be daunting, especially if one is attempting to learn the language independently. Still, the transition must be made eventually. My daughter's Japanese class began with the phonetic version and then moved halfway through the year to the Kana version. (My daughter still feels it necessary to refer occasionally to the English textbook.)

I found the text to be straight-forward and the directions easy to understand. The dialogues are geared more toward business people than those interested in, say, history. You will learn how to introduce people, give (and understand!) directions, buy items in a store, etc. Despite this practicality, this book should not be confused with a crash course in travelor's phrases. Although the vocabulary is biased toward business (one of my daughter's first Japanese words meant conference room), this book aims to give the student a serious and solid foundation for the eventual mastery of Japanese. In this version, katakana and hirigana characters are used in all dialogues, examples, vocabulary building, and grammar, although brief instructions are written in English. (Kanji is reserved for more advanced textbooks.)

I recommend those serious about learning Japanese to purchase both this, the Kana version, and the English version. If you can only afford one and if you have no basis in the language, you might want to buy the phonetic textbook instead. However, since the mastery of Japanese characters is essential for progressing, this book is a valuable tool.