FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ALREADY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS:
If you're buying the book I and are thinking wheter or not to buy this CDs, buy it! They might look expensive, but you're not going to learn how to pronounce correctly unless you hear them. Even if you can read all the hiragana sounds, that doesn't mean you can render the printed kana in the textbook correctly. I have had a lot of surprises comparing the kana writing with actual japanese speech. For example, "gakusei" is actually pronounced more like "gaksee". A lot of times, when you expect a final "u", that "u" is almost erased from real spoken language. And the biggest surprise to me, was to discover that all "g" sounds (ga, gi, gu, ge, go) become more nasal, very close to "n", when they are in the middle of a word. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time trying to imagine the correct pronunciation and accent without the CDs! Some people complain that the speech is too fast, but I don't think so... perhaps when giving telephone numbers. Just concentrate and let the Force flow...
By the way, although the printed textbook says that only the opening dialogues, key sentences and short dialogues are recorded in the CDs, actually all the vocabulary words are there, too, and spoken slower than the same words in the dialogues, so you can better grasp all the sounds. About the presentation, I thought the CDs would be placed in a flimsy plastic thing inside the box, but in fact they were inside a sturdy 4-CD jewel case (like that of Pink Floyd's The Wall), occuping, of course, only 2 of the 4 maximum spaces. You can carry this case with you along with your discman or put it with you other CDs.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NOT SURE ABOUT WHAT THIS IS:
Yes, these CDs are only a complement to the textbook and not an independent course on their own. For a good audio-only Japanese course, try Pimsleur's.
These CDs are part of the famous JFBP series, which is almost the official instrument for studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Tests (administered by the Monbusho every year).
If you don't have the corresponding textbook and are considering these CDs, buy the textbook. Book I has two versions: The romanized version (this is, representing japanese sounds with English letters) and the kana version (representing japanese sounds with a small set of simple syllabic symbols, very different from chinese characters, which represent ideas and thus are far more complex.) I have the kana version of the Book I, and using these CDs along with the book gives you a double input of information. Very effective. The romanized version must be far easier, but it can mislead you to pronounce words as if they were English. To be able to read the kana version, first learn the kana anywhere else. Perhaps the kana workbook from the JFBP series (along with the tapes), or perhaps a downloadable PC program like Declan's will do the job.
When you've finished all three books (and CDs), you could be able to pass JLPT Level 3! (4 is the lowest, 1 is the highest) If you want to make it to Level 1, go to Japan and read and talk a lot.
FOR ALL OF YOU:
Japanese people talk very fast, and this fact is reflected in these recordings. However, the reading parts and the vocabulary parts are slowed down a lot so you can get your feet on the ground. Just concentrate and you'll identify all the sounds! It's not much faster than Spanish, you know?
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Top reviews from other countries
Fred Sonnenschein
Gehirngerechtes Japanischlernen ist angesagt
Reviewed in Germany on December 3, 2015
Miss K L Clayton
Most likely a newer version now but it was great!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2013a.
Bought sec ond hand good condition and combined with lamguage class covers all i
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2017
