This Audio CD Book item from Kodansha International was reviewed on 6-Nov-2008.
Search ISBN:4770019092 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition) Reference Book. Classifications : General Books on CD Audiobooks Formats Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books Languages French Spanish Language Instruction Books on CD Audiobooks Formats Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General AA . Click the following link to view the cover of Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition). Related topics: General. Books on CD. Audiobooks. Formats. Custom Stores. Specialty Stores. Books. Languages. French. Spanish. requestid: be533ee3-0eb1-4eae-8182-80942ae026aa
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edition: 2#Revised#e.
numberofitems: 2
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1) Audio CD Book Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition) by Kodansha International. This is a two cd set and the text book is not included. The workbook is not the textbook even though it is supposed to be in the same set. I think it is cheaper to buy the text book + cd set, through a regular book store. If it all came as one package it would be quite a motivating little set.¤ 2) Audio CD Book Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition) by Kodansha International. This is an excellent product that complements the Japanese For Busy People textbook. It helps with pronunciation and the speed at which words and sentences are spoken. A ´must buy´ for anyone interested in learning Japanese fluently or even just for basic stuff.¤ 3) Audio CD Book Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition) by Kodansha International. I bought the CD set to accompany the book so I could practice in my car outside of class. Overall, it´s not a stand alone product, I´ve used better CDs to learn from, but as practice outside of class for proficiency it´s not bad. It uses native voices with real accents and speech patterns so you´ll use the seek button often. It doesn´t have the speak and repeat pattern which is useful for self-study but it helps to reinforce what the sensei covered in class.¤ 4) Audio CD Book Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition) by Kodansha International. I hope this is the review for the audio CDs for JfBP. If so, it´s a must. Definitely make sure you order these with the text. And make sure you get the Kana version (of the text).¤ 5) Audio CD Book Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition) by Kodansha International. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ALREADY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS:
If you´re buying the book I and are thinking wheter or not to buy this CDs, buy it! They might look expensive, but you´re not going to learn how to pronounce correctly unless you hear them. Even if you can read all the hiragana sounds, that doesn´t mean you can render the printed kana in the textbook correctly. I have had a lot of surprises comparing the kana writing with actual japanese speech. For example, "gakusei" is actually pronounced more like "gaksee". A lot of times, when you expect a final "u", that "u" is almost erased from real spoken language. And the biggest surprise to me, was to discover that all "g" sounds (ga, gi, gu, ge, go) become more nasal, very close to "n", when they are in the middle of a word. Do yourself a favor and don´t waste your time trying to imagine the correct pronunciation and accent without the CDs! Some people complain that the speech is too fast, but I don´t think so... perhaps when giving telephone numbers. Just concentrate and let the Force flow...
By the way, although the printed textbook says that only the opening dialogues, key sentences and short dialogues are recorded in the CDs, actually all the vocabulary words are there, too, and spoken slower than the same words in the dialogues, so you can better grasp all the sounds. About the presentation, I thought the CDs would be placed in a flimsy plastic thing inside the box, but in fact they were inside a sturdy 4-CD jewel case (like that of Pink Floyd´s The Wall), occuping, of course, only 2 of the 4 maximum spaces. You can carry this case with you along with your discman or put it with you other CDs.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NOT SURE ABOUT WHAT THIS IS:
Yes, these CDs are only a complement to the textbook and not an independent course on their own. For a good audio-only Japanese course, try Pimsleur´s.
These CDs are part of the famous JFBP series, which is almost the official instrument for studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Tests (administered by the Monbusho every year).
If you don´t have the corresponding textbook and are considering these CDs, buy the textbook. Book I has two versions: The romanized version (this is, representing japanese sounds with English letters) and the kana version (representing japanese sounds with a small set of simple syllabic symbols, very different from chinese characters, which represent ideas and thus are far more complex.) I have the kana version of the Book I, and using these CDs along with the book gives you a double input of information. Very effective. The romanized version must be far easier, but it can mislead you to pronounce words as if they were English. To be able to read the kana version, first learn the kana anywhere else. Perhaps the kana workbook from the JFBP series (along with the tapes), or perhaps a downloadable PC program like Declan´s will do the job.
When you´ve finished all three books (and CDs), you could be able to pass JLPT Level 3! (4 is the lowest, 1 is the highest) If you want to make it to Level 1, go to Japan and read and talk a lot.
FOR ALL OF YOU:
Japanese people talk very fast, and this fact is reflected in these recordings. However, the reading parts and the vocabulary parts are slowed down a lot so you can get your feet on the ground. Just concentrate and you´ll identify all the sounds! It´s not much faster than Spanish, you know?¤ 6) Audio CD Book Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition) by Kodansha International. These discs have been recorded in stereo under studio conditions by native speakers, male and female, with assigned roles. The Japanese is the normal speed or very slightly slower than that heard in daily conversation. Great care has been taken to present the most representative pronunciation of each individual word and to preserve the natural flow of spoken Japanese. In imitating the model speakers, the student should pay close attention to pronunciation, pitch and intonation.
The dialogues, which are most frequently in question-and-answer form, have been recorded so that one person´s voice comes from the left speaker and the other person´s from the right speaker. If stereo playback equipment is used, the volume on one channel can be lowered, allowing the student to take the part of the muted voice. The student can alternately practice either questions or answers and test himself or herself on mastery of both roles.
For each lesson, the following parts have been recorded: Opening Dialogue (or Text) with Summary Sentence(s) and Vocabulary, Key Sentences and Vocabulary, Vocabulary for the Exercises, and Short Dialogue(s) and Vocabulary. However, Lessons 11, 26 and 30 (Review Reading) and Lesson 21 have only dialogue or text and vocabulary, so the whole lesson is on disc.
To the Student
While listening to the Opening Dialogue, the student should try to imagine the scene being enacted and follow the flow of the conversation. Then after practicing the new words in the vocabulary out loud, he or she should imitate in a clear voice the model speakers on the disc.
The Key Sentences are important grammar points in the lesson, and should be mastered thoroughly before proceeding.
For the Exercises, only the vocabulary is recorded. After learning the new words in this section, the student should use them in his or her oral practice.
The supplementary Short Dialogues are similar to the Opening Dialogues. Once these have been mastered, words and patterns already learned can be put to use in expansion drills.
Having completed the lesson, the student should return to the Opening Dialogue and listen to it again. It is at this time that taking the role of one of the model speakers can be most effective, and the student should practice until he or she can do this fluently.
To the Teacher
Since classroom time is limited, it is important to devote as much of it as possible to drilling students in the dialogues and exercises. The discs can best be employed to augment classroom work, either as preparation before class or as review. As a minimum, students should be expected to practice new vocabulary by listening to the disc while memorizing the meanings of the words. Optimally, they should master the Opening Dialogue, Key Sentences and related vocabulary as soon as possible during review of the lesson.¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 4-Dec-2008, 47700190929784770019097, 274-924-744-614-474-634-8 
Japanese for Busy People I (Japanese for Busy People)(Revised Edition), Book, Image © Kodansha International
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