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Teach
yourself Japanese Conversation is a 3-hour, 3 CD, all-audio language
course which is aimed at complete beginners or people who want to
refresh their Japanese. Don't even think about trying to do the
course all in one go - it would be near impossible not to mention
brain frazzling!
The
CDs follow a couple called Chris and Sarah (I know, original names!)
whilst visiting an ex-colleague in Japan. The idea of the CD is
to learn the language through 20 conversations that Chris &
Sarah have with native speakers. The course is accompanied by a
booklet containing transcripts of the conversations; the key vocabulary
is in bold.
The content of the CDs differ. CD1 & CD2 have 10 real-life conversations
about things that you'd be doing on a weekend break or a short holiday
or business visit to the country. For each conversation, there are
two dialogues in three sections: the first section is listen and
repeat, the second section is using the language in context and
the final section is practising the conversation again. The CD3
is a recap session and gives you lots more real-life conversations.
When I first
started listening to CD1, the first thought that sprang into my
mind was 'why on earth had I decided to even attempt to learn Japanese'.
I stupidly (stupidly as in for future reference don't do this) made
the mistake of opening the booklet before I pressed play and thought
I was way out of my depth. Still, I carried on and am glad I did.
From the start I knew I had made the right decision with this course.
The narrator is not irritatingly bland like on some courses - in
fact quite the opposite as she is reassuring and easy to listen
to.
The fab thing about the CDs is they are repetitive (in a good way)
and the narrator often advises you to pause the CD which is easy
to do. Throughout the sections some basic grammar rules are explained,
as well as when to use and when not to use certain constructions.
CD2 continues
on from CD1 and the level remains the same throughout, which is
great as it doesn't progress too fast or too slow (in other words
just right).
CD3 is what
would be called the revision CD. All the conversations in the booklet
are replayed at normal speed and then a different version is played,
with a kind of question time at the start. I found this a great
way of recapping and actually testing what I had learnt (seeing
as in the past I think I have mastered a self-study tape but in
actual fact I really have no idea about the language!).
The booklet
offers explanations of what to do in certain cultural situations.
This is particularly handy if you go to Japan. The last thing you'd
want to do is blow your nose, offend the whole room and have no
idea why!
This 3-hour
course is absolutely fabulous (excuse the quote from the television
programme!). To me it seemed like a great 3-hour exam preparation
course. Instead of boring me slightly (GCSE German memories flooding
back!), it was very entertaining and made me feel that I would be
able to handle myself in any one of the situations played out in
the conversations and more importantly understand what was being
said back to me.
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I
especially recommend this to people who have done language
courses before and found them dull and uninteresting, as this
is completely different. You actually come out of this course
with a real sense of achievement .
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I would recommend
this to everyone who wants to learn a more adventurous language
and who isn't scared of challenges along the way. I especially recommend
this to people who have done language courses before and found them
dull and uninteresting, as this is completely different. You actually
come out of this course with a real sense of achievement and a feeling
that you could now go to Japan and find the train station, and more
importantly order a beer and a sake!!!
Click
here for more information about all Teach
Yourself Conversation language courses.
Click here for more information about all Teach
Yourself language courses.
Click
here for more information about the best and most innovative Japanese
language courses.
If
you require any further information, please contact
us.
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