I'm Learning Japanese!: Learn to Speak, Read and Write the Basics

This book made learning Japanese more fun and made it easy to follow! I learned a lot.

Excellent for learning. There's no romaji, so you're learning to read, really read, in Japanese from the start. You're introduced to a set of 3-5 hiragana, then learn a set of words that can be made with them then works up to simple sentences with some basic grammar points that are explained clearly in a remarkably easy to understand manner. Most often vocabulary is given with a picture and the hiragana beneath it for you to learn by reading Japanese. Each chapter is themed around a bit of Japanese culture, and the conversations and vocab you learn are based around that. It's fun and simple and rewarding to learn Japanese in Japanese.Toward the end you learn a handful of basic kanji and will have the reading comprehension to get through a letter to test your skills.All of this is presented in a friendly, easy to absorb manner with a cast of drawn characters and a fox-sensei. All of the answers to everything are right at the back of the book.My only complaint is that it could have a bigger vocabulary, but as-is it's fine and a perfect intro to reading and writing Japanese for anyone.

The story of the book and how it introduces parts of the Japanese language have been fun to read and have been a huge help with particles and other aspects of speech.

I enjoyed going through this book. I'm a repeat learner and have started numerous "beginner books" over the years. This one, though a tad childish (so good for kids! But not for 20 somethings) helps with more than basic phrases. It allows you to actually learn how to construct sentences. By the end I was translating the "letter" written by Akira, something I never thought I'd be able to do.The reason for 4 stars however is that the vocab index in back is flawed. Firstly, there are numerous misspellings, which completely defeats the purpose, as you're learning the wrong word. For instance, "okashi" or "sweets" is listed under "O" but is spelled incorrectly as "akashi" in the index. Similarly, "kuro" or "black" is in the correct category of "KU" words, but misspelled as "kuru" which is a verb and completely different word!Another note, verbs are listed in the index under their "-masu" forms, not the root. So the verb "kuru" or "to come" is listed under "KI" as "kimasu". Not the end of the world but a little misleading. It works for what its trying to do, but someone trying to dig deeper might get confused.Overall, I'd recommend it! Just use other resources as well lest you get tripped up by some of these mistakes!

I've only just skimmed the book and read the first couple of pages, but it seems very cute. Definitely meant for children so maybe I'll work the book with my 11 year old.It's designed like a graphic novel or comic both, and the kids make wise cracks. Just a cute design. Would definitely make kids laugh, but not so cheesy an adult can't appreciate the humor too.The first bit is mostly intros to the characters and a few facts about Japan, in English. They seem to teach kana and stroke order as you progress through the book, but there is a chart available in the front if you're already familiar but need to refresh. There isn't too much romanji, which I also like.There seem to be several exercises throughout and the Japanese increases. It also gives literal translation and English translation, which I personally like, because I have a hard time getting my English brain to adjust to Japanese sentence structure, so creating my own sentences has been difficult (which is why I bought this kids book at 35 years old lol).So, if you are very beginner with no prior knowledge or maybe a little familiar but need to refresh, I think this is a good book to help you get to a level of constructing sentences in 日本語

The book is great, lots of English early on to teach Japanese then more Japanese as the book progresses. I got it for my kid for our trip to Japan.

As an absolute beginner I am enjoying the high quality of this beautiful book. I feels and looks like a wonderful children’s book. The illustrations alone are lovely.The content is interesting, simple enough for a beginner and thorough. It not only teaches the hiragana alphabet, but also simple sentence structure and reading. It includes a few simple Kanji and counting numbers. This is a great way to prepare before taking a beginner class or self study. This book is not over simplified and therefore gives you a solid basis and understanding of the covered subject.This seller uses the utmost care in packaging this book!

This book is very good! It's really helping me pull together sentence structures. I think this is going to be very helpful with reading skills. It is simplified for kids but great for a beginner adult too!