raxter Diglot Newbie Spain Joined 5710 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English, Spanish* Studies: German, Japanese
| Message 1 of 7 10 December 2009 at 9:59pm | IP Logged |
hey guys!
so i'm new in japanese, i use a phrases book , but i would really like a good book, so can you tell me which books do you use? and how long did it take you to finish them? also, as a newbie, as try to heard as much manga as possible, so my brain can get used to hear japanese! =)
thanks!!
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Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5668 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin
| Message 2 of 7 10 December 2009 at 10:47pm | IP Logged |
I am pretty much a beginner with Japanese too, but I did check out a lot of books for learning. There are many different approaches to learning, and some just looked like too much hard work too soon for my little brain.
In the end I went for this book.
It is a big book with a lot of material and eight hours of supporting audio. It will certainly not get me to high levels of fluency, but I am going slowly with it, and progress seems to be good. Overall, I think it is an excellent choice when starting out.
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TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5463 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian
| Message 3 of 7 11 December 2009 at 6:16am | IP Logged |
The books that are used most often here in Japan, as far as I can tell, are Japanese for Busy People and Shin Nihongo no Kiso.
I think both of them would get you off to a pretty good start.
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Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6767 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek
| Message 4 of 7 11 December 2009 at 8:32am | IP Logged |
A few of the series that are popular among students and immigrants in Japan have all the readings and exercises in
a Japanese-only workbook, and a grammar explanation guide that is available in many languages, including
Spanish. I think Minna no Nihongo is the main one.
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Chris Heptaglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7120 days ago 287 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, Indonesian, French, Malay, Japanese, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Korean, Mongolian
| Message 5 of 7 12 December 2009 at 2:31am | IP Logged |
One of my all-time favourite Japanese books, and the one I first started out with is Hugo's 'Japanese In 3 Months'. It used to be called 'Japanese Simplified', just in case you see a second hand version of it. Do get the recordings, though.
I must warn you, however, that the text is all in romaji, hence the 'Simplified' in the original title.
Another personal favourite is 'Ultimate Japanese' - very good course with a follow-on advanced course.
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^veganboy^ Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5918 days ago 51 posts - 51 votes
| Message 6 of 7 13 December 2009 at 10:35pm | IP Logged |
I like "JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLE"... the only pitfall is the lack of vocabulary in the book... but it is for busy people anyway... GENKI is another jewel to be considered...
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JasonBourne Groupie United States Joined 5751 days ago 65 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Written), Turkish
| Message 7 of 7 21 December 2009 at 1:20am | IP Logged |
Just an fyi, Genki and Nakama are THE textbooks used in college courses. Neither are perfect for self-study, but they are pretty comprehensive as far as grammar and useful vocab. I used Nakama I and II during my four semesters of Japanese in college, and I enjoyed them.
Edited by JasonBourne on 21 December 2009 at 1:23am
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