Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Methods to Learn Japanese with Integrated Workbook and Online Support: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals Paperback – 22 Aug. 2014

I have studied Japanese on and off for many years, but when I decided to 'get serious' with studying this wonderful language, this is the book I chose to study from. The accompanying videos on YouTube were a huge consideration for me.This is extremely clear to work from and the explanations make it easy to grasp the concepts of forming sentences and using the language you learn. It even manages to explain quite complex ideas in a clear way and for the first time I fully understand how to conjugate verbs and can now do so with Japanese verbs. This felt like a HUGE win for me. This starts off with simple concepts and builds upon them to give you confidence and useful knowledge.This book has a workbook built into it, with reading and writing exercises (with an answer guide in the back) and these exercises really help you grasp and solidify what you have learnt in that chapter.This books also teaches you Hiragana and I love the way that as you progress through the book the words are gradually built up with each Hiragana you learn, until by the end everything is written in Hiragana and you can read and understand written Japanese. Of course there is Katakana (which is covered in book 2) and Kanji which comes in book 3 onwards. The author has also written a book called Kanji from zero, which covers Kanji a little more. But learning Hiragana so quickly and effortlessly is a huge win and will impress native Japanese and will also enrich your experience when you travel in Japan.This isn't necessarily a book that'll teach you lots of phrases you can use on your holidays, right off the bat, but instead builds a solid language framework and introduces vocab, so you can build your own sentences and actually understand the language. This is much better than simply learning by rote.I also like how the author teaches a style of Japanese that is actually used and which is useful when in the country. Some courses will teach very formal and stilted Japanese, and whilst the author does teach you polite forms, he also teaches langauage that sounds more natural. A simple example of this is 'ja arimasen', compared to 'junai'. They both mean 'not' but one is more stuffy and the other will make you sound more natural (I'll let you read the book to find out which!). As someone who wishes to use Japanese when I am in the country, this is essential for me and will hopefully open up another side of Japan that I may not have seen.My personal way to use this book was to read through each chapter to familiarise myself with the material, then watch the accompanying YouTube video for that lesson to get a clearer idea of pronounciation and any tough parts. Then I'd go back and work though the chapter in a slower, more methodical way, answering the exercies and making notes.I used the Ankidroid app to make up flashcards for all the words and phrases from each chapter, so I could study and test myself when out and about. And I also used a notebook to write up mind maps and mneumonic techniques for the more 'non-sticky' words.In conjunction with this course I also listened to Michel Thomas cd's in the car and used an excellent Particles dictionary (which I have also reviewed on Amazon). Using all these techniques together has really helped the info in this course sink in and start to build a decent framework to build upon.This course is great to work from. You quickly grasp difficult concepts, feel as if you actually understand the way the language is formed and the accompanying videos are light hearted and a wonderful additional media to aid your study.I can't recommend this book enough and if you wish to seriously learn Japanese and unlock your full potential, then give this a try and see what it can do for you.

Japanese from ZeroI purchased this book way back in 2012 when I first began the long and daunting path of learning Japanese as a hobby. However, I can easily say that even after building up an impressive collection of Japanese language books over the years, this is still the standout one along with the rest in the series.They have been written by George Trombley who actually grew up in Japan yet is not Japanese themselves. This helps as they are able to give a first-hand experience of the ‘Text book’ way and the ‘everyday’ way of talking and also boast strong English skills to help translate the subject better.A good example is saying something simple like what is your name. 99% of Text books will tell you to say, “Watashi no namae wa _____ desu”However, in this one you will be told to say “_____ to moushimasu” instead as it is a more natural way that a real Japanese person would say it. After speaking to many Japanese people over the years I can also confirm this to be true.The book covers a huge range of areas for the level such as simple introduction (Hello, my name is, goodbye) counting numbers as well as time and dates. Reading Hiragana and much more. It has questions on almost every page with a full list of answers at the back of book and a dictionary of all the words you will learn in this book.Of the four current books available, this is probably one of the most difficult in the series mainly because it is the first one so it has a lot more ground to cover. The later books are more about improving or adding to what you know and by that point you will have a strong understanding and grasp of the subject. However you shouldn’t let that put you off.A good example of how much you will learn in the first book is by how much your questions will improve without realising it. At the start, you will learn to ask the question.“What is it?” (Nani desu ka) Then after one chapter it will become,“What colour is it?” (Nani iro desu ka) next chapter,“What colour is your car?” (Nani iro no Kuruma desu ka)“What colour is your mothers car?” (Anata no okaasan no kuruma wa nani iro desu ka)While that may not look very impressive when looking at the English side, it really is a huge amount of information to learn in such a short amount of time. If you look at the words in the brackets, you can see how much information you can learn in just a matter of a few weeks.One of the things this book does that I really have not seen another learning book do is slowly add the Japanese Hirigana to the Romanji words. (Romanji is Japanese letters translated into an English format) For example, it will teach you the Hiragana vowels, A,I,U,E,O and then replace those in the Romanji format. It is very hard to explain but it does work and is a very good way of teaching the letters.So to summarise, while my Japanese level is way beyond this book at this point, I really do owe a lot of that to this series. Even today, I still find myself coming back to it from time to time to brush up on some old knowledge.If you are thinking of learning Japanese or have just begun to then I highly recommend this book. You will use this one repeatedly and for the rest of your learning experience.

Absolutely fantastic! Yes, this book is really well written and easy to follow but... above all it’s fun!I’ve always found learning languages difficult. With boring text books, meaningless memorisation of phrases you’ll never use (I know how to reach the airport and I doubt many people care that I got to the cinema by train). This book series is so different. It teaches HOW to make phrases for yourself. Basic at first yes, but you quickly become inspired to try new things for yourself. I now feel confident enough to chat with Japanese people on Hello Talk and I’ve only just started Book 2.What makes this series really great is the author, who compliments every lesson of the book with a YouTube lesson. This help solidify what you’ve learnt, helps with pronunciation, encourages and is genuinely entertaining. Add to that a website and podcasts...The only negative I have is that I feel having bought a set on Kindle (because it was cheaper than the books) I’ve really missed out. I’d recommend buying the print version. The books have worksheets at the end of each lesson, that really challenge and help with learning. The Kindle app has some simple note taking but really lacks the ability to draw on the worksheets as intended. When I’m a little further along, I’ll definitely get Kanji from Zero in print.To the Author:Thanks George and Yukari for giving me a hobby and inspiring me to see it through. Japanese is challenging but you make it rewarding and have given me confidence to try, fail, learn and try again. I have quite simply never encountered such an excellent language learning resource. I wish school had been this fun!