Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Preface: I'm going to Japan in Jan. 2006. Unlike most young people, who go there as English teachers, I'm going there as a kaishain (office worker). The company is Japanese. My co-workers will be Japanese with little English skills. My study of Japanese is not a hobby - my career partially depends on it. Therefore, my review is meant to build upon the 40+ other reviews. They have done a great job detailing both the strong and weak points of the Pimsleur course. Yes, it's repetitive. It teaches formal, stilted Japanese. Neither of the speakers are native Japanese speakers (imitate the man, whose accent is acceptable. The woman has a horrendous Chinese accent. I basically ignore her). Those who expect Pimsleur to be the perfect self-study course - dream on. I strongly feel it should be the backbone of your studies. But it must, MUST, be used in conjunction with multiple other resources. I've taken the liberty to list them below. I hope it will especially help those who are also studying Japanese as a necessity, not as a hobby. 1. I found "Basic Japanese I," which is a series of videos from the 1980's made by the Japanese Learning Foundation. It's complete with skits and a mini-drama about the adventures of a foreigner in Japan. It magnifies the Pimsleur lessons, as well as teaches you extra material. Not to mention, there are NATIVE speakers who talk at normal speeds and intonations and use "natural" Japanese. These are 30% more detailed and more difficult than Pimsleur ... but without Pimsleur, these would be very frustrating and thus useless. Try to find this oldie-but-goodie (as well as the accompanying text). And be prepared to LAUGH at how very 1980s it is (in a BAD way). I spend 2 days on each lesson (there are 26 total). 2. I use the Genki I textbook. Yes, they are technically for a classroom setting, but I've had no problems. They go into the grammatical points and teach additional vocabulary. It's essential to buy the CD's - the speakers are also native (they sound very much like anime voices, which is amusing), but they speak slowly, more slowly than Pimsleur. That's not a big deal, especially for a beginner like me. It also teaches you a little bit of Kanji, which is great. I highly recommend this series. But be prepared to spend about a week on each chapter (there are 12 total), and to listen to the audio again and again. 3. Learn the kana's: hiragana and katakana. You won't believe how useful this has been to me. Don't even look at any romanji...if you can read the kana's, your pronunciation will be much much better. Kana Pict-O-Graphix (a little booklet with mneumonic devices to help you remember how each kana looks) is ESSENTIAL. And, it's only about $7. Also, buy some workbooks, such as "Let's Learn Hiragana." You need to learn the stroke order, and practice writing. While I'm quite good at writing, reading is more challenging. But hey, at least I can! 4. WATCH JAPANESE TV SHOWS AND MOVIES! LISTEN TO JAPANESE MUSIC! There are resources to find Japanese DVD's with English subtitles. I have those shows in .avi form, and then I extract the audio, and listen to it on my iPod. I don't understand a lot of it, but because I've watched the show a couple of times, I get the basic gist. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I feel like I'm starting to understand some words and grammar, simply by watching and listening. But, many foreigners claim to have learned English by watching movies and listening to music -why couldn't it work the other way? 5. I'm lucky that I have a Japanese roommate, whose first language is Japanese (although her English is pretty decent). She's a good resource, but almost just a supplement. I don't think a language partner is too important, because it's not a natural situation. Living abroad in Japan will be my best lesson. 6. It uses mneumonic devices, as well as a native speaker pronouncing every word, to help you with some basic vocab. I hope this review hasn't been overly off topic. In about a month, maybe a little less, I feel I'm progressing quite nicely. If I were put on the spot, I'd probably draw a blank and not be able to use any of the Japanese I've learned so far, but that's only natural. So, in closing...it's important to have realistic expectations. Pimsleur, while important, is just a part of really learning Japanese.