 Trade In this Item for up to £3.50
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £3.50, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Product Description
Japanese From Zero! is an innovative and integrated approach to learning Japanese developed by professional Japanese interpreter George Trombley and co-writer Yukari Takenaka. The lessons and techniques used in this series have been taught successfully for over ten years in classrooms throughout the world. Using up-to-date and easy-to-grasp grammar, Japanese From Zero! is the perfect course for current students of Japanese as well as absolute beginners. In Book 1 of the Japanese From Zero! series, readers are taught new grammar concepts, over 800 new words and expressions, and also learn the hiragana writing system. Features of Book 1: * Integrated Workbook with Answer Key * Over 800 New Words and Expressions * Learn to Read and Write Hiragana * Easy-to-Understand Example Dialogues * Culture Points about Japan * Bilingual Glossaries with Kana and Romaji ...and much more!
About the Author
Author George Trombley is a professional Japanese interpreter who over the past 16 years has interpreted at corporations such as Microsoft, IBM, NTT DoCoMo, and Lucent Technologies in countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
This book teaches you how to write Japanese progressively, and by Lesson 9 you will know the entire hiragana writing system. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
This book teaches you how to write Japanese progressively, and by Lesson 9 you will know the entire hiragana writing system. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The presentation of this book, with small graphics, nice layout, along with its many different types of activity give the learner motivation to pick the book up, and keep picking it up.
I have read several of the current texts and this seems the best. It is a light approach to what could become a heavy subject. Well done to the authors for that.
The unique progressive introduction of one of the Japanese "alphabet" is rather good ,I imagine, for those who don't already know it. Readers learn the characters a few at a time in each chapter, the anglicised versions of Japanese characters gradually being replaced by the real thing (Hiragana).
(If readers do not already know Hiragana (the Japanese phonetic characters), then text books have to write their Japanese in an awful anglicised form called Romaji. Romaji is a system that leads to bad pronunciation by default, as readers will pronounce combinations of alphatic characters using their native tongue rules and patterns.)
The book will also get you speaking from the off. This can only build confidence for new learners.
The book includes some handy blocks of vocabulary and some mini Japanese-English / English-Japanese dictionaries.
On the downside are several typographical errors - notably incorrect page references. Not that important but a bit naughty.
Strangely, there are the inclusion of some words/phrases/concepts which seem to materialise from thin air. Perhaps the explanatory sections for these were removed in the final edit. May cause some confusion.
On a slightly more serious note,some of the language chosen for the learner may not be the most suitable language for most situations (i.e its level of politeness). For example, the verb introduced for "want" early on will have you sounding like a 6 year old child screaming " I WANT an ice cream!!!" Readers are advised to perhaps read another text alongside this one,which would explain matters better. However, perhaps later books will address this.
I bought Book 2, so that says it all really. Overall good and I look forward to going through the rest of the series.
I have read several of the current texts and this seems the best. It is a light approach to what could become a heavy subject. Well done to the authors for that.
The unique progressive introduction of one of the Japanese "alphabet" is rather good ,I imagine, for those who don't already know it. Readers learn the characters a few at a time in each chapter, the anglicised versions of Japanese characters gradually being replaced by the real thing (Hiragana).
(If readers do not already know Hiragana (the Japanese phonetic characters), then text books have to write their Japanese in an awful anglicised form called Romaji. Romaji is a system that leads to bad pronunciation by default, as readers will pronounce combinations of alphatic characters using their native tongue rules and patterns.)
The book will also get you speaking from the off. This can only build confidence for new learners.
The book includes some handy blocks of vocabulary and some mini Japanese-English / English-Japanese dictionaries.
On the downside are several typographical errors - notably incorrect page references. Not that important but a bit naughty.
Strangely, there are the inclusion of some words/phrases/concepts which seem to materialise from thin air. Perhaps the explanatory sections for these were removed in the final edit. May cause some confusion.
On a slightly more serious note,some of the language chosen for the learner may not be the most suitable language for most situations (i.e its level of politeness). For example, the verb introduced for "want" early on will have you sounding like a 6 year old child screaming " I WANT an ice cream!!!" Readers are advised to perhaps read another text alongside this one,which would explain matters better. However, perhaps later books will address this.
I bought Book 2, so that says it all really. Overall good and I look forward to going through the rest of the series.
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is probably best to learn a new language by taking a course with a qualified teacher but if, like me, you prefer self-study this is definitely the best way to go.
