No comments about 3 Tape Set; VHS Video; Macross Plus, Macross Plus 2, Macross Plus 3 (English & Japanese Languages)(Animated).

No comments about Portrait of Polymesia (Japanese Language) Hawaii's #1 Experience.

No comments about Japanese: The Spoken Language (Part 1) (VHS).

No comments about Hamlet B/W 1948 English Language w/Japanese Subtitles.

No comments about Godzilla Vs. Mothra (102 Minute Japanese Version with English Subtitles).

2 comments about Japanese for Busy People II the Video [VHS].

1. I discovered this book when it was used in a beginning Japanese language course at the local county college. I travel back and forth to Japan a lot and missed classes sometimes. I had the book with me most of the time, and almost everyone I talk to in Japan recognizes the book as a popular text for teaching Japanese to foreigners. What I like most about the book is that I didn't have any trouble keeping up with the occasional missed class, because the book is so self-explanatory. You can work through the lessons on your own and get almost as much out of it as you do from the class.



2. If you used Japanese for Busy People I to start learning Japanese, you might be disappointed with this second book in the series. JFBP II has been, for me, less user-friendly. In comparison with JFBP I, this book inundates the student with vocabulary and grammar notes in each lesson. Yes, having lots of information is good. But in my opinion, this book has packaged that information in larger chunks that are more difficult for the student to digest. Lessons are oriented around events, places and situations -- Lost and Found, the Health Club, a Business trip; a festival, etc. The book might have been more helpful had it been oriented around grammar concepts. Or better yet, give me a lesson focused on just new vocabulary and then give me a lesson focused on a grammar concept -- where I can use my recently acquired vocabulary. (I am learning in a classroom environment, and it's extremely challenging to soak up all the new vocabulary AND all the new grammar in each lesson.)

   This book also is big on kana and kanji and sparse on romaji (although the book, in the appendix, does awkwardly provide romaji for the lesson texts). I agree that learning to think in kana is important. But I think more prominent romaji is still needed at this level -- when beginning students are still visualizing in terms of romaji. Kana is easy enough but requires my brain to kick in some extra processing power -- which slows down my comprehension of the material. In other words, I think students still could benefit from the "training wheels" of romaji at this level. It could speed up learning of vocabulary and grammar. It just makes sense: We learn to speak English fairly well. Then we learn to read and write it. Why not learn to speak Japanese fairly well (using easy romaji) and then learn how to read and write our newly acquired Japanese using kana?

   And speaking of training wheels, more illustrations of vocabulary and concepts would have been helpful -- to help students better soak up new words and grammar. Another gripe: Not all words used in this book are in the glossary. (If it's not in the glossary, it's probably in the glossary for JFBP I.)

   If you are studying on your own and on no timetable, this book will do you just fine. This book covers a lot of territory. If you can soak it all up, you'll be Japanese wiz. But if you're truly a busy person (like me -- or maybe I'm just slow! ;) ) and if this is the book you have to use, be prepared to make extra time in your schedule. And do your best to master each lesson before you move on to the next one -- since each lesson requires knowledge of previous concepts. Otherwise, your house of cards will come tumbling down.

5 comments about Japanese for Busy People I: Video [VHS].

1. I took a course using this book, amongst the regular reading book. I now have the CDs as well, and combined they are a VERY useful tool! This workbook is designed to back up the main book, and while still usable without the other book, I think someone who is trying to learn Japanese on their own would find it more beneficial to use both together. In this book, some of the picture's meanings in English aren't clear, so you often end up having to look in the reference portion to discover the meanings. However, if you have the other book, it explains a few things that this book is missing.



2. Ive watched all 3 tapes (older version) at the library and they were extremely useful for clarifying grammar points. However some of the animation was cheesy and the acting was awful. I hope this new version is less cheesy.



3. Not for the casual tourist who will vacation in Japan. Using this book, you will not learn the necessary phrases for a short trip to Japan. If you want to learn common phrases, do not buy this book. It was designed for serious students of the language.
   
   On that note, it is unbelievable that a text book of this caliber would be Romanized. If you are a serious student, then take this review seriously: learn hiragana immediately. Do not buy this book; buy the kana version of this book, and begin studying hiragana while you are waiting for it to arrive in the mail. If your college forces you to buy the Romanized version (like mine did), do future students a favor by requesting that they switch over to the kana version.
   
