Colloquial Japanese: The Complete Course for Beginners PB + CD: Amazon.co.uk: H.D.B. Clarke, Motoko Hamamura: Books

Product Description

This new edition of the popular Japanese course for beginners has been completely rewirtten to make learning the language easier and more enjoyable than ever before. Written by experienced teachers and authors, Colloquial Japanese offers a step-by-step introduction to Japanese as it is spoken and written today. No previous knowledge of the language is required. Learning to read and write Japanese is made as easy as possible, with kanji, katakana and hirigana introduced gradually throughout the course. Colloquial Japanese is also suitable for use by those who do not wish to learn the script. Other features include: *Lively dialogues, covering a range of social and business situations *Lots of exercises with full answer key *Grammar reference section *Extensive English-Japanese and Japanese-English vocabulary lists, including both Japanese script and roman script *Index of kanji, giving on and kun readings 120 minutes of audio material, recorded on cassette or on CD, is available to accompany this course book. Recorded by native speakers, this will help you perfect your pronunciation and comprehension skills. With all the language support you need, Colloquial Japanese will enable you to speak, read and write Japanese with confidence.

From the Back Cover

This new edition of the popular Japanese course for beginners has been completely rewirtten to make learning the language easier and more enjoyable than ever before.
Written by experienced teachers and authors, Colloquial Japanese offers a step-by-step introduction to Japanese as it is spoken and written today. No previous knowledge of the language is required.
Learning to read and write Japanese is made as easy as possible, with kanji, katakana and hirigana introduced gradually throughout the course. Colloquial Japanese is also suitable for use by those who do not wish to learn the script.
Other features include:
*Lively dialogues, covering a range of social and business situations
*Lots of exercises with full answer key
*Grammar reference section
*Extensive English-Japanese and Japanese-English vocabulary lists, including both Japanese script and roman script
*Index of kanji, giving on and kun readings
120 minutes of audio material, recorded on cassette or on CD, is available to accompany this course book. Recorded by native speakers, this will help you perfect your pronunciation and comprehension skills.
With all the language support you need, Colloquial Japanese will enable you to speak, read and write Japanese with confidence. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

One of the best if not for the typos 16 July 2011

By Andrew Scotchmer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book could have been on of the best starter books available. I like Colloquial far more than Teach Yourself and this book is way better than the new "Complete Japanese" from Teach Yourself.

Unfortunately there are many typos which I found confusing. As such I only gave it 4 stars. The best book is still "Japanese for Everyone" by Gakken in my opinion though if they sort out the typos this would be a close second.

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Initial excitement, hopes quickly dashed 7 Mar 2010

By Mr. T. J. Evans

Format:Audio CD

This book appealed because it didn't seem shy to explain grammar. I soon found that it was a half-baked grammar interspersed with overly ambitious dialogues and very difficult exercises.

There are literally dozens of typos. When I wrote to the publisher about this, I was told that they are commissioning new authors to write a brand new book. I think that says all we need to know.

These things having been said, I enjoyed learning the kanji that are introduced bit by bit.

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Not so hot 21 Mar 2008

By P. BILLET

The introduction of the kana, hiragana and kanji is at best messy, there are mistakes in the text and when often when trying to find the relevant kanji in the index one has to revert to using a dictionary. The idea is good but it gives the impression of being written hastily without regard for serious students of the language.