This book covers all the basics from everyday vocabulary and grammar to counting, days of the week and time etc., and it's all presented in a very understandable way. It will also teach you the Hiragana alphabet quickly and efficiently.
In the past, I've been frustrated with the slow pace some self-study language courses move at so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book moves at a good pace without being overwhelming. The 'culture clips' about Japanese customs and the more colloquial ways of speaking are useful too.
Obviously, since it is just a book, it won't teach you much about pronunciation so I would definitely recommend exposing yourself to spoken Japanese somehow, but that (and the fact that there are a couple of minor typos), is basically the only criticism I can think of.
Highly recommended.
This book covers all the basics from everyday vocabulary and grammar to counting, days of the week and time etc., and it's all presented in a very understandable way. It will also teach you the Hiragana alphabet quickly and efficiently.
In the past, I've been frustrated with the slow pace some self-study language courses move at so I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book moves at a good pace without being overwhelming. The 'culture clips' about Japanese customs and the more colloquial ways of speaking are useful too.
Obviously, since it is just a book, it won't teach you much about pronunciation so I would definitely recommend exposing yourself to spoken Japanese somehow, but that (and the fact that there are a couple of minor typos), is basically the only criticism I can think of.
Highly recommended.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this a couple of months ago, and shortly after bought the Complete Japanese: Teach Yourself (Book/CD Pack) (see my separate review on that product) to see which would work best for me as a complete beginner.
This book is well laid-out and I like the way it gradually introduces you to the Hiragana script as you progress. Beyond that, I really can't find too much positive to say about it. I found the grammar points were superficial both in the way they were presented and tested, they were often confusing, and at times somewhat randomly inserted into the book, rather than being obviously linked to the topic under discussion. The authors also have a habit of introducing new words or characters before you've learned them, which I just found confusing and irritating.
The other thing that concerns me is that you would have to buy at least five books to make real progress, plus pay a monthly subscription to the website to get any audio support - so before long you could end up paying serious money for what I think is a rather amateurish approach to teaching the language.
Don't be seduced by the presentation - I'm sure you can do a lot better for your money than pursue this course.
This book is well laid-out and I like the way it gradually introduces you to the Hiragana script as you progress. Beyond that, I really can't find too much positive to say about it. I found the grammar points were superficial both in the way they were presented and tested, they were often confusing, and at times somewhat randomly inserted into the book, rather than being obviously linked to the topic under discussion. The authors also have a habit of introducing new words or characters before you've learned them, which I just found confusing and irritating.
The other thing that concerns me is that you would have to buy at least five books to make real progress, plus pay a monthly subscription to the website to get any audio support - so before long you could end up paying serious money for what I think is a rather amateurish approach to teaching the language.
Don't be seduced by the presentation - I'm sure you can do a lot better for your money than pursue this course.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Learning Japanese at uni, very useful book
A couple of mistakes in the book but over all its a good workbook, for beginners, it kind of jumps from topic to topic throughout though.
Published 22 days ago by Pandacorn
Ichi-ban
I bought this book with the intention of resuming my Japanese lessons, but without the expensive tutor fees I was paying.
The book is very thick (value for money! Read more
The book is very thick (value for money! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. D. Williams
Japanese self taught
The Japanese from Zero set of three books is, in my opinion a must have if you want easy to understand language tuition. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Brendan Gallagher
All round helpfull
this is a all round helpfull book that is easy laid-out and is simple to understand, will be buying the next two books hopefully soon
Published 6 months ago by Chris
Superb
I have always had an interest in Japanese culture so I figured why not try and learn the language. At school I found languages difficult to learn and very much doubted my ability... Read more
Published 8 months ago by lilsue
Ideal for completely newbies
It is a very good book but be careful if you know some japanese because you may get frustrated by the slooow progressive introduction of the writing system. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Carlos Garcia Martín
For Beginners
I got this book when I started learning and it definitely is one of the best Japanese learning books out there. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Reader
great text book
I bought this book a while back, and I have to say it has really helped me grasp a good understanding of the basics of the Japanese language. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Slammin_87
Brilliant!
I have tried learning Japanese from a few text books before finding this gem, and I will not be going back! Read more
Published 14 months ago by Laura C
Excellent for beginners
A wonderfully detailed book for beginners. With enough determination, these books are a treasure for any novice to the language. Read more
Published 15 months ago by LadyJade
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Languages > By Language > Japanese > Dictionaries
- Books > Reference > Language
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
