Drive Time Japanese: Beginner Level

I'm slowing going through these CD's and they are ok. There is the required amount of repetition that you can rewind and get what they are saying in Japanese and the exercises on the CD are appropriate to get a beginner learning of the language. Not great with writing and alphabet. There is no explanation of the Japanese writing styles hiragana, katakana nor kanji nor is there any indication of the Japanese alphabet only sounds are given against the English alphabet, which is strange. The grammar and number explanation is otherwise good and explained simply so you get it. Not good with building up your vocab as the CD sticks to a few basic words e.g. karuma - is used in many examples. You do learn a few basic words, but don't practice a range of vocab. So it is good to get a beginner started and I would recommend it if you are going to travel to Japan.

Coming from the Pimsleur method of learning Japanese, this audio course felt rushed, and I felt I couldn't absorb as much information.The vocabulary words are shot at you 10-15 at a time, and there is little review before the next set of vocab, causing me to have to listen to each 1-minute-long "mile marker" over and over again.This is to Pimsleur as trying to memorize a dictionary is to learning from a textbook.It just doesn't seem prudent to listen to in the car because I find myself either listening to the 1-minute tracks on repeat until they sink in, or listen to a bunch at a time, and retaining nothing because the quizzing and recall flies by so quickly.Also, the response time is extremely short. I can barely answer the question in English in that amount of time.ALL THAT SAID, a strong vocabulary is necessary obviously, and I am eager to get to a level where this tape will be useful for me. For right now, I'm going to settle for the Pimsleur method of simple vocabulary, and focusing on grammar and sentence structure.

This tape course is great for people who really want/need in-depth Japanese lessons or review. You get a good idea of sentence structure and pronunciation. However, if you are trying to learn some basic Japanese for a short-term trip, this is not the tape for you. You need to know how to ask for basic items (food, beverages, train tickets, the bathroom). I've travelled to Japan once, and plan to go again, and I don't think I'll need to know how to say "It's a big new car" or "Let's go to a concert" to a total stranger on the street. Buy this tape if you need some support for reglar Japanese lessons, or just want to generally improve your understanding of the language for business or regular travel. Nice set-up, but not practical for day-to-day needs.

I love this set of cd's. At first I was a little intimidated but soon realized that I can hit the repeat button as many times as needed. I was showing off all I learned this weekend to my family and they were impressed! There is lots to learn and it's fun and also a great value for the money. My son lives in japan and is fluent in japanese, and he said I am learning more than some of his college friends that are learning japanese!

Great program! Got a lot of compliments on my Japanese when visiting Japan. Definitely recommend this to anyone visiting Japan, whether for business or pleasure. I liked to listen to it in the car on the way to/from work.

This program is much more difficult than I expected, which pleases me. I had thought it would be something that I could learn in a week or two but I am finding that the authors were able to compress a lot of material on those five CDs. Highly recommended. Sionara...

This was great for me because I got to hear how words are pronounced by a native speaker instead of trying to figure out how to pronounce them on my own. If you have long commutes it's great, or put it on your ipod to listen to throughout the day.

Has helped me with my conversational Japanese

Very good