Job Discussion Forums

[milesdenman]

Hi, can anyone recommend a good book/self study for a beginner who wants to learn enough Japanese to be able to get by/build on?

[movinaround]

[nomadder]

Yip! Kind of tells you what you'd be getting yourself in to.

[Glenski]

Enough Japanese to get by on?

Spoken Japanese?
Written Japanese?

How do you want to "get by"?

On The Move In Japan. Useful Phrases & Common Sense for the Traveler
by Scott Rutherford, Yenbooks, 1995, (159 pages), US$8.95
This is a pocket-sized book, and I think it's terrific. It doesn't cover every situation, but
it's extremely useful. Good phrases with fill-in word lists make this quite practical, and
it shows English, romaji, and Japanese text, so you don't have to worry about fluency
if all you want to do is get an idea across to someone. It's not a grammar book, just a
handy phrase book for the traveler, as the title says.

Systematic Japanese. A Simple, Effective Method for Self-study. by Gene Nishi, Shufunotomo Co., Ltd., (255 pages), 2000, 2500 yen
Nishi graduated as an engineer from Waseda U, then worked as a technical advisor and
instructor in telecommunications systems for the U.S. military before joining IBM. He has a
very logical flow to his teaching of grammar, and although the book teaches largely with
English instruction, it has lots of romaji and Japanese text.

Japanese for Everyone. A Functional Approach to Daily Communication
by Susumu Nagara, 1990, Gakken Co., Ltd., (383 pages), 2900 yen
Most grammar books are just about the same in their content. Nagara's book starts in the
same way as others, but covers a bit more ground. I liked that because I couldn't find a
suitable book as a "second stage" text without going over my head. Be prepared for lots of
Japanese text, but this is an excellent book.

Basic Kanji Book, Volume 1 and 2
by Chieko Kano, Yuri Shimizu, Hiroko Takenaka, & Eriko Ishii; 1989, Bonjinsha Co., Ltd.,
(228 & 262 pages), 2400 yen and 2500 yen
I haven't found a perfect book to self-teach kanji, but these are very good. The high school
where I work uses them for exchange students who are taught on an intensive system. Each
book offers 500 kanji with a nice semi-pictorial format to describe how each one was derived.
There are many good workbook style examples that build on each other. By the time you
reach Vol.2, you'll have to know how to read instructions in Japanese.

101 Japanese Idioms by Michael L. Maynard and Senko K. Maynard; Passport Books, 1995
Mixed with Japanese and English. Some of these will surprise your Japanese learners,
but let's face it. Even westerners don't know all of their own idioms. A handy book with
two nicely organized indices.

[milesdenman]

Wow! Thanks for that, most helpful

[Seeker of truth]

This book has been recommended:

Japanese Step by Step
by Gene Nishi

look it up on amazon.com

[shuize]

My favorite: A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804802262/sr=8-2/qid=1151433875/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-1267699-5638568?ie=UTF8

Slightly dated, but for $1.77 (used) on Amazon you can't go wrong.

[cornishmuppet]

If you want to learn Kanji I recommend Tuttle flashcards. 2000 yen for a set, 448 in each, starting at grade 1 of elementary school and working up (there are three grades in each box). Just keep twenty or so in your shirt pocket for when the students are late or when you're in a bus queue. I've learned over 500 in less than a year without putting in much effort at all. Had I started learning them when i first arrived nine months earlier, I think I would be close to a thousand by now (after less than two years).

[Willy_In_Japan]

I find 'Japanese in 10 mins a day' to be very helpful for speaking. It covers all the basics, and it is phonetic.

[Hoser]

I'm going to be the only unhelpful person so far and suggest that first you should learn how to spell it and then maybe you could try learning to speak it

[movinaround]

[Ai]

Genki