Japanese for Busy People is the most popular Japanese language
textbook series in the world. With over 20 components including texts,
workbooks, CDs, videos and teacher's manuals, it is also one of the most
comprehensive. Now, a decade after its first revision, the entire series
has been
redesigned, updated and consolidated to meet the needs of 21st-century
students and businesspeople who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese
as effectively as possible in a limited amount of time. The book
features not only a sleek, new design but also a unit structure that
groups thematically
linked lessons together, making it easier than ever to learn Japanese.
Moreover, it now comes with a CD containing audio for the dialogues and
listening exercises from the text. The exercises in the book have also
been thoroughly revised to incorporate more comprehension and production
tasks. Many
of these exercises are illustrated, making for a stimulating learning
experience, and the purpose of each one is clearly stated. This first of
three volumes introduces "survival Japanese"-the absolute minimum amount
of Japanese needed to live in Japan. Thus, the vocabulary and
grammatical items it
introduces are limited to about a third of what is typically introduced
in a first-year course. In addition, the book features notes on Japanese
culture intended to expand the learner's understanding of Japan, its
customs and people. Japanese for Busy People I is available in two
formats: romanized
and kana. The Romanized Version uses romanized Japanese throughout, with
kana in the Opening Dialogues of each lesson. The Kana Version-exposing
students to hiragana and katakana from the very beginning-uses only
kana.The content of the two books is otherwise exactly the same. The
companion volume,
Japanese for Busy People 1: The Workbook for the Revised 3rd Edition
contains a variety of illustrated exercises for mastering the basic
sentence patterns presented in the main text.