Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Forget about other Japanese books and audio CDs to enhance your understanding of this language. I was captivated by the author's first offering in hiragana and I have to say that this sequel is just as compelling and effective. The graphics are big and easy to remember and there are some useful facts in there to allow us to understand just a bit more about Japan. What I find even more useful is a summary of Japanese words towards the end of the book, which we could use to give us small tests to gauge our own improvements. Rest assured, answers are provided in the beginning of the book. Anyhow, the old saying about never judge a book by its cover is very true. Whilst it is a very small book, it is very powerful and useful, indeed. Highly recommended.

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 two books in the Jimi's Book of Japanese series (this being the second) 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 (Katakana) by Peter X. Takahashi, illus. by Yumie Toka, (Takahashi & Black, ISBN 0972324720 16.95, 76pp.)

I discovered this book since it gets great reviews (and keeps popping up as a recommendation), so I decided to give it a shot since my Katakana reading isn't so great (I can read Hiragana pretty quickly, but for whatever reason my Katakana just won't "stick"). The look of the book is irresistible, since it's filled with fantastic color graphics that really have a Japanese kawaii look to them, featuring the little monkey Jimi. Each page is filled with a giant Katakana character (big enough so you can trace it with your finger to help remember it), along with several little cartoons of different vocabulary words. Most pages also have a little paragraph that explains various culture references, too (I wish all of the pages had these!). There are lots of other neat touches, like color-coding the pages for the "K" sounds, "T" sounds, and so on. I don't think it's a miracle book, though - I think it needs to explain more about how English words are broken down into Katakana, but it's still a great presentation of the characters anyway! In fact, it's so colorful and cool that I think I might buy the accompanying Hiragana book just to have in my library.

This is a fantastic visual practice folder on how to pronounce, write and learn the Katakana letters in the japanese language.

I am one of the fortunate few to find an early release edition of Jimi's Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method to Learn Japanese (katakana). I have to say that this book is a publishing rarity: a sequel that is every bit as good as the original.

So many sequels come off like a side dish nobody ordered. But "Jimi's Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method to Learn Japanese(Katakana)" is just as fresh and entertaining as the original. The lessons pick up seamlessly from where the first book left off, and don't feel forced at all. There are so many wonderful illustrations and new characters like Dizzy Fugu. Plus, the bonus material is simply genius!

After all, any book that has monkeys, robots, and assorted other creatures teaching you how to speak Japanese has to be cool--and this book certainly is. Perfect for the Japanophile in me and perfect for the Japanophile in you. I give the book five stars!!! Thank you, Yumie Toka!!!! Thank you, Peter X.!!!!

This book is cute and so fun. I love the bold graphic look and the bright colors. It is a great read even if you are not trying to memorize the Katakana characters because it has the cute little manga friends and little bits of vocabulary and cultural info. The pictures and stories help you to memorize the lessons.

Each page is dedicated to a different Kana and has pronunciation guides, vocabulary examples and writing guidelines. Once you have mastered the Kana then you can go on to a more advanced book with more worksheets and writing/vocab lessons such as "Let's Learn Katakana: Second Book of Basic Japanese Writing" if you want.

I actually bought this book for a friend of my eldest daughter, who is a Manga fiend and loves Japanese. But I actually ended up keeping the book and I have been studying it with my five year old daughter. We have great fun practicing writing the "kani," and she looks forward to it. It's a great book with fun illustrations and nice colors. It is just right for beginning a study of Japanese characters.

This first "JIMI'S BOOK OF JAPANESE - HIRAGANA" is excellent. It makes learning a new language fun. "Jimi's book of Japanese - Katakana" is a definitely must have if you have the passion to learn Japanese.

jimi's book of japanese: a motivating method to learning japanese (katakana) is a easy and fun way to learn one of the japanese alphabets.

It's very easy to learn the kana strokes with Jimi's BIG diagrams! I would have liked more instructional material to justify the cost.