Mastering Japanese, Level 1 (Ten CDs + Book) [Audiobook] [Paperback]

Foreign Service Language Institute (Author), Eleanor Harz Jorden (Author), Hamako Ito Chaplin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0812078659 | ISBN-13: 978-0812078657 | Publication Date: March 13, 1992

These intensive programs are complete language immersion courses, and were created by the federal agency that trains U.S. government personnel in foreign language proficiency. They start with grammar and vocabulary basics, then bring students to proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening comprehension. This program contains a grammar textbook plus ten compact discs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 409 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series (March 13, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812078659
• ISBN-13: 978-0812078657
• Product Dimensions: 13.9 x 12.1 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,088,753 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exellent for the serious student, April 9, 2005

By 

D. DeFinis (Guam) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering Japanese, Level 1 (Ten CDs + Book) (Paperback)

The cover sais hear it, speak it, write it, read it.
the write it, read it part is in another companion text
book. ISBN # 0-300-01913-0 Reading Japanese (Yale Language
Series)that is to be studied after mastering the 10th
lesson in "Beginning Japanese" the text book included
in this set.

This set is for those who wish to become fluent not for those
trying to just get by. After having bought many Japanese language
learning aids through the years I have always gone back to this
set for its extensive practice drills and no nonsense approach.
The examples in the other reviews are correct in stating that
some of the material is old fashioned, it is also true that in
japan the old fashioned way of speaking is also the more formal
polite way. I will never buy an ashtray or cigarettes in japan
but its not hard to substitute a noun, those exercises are only
there to teach the pattern. Don't be discouraged.
This is college level learning if you are serious.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Waste you Money!, July 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Mastering Japanese, Level 1 (Ten CDs + Book) (Paperback)

I brought this a while back to help me learn Japanese. I expected that the expensive price meant a quality language course. I was completely dissapointed. The package says that the course will enable you to speak, READ, and WRITE the language (emphasis mine). However the book uses only roomaji (the Roman alphabet) and is concerned only with speaking. The Hiragana and Katakana(Japanese phonetic alphabets) aren't that hard to learn. Why doesn't the book teach them? Moreover, being copywrited in the early 60's, the book is completely out of date. My Japanese friends informed me that using the word "jibiki" for dictionary (which the book teaches) sounds horribly old fashion and archaic. The dialogues are really stupid (For example we get to learn how to say "Boy, these are pretty ashtrays!") and the drills are mindless substitution drills as opposed to actual comprehension. Grammar is explained rather poorly. Finally the vocabulary introduced is insufficient and rather poor. For example we get to learn about buying cigarettes and ashtrays, but there is no vocabulary for the college student, or vocabulary dealing with business.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Masticating Japanese, June 15, 1998

By 

Jonathan Chambers. [e-mail] (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering Japanese, Level 1 (Ten CDs + Book) (Paperback)

One wonders how it would be possible to master reading and writing Japanese, when the accompanying booklet, "Beginning Japanese Part I" is typeset only in archaic romaji, circa 1963. I thought that it might be possible for the audio CDs to redeem the package, but I found myself listening, instead, to what sounded like a drugged-out school ma'am introducing drills in a listless, uninspiring tone. Whatsmore, these may be CDs, but they're poorly reproduced from ancient low-fi cassettes. You can actually hear the reverse side of the original tapes mumbling away in the background.

Despite being packaged in a deceivingly slick plastic case, "Mastering Japanese" looks and sounds like a relic from the Pacific War. This, incidentally, might shed some light onto the packaging's claim: "The same course used by the U.S. government to train diplomatic personnel."

I'm sure I'll find some use for the CDs, but this is by no means the modern kana-ised product I'd envisaged. The "Power Japanese" CD-ROM would be a much wiser investment in language learning for around the same price.