Japanese (Pimsleur Instant Conversation) [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK] (Audio CD)

by Pimsleur (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Speak Japanese Instantly!

The Pimsleur® Method provides the most effective language -- learning program ever developed. More than one million people every year use it to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily -- without books, written exercises, or drills.

Easy and Practical

This package contains sixteen lessons that will get you started speaking today! Simply listen, follow the instructions, and then respond out loud, just as you would in an actual conversation. Complete one lesson each day, in consecutive order. When you've finished this program, you'll be thrilled to realize you can hold a real conversation in Japanese!

Go beyond the 8-lesson Quick & Simple -- and double your language skills

Simple, step-by-step instruction

No classes to attend -- learn at your own convenience and pace

No books, written exercises, or memory drills

Listen-and-respond method lets you self-test your mastery

Increase Your Language Skills

Learning a new language is a tremendously rewarding achievement. Once you see how much you've learned in these sixteen lessons, we think you'll want to continue with the complete 30-lesson Pimsleur® Program. To help you, we'll give you a rebate of $150.00 when you purchase the Level I Japanese Comprehensive Program. Please see bottom of package for details.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; Abridged edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743525809
• ISBN-13: 978-0743525800
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.8 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #83,604 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never thought I could Learn a language!, February 2, 2003

By A Customer

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...

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From someone familiar w/ Japanese and the Pimsleur approach, September 30, 2004

By	Derek Hofmann "traal" (Mesa, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick and simple... but also so easy to remember!, December 18, 2003

By	"tafwg" (Ocala, FL USA) - See all my reviews

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!