Customer Reviews

Jimi's Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method to Learn Japanese (Hiragana)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Grade 3-6? This book's age range should be from 2 to 100. I am not kidding. This book is made for a kid but intelligent enough for an adult. "Jimi's Book of Japanese" is simply unbelievable.

I wouldn't normally take the time to write a glowing review about a book I purchased on a whim, however, this book is far more than I ever expected.

In fact, this book's unique "Triple Bubble Learning System" is intuitive in its approach and creative in its execution--simply brilliant. This is the only book I've found that includes reading, writing, and pronunciation in a uniform manner--completely intuitive approach that works effectively. This system allowed me as an adult to grasp Japanese kana much more quickly than I normally would.

Just the other day, I showed this book to my Japanese Sensei and even she remarked how "motivating" the books content is. Yes, in this case the marketing spin is really true: "Jimi's Book of Japanese" IS a "Motivating Method to Learn Japanese"

This book is for children. If you are just learning Japanese where do you think your skill level is at? Its at the level of a Japanese child learning Hiragana. A lot of Japanese children's books are written in Hiragana so this is where you start.

This book is off the hook as being totally Japanese in illustration. If you know how to pronounce your Japanese vowels then this is book to use to begin learning to read and write. Remember this, with any natural process of language learning you first learn to speak and then to read.

So, if you don't have any experience in speaking Japanese don't start with this book but I do recommend that you go ahead and buy it because you will want it in your "tool kit" eventually.

Grade 3-6? This book's age range should be from 2 to 100. I am not kidding. This book is made for a kid but intelligent enough for an adult. "Jimi's Book of Japanese" is simply unbelievable.

I wouldn't normally take the time to write a glowing review about a book I purchased on a whim, however, this book is far more than I ever expected.

In fact, this book's unique "Triple Bubble Learning System" is intuitive in its approach and creative in its execution--simply brilliant. This is the only book I've found that includes reading, writing, and pronunciation in a uniformed manner. This allowed me as an adult to grasp Japanese kana much more quickly than I normally would.

Just the other day, I showed this book to my Japanese Sensei and even she remarked how "motivating" the books content is. Yes, in this case the marketing spin is really true: "Jimi's Book of Japanese" IS a "Motivating Method to Learn Japanese"

This book is a really fun way to get started with Japanese. Hiragana is the first 'alphabet' that Japanese children learn. As well as showing you how to write the kana the book also provides you with a vocabulary to learn, these Japanese words are a great way to test what you have learnt providing you write them out on another piece of paper, so you can't see the 'romaji'. I am tempted to go through the book and cover up the 'romaji' so I don't become dependant on it, but I won't be able to do that until I know the sounds.

I think the best bit is the monkey's face whose mouth shape changes for each kana, giving you a small hint at the pronounciation.

The illustration has a very Japanese style to it and I guess this makes you feel as though you are reading a Japanese book. When you read through some Manga or the instructions for your dvd player and you can spot letters that you know, instead of just staring at something that looks like just a load of random squiggles, it is very exciting. This is what motivates me to keep going, although I do aspire to read more than just instruction booklets and Manga! I think Japanese children's books are probably the next step for me, but this book is definetely one of the best ways to get started with hiragana. Lots of fun!

Conclusion:- Great way to get started! Five stars!

Gotta say, I bought it for the monkey! The book is fun, and easy to learn from. From other reviews, I was under the impression that I would learn to "speak" Japanese better...not so much - but that's not the book's fault! I love the applications at the bottoms of every page, and at the end of the book. The numbers detailing how to write are impressive. It's a fun and simple way to start learning Japanese. Get it!

I don't think this book can be the one and only source for learning Japanese, but this is a great book for learning how to write kana properly. Big visuals showing every stroke clearly are very helpful - kanas look simple but writing them in the right proportion is not that easy. This book helps you start the learning process of writing Japanese characters in the right direction while acquiring practical vocabularies. And, of course, characters are cute and fun!

I bought this book for my anime-nut six-year-old, who wants to learn Japanese. The book uses an innovative, step-by-step system and cute drawings and examples that zero in on exactly what a kid would want to learn first (although I think it would be a good book for adults, too.) I only wish it came with a companion CD included. There's a limit to how well you can learn unfamiliar pronunciations from drawings of a cartoon monkey.

After hearing inumerable Japanese phrases and other assorted Asian utterances--most likely from the hours my 9-year old niece spends watching Samurai Jack and Avatar--I bought her the first two books in the Jimi's Book of Japanese series in an attempt to at least encourage her to further her foreign language efforts in a meaningful way.

These books are great. After a brief period of time she's mastered both basic syllable sets of modern Japanese. I am happy to say I would recommend both books to anyone who is looking to motivate their kids/relatives to expand their intellectual horizons.

JIMI'S BOOK OF JAPANESE: A Motivating Method to Learn Japanese (Hiragana) by Peter X. Takahashi, illus. by Yumie Toka, (Takahashi & Black, ISBN 0972324704 16.95, 72pp.) is Terrific!

I enjoyed reading this book.
I thought that it was exceptionally well illustrated.
I learned some more about the Japanese culture by reading the notes on each page.
If I hadn't already known hiragana and katakana and was trying to learn, I would have definately used this book and its katakana companion to help.
And, Jimi's face doing the pronunciations on each page is so cute!
I recommend this book for kids or adults who haven't learned any hiragana yet. I think that this would be an excellent way to learn hiragana.

I don't know what I like best about this book -- the color palette that is the best eye candy I have seen in a book in a long time, the simple and easy-to-mimic instructions, or the cool characters Jimi, Roboto-san and Akiko. I think the characters are strong enough that they will eventually show up in some kind of interactive games or maybe tv show. I think this is part of a series--it definitely seems like that.

Every single friend of mine who has seen the book at my house has picked it up to flip through it, and some of them don't even read for fun. I gave the book to my little neighbor to take to her school and she came back and asked me for another copy for their library, so I guess kids really like it too. And kids always want to discover new cool things, so I guess this fits that bill.

I would definitely recommend this book as a fun learning book for kids, but also as a cool, unique -- and cheap -- gift for older kids and grownups. I can't wait to see the next color explosion from this illustrator! and hopefully, some more fun characters to Jimi's family of friends.