Japanese for Busy People

Bunpro
#1

Konnichiwa! (sorry not on my computer that has Japanese kbd installed and I’m not terribly good with Romaji)!

Is anyone else using “Japanese for Busy People” (the AJLT series?). They were recommended to me by a friend who used to live in Japan. I’m about 1/2 way through book II, and I’m planning on completing the series.

Has there been any thought to doing a “grammar order” for JBP? I’ve been using the “N grammar order” (working my way through N4 now), and sometimes it’s nice because eventually the two reinforce each other, but it would make my life easier to have a grammar review system that followed the book more closely.

Arigatou!

Larry

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#2

こんにちは！

Yup, I used JBP when I first started (many years ago). I thought it was pretty good at bringing you from absolute beginner to functioning Japanese.
(Now, after other experiences, I feel that all textbooks have many holes in the way that Japanese is presented, but that’s another topic. JBP will give you a good foundation. :slight_smile:)

It looks like a path for JBP is on their list!

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#3

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

To answer your question though, I haven’t used the books myself, but I did use the audio packs that came with the books as part of my listening practice early on (at least I think it was this series that the audio came from, it has audio right?). The audio was great for a bit of light practice on the train etc, but honestly I would recommend the Bunpro ‘all’ grammar order more than anything. Following a book is great and all, but if you’re not doing it for the sake of an exam, you may as well learn it the most ‘comprehensive’ way from the get go.

But as Fred said, it’s on the list, so it’s only a matter of time if you want to wait :blush:

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#4

Yeah. They are certainly not my only source. I also do Bunpro, Wanikani, and Duolingo, and of course NHK Easy News.

I’ve also just signed up for italki.com. It’s a site that lets people connect to tutors in all sorts of languages. Nice thing is you pay by the lesson, so no monthly fees or contracts (especially given I wasn’t sure if I’d like it). I’ve tried three different teachers so far, and I liked each of them. (No, I don’t work for them :slight_smile: ).

But living in the American Southwest, I don’t get a lot of live practice, so this has been really really helpful!

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#5

I’ve gone through book ll and lll. There is alot of business associated vocab and topics but a serious lack of kanji which has it’s limitations for actual reading practice. I suppose the idea is to get users toward productive conversations rather than developing real reading skills since you are too busy to learn kanji (it actually makes it harder than necessary IMO when reading a wall of just kana). The grammar levels are sort of scattered as well but they will discuss topic in reasonable depth. I probably got the most out of the listening examples and just shadowing the conversations repeatedly but they speak more toward a learners speed rather than natural. So it’s like a series with work related N2/3 vocab focusing on N4 grammar using N5 kanji.

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#6

Thanks for the update. It was recommended by a friend. I’m about 1/2 way through book 2 and the workbook now. I also use WaniKani to study kanji. I was up to level 27, got bogged, and then did a reset a few months ago, just hit level 20 again, but honestly it was good to do it twice. I find it much harder to just read kana without kanji (though I admit I like a bit of furigana now and then if the character has multiple readings). I felt guilty about it until I was in Japan and got cards from places I stayed, and they had furigana on them, too.

I listen to Japanesepod101 in the car, and watch Japanese TV (but still with the subtitles). I still couldn’t probably get a show’s full storyline without the subtitles, but I’ve gone from a stream of syllables to recognizing set phrases and some grammatical structures, and picking up intonation. Also, culturally it’s just fun.

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