Customer Reviews

Japanese I (Comprehensive)

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Preface: I'm going to Japan in Jan. 2006. Unlike most young people, who go there as English teachers, I'm going there as a kaishain (office worker). The company is Japanese. My co-workers will be Japanese with little English skills. My study of Japanese is not a hobby - my career partially depends on it.

Therefore, my review is meant to build upon the 40+ other reviews. They have done a great job detailing both the strong and weak points of the Pimsleur course. Yes, it's repetitive. It teaches formal, stilted Japanese. Neither of the speakers are native Japanese speakers (imitate the man, whose accent is acceptable. The woman has a horrendous Chinese accent. I basically ignore her).

Those who expect Pimsleur to be the perfect self-study course - dream on. I strongly feel it should be the backbone of your studies. But it must, MUST, be used in conjunction with multiple other resources. I've taken the liberty to list them below. I hope it will especially help those who are also studying Japanese as a necessity, not as a hobby.

1. I found "Basic Japanese I," which is a series of videos from the 1980's made by the Japanese Learning Foundation. It's complete with skits and a mini-drama about the adventures of a foreigner in Japan. It magnifies the Pimsleur lessons, as well as teaches you extra material. Not to mention, there are NATIVE speakers who talk at normal speeds and intonations and use "natural" Japanese. These are 30% more detailed and more difficult than Pimsleur ... but without Pimsleur, these would be very frustrating and thus useless. Try to find this oldie-but-goodie (as well as the accompanying text). And be prepared to LAUGH at how very 1980s it is (in a BAD way). I spend 2 days on each lesson (there are 26 total).

2. I use the Genki I textbook. Yes, they are technically for a classroom setting, but I've had no problems. They go into the grammatical points and teach additional vocabulary. It's essential to buy the CD's - the speakers are also native (they sound very much like anime voices, which is amusing), but they speak slowly, more slowly than Pimsleur. That's not a big deal, especially for a beginner like me. It also teaches you a little bit of Kanji, which is great. I highly recommend this series. But be prepared to spend about a week on each chapter (there are 12 total), and to listen to the audio again and again.

3. Learn the kana's: hiragana and katakana. You won't believe how useful this has been to me. Don't even look at any romanji...if you can read the kana's, your pronunciation will be much much better. Kana Pict-O-Graphix (a little booklet with mneumonic devices to help you remember how each kana looks) is ESSENTIAL. And, it's only about $7. Also, buy some workbooks, such as "Let's Learn Hiragana." You need to learn the stroke order, and practice writing. While I'm quite good at writing, reading is more challenging. But hey, at least I can!

4. WATCH JAPANESE TV SHOWS AND MOVIES! LISTEN TO JAPANESE MUSIC! There are resources to find Japanese DVD's with English subtitles. I have those shows in .avi form, and then I extract the audio, and listen to it on my iPod. I don't understand a lot of it, but because I've watched the show a couple of times, I get the basic gist. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I feel like I'm starting to understand some words and grammar, simply by watching and listening. But, many foreigners claim to have learned English by watching movies and listening to music -why couldn't it work the other way?

5. I'm lucky that I have a Japanese roommate, whose first language is Japanese (although her English is pretty decent). She's a good resource, but almost just a supplement. I don't think a language partner is too important, because it's not a natural situation. Living abroad in Japan will be my best lesson.

6. It uses mneumonic devices, as well as a native speaker pronouncing every word, to help you with some basic vocab.

I hope this review hasn't been overly off topic. In about a month, maybe a little less, I feel I'm progressing quite nicely. If I were put on the spot, I'd probably draw a blank and not be able to use any of the Japanese I've learned so far, but that's only natural. So, in closing...it's important to have realistic expectations. Pimsleur, while important, is just a part of really learning Japanese.

This is actually a review for more than one product (Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone)

If you are willing to spend 1-2 years learning a foreign language but have limited time (weekly), lack the ability to immerse yourself in that culture for 1 year (the best way to learn the language), can't attend classes, can expend some budget, and want the process to be challenging yet fun, here's how to do it:

1. Buy a good English-Foreign Language Dictionary.
2. Get the Pimsleur Course for that language. (Check Ebay for used copies)
3. Buy the Rosetta Stone Program for that language. (Costly. Try the online monthly subscription option if your budget is tight.)
4. Get a Basic Grammar Language Book (Barron's highly recommended)

Putting it all together.

