Product Description

This is an intensive one-year introductory course in Japanese, also suitable for those who wish to work at a slower pace. Students who finish this course will have a firm grasp of how the language works and enough knowledge of the writing system to tackle everyday written material with no more than a dictionary. Particular attention is paid to questions of grammar which foreign learners often find so difficult, so Book One can also serve as a reference grammar. An Introduction to Modern Japanese uses both spoken and written forms from the outset. There are word lists for each lesson, and a comprehensive vocabulary for the whole course. Book One comprises fifty-two lessons which are accompanied by exercises and word lists in Book Two. The exercises ensure that the student has understood the grammar explained in the relevant lessons and give further practice in reading and recognizing characters.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #484049 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 504 pages

Customer Reviews

Superlative! Readable and Useful
This is quite possibly the best Japanese grammar/teaching text I have purchased. It is neither pedantic nor superficial. However, it is VERY dense (in the content sense). The introductory text "Yookoso!" by Tousaku, at its slower pace, is probably more appropriate for someone who knows absolutely no Japanese (IMPORTANT: for "Yookoso!", buy the soft-bound lesson book and audio CD's too). If you know some Japanese but are a bit rusty, or if you are seriously trying to teach yourself, Bowring and Laurie is a wonderful reference book (although I find it very readable too).

The book is organized into 52 lessons, each preceded by a passage in Japanese. Each passage in the reading is cleverly selected to demonstrate a particular grammatical construction. These constructions are then picked apart one-by-one in the lesson. I loudly applaud the authors for refusing to use ANY romanization except in the romanized translation of the passage for each lesson (which is isolated from the lesson itself) and except for the very early lessons where it is required for explanation of the syllabaries. This prevents students from handicapping themselves with a fake and truly useless writing system. It makes me very upset to see the profusion of Japanese texts peppering the shelves that concentrate only on speaking and lean on the crippling crutch of romanization. Try to read a subway map in Toyama or some other small city having learned nothing but romaji; let me know how you do. "Learning" Japanese without learning how to write is like "learning" physics without first learning basic calculus- you will never truly understand. There's no way around it: if you want to know Japanese, you must learn your kanji and kana just like everyone else.

This book is heavy. At close to 500 pages, there is a lot of material to cover (the recommended study time is 1-2 years). Again, the authors win my respect for their completeness. There is no way around this. No matter what that computer software or those car-audio tapes advertise, I'm sorry: you cannot learn Japanese in 90 days by studying "just X minutes a day."

The authors' tone is light and for the most part avoids linguistic terminology. American-English or other non-UK English speakers may notice some differences in diction, but this does not affect the learning experience at all. The material and the pace are very enjoyable.

My recommendation, if you are truly serious about learning Japanese is the following. Buy this book, the lesson book (Volume 2), a Kodansha EJ-JE furigana dictionary, and a kanji learner's dictionary. Make a Japanese friend and/or date a cute Japanese girl or guy (seriously- you'll be surprised how motivated you'll become). Concentrate on forcing yourself to speak and read Japanese. Read as much every-day material as you can: newspapers, advertisements, comics, whatever you can get your hands on. Most importantly, be persistent! And if you can afford it, travel to Japan and immerse yourself.

Get the workbook.
I just wanted to state the importance of getting An Introduction to Modern Japanese: Book Two (Vol 2) (the workbook) with Book One (the textbook). The workbook increases the student's learning ability tenfold. I've been writing out all the exercises, there are an average of five exercises for each of the 52 lessons, and found my retention of the kanji and sentence structure to be very high: much higher than without the exercises.

The textbook makes it easy to learn the different kanji, both name readings and standard readings, by presenting them all in the context. Instead of bombarding the student with different kanji and the numerous readings, a kanji will be introduced in the context of one reading at a time. Only in a later lesson will a new reading and context be given so the student can intuitively understand which is the appropriate one: instead of guessing.

The 52 lessons and exercises average about 20 new kanji and 60 new words including particles and new readings of previously learned kanji. Without the exercises this would seem like a lot, after doing the exercises, it isn't so hard, just time consuming.

These books were created to teach students to tackle a short story after 6 months and a newspaper after a year. So the student will not need to wait until the end before being able to find applications.

One more thing, get a kanji learner's dictionary such as Kodansha's. It helps a lot with the written exercises.

Great learning tool.
I first checked this book out at my university's library, and I was impressed from the get go.

While the explainations at time may be only somewhat vague, they are for the most part concise and straight to the point. The one feature I enjoy most was the building up of vocabulary and usage, and how one lesson carried fairly smoothly in to the next.

I've been using it for the past month on my own and I've noticed a marked improvement in my grammar skills. Of course, this book does nothing for verbal ability - but if practiced verbally, it sure does. My tutor has noticed a marked amount of improvement in my speaking ability, and I've noticed an improvement in my understanding as well.

As with any guide, this book is just that: a guide. Practicing what you learn is always the key to improvement. I highly suggest buying this book coupled with the second one. The vocabulary lists and excercises are invaluable for comprehension.