Customer Reviews

Japanese (Pimsleur Instant Conversation)

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

 

 

All my life I looked for course after course to help me learn a language. I tried so many books and audio tapes. Some were good but never taught fluency. Finally I was looking on amazon when I came across pimsleur language courses. I decided to give it a try, when It came. I quickly put the cd into the player, and after the first few lessons. I could'nt believe that I actually did'nt even really need to think about what I was saying in japanese. It just seem to come out. I was so thrilled. Someday I hope to buy the real courses but for right now this is all I can afford. I really wish pimsleur would make instant coversation 2 or something. I really think their company would make more money that way, because more people would buy it...

I became familiar with the Pimsleur approach with the Quick & Simple Cantonese Chinese 4-CD set. Each lesson is 1/2 hour, and I go through the lessons on my commute. Because I can't devote my full attention to the lesson, I find myself listening to the same one about four times before I've mastered it and can go on to the next lesson. It's a nice way to pass the time and learn something useful.

I learned Japanese in school and then later in Japan. I purchased a used copy of this as a loaner set for some of my friends who are interested in the language and culture of Japan. This 8-CD set will give you roughly a college semester's worth of speaking ability, but be forwarned that you'll miss out on reading and writing. It will be enough to ask basic questions, but you won't be able to carry on a conversation. For the consumer, this set is basically useful as a sort of preparatory course for someone about to visit Japan. For Pimsleur Language Programs (who sells these courses), it's useful to get you to buy the much more expensive "Comprehensive" level products (16-CD's).

However, listening to this particular set, I thought some of the phrases were a little odd. For example, the Japanese people themselves wouldn't say, "En wo motte imasu ka?" ("Do you have any yen?") They would instead say "okane" (money) in place of "en" (yen). So while it is a conversation course, it isn't quite as colloquial as it could be, possibly a side effect of the Pimsleur method of learning the most in the least amount of time.

When I loaned my copy to a friend, I found that he misprounced simple words, saying things such as "sumimasem" instead of "sumimasen" (meaning, "excuse me"). Because his inflection was nearly perfect, it was extremely easy to tell what he was trying to say, but for the student this is a potentially embarrassing situation. I think it's a result of not being able to see a person's lips move or have the perfect audio fidelity of speaking to someone face to face.

All caveats aside, Pimsleur makes learning a new language easy and fun. This is a great way to learn Japanese quickly if you don't want to spend the time and effort to learn it in college. You'll need a little fine-tuning when you get to Japan, but that's normal for any course not taught by a native speaker. Of course, the best way to learn the language is to live in Japan, but not everyone has that luxury, and you'll probably need a little head start on the language even if you do!

I purchased the set after trying to learn Japanese with another product. The other product was teaching me words for "connecting train" and "first-class train car," but never how to use them in a sentence or with proper grammar. The Pimsleur set is a million times better. At the end of the first Pimsleur lesson (in which I heard no words that were in the other set) I could easily understand what they were saying. Contrary to the instructions, though, I've made a point of listening to the lesson twice...once in the morning going to work and once in the afternoon driving home. Sometimes (like if I skip a day) I'll listen to it once more the next day to refresh, but all the refreshing that is really needed is taken care of during the next lesson. I love the way they theme each lesson and build upon word groups naturally. "Excuse me. Nice day, isn't it?" becomes "Excuse me. Good afternoon." and then "Excuse me. Good afternoon, Miss Tanaka." and "Good afternoon, Miss Tanaka. What will you drink?" I really can't emphasize what a great product this is! I just wish the further lessons weren't so expensive!

The Pimsleur method of instruction is SO rewarding - and SO frustrating! It really does work to efficiently and quickly teach you the material. Unfortunately, it teaches you so LITTLE material that you will be left with a vocabulary of around 50 words and a series of set phrases that won't get you far in any conversation where the Japanese speaker hasn't memorized the same responses.
Here's what it DOES WELL:
1. It teaches you Japanese pronunciation, intonation, and rudimentary sentance structure.
2. It does this in a way that truly cements the little you've learned in your memory.
3. It provides some very brief comments on Japanese customs and courtesies.
4. You will be able to greet people in Japanese and communicate that you do not speak the language well. Though other material is covered, the limited vocabulary and set sentences will keep you from doing more than, say, observing that the weather is nice and nodding helplessly at the reply.

This 8 disk set is fairly reasonably priced on Amazon and is a good adjunct for a more comprehensive written text or the phrase book you intend to take on your trip (because it gives you pronunciation practice). The more expensive "full" course only adds a few disks and, by the nature of the method, little vocabulary and no grammar. I only wish this effective learning method included more material at a more reasonable price - I would rate it more highly in that case

Addendum: Now that I have made a trip to Japan, I think less time spent on asking other people to drink or eat with you and more time spent talking to taxi drivers would have been more useful - phrases such as "near.." and "stop here" would have helped a lot. Of course, this is not a "Japanese for travelers" course, and these lessons are but the beginning of a longer (and much more expensive) course in Japanese in general.

I've noticed most of these reviews don't refer to this specific set, so I thought I'd throw in my hat.

I've tried other methods of learning Japanese including school, self-study, immersion, and Rosetta Stone. I found this Instant Conversation program the absolute best method to learn some Japanese immediately and permanently. I put all the cds on my iPod and listened to this set in my free time. I was living in Japan at the time, so it had two results;

1. When I spoke to Japanese people I would blow their minds how fluent and coherent I sounded. This usually got some friendly reactions, either they would get a look of surprise and sometimes literally applaud my effort, or they would assume I was completely fluent and I'd either have to tell them I don't know Japanese or just let them go on thinking that.

2. Because the program is so short, and so specific, you will not learn much by way of "conversation". I absolutely loved the program and wanted to go on learning but it stops short of making you much more than an impressive short-term visitor.

This is one of the lowest priced items Pimsleur sells, and their larger sets are amazingly expensive in my opinion, but perhaps worth it, because this program is essentially a teaser to further learning.

If you plan on visiting Japan, and want to spend a little money preparing a few weeks in advance, this is a perfect program. If you want to become fluent, or at least knowledgable enough to converse beyond one or two sentences of any given subject. I would suggest you either go for the comprehensive program (If the cost isn't barring you) or find another brand.

One bit of advice, the program suggests you do not follow along with the lessons on paper because you might start pronouncing the words with an American accent from reading the romanized version of the language. While I agree that romaji can inspire mispronounciations, I highly reccomend you independently learn Katakana and Hiragana if you're going to Japan. If you do this, and learn Kanji when you come across it, your ability to read will further your understanding of the language, and you will find yourself much more able to get around, (especially if you know Katakana, all the adopted words the Japanese use will become apparent to you, and nearly everything you read in Katakana will be English transliterated, that's like adding hundreds of words to your Japanese vocabulary simply by learning one of their alphabets.)

I have purchased many books and programs to learn japanese and by far, pimsleur is the best. I tried to learn with other great programs like rosetta stone but was unable to really learn anything but only after one or two lessons with pimsleur I was able to remember and speak some basic japanese to my japanese wife and she was very impressed. This product is worth every penny. I only wish I had bought it sooner.

This product is meant for a single male trying to pick-up a Japanese female. Unless this is your intent when visiting Japan, don't bother with this product. I actually found it pretty disgusting.