It begins with a review of Japanese writing systems, basic pronunciation, and everyday expressions. The book covers key grammar fundamentals such as particles, nouns, verb forms and honorifics. It will help you build your vocabulary with essential words and phrases. You can even test yourself at the end of every chapter for reinforcement. It allows you to learn at your own pace and build the fundamentals to effectively learn Japanese.
Here are a few of the important things that I really like about this book
- Clear and straightforward explanations
- Lots of great examples
- Covers hiragana, katakana and kanji with phonetic transliterations
- Covers everyday topics as well as conversational expressions
- Quizzes help you to reinforce the language and new material
Read more about How to Learn Japanese
I'll have a look. 6 months to go and I should really start my revision and brushing up on my Nihongo. XD
ReplyDeleteQuestion, I bought books related to self teaching Japanese: Remembering the Kanji. I was asking is that a good book to invest my time in or just buy one of recommendation books posted on this website?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I'm not familiar with that book. The books I've mentioned here have really helped me with my Japanese and I can highly recommend them to anyone learning Japanese.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering, how much did you learn through these books and how much did you learn through your actual visits to japan
ReplyDeleteThanks JP, as mentioned above these books really helped me with my Japanese and gave me a good solid grounding in the language. With this ability I was able to communicate effectively in Japan and actually living in Japan helped more with my fluency and speaking than anything else.
ReplyDeleteHey i just got this book! But I am stuck! how did you approach this book and how would you recommend a beginner like me approach this book?
ReplyDeleteHi JP, The great thing about this type of book is that you can study at your own pace. I would go back over the units again to reinforce the material being learnt. The quizzes really helped me and gave me an idea where I needed the most improvement. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOk, so I made it to the first chart of characters, should I memorize these?
ReplyDeleteHi JP, I would be trying to memorize both the Hiragana and Katakana charts at this stage.
DeleteOk, I wanna know how to learn Japanese so i can watch anime that hasn't come out in English yet, (and to yell at teachers so they won't know what I'm saying.. heh heh just kidding) but I want something that is the best and easiest way to learn it. And I don't want to be translating it from Japanese, to English in my head, I want to be able to hear it and know it, like I do English. Is this a good choice for such? I don't mean to be any trouble but ya know.
ReplyDeleteHello LDW, It is a very good resource for someone learning Japanese for the first time and I would recommend this is a study guide for a self learner or in conjunction with lessons. The good thing about this book is that is covers the key fundamentals and allows you to study at your own pace. You need to concentrate on learning grammar, listening, speaking, reading and writing in order to learn Japanese effectively.
DeleteI hope this helps and all the best with your language studies.
is there any website i could learn japanese instead? i mean, not to be picky, but im just too lazy to buy these books. is there any website i could learn japanese fully?
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon, I'm not a big fan of websites for learning Japanese as most seem to be just interested in making money rather than helping with your Japanese. I like the old fashioned method with a quality textbook. Some of the Apps out there don't look too bad and might be a good alternative.
DeleteJust to clarify. Will you learn hiragana and katakana in this book?
ReplyDeleteHello Anon, Yes, Japanese Demystified covers the fundamentals of the language including Japanese characters (hiragana, katakana and kanji with phonetic transliterations).
DeleteI just got this book and I am so confused. I have no idea how to use it.
ReplyDeleteHi Anon, It should be pretty self-explanatory. Just follow the directions in the book. If you are complete beginner you may want to start with the Japanese writing systems and key grammar fundamentals first.
DeleteWill it tell you what kanji you need to know? It gives examples of words in kanji but doesn't say whether or not you need to know those kanji.
DeleteIf it's in the book, I would learn it! There are thousands of kanji, some more useful to know than others. The words/kanji covered in this book are the most important for the beginner. so you should learn them all. If you are studying for a specific test like the JLPT and want to know what kanji is necessary for each level, then pick up a book specifically related to that test and you can find what kanji you need to know.
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