1. Listen to the Pimsleur Program during your daily commute-1 lesson per day. (Take the weekend off) DO NOT go to the next lesson until you have a 80% recall of the material. THERE IS NO NEED TO BE AT 100% RECALL before going to the next lesson. (Trust me on this on-avoid my pain)
Using this method, you can get through ALL Pimsleur lessons (Levels I-III)in 12-18 months. THE FOCUS OF PIMSLEUR IS SPEAKING SKILLS.

2. At the same time, use the Rosetta Stone lessons on the weekend, with one 60-90 minute session. Go through the guided exercise followed by the test. THERE IS NO NEED TO GO THROUGH EVERY LESSON (TYPE) for each program. After you buy the product, you'll know what I'm talking about. THE FOCUS OF ROSETTA STONE IS LISTENING SKILLS.

3. Review the basic grammar of the language as you go through the 2 above.

4. Contrary to what Pimsleur says, look up any words for spelling, and likewise, for Rosetta Stone, look up any words for definition you don't understand.

Bottomline: Despite what they advertise, these are not stand-alone programs. Also the secret to recall is anticipation, meaning an 80% success rate for Pimsleur is ok and 70% success rate for Rosetta Stone is okay before moving to the next lesson.

You don't get any extra points for making 100% and this effort can be counter-productive (burn out, boredom, and frustration before finishing the lessons.)

Your goal should be to get through all of the programs and lessons and the experience should be challenging and fun. Afterwards, you can take your trip to that country for the total immersion experience, and after the first 2 weeks, you'll see how well spent your time was with the programs.

After you complete the above, and you are learning one of the romantic languages (German, French, Spanish, Italian) I HIGHLY RECOMMEND using the Michel Thomas programs-which are essentially Verb Conjugation 101 lessons-it is the glue that ties everything together you learned with Pimsleur/Rosetta Stone.

Note: I've used the Japanese, German, and Korean Pimsleur Courses, and Rosetta Stone German and Japanese Programs. I've also spent extensive time in all 3 of those countries. Learn from my mistakes.

Good luck and have fun.

I bought the 4 tape version originally, then purchased this full version and find it a great way to begin a study of the Japanese language. This system does not require that you follow along with a study guide or write things so it is ideal to use during the wasted hours most of us use up while commuting to work. But, this is in no way a complete system. Although you will get a basic knowledge of the language, if you ever hope to become truly proficient in Japanese, you will need to buy several books to study from along with this course. Using the Pimsleur system and a few text books enables you to not only see and learn the correct structure of the language, but also (via the tapes) hear the spoken language in a logical progression of lessons. So, the bottom line is that this is a good starting point, but it must be supplemented with good text books and if at all possible, exposure to actual people fluent in Japanese.

I just finished the set of 30 Japanese lessons. It is a good way to start learning while driving in the car. However, it is not a complete way to learn. Since there is no reading involved, you can easily get caught misunderstanding how to pronounce some words. My Japanese friend has confirmed many times that I was not hearing a word correctly. But it is probably one of the better ways to begin getting immersed in a language.

The Pimsleur series is best for people who do not have the time to fuss around with coloring books and written material. The course is entirely on CD. You don't need to follow along in a book while you study. If you feel comfortable muttering Japanese in public, you can do your lessons while walking, biking, jogging, taking the subway, driving, or skiing -- to work, from work, on your lunch break, in line at the supermarket, you name it...

It is the most comprehensive oral program out there, so if you want a comprehensive program, you should start and end with pimsleur. Don't buy some low-end learning product and then try to jump into Pimsleur II because the other product stopped; start with Pimsleur from the beginning. Each of the 45 CDs in the entire series builds upon the previous ones and reviews previous material.

Drawback: yeah it's expensive. It's because no program can compete with them in completeness and ease-of-use. Other programs you actually have to set aside time to do lessons. Pimsleur goes faster this way, but if you don't have time for that, you just plug and play. If you're comfortable, you move on to the next CD. If not, you stay where you are. It's as easy as that. Of course, if you want to learn a few tourist phrases and be done, then find something cheaper. they're out there. Japanese learning software for your computer is probably the cheapest decent route.

