Product Description

Japanese for Busy People is the most popular Japanese language textbook series in the world. With over 20 components including texts, workbooks, CDs, videos and teacher's manuals, it is also one of the most comprehensive. Now, a decade after its first revision, the entire series is being redesigned, updated and consolidated to meet the needs of 21st-century students and businesspeople who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese as effectively as possible in a limited amount of time.
The book features not only a sleek, new design but also a unit structure that groups thematically linked lessons together, making it easier than ever to learn Japanese.
Moreover, it now comes with a CD containing audio for the dialogues and listening exercises from the text. The exercises in the book have also been thoroughly revised to incorporate more comprehension and production tasks. Many of these exercises are illustrated, making for a stimulating learning experience, and the purpose of each one is clearly stated.
This first of three volumes introduces "survival Japanese"-the absolute minimum amount of Japanese needed to live in Japan. Thus, the vocabulary and grammatical items it introduces are limited to about a third of what is typically introduced in a first-year course. In addition, the book features notes on Japanese culture intended to expand the learner's understanding of Japan, its customs and people.
Japanese for Busy People I is available in two formats: romanized and kana.
The Romanized Version uses romanized Japanese throughout, with kana in the Opening Dialogues of each lesson.
The Kana Version-exposing students to hiragana and katakana from the very beginning-uses only kana.The content of the two books is otherwise exactly the same.
The companion volume, Japanese for Busy People 1: The Workbook for the Revised 3rd Edition contains a variety of illustrated exercises for mastering the basic sentence patterns presented in the main text.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59768 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9784770030344
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

THE ASSOCIATION FOR JAPANESE-LANGUATE TEACHING (AJALT) has been recognized as a nonprofit organization by the Ministry of Education since 1997. It was established to meet the practical needs of people who are not necessarily specialists on Japan but who wish to communicate effectively in Japanese. In 1992 the Association was awarded the Japan Foundation Special Prize.

Customer Reviews

Want extra exercises? This is the one.
Do you own or plan to buy the "Japanese for Busy People I: Revised 3rd Edition" either in romanized or kana version? If you do, this is a pretty good choice if you want to do more exercises along with the lessons learned from the "Japanese for Busy People I". This workbook only provides more dialogue and listening exercises. Do not expect to see any grammar tips, culture notes, or even kana. If you do not have the "Japanese for Busy People I", you will not find this book helpful at all. All the dialogues in this workbook are written in romanized form, no kana. But that's ok, because this workbook only targets the dialogues and listening exercises. So, looking for extra homeworks? This is not a bad choice.

(Reviewed by Otto Yuen, 12-May-2007)

Phrasebook on steroids
Pros:
1. Reinforces the dialogues from the textbook

Cons:
1. Romaji - I have the kana version of the textbook and I wish there was a kana version of this workbook
2. Not a grammar workbook - This is a workbook for practicing the conversations presented in the textbook. I was expecting more grammar drills.

Overall, it is a decent book with great printing and illustrations. But content-wise, I'm not so sure. I refer to it every now and then if I want to remember certain phrases. However, I can also do the same thing by opening the textbook.

My recommendation: work through the textbook and skip this workbook.

not what i expected- had to return it
I desired a book that would be concise and teach a language the right way (how to say letters, conjegate verbs, etc.). This book has you jump right in to phrases. Also, a better title would be Japanese for busy business people, because these are the type of phrases that it taught you. This may be a good book if that is what you were using it for, but just not for me.