Teach Yourself Japanese [Paperback]

Helen Ballhatchet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 2004 | ISBN-10: 034087080X | ISBN-13: 978-0340870808 | Edition: 3rd

This title is for anyone who wants to progress quickly from the basics to understanding and speaking with confidence. Key structures and vocabulary are introduced in 22 thematic units which deal with everyday situations. The emphasis throughout is on communication, with important language structures introduced through dialogues on the accompanying recording. The dialogues feature authentic Japanese as it is spoken on the street. The book uses a system of romanised script usually called the modified Hepburn system which is better suited to English speakers than the "kunrei" system officially used in Japan. Culture notes should help you to appreciate the culture of Japan and avoid causing offence during a visit.

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McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Teach Yourself; 3rd edition (January 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034087080X
• ISBN-13: 978-0340870808
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,185,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply.... WOW, January 20, 2006

By 

a Traveler "David" (Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Yourself Japanese Complete Course Package (Book + CD pack) (Teach Yourself (McGraw-Hill)) (Paperback)

**note, amazon sometimes recycles user reviews to other editions of a book. This review is intended for the newer edition with the red fan on the front-- but I have seen it posted on an older edition that is black with several small pictures of japan on the cover like mt. fuji, sushi, etc. I have never seen or used this book. It might be ok, or it might not--thats why i DIDNT review it**

I ordered some new books to help teach my visiting mom japanese, and preview texts for the beginners Japanese courses I am planning and this one stood out as a must have for students of Japanese. Especially Students who are working on their own.

I do not recomend this book to an absolute beginner who has no native speaker/or experienced learner to consult because while the book does start with the basics, it moves a little quickly.

What sets this book apart is that it uses both a dialouge/contextual format to put the target vocab/structures in a natural context, and a standard grammatical annalysis where you learn how to change the various parts of a sentence pattern to manipulate meaning in an academic way.

I like both the Berlitz Essentials Book, and the Hugo's Japanese in 3 months--

Berlitz while using dialouges that sound semi-natural and rather creative review activities, by the end of the book the student can express things in the past/pres/future and hypothetical but is not grammitacally equipped to understand all the other shades of meaning that japanese has that don't fit so nicely into english categories of expression that japanese speakers just use naturally.-- basically japanse people will understand you just fine, but you might not be able to understand them.

Hugo on the other hand has some good grammar, but it's useage and word choice can at times be too formal, or stilted. While near the end there is a small section on natural useage and abbreviated forms, they are for the most part ignored so that the new grammar patterns can be discussed clearly without digressing into all the possible forms one thought could take depending on whether it is a man/woman at work or with friends talking carefully, or very casually. It can be a very hard book to work through if you are not motivated to study grammar, even though it is a gem because it has no interesting characters to follow (Mr. Brown has no personality).

Teach yourself on the otherhand presents the most natural Japanese I have come across in any textbook. My friends and wife actually sound like this. It utilizes the device of following a circle of people who are different ages/social status so that a wide range of politeness levels can be demonstrated in believable situations. Also, these characters aren't perfect, they don't always say nice things, or like everything. The sister/brother dialouge at the end of the book is so funny because the she cons the bro into cleaning the house, and you get to hear him rant about how horrible a person his sister is.

Another point is, it clearly points out how in daily conversation certain forms are rarely used like they are in a textbook but are expressed in other ways. This is important because it trains the listener to hearing these alternative forms, and prepares them for discussions with real native speakers. It also uses some slang-ish vocabulary that is often not mentioned in textbooks like dekai, alongside its more well known alternative Okii. It teaches both, not just one or the other, which is the best way.

There is even a short segment on how to form/identify some basic insults. Nothing gratuitous, or out of proportion. But it was refreshing to see in a book.

And importantly, the excercises in the book are actually interesting. they have you role play interesting scenarios like you are a lazy student, and explain to your mom how you got/made others do your errands/chores for you by using the appropriate verb forms. --I loved the question where the mom asks you if you bought her cigarettes yet, and you are told to say that you made your little brother go and get them.... the little touches of humor make the book fun to work through.

As to possible criticisms, yes this book moves a little quickly because it introduces several new grammar points at once, and then discusses them afterwards, but a new student should work through something else first, or find a native speaker to help them work through it.-- if they expect to learn Japanese with only one book, their expectations need to be adjusted.

two- this book only has about 20-30�@kanji in it, and they are mostly used for art. This book is about conversational Japanese. You can learn some complex grammar here, but don't look for reading practice-- you will be dissapointed. If Kanji is that important to you-- transfer the dialouges and example sentences in to Kanji-- its a great chance to practice.

-- as for the cd version. Good, but basic. It goes through the dialouges with native pronunciation, though I think at a little less than normal speed. The best part is that at the end of each chapters track-- there is a little Pimsleur-esque review section where you are asked to take part in a role play by responding to questions based on certain audio prompts, or answer questions in the positive/negative and conjugate verbs into differnt forms. Honestly, I wish there were more of these types of questions on the CDs, but they are good. And at 20 dollars for the set vs 900 for pimsleur, its a good deal.

The only student who may not want this book is someone planning on living in the kansai area, where the spoken japanese is pretty different from that here in the Tokyo area. the language in this book is so Natural to the tokyo area (not just standard japanese which is based on the tokyo dialect) but actually employs contractions, vocabulary, and grammatical variations that would mark you as being from the Kantou area. But, it would really have to be important to you, otherwise... buy this book already!!!!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great self learning tool, August 14, 2002

By 

Jenna Holloway (Ithaca , NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teach Yourself Japanese (Teach Yourself¹complete Courses) (Paperback)

Before I got this book as a birthday present, I praised my Essential Berlitz Japanese book. Then once I got this book I just about threw that thing out the window. Teach Yourself Japanese is very complete guide in understanding Japanese. It explains even the hardest things to explain - like 'n and koto very well. I have worn my book out so much that the pages started comming out so Im here to buy another. This has been the most valuable book to me in all of my study of the Japanese language. The only thing I would say is that I would not reccomend this book for very beginning learners of Japanese because the first couple of lessons are kind of lacking on the basics, but if you are seasoned, get this book. Its excellent.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Teach Yourself Series Scores... But Not Quite With Japanese, February 11, 2002

By 

Nathan (Santee, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Yourself Japanese Complete Course (Audio Cassette) (TY: Complete Courses) (Audio Cassette)

I should start off by saying that I have had previous experience with the Teach Yourself series as have used Teach Yourself: Beginner's German, German, and French. The book scores with German and as long as you have the tapes, with french too. But the japanese book is lacking... The lessons are well-thought out and extremely easy to follow, but there is absolutely no approach to written japanese. This is the one flaw of Teach Yourself: Japanese.