Japanese For Busy People II [Paperback]

Japanese for Busy People is an ever famous book series for learners of Japanese language. It's a must have for new learners of Japanese language.

I've followed through on all three versions of this series using the workbook and support books and recommend them as your central tool for self-learning the language. You should always include additional resources to augment your learning. The books are focused on building a grammatical and contextual foundation that, once established, will allow you to continually add to on your own.

A key piece of advise: Make sure to continually review, review, review. Go back to the beginning of the books and start over to further reinforce the concepts as some don't always come up again. Also, after these books, your reading will advance further than your listening and, of course, your speaking. To offset, over-index on the CD tracks and augment using a Japanese-on-tape resource (i.e. Pimselur). In addition, try to watch JP movies, shows, etc as most resources teach more formal Japanese, however the average Japanese conversation is less formal and more nuanced.

Okay, so this book is used at on of the colleges that the military has in Japan. I know a lot of people complain that it is incomplete, but if they read the intro, they would notice that it is intended for use with instruction. Also, I hate to say it, but a lot of people learning Japanese have no reason to be. Sorry, but I live in Japan, and honestly, for the people out there who are learning this language just so they can understand their cartoons, this isn't the book for you. You need something that teaches less formal Japanese. Not to mention the fact that the cartoons aren't as heavily edited as you think they are. Trust me, I know. Additionally, for the people that want to complain about the lack of Kanji in this book, I must remind you that this is Japanese for Busy People is supposed to be used in conjugation with a Kana book. Now, I'm not saying that you'll find the Kanji you want in there, but as a jumping off point for learning Japanese, well, you're only supposed to have a small grasp on the language. You can't expect on book to teach it all. You didn't expect that in high school, and just because you're older isn't a good reason to expect that now. If you do want to learn Kanji, may I suggest A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese (ISBN 0-8048-0226-2). The thing is this: no one in Japan is born knowing all the Kanji signs or all of the words. They had to go through and learn how to say them and how to write them in Hiragana and Katakana before they could learn Kanji, and that wasn't until school. Before that, people learned what they learned, and hopefully it was enough. Expecting to be as literate in Japanese as a Japanese person the same age you are is is ludicous. That's like thinking you can go to Mexico for five minutes and know all the Spanish you need to. Before anyone goes off complaining, though, it should be noted that you only need half of the book to just barely get by in Japan. No, this is not because a lot of people speak English. As a matter of fact, you're really lucky to find someone who can outside of Tokyo. This book teaches so much in the first 14 or so chapters that you could actually go out and buy a cell phone and a calling plan if you wanted to. So, before anyone complains about this book, ask yourself how much you actually remember from it. I'm telling you now, honestly, this is a good book. Most people's complaints I feel to be unfounded simply due to the fact that they haven't had any exposure to instruction or to Japan itself. Therein lies your difference. Japanese for Busy People does in fact teach enough for someone who lives in Japan (but prior to moving here had no exposure to Japanese) to be able to do the things they need to do. There's no reason for an elementary Japanese book to cover Kanji or slang. That should not, and does not, come until later, when you've actually picked up enough to get by.