[Needtosell]

Hi,

Wondering where I can find English-language textbooks for learning Japanese. Been to a couple of Japanese bookstores (in Sogo, in Mitsukoshi, in Jardine's Crescent) and the large English ones (Page One in Times Square, Paddyfield) but haven't found the one I'm looking for (Japanese: The Spoken Language by Jorden)

Any help would be appreciated thanks!

[thetokyoproject]

the most common text seems to be:

'japanese for busy people' - there are 3 volumes and aren;t too bad. they also do a kana as well as the romanji versions.

i used 'genki' (i think that's what it was called) 2 volumes and starts off with romanji before continuing in kana only. this one is slighty better for the serious student.

for slang and chit chat, 'making out in japanese' is a nice pocket sized book to read on the commute into work.

[dicesix]

If you're really serious about Japanese I can only recommend Minna No Nihongo from Corporation,Japan. Each stage of theMinna No Nihongo series has two books, a textbook and a grammar book. The textbook is completely in hiragana, katakana and later kanji which I think is the best way to get into the language.

[freeier]

to learn the language properly, the best text book i recommend is the one issued by 'tokyo university of foreign language japanese language school'. they have basic/intermediate/advance, whole series includes different text/workbook/comprehension book etc. no romaji in the text book.

the jap school is the authority in japan in teaching japanese language to foreigners. they are the main advisor in running the JLPT program.

but the tough part is u'd really need a good teacher/guide initially to pick up the basic of hiragana etc before u can move ahead...

[dicesix]

Hiragana is actually not that difficult. But I agree that one would need some help with the stroke order and getting the proportions right. For some reasons I had more difficulties learning katakana than hiragana. Maybe because katakana letters look like dismembered kanjis... who knows?

[freeier]

its not difficult if u have some basic and u know how to approach the language.
katakana is too squarish and because u don't use it in common context, it is harder for people to pick up naturally.