Drawback: eventually you're going to need to know how to read and write. Pimsleur does not teach this. HOWEVER, having the oral background Pimsleur gives you allows you to pick up the written parts much easier. So drop about $20 on a few hiragana and katakana workbooks and some kanji flashcards, and zip through them. You'll find that with the Pimsleur background, you'll be able to easily make sense of what would have otherwise been gobble-dee-gook if you had started out trying to write as well.

I know it's expensive - buy the 4 lesson cd/cassette starter set first. You will be buying the beginning 4 lessons twice but you'll know exactly what your getting.

I have 4 other programs: Living Language, Rosseta Stone,
Instant Immersion, Transparent Language - as well as a dozen books on learning Japanese - trying to learn from them has been torture compared to Pimsleur.

Japanese (and Korean & Chinese) is twice as hard to learn because the are written with characters instead of the alphabet.
You can't sound out words. I recommend you pickup a few Romanji books - which are Japanese words written alphabetically - a good one is "Japanese in 10 minutes a day".

The biggest advantage of the Pimsleur system is that you will learn to understand Japanese spoken at full speed. Other methods have you build a vocabulary then go on to grammar so you memorize and memorize and then you are asked a question in normal everyday Japanese and are lost - after all, do you speak "proper" English all the time?

I love the fact that I didn't have to look at one page of a book. I also love the tutoring style that makes you converse with a Japanese person in each lesson. They don't really lecture you, you just answer and ask in Japanese and learn by repeating. I listened to each lesson twice (once in the evening to learn, again the next morning to review), and it seemed very effective. There is enough practice of each new thing, but sometimes I didn't get enough time to think and respond before the answer came from the teachers. I can see how it can be a little fast, especially for people who only speak English. I am a native speaker of Korean, and it helped me very much that there are many similarities between Korean grammar and Japanese grammar.

In general, the content is useful for someone who is preparing to travel in Japan. I am going to continue with the next level.

My girlfriend is Japanese, and I before I went to Japan with her to meet and stay with her family, I bought and completed Pimsleur Japanese I. Everyone in Japan was stunned at how good my pronunciation was, and how good my vocabulary was. Although my vocabulary was not large and I was by no means fluent, I was totally confident in what I knew. The method is excellent, and really works. No other do-it-yourself course even comes close. As soon as you complete the first few lessons, it`s clear right away that this method is very effective. In addition to giving you practical language skills, the program serves to build your confidence.

I've heard many language tapes and CDs and the Pimsleur is the best of them. While this is the best of the lot, and I recommend it, it's greatest weakness is the lack of scripts for the CDs. It is easy for a non-native speaker to not hear a whispered "i" or "u." At times it is difficult to hear an elongated vowel or the extra beat of a double consonant. Also, "t" and "d" can be mistaken for each other when one only has an auditory cue. If there was a script, one could see the spelling of the word and be better able to follow along with what the speaker is saying (it would help with review, too). Luckily my significant other is Japanese and when she hears me practicing she sometimes says something like "it's not "de" it's "te."

I recommend you get a good English-Japanese dictionary to use as a new word is introduced to reduce the likelhood of mishearing the Native speaker and saying a word incorrectly.

With the above caveat and potential solution in mind, I believe listening to the CDs can be of great benefit to learning basic Japanese.

I finally completed Pimsleur's Japanese I and am working on II. I found PJI to be the best foundation for the Japanese language to learn from! I checked out other teach-yourself's from the local library and none of them were able to teach me nearly as much. The Pimsleur approach truly is an effective one. Granted, you do need additional sources to study from. Kanji... Kana... none of these are learned of course. I learned the kana before picking up PJI and would read as much as possible from websites like Yahoo.co.jp, Apple.co.jp, etc. I now have a penpal that I correspond with and am able to comprehend a decent portion of her letters, most of the structure being taught from PJI. I also often chat online with Japanese natives, and although it is through text and not speech, they still comment that "I am very skilled." I can't wait to see what PJII brings. Thank you Dr. Pimsleur!