i think that once i'm done with the first book ill learn the readings through vocabulary words and such.. i'm afraid I've been neglecting my vocab for quite some time.. i'm pretty bad on grammar too.. I've never had a real class for japanese so i haven't had anyone to practice speaking to.. though over time I've gotten better at understanding people on the television.. but what good is understanding when you cant form your own sentences?..
I've got quite a few books on japanese.. here they are along with some of my thoughts on them..
- my first book.. japanese in 10 minutes a day.. well this book is not worth the 20$ i paid for it.. the stickers were pretty helpful in the beginning.. its only got romaji.. no kana.. and definitely no kanji.. this might be ok for a person looking to go there for a vacation.. but not for someone who wants to be fluent..
- adventures in japanese 1.. this book isn't bad but it has a lot of 'classroom' vocab.. it starts out with romaji then works its way until all pronunciation guides are in kana and then it introduces some basic kanji by the end.. i ended up paying 30$ for it.. it is semi-worth the money.. however there are exercises in it that are best for the classroom..
- barron's japanese the easy way.. this book wasn't very interesting to me.. it was rather dry in my opinion.. i got it because i had luck with their algebra the easy way book.. because i had such high expectations for the book i was extra disappointed when it wasn't as good as the algebra book.. it was however worth the 15$
- zakennayo.. well this one is not one I'm fond of.. i only read it for like 30 minutes.. i think that perhaps a 13 year old boy might be interested in this book but not me.. i really don't think i want to speak in such a tacky manner.. i think i want to have a bit more class than that when i speak japanese.. it might be mildly entertaining to read on an airplane.. in my opinion not worth the 3$ i paid for it (i got it at a discount book store)
- tuttle language library's japanese katakana for beginners.. the flashcards that come with this book are brilliant for people such as me with dyslexia who are trying to learn to read the katakana alphabet..there are lots of squares to practice writing the characters and there are example words for you to write out so that it really gets cemented in your brain.. all and all definitely worth the 20$ i payed for it.. though i had to wait a couple of weeks for it to be restocked.. tuttle books tend to sell out quickly around here
- kanji pictographics.. well this book so far has been mostly useless to me.. however i did use the book as a subject for one of my art videos for my digital video art class and received an A on it.. memorizing each kanji as one picture just doesn't work for me.. i would rather learn them by their radicals.. it doesn't have any kana pronunciations either..
- tuttle language library's writing hiragana.. the amazon one has a different title but the cover art is the same and it has the same author so I'm pretty sure its the same book.. mine is just the revised edition.. its actually a great workbook.. you will get plenty of practice with this book.. absolutely worth the 13$
- japanese in mangaland.. this book was not useful to me because i don't think i need to know the phrase 'where are my ninja stars'.. however i made tons of friends at japanese camp with this book.. though i suppose maybe someone who actually liked manga might find the book more useful.. i will eventually donate this book to my local library.. I'm sure some otaku will make good use of it.. plus right now our library has very little japanese learning aids.. the whole japanese section is like a foot of shelf space.. which annoys me because every other language has more than a whole shelf.. not worth the 24$
- tuttle's learning hiragana and katakana.. i have a different edition.. when i got it at camp i was not ready for learning the written language.. i tried but i didn't make any progress.. however after a while a light clicked on in my brain and i suddenly was able to learn it.. all and all a very useful workbook for practicing.. worth the 17$
- tuttle's japanese hiragana for beginners.. absolutely the best book for learning the hiragana alphabet.. the flashcards are so brilliant.. i will always recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn hiragana quickly and easily.. and mostly painlessly.. it is worth much more than the 20$ i paid for it
- tuttles a guide to reading and writing japanese.. this book so far has been useless to me.. i say so far because i do believe that it will be useful to me once I'm familiar with all the joyo kanji.. its not for learning the kanji.. its more like a reference tool.. it has compound examples though no kana pronunciations.. i would recommend this book to anyone who needs to review the joyo kanji or someone who is attempting to get through a japanese reader who wants a reference tool to explain kanji that the person reading doesn't remember or that are complicated.. I'm sure one day it will be worth the 25$ to me.. but right now as i don't know many kanji its basically no better than a paperweight..
- read japanese today.. this is a fairly interesting book.. it isnt too bad for learning the pronounciations.. though it isnt as thourough as one might want.. i havent gotten throught the whole thing yet but just for the first 4 chapters its already worth the 20$
- barrons japanese grammar.. i think this book would be less confusing if i actually had a japanese class that i used it to suppliment.. its not a half bad guide.. worth the 5$
well those are the ones i can think of.. im sure ive got more..
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