when it came, i was SOOOOO excited! i lived in japan while i was in college, and worked for an international exchange company. i've written about it here before, extensively. however, once i left japan, my language skills sadly eroded. i was able to speak japanese while in college with fellow japanese students, but since then, haven't had a chance.
i dug into the take off in japanese kit - there are 4 audio cds, a compact workbook, and downloadable mp3s. lillie even started it with me - she's very proud that she can count to 100 in japanese! the course starts off with talking (and listening) to the phonetic rules of japanese. this is important, as their alphabet (well, all 3 of them) and sounds are very different from our roman alphabet and sounds.
then, the course jumps right in to saying hello (and there are three ways of greeting people, depending on the time of day) and working from there.
there are really important sections of the book, called 'culture', sprinkled throughout. each culture section teaches about important aspects of living in japan - trains, holidays, gift-giving, etc. for that alone, this course would be worth it!
the course teaches conversational japanese, for a beginner or those wishing to brush up on their lapsed japanese. i was so happy to be listening to japanese again, and remembering the language. the speakers on the audios are clear, and they leave room for you to repeat after them. i highly recommend this language learning course for anyone wishing to learn japanese. it is clear, concise, and each lesson builds upon the previous one, so that you continually learn and repeat.
my verdict? this IS a complete language learning course, and i am very happy to be using it to learn japanese again. BRAVO, oxford university press - and thank you!
oxford university press graciously sent an extra copy of take off in japanese, to be given away to a commenter on our wandering educators travel site. if you'd like to win this, please leave a comment at the review article here.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 20
How long did you live in Japan? Will you ever go back?
I still remember a lot of my spoken Japanese, but I've forgotten most of the Kanji I worked so hard to learn. I still remember most of the Hiragana and the Katakana but I used to know about 800 Kanji and now I probably don't remember even half. :(
Does this course include written instruction or only oral?
moggy - i hear you. that darn kanji - mine is forgotten, too...
there is a workbook, that goes along with the audios and has exercises and tests. it is REALLY nice.
If lillie keeps learning with you, you will soon be able to concoct all sorts of new experiences in Japanese. Maybe the water lilly speaks Japanese? By the way, I have adored using the cards you sent me for very special people. Do you sell those cards and if so, might I order several boxes?
I'm hopeless at learning languages ... I think the best way is to live among the people speaking it and then progress from there to more formal learning.
I, too, took Japanese in graduate school at the University of Alaska in the early 70's. This sounds like it could be a fun way "to play" in retirement. Relearn the language and take a trip to Japan.