Japanese, The Spoken Language: Part 1 (Yale Language Series) [ƒy�[ƒp�[ƒoƒbƒN]

It's a shame to see so many people rejecting texts simply on the basis of them being written in roomaji. Now, I'm not here to champion roomaji, and personally I think a kana based text is better *all other things being equal* but some of the warnings about the dangers of using roomaji border on hysteria. We are told it's a dangerous crutch, that it will forever cripple our ability to read Japanese, etc. This must all come as a great surprise to the generations of people now fluent and literate in the language and who began learning with roomaji! And yes it IS funny to see people trying to sound informed whilst writing about "romaNji"!).

Yes, if you use roomaji as a guide to pronunciation you will have problems- but anyone who does that isn't using this text (or didn't bother to use it as directed). In addition, my lawyer assures me that there is no law against doing as the author suggests and using additional materials to learn how to read and write Japanese- so there you go. If you can accept the proposition that using a roomaji based text is not going to cause your brain to whither, then you can proceed to consider the text on the basis of it's content and methodology. If not- then you can now make your negative rating of this review and be on your way.

The explanations of grammar are consistently of a very high standard and in some cases simply superb. You don't have to take my word for it- as another reviewer noted, JSL is referenced in "The Structure of the Japanese Language" by Susumu Kuno, it is also referenced by Jay Rubin, in his much acclaimed "Making sense of Japanese" wherein he describes it as an "excellent text" and refers the reader to it for further information on at least a couple of occasions. Furthermore the predecessor to JSL, "Beginning Japanese", is referenced in Makino and Tsutsui's classic "A dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar", while JSL itself is referenced in the corresponding "Dictionary of Intermediate Grammar".

I'll provide just two examples of the approach to grammar taken in this text. First off- go and look through some introductory texts and find the first Japanese sentence presented. With depressing frequency the first sentence will be something along the lines of "watashi wa tanaka desu". Shortly afterwards we are presented with a sentence containing the particle "ga" and all too many students absorb the unintended lesson that "all utterances must have a wa or a ga (or sometimes both)" and the attendant difficulties in knowing when to use which of them begin. In JSL, however, the first 3 chapters contain a great many perfectly good Japanese sentences- and not a wa or ga anywhere to be seen. The advantage of this is that when wa and ga are introduced the learner can clearly see what effect their introduction has on the sentence. "wa" isn't just something that just HAS to be there- it has particular effects- if those effects are what you want to communicate- then you use it, otherwise you don't. Of course the same applies to ga.

The second example relates to the "particle" "node". This is usually treated as a single unit- a practice that introduces apparent random variations in the use of the particle (e.g for nouns you must place "na" before "node"). However, JSL treats node more correctly as a particular case of a more widely occurring phenomenon in which "no" (often abbreviated to "n") makes some shared non-linguistic knowledge the subject of the sentence. From this perspective the particle "node" not only makes more sense, but the requirement of following nouns with "na" also makes perfect sense. Another "mystery" of the language dispelled.

Patient and thorough reading of this text will be rewarded. Some people have suggested it is difficult to read- but unless you have thus far limited yourself to "books for the younger reader" you should not have any problems beyond perhaps (gasp horror!) re-reading some passages.

Another great strength of the JSL series is the audio drills. These are not simply hear and repeat exercises, rather they require a degree of manipulation of what you hear in order to provide an appropriate response. For example, you may
need to give the negative form of an adjective or a particular verb inflection, and all within the context of a brief conversational exchange.

I would also like to respond to some of the comments from past reviewers.

One reviewer below states that:

"Japanese is a phonetic language: what you see is what you say. All you have to do is learn the basic phonemes (syllables) as represented by hiragana and katakana, and you are on your way to reading and speaking Japanese."

This would be amusing if not for the potential for people to see this and believe it.
Here are different words "ame" and "ame" (" ß" and " ß") One of them means "rain" and the other means candy. They are written identically in hiragana- but are not the same when spoken. Or how about "hashi", "hashi" and "hashi" (̓Ê@̓Ê@and ̓Ê)? The system of rendering sounds employed in the text alerts you to these differences. If you ignore them and just "say what you see", then your Japanese will sound- well- absurd. Now , it is at this point that many a student protests "but they can understand me from the context!" Well yes often
that's true. In the same way that when some Japanese people say
they "want to eat some lice" you understand that what they really mean is that they want to eat some "rice". If that's the sort of level to which you aspire then good luck to you. The text also takes care to point aout instances where the pronounciation (not just the accent) differs from what the kana would suggest.

