Japanese for Busy People I: Romanized

by Association for Japanese-Language Teaching (AJALT)

The bestselling series Japanese for Busy People has guided hundreds of thousands of students to a fluent, natural, and precise use of the Japanese language. Volume I teaches the absolute minimum amount of Japanese to live in Japan and handle everyday situations.
In the ten years since its publication, Japanese for Busy People has won acceptance worldwide as an effective, easy-to-understand textbook, either for classroom use or for independent study. In this new edition, numerous revisions and additions have been made, taking into account the comments and responses of both students and teachers who have been using the course.
In Book I, the revisions are directed at making the grammatical explanations easier to understand, while adding further explanations of points that students have difficulty with. Changes have also been made in favor of more natural practice sentences and dialogues. In addition, new appendices list the particles, interrogatives, and sentence patterns in the book, as well as the kanji introduced.
Vocabulary and grammar have been limited to about one-third that usually encountered in beginner courses, and words and patterns that students will find immediately useful are emphasized.
The thirty lessons are composed of dialogues, notes on grammar, and vocabulary, exercises and quizzes. In addition to developing verbal fluency, by the time the student is one-third the way through Book I he will have mastered the two phonetic syllabaries of Japanese.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Japanese Literature, Reference, Japan, Textbooks, Education

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Japanese-language titled versions:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a clear and straightforward textbook for elementary Japanese. It is ideal for self-study and it, along with "Japanese for Everyone," are highly recommended for people going that route. Coming out of this book, I was no where near being conversational, but I did have a decent grasp of survival Japanese. In many ways this series has the learner off to a slower start than other books. This was frustrating for me at first, but now I think it is better as I have had more time to internalize the information. This edition is quite good for vocabulary (though much of it is business-based) but light on grammar. This is partially due to it's emphasis on conversation and to the fact that Book 2 is far more grammatically centered. Practical situations are given emphasis throughout the book. (My favorite being how to ask for forgiveness if you get drunk and spill wine on someone's carpet). Asking questions, some adjectives, negative statements, -mas and -te verb forms are introduced. JFBP 1 is excellent for practicing the kana (hiragana and katakana), but no kanji is introduced until book 2. There are many exercises that are centered on teaching sentence pattern structure. They are nearly all information gap, which can be boring, but they really do help familiarize the learner with Japanese sentence structure. The CD is clear, at a good speed and has the Target Dialogue, Short Dialogue, and Word Power sections on it. I did not use the workbook at this level, but highly recommend the workbook for Level 2. Used alone, this book would be adequate for a short stay in Japan since basics like "Where is the train station?" are covered. However, continuing on to books 2 and 3 would be required for serious study.

As there are many different versions of the JFBP series floating around, I thought I'd end with a note on which to get: Stick with the 3rd Editions of all these books. They are fairly heavily redesigned and updated. Also, at Level 1, I think the Kana Version is essential. You will have to learn Kana before using the book, but it is really simple and there are plenty of resources to do so. Please take this advice if you are planning on using all three books. Though the authors do try to account for the Romanji Version, there is a jump in difficulty from the first to the second book that would be hard to mitigate if you have no knowledge of kana. Also, one of JFBP 1's strengths is how well it ingrains reading and writing in hiragana and katakana. It would be a shame to not have this benefit.

[Arlian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel that this book is not a good choice if you are a self-taught/self-teaching student of Japanese. The book is kind of like a workbook on steroids. It is definitely more than just a workbook, but it tends to be somewhat light on explanations. An example of this is that it doesn't explain the rules of how to change verbs to the "te" form. It just presents the verbs with their "te" form, leaving you to memorize the combos rather than understand HOW these verbs change, and thus empowering you accurately use words on the fly when you are presented with a new verb.

