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I picked up Jimi's Book of Japanese from the library tonight, which I had been eyeing for a while now. My buddy Eric and I were thinking of taking an intro Japanese class this fall at the U of M, but I wanted to get a head start and read up on it a bit before hand.
The book is really well designed, very colorful with cute illustrations. It doesn't get too deep, just shows you the basic forms of Hiragana, shows you how to draw and pronounce them, and a few words that use each. I'm certainly not going to be talking full sentances with this (there's no way I'm going to learn sentance structure, or enough words to even put together a sentance from this), but it at least should give me a basis on which to grow from, and to learn a few of the characters in the meantime.
Besides, the book is so darn cute and loveable it's hard to put down. Hopefully someday I can actually read and comprened real Japanese. It'll make importing games a whole lot easier. Those fall classes can't come soon enough. Actually, it's funny how when you've been out of school for a long time, it seems so exciting to go back. But I guess that's another topic entirely.
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I, too, am looking for a good resource from which I can learn to read hiragana and katakana. I've been using Pimsleur to learn the actual pronounciation and verbal communication skills, but it's hell to find a singular resource from which I can really get a good primer on the reading and writing. Usually, books don't cover things well, cover only one aspect, or the other.
I took Russian for four years, and it was easier finding all-in-one books for that language than it has been for Japanese. :)
That said, if you come across anything pretty comprehensive, drop me a line. I'm genuinely interested.
From what I've heard, Pimsleur is in fact the shit. Of course, it's quite expensive. I haven't heard of a good all-in-one book either, but perhaps that's just because Japanese is such a complex language. If I could find one though, I could probably skip the classes, yet something tells me that's the best way to learn.
Pimsleur makes the verbal communication far easier, but that unfortunately doesn't cross over into helping me read Japanese manuals -- one big goal of mine. I guess it helps understand the cut scenes and allow me to finally grasp some non-subtitled anime/Japanese cinema, though. I haven't had a chance to get very far in the three volumes yet.
I checked out the book you described though, and I think I might just pick it up, myself. It certainly looks entertaining. :)
Speaking of which, have you seen "Lost in Translation"? The DVD contains a far-extended episode of that whacked-out Japanese show, which I found highly amusing. And it's not subtitled, either, which only adds to it.
Yeah, the book is good mainly for learning Hiragana characters. It's like an english kids book to learn the alphabet. You get a letter ("A") and then are shown how to draw it properly, and a word that uses that letter ("apple"). That's basically the extent of it. It makes you feel like you're in kindergarden again, but there's something rather endearing about that.
Haven't seen Lost in Translation yet, but I plan on it. It's pretty high on my list of movies to see (and I'm not usually a big movie guy).
Even if you end up not enjoying the movie itself (I loved it, actually), you'll love just how much of Japan they go into. Much more inviting it seems than many would lead you to believe.
It makes me want to hit up Tokyo BAD.
Sweet! Japanese is a pain in the ass to learn, but it's fun in a sadistic way...
Once you get the basics (i.e. kana and some sentence structure) down, this is expensive as all heck, but it's the best thing I've found in terms of studying Japanese at home - at least in terms of bang for the buck. If you're ever really serious about it, this program and a kanji dictionary will take you further than anything outside of a classroom...
Anyways, good luck!
Ahh, software I see. Thanks Ryan, I'll have to look into it.
Jimi's Book of Japanese is a wonderful book for learning basic kana. What I find most appealing about the book is the fact that it includes not only stroke order and pronunciation key, but also includes cultural descriptions that aid in the memorization of kana and understanding of the Japanese culture. I heard the Katakana book is due some time soon. Someone told me they also saw a workbook as well. I can't wait. Jimi's Book of Japanese is such a wonderful, intelligent book. Thank you, Peter Takahashi!