A number of people have complained of or noted a lack of cultural insights in the text. It is true that there are no potted accounts of Obon or Japanese weddings etc- complete with dinky little cartoons. Well those are nice I guess, but they can be found elsewhere. Instead, there are a very carefully explained cultural insights that are tied to the use of the Japanese language. One example is that of the in-group out-group
distinction. Most, if not all texts, note this, but few make it quite so clear how important it is to your use of Japanese, or explain it so well. The fact that many students just don't appreciate this aspect of Japanese is revealed in some of the comments related to the text's treatment of polite Japanese. Being a non-Japanese in Japan you will be speaking to members of out-groups most of the time. That means many people will speak to you more politely than you probably expect. A common complaint by foreigners with some Japanese ability is "I can't understand what people say because they speak too politely!". Consequently the Japanese interlocutor has to use progressively less polite phrases until you do understand. Now, even if you don't have the decency to be embarrassed by that, there is every
chance the other person will be. It's understandable if someone finds
themselves in that situation because they never had the chance to be exposed to polite language- but to actually make the conscious decision to put yourself in that situation and whine about it when a text tries to educate you? If it was trying to teach you the correct forms for addressing members of the Imperial family, then you'd have a point, but this is simply stuff that you will at least hear.

So what are the bad points?

It is a little dated in parts- mainly in some of the vocabulary items.

I previously wrote here that the tapes were of poor quality- which was true, but- there is a new CD ROM available that has excellent quality audio and I would know give his book 5 stars without hesitation.

It's obvious that Ms. Jorden and Ms. Noda know their stuff. The explanations that went along with the core conversations and grammar notes were enlightening, if a little complicated (especially the grammar notes). In addition, the markings provided to help out with pronunciation were very helpful.

Unfortunately, the good points are overwhelmed by the bad.

*Vocabulary- I found the amount of vocabulary learned in the series to be terribly lacking. Learning vocabulary seemed to be way behind grammar structures in priority given by the authors. Without a substantial vocabulary, however, learning all of those grammar structures is like putting the cart before the horse.

*Romaji- Romaji is used very rarely in Japan. And when it is used, the system used is not the system that JSL teaches. Sure, the JSL's system might be more linguistically accurate, but I for one can't bring myself to say (with a straight face) that the tallest mountain in Japan is Mt. "Huzi".

*No self-checks- If you are trying to learn Japanese on your own, DO NOT USE THIS SERIES. I highly recommend "Japanese For Everyone," I used it before going to Japan and felt ahead of the game when I arrived in Japan for a year as an exchange student. I've also heard good things about the Yokoso series.

*Lack of Writing Emphasis- I hate romaji. Learning to read it is a nearly worthless skill. Why JSL insists on using it is beyond me. There are separate books (2 I believe) called "Japanese the Written Language" but those books are so lacking that they make the JSL series look good. I used the JSL and JWL series in college after a year in Japan and found it alarming at how limited the reading and writing abilities of my classmates who had learned Japanese just through JSL and JWL was. It goes without saying, literacy is a big part of fluency.

*It's boring- Learning a language should be fun. Bridging cultural differances, expanding ones own intellectual abilities ... I can think of few things as stimulating and exciting. Another reviewer compared JSL3 to a chemistry book, but quite frankly I'd rather read the Chemistry book. There is no reason why the serious learner of Japanese should not enjoy what he or she is doing. In fact, if you aren't having fun, you're probably wasting your time.

A final word: if you're reading this review, chances are you're interested in learning Japanese or are a student of Japanese like me. I love the Japanese language. No, it's not easy. Yes, it is a never-ending challenge. But you should be having a lot of fun while you're at it. I simply cannot recommend JSL when there are so many better options out there. Do not waste your time or money on this series.

Here's my testimony. It will probably be marked "not helpful" by people who are determined not to like JSL 1. However, I did want to share this discovery with people who are truly looking to learn. My accelerated Japanese class used this book. I dropped the class after a month, overwhelmed from learning the spoken and written languages concurrently. For some reason I kept the book, and it sat in my collection. I then picked up "The Structure of the Japanese Language" by Susumu Kuno and taught myself the kana using the Tuttle books. I was surprised to find that Kuno referenced Jorden's JSL! I had already paid for the JSL book so what was there to lose? There I went again, back into JSL.