It also uses rote memorization and simple repetition to help you learn the language. By that I mean the beginning of very chapter introduces a few new words and concepts, and the rest of the chapter showcases sentences that use those words/concepts, presenting you with basic patterns and structures for you to plug the new words into. Some people find this helpful (and I am one of them!!) other people do not find constant repetition to be the easiest way to retain something. Further, this mindless repetition can be potentially confusing or frustrating, especially when it is not paired with rules of use. An example of this is particle usage. Particularly, the particles "de" and "ni". The sentence structure is always "(somewhere) ni ikimasu/kimasu/kaerimasu", but it's always "(somewhere) DE aimasu/mimasu/tabemase/etc". My teacher explained that it is always "ni" with directional verbs but "de" with action verbs. That's a very helpful rule to know!! And one the book doesn't tell you.

All of these are issues are solved when this book is used in a classroom environment (as is the case with me), but as stated I think this would be a difficult book to use on its own.

However, on the other hand, this book is incredibly cheap and of FAR superior quality than almost any of the other book in its price range.

Thus, I think Japanese for Busy people deserves 3 stars: It's one of the best books in it's price range, but is lacking depth of instruction in a lot of departments. If one is strapped for cash (and really, who isn't?) this is a acceptable introductory choice, as long as you are willing/able/motivated enough to use other resources (like the internet or the library) to fill in the blanks.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I gave up after the first chapter. Too dull. I think the reason I didn't get on with this book is because I'm not the target audience. Yes, I was busy, but I wanted to learn the language to fluency, not at a passable beginner level. I'd rather take the (long) time to build solid foundations than start どうもうありがとうございますing in a thick accent and not being able to understand the reply. I also value more casual ability over the business-speak which is the focus here. I started my studies with Remembering The Kanji so the lack of kanji in this book is glaring. Once you know some kanji, reading sentences with them is easier than kana-only. I struggled to read sentences in this book that I would have read naturally if they had kanji in them. I've flipped through some of the later chapters and found that I can understand everything (after mentally putting the kanji back in), even if I wouldn't be able to say those things myself yet.

The textbook I actually used was Assimil's Japanese With Ease, which I much preferred. If I was to start again I'd probably go with Genki I and II along with the techniques described here: http://japaneselevelup.com/how-to-use.... I did follow those guidelines, but I used the Assimil textbook which is a bit more haphazard in its introduction of grammar concepts.

So if you're just needing some basic Japanese to survive business trips to Japan / hosting Japanese colleagues, this book is probably fine. But if you actually want to get to know the language in an enjoyable way, there are better beginner options.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

...and this would be the best method for learning Japanese. Go slowly and learn each chapter thouroughly, then move on to the next. Very well thought out progression for increasing fluency... there is none better... you'll have to believe me on this one.. I lived in Japan and it's the book I learned with and I am now very good at Japanese

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a textbook for a class in Japanese that I took. It was a good textbook, I did well in the class and had a good time. Unfortunately, it was a long time ago and I don't remember much of it. Konnichiwa. Shitsurei shimasu. I can't blame the book for my lack of practice.

[Tyrnadream · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy way to learn one of the most beautiful languages I have ever heard, or seen written. Japanese is not as difficult as many people believe. Hirigana and Katakana are two alphbets that are phonetic and easy to write.

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm currently hating this book with further intensity every time I pick it up. Its content tortures me.

[Hawlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good introduction to Japanese, easy to understand. At the end there is a long paragraph that you can translate, cementing what you have learnt, which I thought was a nice finish to the book.

[Lovekesh Jayant]

In comparison to the other languages, the vocabulary knows very few pronunciations in addition to sounds. Studying the language is relatively easy when compared with other languages, in particular for the students. On the other hand, the Japanese accent is comparatively difficult compared to other languages but simpler than the language. Degrees of Speech There are various levels of saying that differ when one talks to a person elder to you and you for the individuals who are younger than you in age. The figure of speech changes when you speak to your friend and when you speak to your family members. When compared with the other languages, the Japanese language is fairly easy when it comes to gender articles and the distinction between plural as well as the singular. The conjugation rules are relaxed and aren’t bound to some exceptions of verbs as well as adjectives.
https://www.sevenmentor.com/japanese-...