   Although my review of this book sounds harsh, do not be mislead. I like the Japanese for Busy People text book series, and, like all serious students of the Japanese language, despise Romanized books. Many of my friends complain that this book focuses on grammar and vocabulary that would best be used for business. I can't argue, but it lays the foundation for Japanese for Busy People II, which is a great text book. The coinciding workbook is not necessary, and not very useful.
   
   Buy the kana version of this book.



4. When I first studied Japanese in a university, this book was used. However, much of what I learned I found to be practically useless when I hit the streets in Japan. It seems like these guys tried to hide the different politeness levels. I've used the first two texts, skimmed the third, and have found little outside of formal Japanese. My father, after having learned the first book, had his Japanese friends tell him one day, "You really don't have to keep using formal Japanese. We are friends now." Until that point, he HAD NO IDEA that he knew only formal Japanese. (Not to mention his Japanese was still beginner.)
   
   Also, these books are VERY slow to introduce kanji. The first book is even in Romanji, for God's sake! You really have to start learning both kanas AND kanji from the get-go.
   
   I highly recommend the "Situational, Functional Japanese" series. This is the textbook used by the University of Hawaii, the university and state that has the highest Japanese influence and interaction in America. I picked them up as refreshers before going back to Japan and was amazed at how good they were compared to my Japanese for Busy People books. I threw my JBP books out. Eagerly. SFJ doesn't hide anything - it starts teaching you kana and kanji from the very beginning, exposes you to the formal levels from the beginning, teaches you more pertinent grammar than JBP, presents common situations and the lingual nuances you need to be familiar with, and manages to do all this without being overwhelming. Get the Notes and Drills books, supplement with a good kanji exercise paperback, and you're good to go.
   
   Drop Japanese for Busy People. If you're not going to be spending every Japanese-speaking moment inside a meeting/conference room, it's a waste of your time.



5. I really learned a lot from this book in the early stages of my Japanese studies. In fact, I feel like this Romaji version contains muuuuch more info than the Kana version. I hate how the two are sooo different. I just feel like any Japanese student can learn soooo much more if they begin with Kana and ignore Romaji all together. Romaji is sooo useless except for the very early phases of learning sounds, so try as much as you can to use Hiragana and Katakana if you want to learn Kanji someday.

No comments about Reading Rainbow: The Paper Crane.

No comments about Learn Japanese for Business [VHS].

5 comments about Lyric Language - Japanese/English 1 [VHS].

1. This is the easiest, sweetest way to learn a foriegn language, and Japanese is especially hard to find. My kids literally beg for me to put in this tape.



2. This is a very fast paced tape. The musical background and material is aimed at children. The vocabulary of Japanese words while limited is reinforced thru repetition and music. There was no practice in character recognition as all subtitles were in English. Probably good for early teen or younger. I wish there were more tapes in this series.



3. This video has the right idea, probably, but doesn't really work in the long run. The japanese language is set to music about commonplace events like going to the zoo, surviving a rainy day, etc. The problem is that the songs are not catchy at all and don't keep the attention of children. The scenes, themselves, are not riveting enough to do it either. Therefore, little ones don't stay in the room to learn anything. My kids are eight years old and very vested in learning Japanese, but they watched the video one and a half times, then put it away forever. When I asked them what they learned, they replied that they didn't know. Unsuccessful for kids in this age group. They went back to watching Seven Samurai and spouting phrases like "Twelve bandits to the east!" Even this old black and white movie rivets them more than this vapid little video put out by the folks at Family Circle.



4. We first found this video at the library. Our then-3-year-old son loved it, and still watches it now that he's 4. The so-so production values and mugging kid actors may come across as cheesy to adults, but the music is catchy, and our son now has a slew of new everyday vocabularly in Japanese. Our Japanese friends with young kids like it better than we do, because the vignettes are slices of Americana such as the zoo, amusement park, birthday party, etc. Since it's bilingual, it works just as well for them teaching rudimentary English.
   No Oscars are likely, but this video has its own charm.



5. The way this tape goes from one lyric in Japanese to English and back is confusing, bores my 2 yr old and the same melody is used over and over. I agree with the other reviews: it's better for Japanese kids learning English because everything is set in America. Not fair but that's how every "Japanese" video I've viewed so far is. Where's the true video that includes teaching the characters/kanji?