Japanese for Busy People is the most popular Japanese language textbook series in the world. With over 20 components including texts, workbooks, CDs, videos and teacher’s manuals, it is also one of the most comprehensive. Now, a decade after its first revision, the entire series is being redesigned, updated and consolidated to meet the needs of 21st-century students and businesspeople who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese as effectively as possible in a limited amount of time. The book features not only a sleek, new design but also a unit structure that groups thematically linked lessons together, making it easier than ever to learn Japanese. Moreover, it now comes with a CD containing audio for the dialogues and listening exercises from the text. The exercises in the book have also been thoroughly revised to incorporate more comprehension and production tasks. Many of these exercises are illustrated, making for a stimulating learning experience, and the purpose of each one is clearly stated. This first of three volumes introduces "survival Japanese"—the absolute minimum amount of Japanese needed to live in Japan. Thus, the vocabulary and grammatical items it introduces are limited to about a third of what is typically introduced in a first-year course. In addition, the book features notes on Japanese culture intended to expand the learner’s understanding of Japan, its customs and people. Japanese for Busy People I is available in two formats: romanized and kana. The Romanized Version uses romanized Japanese throughout, with kana in the Opening Dialogues of each lesson. The Kana Version—exposing students to hiragana and katakana from the very beginning—uses only kana. The content of the two books is otherwise exactly the same. The companion volume, Japanese for Busy People 1: The Workbook for the Revised 3rd Edition contains a variety of illustrated exercises for mastering the basic sentence patterns presented in the main text.

4th Revised Edition of JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLE, the most popular Japanese language textbook series in the world. Since it was first published in 1984, the focus of the Japanese for Busy People series has always been to teach Japanese for effective communication. As suggested in the title, this is a concise course for busy students who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese as efficiently as possible in a limited amount of time. The new Japanese for Busy People: Revised 4th Edition is made up of three volumes: Book I, Book II, and Book III. Book I is available in both romanized and kana versions, similar to the Revised 3rd Edition. The Romanized Version uses romanized Japanese throughout, with kana in the Target Dialogues of each lesson.

4th Revised Edition of JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLE, the most popular Japanese language textbook series in the world. Since it was first published in 1984, the focus of the Japanese for Busy People series has always been to teach Japanese for effective communication. As suggested in the title, this is a concise course for busy students who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese as efficiently as possible in a limited amount of time. The new Japanese for Busy People: Revised 4th Edition is made up of three volumes: Book I, Book II, and Book III. Book I is available in both romanized and kana versions, similar to the Revised 3rd Edition. The Kana Version is exactly the same as the Romanized Version except for the scripts used throughout the book: hiragana and katakana. The Kana Version is therefore recommended for those who have already learned kana (as these scripts are collectively called) or are learning them with Japanese for Busy People Kana Workbook or another such text. Studying Japanese in kana, rather than in romanized script, can lead to fluent pronunciation and facilitate a smooth transition to the study of kanji.

Volume I dealt with "survival Japanese" for tourists and other short-term travelers and newcomers to Japan. Volume II, meanwhile, turns to the basics of Japanese syntax. The book is by no means only about grammar, however. Rather, it is designed to help learners consolidate their understanding of syntactical structure through lessons that focus on how to talk about topics relevant to daily life. In addition to serving learners continuing from Volume I, Volume II will benefit those who have already studied beginning Japanese to some extent but wish to brush up on syntax. Major Features of Japanese for Busy People II, Revised 3rd Edition, will enable learners to progress smoothly through the equivalent of the latter half of a typical first-year Japanese course while gradually building speaking and listening skills. Learners approaching mid-beginner status often find themselves suddenly faced with syntax and vocabulary much more complex than what they have studied before. Such grammar and vocabulary do not appear as frequently in everyday conversation as those words and structures they have learned up to this point, necessitating that they spend ample time on review. Moreover, learners at this stage are expected to become familiar with verb tense and aspect, time expressions, conditional clauses, and other topics that require them to have a solid grasp of context and speaker intent if they are to fully understand the differences in meaning conveyed by each. Japanese for Busy People II helps overcome the above obstacles through grammar and content topics carefully selected to be appropriate to learners at this level of Japanese proficiency. The book is designed so that by practicing talking about each topic, learners will gradually and effectively acquire sentence patterns and vocabulary related to that topic. Like Volume I, Volume II is organized into several large units, each covering topics grouped under a particular theme. In this way, the book enables learners to achieve a well-balanced understanding of grammar, sentence structure, and context.

Japanese for Busy People is the most popular Japanese language textbook series in the world. With over 20 components including texts, workbooks, CDs, videos and teacher’s manuals, it is also one of the most comprehensive. Now, a decade after its first revision, the entire series is being redesigned, updated and consolidated to meet the needs of 21st-century students and businesspeople who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese as effectively as possible in a limited amount of time. The book features not only a sleek, new design but also a unit structure that groups thematically linked lessons together, making it easier than ever to learn Japanese. Moreover, it now comes with a CD containing audio for the dialogues and listening exercises from the text. The exercises in the book have also been thoroughly revised to incorporate more comprehension and production tasks. Many of these exercises are illustrated, making for a stimulating learning experience, and the purpose of each one is clearly stated. This first of three volumes introduces "survival Japanese"—the absolute minimum amount of Japanese needed to live in Japan. Thus, the vocabulary and grammatical items it introduces are limited to about a third of what is typically introduced in a first-year course. In addition, the book features notes on Japanese culture intended to expand the learner’s understanding of Japan, its customs and people. Japanese for Busy People I is available in two formats: romanized and kana. The Romanized Version uses romanized Japanese throughout, with kana in the Opening Dialogues of each lesson. The Kana Version—exposing students to hiragana and katakana from the very beginning—uses only kana. The content of the two books is otherwise exactly the same. The companion volume, Japanese for Busy People 1: The Workbook for the Revised 3rd Edition contains a variety of illustrated exercises for mastering the basic sentence patterns presented in the main text.

4th Revised Edition of JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLE, the most popular Japanese language textbook series in the world. Since it was first published in 1984, the focus of the Japanese for Busy People series has always been to teach Japanese for effective communication. The Kana Workbook teaches the two basic Japanese scripts, hiragana and katakana, which are essential for any student wishing to read Japanese. It teaches not only reading and writing of kana (as these scripts are collectively called), but also listening and pronunciation with the aid of audio recordings which can be downloaded for free from kodansha.us. Sections for practicing individual kana come with reference lines to help learners get a feel for the proper size and shape of each character. It also shows the stroke order, correct angles, and spaces between strokes, so that learners can master even confusingly similar-looking characters. There are also many illustrations which help learners to build their vocabularies.

This practical workbook is for all students of Japanese who want to learn the basic phonetic writing system in use by the Japanese. This workbook is a self contained course, which can be used both for independent study or in the classroom. It can also serve as an ideal supplement to any basic conversation course in Japanese.