Review ＃１：Pimsleur Japanese I Part A

So far I have finished part A of the Pimsleur Japanese 1 audo set. It definitely improved my speaking and listening skills, which usually are my weakpoints in learning a language. Since I don't get to practice much Japanese outside of the classroom, Pimsleur can help me improve the way I pronounce common words and respond quickly to someone speaking Japanese.

This is what I learned in Part A (first 16 lessons): make basic greetings appropriate to the time of day, pose a question, say that I'm an American or Japanese, say that I can speak Japanese but not skilled at it yet, comment on the weather, ask if someone speaks English or Japanese, ask where the park, restaurant, hotel, or station is, ask someone out to lunch or dinner, order a drink (sake & beer), say thank you, ask for money, do simple arithmetic with numbers, ask what time it is, responding when someone is giving you something, responding when someone comments on the weather or anything else, ask what someone will be doing today or tonight. These are basically the main points.

I think Pimsleur is great! It helps me stick the Japanese words and phrases in my brain since they repeat it so much. I will definitely try to finish Japanese I, II, and III of Pimsleur. However, these are the things that I don't like about Pimsleur.

1. It's freaking expensive for an audio course. It is not worth buying it new. I'm glad that I didn't. My local library, Los Angeles Central Library in downtown, has a huge collection of language audio courses and has the complete set of Pimsleur Japanese.So I recommend finding it at a large local library with a huge selection.

2. The Japanese spoken here is way too polite and formal. The audience is definitely geared to American businessmen who are being sent to Japan to conduct business or to stay there as a tourist. Since I'm a young undergrad who still looks like a high schooler, I won't be expected to be so polite nor would I converse so formally. I may be a foreigner, but Japanese are lenient towards non-Japanese because of their limited Japanese skills. That's why I wouldn't depend solely on this program, and find other resources that would teach me casual Japanese. Anyway, the phrases spoken in Pimsleur are definitely good to know. I'm going to use them even though I might sound too polite to the younger generation when I study abroad there at a uni.

Well, those are the only reasons that I don't like about Pimsleur. I'll also comment that the first 16 lessons only let me spoke very limited Japanese. Seriously, I could only order beer and sake at a restaurant. (And I don't even drink siince I'm underage) But I'm expecting that the vocabulary will expand on upcoming lessons.

じゃまたかじゃあね。
See you later (business-like) or see you later (csaual).

Introduction

こんにちは。はじめまして。ジョーンです。アメリカから　きました。わたしは　じゅうはつさいです。しごとは　だいがくせいです。サンフランシスコだいがくの　がくせいです。いま　いちねんせいです。せんもんは　ビジネスと日本語です。どうぞ　よろしく。

Translation: Hello. How do you do? I'm Joan. I'm from the US. I'm 18 years old. My occupation is a college student. I'm a student at the University of San Francisco. I'm now a freshmen.  My majors are business and Japanese. Nice to meet you.

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(Excuse the poorly worded intro in Japanese. So far, I've been studying it for a month.)

Hello~ I'm Joan. Welcome to my new blog! This blog will all be dedicated to the methods and ways I learn Japanese. I will review and share books, resources, and websites for Japanese learners of any level. Since I'm trying to avoid the conventional method of studying Japanese solely with a textbook and learning from rote memory in a classroom setting, I am going to share more fun, alternative, and effective ways to study this language. Although this blog isn't meant for providing Japanese lessons, I will write in Japanese with English translations on some of my posts so that I can practice my Japanese writing skills and viewers can practice their reading skills. Once I'm more advanced, I will provide a section for Japanese lessons.

I just started learning Japanese on the beginning of June, Summer 2012. As you can see, I'm still at a beginner level. I just declared a double major in Accounting and Japanese. Even though I had no prior knowledge of the Japanese language, I've always wanted to be fluent in it since high school. Let's see how much I'll progress.