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Do you recommend the Tuttle company for Japanese learning books?

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misty88

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I have bought a few books published by the Tuttle company, and I think they are good, but I want the opinions of you all. Many of you are FAR more advanced than I am in Japanese.
the books I have are called:
Japanese Hiragana for beginners/ Japanese katakana for beginners/ and A guide to writing kanji & Kana
I also would like to know your thoughts on the DS game My Japanese Coach. Is it worth it?
 
IMO you can easily find hiragana and katakana sites anywhere... kana for example. Hiragana and Katakana shouldn't be too hard. I don't consider myself intelligent and it took about two weeks for me to memorize both (still forget a few katakana though, like nu and...well obviously I don't remember!).

As for Kanji, I must say by looking at the exerpts it is quite good. As for me I'm anal in such that I can't stand writing in books so I just do it on paper several times over...you might want to do the same, though this is quite nice, you start off big so you get a hang of how to make lines, etc etc, then move onto small to perfect it. I like it!
 
Personally, it took me about 2 days with a chart found online to learn the kanas although I still have problems occasionally with katakanas.

As for the kanjis, if you just want to memorize the meaning, the Heisig method is not bad at all.
Still, in the end, it comes down to practice, and the more you practice, the more you are likely to remember how to write the kanjis.
 
I always wonder why I forget katakana more...I use it just about the same as hiragana...
 
thanks for your thoughts

I like to do things on paper just about as much as I do in the books. The reason I use the books is because I have dial-up internet, and I don't like using it much.

But my question was if other people have used Tuttle, is it worthy, or am I wasting my money on outdated, or outright wrong versions of many translations and such. (Sorry i didn't get to put it in last post, my dial-up was interrupted by a call, and I forgot to put it in the second attempt.)

Otherwise, I'd like to know (from those that use books) which ones are recommended. I may get it, even if I already have one like it.
 
It depends what your wanna work on...
For grammar: The reference books are "Minna no nihongo", "Shin nihongo no kiso", and the one recommended here:
Soloistic said:
Amazon product ASIN 4789004546A dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar is a great book. Its loaded with grammar and has many examples to give the reader a better feel.
Click to expand...
For the JLPT grammar: the "complete master"'s serie is a very good one
For JLPT Kanjis: you can download lists on the internet
For Kanjis in General: I used "Basic Kanji Book" vol 1&2 from Bojinsha Co. ltd and am now using "Intermediate Kanji Book" vol 1&2 from the same editor.
Otherwise, the Books from James Heisig might help you as well in remembering the kanjis.
For listening: The Pimsleur Method is mighty good from what I've heard
For vocabulary building: The first part (only) of the Rosetta Stone software is pretty good albeit expensive
 
Ive never heard of books from the Tuttle company, but 2 books i have heard HIGHLY of are "GENKI" and "Japanese for Everyone". Personally im using GENKI, and its a great book.
 
I too am using Genki. I bought it, it's pretty great.
 
thank you dreamer and kyubisharingan, the books you suggested look very informative, and I plan to have them shipped to my local book store to look at them before, most likely, buying them.

the only thing i am a little cautious about is Rosetta Stone, it's about Five hundred dollars for the set, but i may get it. I've been glancing at it for a while now. Reading up on it, and it seems fine, just pricey.

p.s. what is the Pimsleur Method?
 
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DO NOT. Use Rosetta stone. It has straight sentences that you match up picture wise but if you are like me you will not understand a lick of it. It does not tell you how to conjugate or anything of that nature, it goes straight into sentences. If you are an English speaker Rosetta is great for other similar-based languages (German, French, Spanish, etc) but not for Japanese.
 
thanks! That's the kind of thing I needed to know! I really didn't want to waste my money on something that doesn't cover everything, since it's so EXPENSIVE. really, thank you !
 

Afaik I said that the Rosetta Stone is good for vocabulary building, but never said that it taught you grammar or anything like that.

There are some samples that you can probably get from their websites (I got mine in prudential center in Boston), and found it pretty useful to quickly learn some vocabulary.

Still, I had to learn a minimal amount of japanese quickly since I was sent on an internship here in Japan so for me, in 2 weeks it did miracles. But it indeed doesn't explains anything about grammar since it's based on an intuitive learning process.

Basically, if you have time, go for the less costly methods.
I only had 3 months and a half to obtain the Japanese Language proficiency test lvl 3 so I had to rush things a lil bit...

Personally, I work with a combination of books and methods, never with only one thing alone.

As for the Pimsleur:
Information Link
You can also read other people's comments to get yourself an opinion
 
Indeed you did...but let me ask you how hard is this JLPT3 if Rosetta Stone gave you enough info to pass? No offense to you, in fact most offense to me, I had no idea what was going on most of the time. I could stumble by it now but it'd be more detrimental than anything.
 
I did not say that the Rosetta stone allowed me to "pass" the JLPT3, but I was merely introducing it as a tool that allows you to quickly build up basic vocabulary (if speed is what you are looking for).

Different people have different learning patterns, but the soft allowed me to quickly learn a basic set of vocabulary, which in turn allowed me to understand the grammar taught during the few hours of classes I took here.

Also, as I was stating, using only one tool might not be a good idea.Combining it with other tools was what made it useful to me.
Now, you are saying that you did not understand anything at all, but did you have any basic knowledge in Japanese when you started using it or did you start straight with it?

The price is indeed excessive for something that allows you to "merely build up vocabulary", and I totally agree on this point, but I think it is still worth downloading a trial version to see.

Anyways, if you wish to have an idea of the "difficulty" of the JLPT level 3, you are welcome to take the test and have a look for yourself. There are plenty of past year tests available.
 
Sorry if I offended!

I had basic knowledge but no Kanji, so in the first few examples where it was as such, "A boy is on top of a table", I used hiragana and katakana but it didn't feel "right" you know? So I switched into the full Japanese mode and was taken quite aback... I think the only way for me, personally, to use Rosetta Stone is when I've learned a lot of vocabulary and Kanji and use it as an all-in-one combo tool.
 
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