Japanese for Young People

[Scott]

Have any of you guys used the series "Japanese for Young People" to learn Japanese? It's what I'm using as my main study source. I got them from amazon.com and they seem to be working out great. The series itself is put out by Kodansha International and is aimed at people ages 12-16 who want to learn Japanese. I believe that it's published the same people who brought you "Japanese for Busy People" if any of you have heard of that series. Anyways, the series has 3 levels, each one consisting of a main work book, a kana book for the first level and kanji books for the second and third level, and a set of cassette tapes or CD's. I find it a very good series and it makes it easy and fun for me to learn. I wanted to know if anyone else had any experience with it If so leave me a reply!


-Scott

 

[Dluxon]

I picked up Japanese for Young People for my daughter a couple of years ago when we lived in Japan. Unfortunately, my daughter (and myself) were living in a US military installation, so there wasn't much pressure for her to learn Japanese to get around. My wife, who is from Japan, speaks mostly English in the house also, so both of us were quite spoiled.

I have studied out of the Japanese for Busy People Book 1 and have started book 2. I must admit that I haven't been studying much at all since my return back to the states in the last year, though. I was introduced through the University of Maryland, which had a local campus where I was stationed at that time (Camp Zama). They went through the first half of book 1 in their first level (2-month term), and the last half of the book for their 2nd level course (also 2-month term). For their 3rd level course, they go through lesson 8 in the 2nd book. I didn't complete the 3rd course, because I was out of town, missing 2-3 consecutive classes back to back. There was no way for me to stay on top of it with the speed of a 2-month term. The 2nd book is amazingly loaded as compared to book 1. I also used the workbooks in class, which were a big help. I purchased the CDs for both books, and they are excellent.

While I was living there, I stocked up on bunches of language books because the availability was enormous. I bought book 3, and Japanese for Professionals too. It will be a long time (especially now, while I'm sitting on my "butt," not studying) before I can even imagine studying out of those books.

After finishing Busy People Book 2, my wife tells me that people should be in excellent shape for living in Japan, and after book 3, they have no problem getting a good job using the language.

Anyway, my books all have much dust on top for now.....

Dana