[Dipen1992]

Japanese ( Nihongo) is a language spoken by over 130 million people, mainly in Japan, but also by Japanese emigrant communities around the globe. It’s an agglutinative language and is distinguished by a system of honorifics reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, with verb forms and particular vocabulary to indicate the position of speaker & listener
https://www.sevenmentor.com/japanese-...

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful for my purposes which was having dialogues and passages to read at my level without the romaji directly next to the kana. Would have preferred fewer romanized sentences throughout the lessons, but that's understandable for a first volume. Great for getting back into reading comprehension!

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my old textbooks I'm getting rid of.

[Enid · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Japanese textbook. Our study group was small, but I find it very helpful, especially being in roman letters.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favourite. Finally finished it, but mostly focused on the reading practice.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for beginners and using Japanese for holidays but not the best version for those who want to learn Japanese more seriously, I would recommend the kana version or genki series

[James Knowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good textbook. It stays focused on useful material.

I've beens studying with a teacher from Japan Online School, which I would recommend checking out also. My teacher is the one who uses this text.

Note that this edition uses English (Roman) letters. Japanese is different enough to give people headaches without having to fight a new writing system. There's also an edition that throws you into headfirst into the new writing system.

I came to agree with a friend who's an expert in Japanese: use the English alphabet at first to get one's head around the grammar and vocabulary (while learning the Japanese alphabet (kana)). Then on Book II switch to the kana version. Yes, you'll slow down for a short time as you transition to kana only, but only a short time.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used this as my textbook for my Japanese class. Overall, I liked the book a lot since there are a lot of exercises and examples. However, the exercises are mainly rote copying of the example given rather than making you think about what words/grammar structures you're choosing and why. I think rote copying can be helpful to a degree, but it gets tedious after awhile. The book also lacks in grammar, but what grammar it does explain, is clear to the reader. I'm also disappointed that the book didn't have any kanji in it all. Even if it didn't teach kanji, it would still be helpful to see it with furigana as you learn.

I give it 4 stars for a good beginner book, but if you've been studying Japanese longer than a year, this is probably not a good book for you.

[Ferenc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a textbook that actually lives up to it's title.

If you only have 15-30 minutes to spend studying this book and it's sequels are ideal for you: short lessons, just enough grammar in each lesson, 100% aimed at self-study, practical vocabulary.

The grammar explanations only teach you enough to be functional, there are no deep digressions into the socio-psychological meaning of 'wa', the path it takes is clear and simple.

The exercises are varied and long enough to be effective.

The only negative thing I can say about this particular book is that I would have liked the introduction of Kanji to start with this book instead of with the second book in the series.

If you are a truly busy person I think you will appreciate this textbook series.

[Daniel Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used this book for both self-study before my first trip to Japan, and it was also the class manual for my Japanese language classes (after I came back from my trip). It ended up pretty useful, since I was able to communicate quite a lot with Japanese people, after having read the manual for a couple of weeks (Japanese is an easy language at start to speak, but very hard at speaking well, from what I've seen so far). The topics and vocabulary are generally relevant to travellers, but I just wish Kanji got (slowly) introduced sooner than in the level 2 manual.

[Rich V · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best practical and helpful book of about a dozen that I purchased on the topic over the years. Start it, use it, finish it, and you're well on your way to understanding Nihongo. Ganbatte kudasai.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was clear and very easy to learn from. There are lots of exercises to help drill in the lessons and the cd is helpful for grasping the pronunciations. I think the kana version would have been a better option though in order to get more reading practice in earlier on.

[VJ]

I am learning conversational Nihongo from kono hon.

[Butsuri]

Japanese

[TeriLin]

I'll be reading this for quite sometime. So much to memorize!

[Joe Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given this by the company I worked for. While it was good, I would definitely recommend the kana version. Reading Japanese in roman letters is silly, and will only impede long-term progress.

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would appear that my self-studying has served me well for Japanese 121. This book is excellent!

[Alyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've tried reading some other japanese teaching books before but I couldn't keep focused. This was very to the point and useful.

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clean and easy, good for beginners/"dys"-lexic people like me.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i learned japanese!!

[Kenny Thomas]

I didn't finish it. It was almost too much.