Pimsleur Japanese Conversational Course - Level 1 Lessons 1-16 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Japanese with Pimsleur Language Programs

by Pimsleur Language Programs

Pimsleur® equals success. Just one 30-minute lesson a day gets you speaking and understanding like no other program.

This course includes Lessons 1-16 from the Japanese Level 1 program - 8 hours of audio-only effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions. Each lesson provides 30 minutes of spoken language practice, with an introductory conversation, and new vocabulary and structures. Detailed instructions enable you to understand and participate in the conversation. Practice for vocabulary introduced in previous lessons is included in each lesson. Topics greetings, numbers, meals, shopping, telling time, scheduling activities, and asking and giving directions. The emphasis is on pronunciation and comprehension, and on learning to speak Japanese.

The Japanese Language
Japanese is spoken by about 130 million people, 122 million of whom are in Japan. There are also speakers in the Ryukyu Islands, Korea, Taiwan, parts of the United States, and Brazil. Japanese has many “registers” or levels of politeness. Pimsleur’s Japanese courses will teach you how to speak at a polite register, which is appropriate in virtually any situation you are likely to encounter in Japan.

Genres: Language, Japanese Literature

8 pages, Audio CD

First published December 5, 2005

Reviews

[H M Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

This teaches you some basic Japanese. The way of teaching is very good.

The first downside is because of the repetition of phrases which will help you remember them very well, it does not cover too much ground. So not necessarily what you would want if you were just going to Japan holiday and wanted to learn some travel phrases (I would probably combine this with Earworms Japanese for that).
Very good if you are going to Japan for a prolonged period and want a firm grasp of the language.

The other downside is that Level 2 & 3 and the rest of level 1 cost a lot more. Would recommend borrowing them from the library instead.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pimsleur approach is not for everyone, but if you have a moderately good ear and can tolerate not having all the grammatical rules stated up front, then this may work for you. I went through the first two Pimsleur levels in Japanese and found I was able to communicate on a basic level in Japan, though I quickly realized that I'd need a lot of supplemental work to be halfway fluent. Still, for survival purposes, this worked fine.

[Mary T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a multi-faceted approach to learning Japanese, and this was one element (I plan on doing other audiobooks from Libby and Hoopla, although I'm not sure how this one will overlap with another Pimsleur one I have). Overall, I liked the focus on listening and speaking. Although it said it would review at the right intervals, there was no review at the end of the earliest lessons. And I know he said not to take notes because it interrupts the process, but I would appreciate having a running list of all I learned.