Here is what I found after reading the introduction to JSL 1(very important to read the authors' introduction) and then applying the techniques.

Jorden approach works. She tells you what she's going to do, why she's going to do it and then proceeds to actually do it. That's why the inroduction to the book is important. How many of your teachers have ever explained why they do things a certain way and where it will lead? Her whole approach is centered on teaching Japanese in a way that would make sense to a native Japanese speaker. She uses terms like Nominals, Verbals and Adjectivals because conceptually, to a native Japanese speaker, the English concepts of Noun, Verb and Adjective DO NOT apply exactly. No where else had I seen this distinction explained. What's the point? Well, when you try and apply English grammar concepts wholesale to Japanese you are more likely to get it wrong. They are two distinct languages. Again and again, she makes the point of not getting trapped into "decoding" the language into English. "Decoding" the language is one thing. Knowing the language instinctively is completely different. Jorden gets you on the road to the latter.

She tells you why she uses a different romanization scheme. Why you ask? Well, the original schemes tried to map Japanese to English. Jorden's romanization tries to map English to Japanese. She factors in the phonetic profile of the Japanese language, how it actually sounds. Some students do not like the accent marks that are found throughout the book. However, you ABSOLUTELY need to know where the accents fall in a word or phrase, otherwise YOU ARE NOT SPEAKING JAPANESE. Japanese, like other East Asian languages, is a tonal language. If you mess up the accents, at best you will confuse your audience, at worst deeply offend them. Isn't it great that someone took the time to write the accents out? It's up to you to learn them. Also, once you've learned them, you've learned them!!!

There is no kana/kanzi in the book itself. That is not a big deal. I taught myself the kana using the Tuttle books. The kanzi will take separate dedicated study no matter what. Do you really want to learn the spoken language and a pictogram/ideograph based writing system simutaneously? Learning kanzi will actually slow you down because at the stage, you are still trying to learn to listen and speak, the HARDER skills. There are plenty of books and online resources for practicing kana/kanzi. Why not master one set of skills, the harder skills, and then move on to the relatively easier skills, reading and writing? Say you learn the kana/kanzi without first mastering the spoken language and someone asks you to read aloud. You will have no concept of what the language sounds like. Also, compare the number of opportunities you have to speak Japanese and the number of opportunities you have to read and write it. Which skills should get the most focus? Here's another analogy. There are a lot of musicians who can play music on sight but can not sing the notes without the help of an instrument. Learning how the music sounds before you ever touch an instrument is the hardest skill, but the most valuable in the long run. Learning the instrument itself is comparatively easier. In this case, you want to have the sound authentically in your head before you use your instrument, your voice.

The vocabulary is relatively limited. Again that is not a big deal. You can buy a Japanese-English dictonary and fix that problem easily. Jorden makes the point that learning new vocabulary only makes sense if that vocabulary is constantly enforced. Otherwise, YOU WILL FORGET IT. Again, why make your learning complicated? Learn what's in the book and you will get constant reinforcement in the tapes(a must have!!!!)

Also, don't be distracted or discouraged by the lack of pictures, etc, about Japanese life and culture. There are plenty of resources on the web that can remedy that. You probably want a book that will help educate you. There are already plenty of books that will entertain you with pretty pictures and such. However, does that honestly help you to hold a conversation? Lastly, while the conversation may be dated, again, that's not a big deal. How many native English speakers honestly have trouble understanding English movies and books from the 40s-60s? I would prefer to sound dated then wrong. People may respect the former but will ridicule the latter. What you should focus on is learning the harder skills first, Speaking and Listening and then move on to Reading and Writing. Jorden clearly announced her intentions by calling this: Japanese THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE.

A few final notes:

1. You absolutely, positively need the audio tapes(containing Core Conversations and Drills) for this series. The video tape is only useful for the Core Conversations so you can see the vocabulary used in text. The video tape of the Drills is a nice to have but isn't really worth the price because the audio tapes cover the same material.

2. Jorden makes the point that if you master the first chapter, you've built up all the skills to master the remaining chapters. Isn't that reassuring?

3. The books is actually 371 pages long.

4. Listen to some of the webcasts/broadcasts of Japanese from NHK and listen to how often you can pick out the vocabulary in JSL. I was suprised at how often they said "Soo desu nee/Soo desu ne", phrases which Jorden explained to death.

5. The JSL series represents a core. If you do not know this core, can you say you know Japanese?