Japanese: 2nd Ed. Rev. [Audiobook] (Audio Cassette)

It does exactly what it promises to do in 8 easy lessons. You dont just learn set phrases... which would be quickly forgotton, you learn new functional words, and are forced to actively respond, and interact with the lessons. Not repeat as i've seen stated here in other reviews. You actually begin recombining, and guessing how to use the language from the first lesson-- you are prompted to make new phrases the tutor did not teach you-- (though a correct version is given to verify if your guesses are accurate).

But if you really want more indepth, you are going to need to buy something a little more comprehensive. if you dont ever see yourself buying the more expensive pimsleur courses, maybe you should save yourself some money up front, and really pursue a program that has the features you will want eventually now.

I've seen other criticisms about the lack of reading material... this is on the box-- its actually something Dr. Pimsleur states as a positive-- its not as if the course was misleading in some way. The idea here is to teach you a language like you did when you were a child, by just listening, and participating... and of course making mistakes. Written Language, and Spoken Language are only loosly related in an objective sense. Sure its best to have both, but reading ISNT REQUIRED to have a conversation, or function.

Think about it... by the time we enter school we are talking--maybe not about monet, or King Lear, but we can speak. Reading does not come so naturally to anyone.

This point is especially relevant in asian languages which don't use the roman script-- learning Kanji literally takes enourmous amounts of effort, japanese buisnessmen take Kanji courses, and this is an unnecessary complication for a quick and easy course. and as any serious student of japanese will confirm, romaji isnt very useful in the real world.

-- plus, when you are in japan... if you can speak.. you can ask almost anyone to read something to you outloud if you cant yourself-- the japanese are very polite, and the ability to communicate verbally again sidesteps, to a small extent, the unavoidable reality of becoming instantly illeterate.

But if Audio only isnt for you, then this probably isnt the best course--but at 25 dollars, it might be worth trying out-- you just might surprise yourself.