Customer Reviews

Japanese for Busy People 1: Workbook (Japanese for Busy People Series): Workbook Bk. 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well organised and helpful. Better than some books on same subject I used in (admittedly distant) past.
But main point is that it has long been used by professional teachers of Japanese, working for language schools, airlines, company classes etc. It has track record of practicality.
Recommended, even if you are using 1 or 2 other textbooks already.

This book was used with the Japanese for Busy People 1 book, the workbook helped me practice what I learned. Good Revision book.

For use with either of the following
Japanese for Busy People: Kana Version Bk. 1 (Japanese for Busy People Series)
Japanese for Busy People: Romanized Version Bk. 1

This book is all about practicing scenarios of the main textbook to oral fluency. This is its main function and in that it is very successful as a supplementary material. Don't expect too much of it as a stand alone book without reference to the main text as the workbook without the main text is then only a revision aid of basic phrases and short scenarios. If you judge it on its supplementary merits, then it helps bring the main text's scenarios alive and involving the learner interactively in taking characters' speaking parts. It has been cleverly devised around the use of illustrations to prompt language that is only in text form in the main text but in pictures in the workbook. This really helps see a scenario, and all the target dialogues, short dialogues and conversation exercises of the main text book are practiced. You could certainly learn the main text without this, but the workbook allows testing of if you have a certain fluency or not, as well as being an interesting review and revision tool when you may need a diversion from the main text.

This book is functional I suppose at learning romanji or at best some basic phrase level English but skipping this book and going straight onto the kana workbooks is preferable.
Saying that the entire Japanese for busy people texts seem fairly basic and flawed to me, for best Japanese learning results buy the "Minna no Nihongo" books, fully in Japanese, but that book + a dictionary works much better at gaining a good level of Japanese proficiency.