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Japanese Step by Step : An Innovative Approach to Speaking and Reading Japanese
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price:
$16.95
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$11.53
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Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 495.683421
EAN: 9780658014901
ISBN: 0658014900
Label: McGraw-Hill
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 2001-04-17
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Studio: McGraw-Hill
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Editorial Reviews:
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This self-study text offers a breakthrough approach for beginning learners of Japanese, as well as an indispensable reference for intermediate students. The unique study method in Japanese Step By Step teaches how to construct Japanese sentences, from the simplest to the most complex, using an easy-to-follow, step-by-step method. Also contains flow charts for verb conjugations and derivations.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A fabulous reference for the beginner and intermidate student!
Comment: First off, this book it not going to have you speaking japanese once you finish reading it. What is will do, and do VERY well, is explain to you the complicated and heady rules and structures of japanese sentences and grammar. I found it to be a fabulous tool in showing everything from conjugating verbs to structuring simple sentences, all the way up to more comlicated sentences. Until I bought and used this book, I found that most books on Japanese were very vague on japanese grammar. The method of teaching tended to revolve around loosely explaining, and then showing students different sentences over and over until the meanings and usages eventually sunk in. The author here(who states early on that he is an engineer by career) uses a much more logical and systematic approach. He uses flow charts and lays out the stuctures of the senteces bare, explaining each part and how it works. Rather than naturally figuring it out ( which could take a great deal of time) he points out how everything works and encourages you to make use of this knowledge. In this manner you are shown the things you would learn naturally and then shown how to corelate it to equivlant english meanings. This is the way that adult brains glean knowledge best. Given a bit of time and practice, the english associations soon fade away and you can look a Japanese sentence and understand both its meaning and its stucture!
As you progress through the book, the sentences get more challenging and build on things you've learned in previous chapters, so it becomes a natural preogress for your mind to learn the next step. It's a very effective and rewarding method, because as you may know when learning a language, the more you learn, the more you WANT to learn...it becomes fun and addicting. Struggling to memorize the usages of particles and verb versus noun cojugations only slows down the process and can take away the students' desire to stay at it. "Japanese Step by Step" helps alleviate this; it really helps you feel like Japanese is not an impenetrable force...just another language that's a little different than your own.
However, as i first stated, this book alone is not going to have you speaking perfect japanese. It's a terrific resource that I think every student of the language should have...in ADDITION to at least one other comprehensive text (and/or audio lessons, and even better, live classes). My only complaint is that this book WAS designed for IBM employees originally, and as such teaches strictly very formal, professional japanese...the type an educated adult would use in the office or workplace. This is not a bad thing per se, but if you strictly learned to speak like this, you would sound rather awkward in social or family situations, particuarly among the younger crowd. But again, I don't recommend this as your sole learning source, just a strong supplement!
Anyone who's fist dipping into the Japanese language will find a lot of help in this book, and any intermediate student can benefit from it as an informative reference text. There's a lot to be learned here; I know I wasn't disappointed!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good as a study aid, bad to rely on as an only source for learning.
Comment: This book isn't so bad when paired with several other study aids. The slant of the text is done from a far more technically linguistic perspective. While I can appreciate (and actually enjoyed it from that point of view), it's far less efficient than, say, using the Genki study system on your own, or the infamous Rosetta Stone program. Either of those two will probably suit you far better. This makes an excellent supplement and reinforcement to either. If you're technically minded it might also be interesting from that viewpoint, as well.
In any case, I find it a useful addition to my Japanese library. It's come in handy for some nice changes in scenery while studying. You may find this as well, if you're collecting books to augment your studies.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great aid while learning japanese
Comment: This was the first book I bought when I decided to study japanese and I will never regret it. In fact, when I look through some other books on the same subject I almost think that I would never have continued studying if I had not bought this book.
This book starts of with presenting the structure behind simple japanese sentences so that you can say "That building is high" or "I like apples" after the first 1-2 chapters (say 30 minutes of reading).
Come chapter 4, time, place, adverbs and other things are covered and although it is impossible to learn how all the particles are used in different situations the first time you read about them you will always have some of their usages explained as a valuable reference.
Once you progress through chapter 4 you will have a solid foundation on which to build upon. The author then covers bits and pieces that appear again and again in common japanese speech and can really help you improve your japanese through almost no work at all.
I strongly recommend reading about these bits and pieces and then watching a japanese film. You will notice that these expressions appear again and again with different verbs in different situations. And as you hear them, you will remember what they meant and understanding will no longer be a problem.
I hope this review was somewhat coherent. I like this book and I have tried to explain why.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Book
Comment: This is the best book for learning Japanese on your own, that I have bought. It is as good or better than most textbooks that I have read.
There are lots of examples and vocab as well as grammer. Only complaint is that the book uses different size letters to teach you the correct pitch for each word, but it is nothing you can't get used to.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners
Comment: This book was also a pretty good add to my collection. Although I found some parts of the book to be rather dry and somewhat boring, I feel that this it would prove to be a rather excellent tool for beginners.
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