"Human Japanese" - Sensei in a Box

Human Japanese 2.0
Human Japanese: This simple, affordable package to teach you Japanese is really a very good deal. 40 lessons are included in this package. It is excellent for the English speaking, absolute beginner or someone who needs a refresher course in Japanese. I took Japanese in university and never ever used it again. I can still read the Hiragana and Katakana characters, but my vocabulary is close to non-existent now. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this package reminded me of what has been hidden in the recesses of my mind. I enjoyed every lesson.

So what do you get anyway? The first lesson covers pronunciation. You can click on a word under "foreigner" and it will pronounce the word in an American accent. Click on the "native" and you will get the correct pronunciation. All voices are native Japanese. There is no voice recorder or playback for you to check your pronunciation, but that is about the only drawback of this package. After pronunciation is explained, we move on to handwriting. As with all Japanese classes, we begin with Hiragana, one of the three character sets used in Japanese writing.

I appreciated the tip to use a wooden pencil and square-lined paper to practice writing each character. It really does make a difference to the beginner who is used to writing the English alphabet and not drawing foreign characters. There is a story of a Japanese man who refused to marry a lady because she had poor handwriting. Beautiful handwriting is important to the Japanese, so little tips like this will help you be more accepted in Japanese society.

As you learn to write, you will also learn grammar, as explained from an English grammar point of view. Each part of the sentence is taken apart and explained in detail. This is vital because Japanese grammar is nothing like that of English. The verbs are at the end of the sentence. Tenses and verb forms are all at the end. As suggested in the lesson, do not try to understand Japanese grammar with English glasses on. Just learn it as it is. Learning will be much easier.

At the end of each lesson is a fun quiz to help you remember the lesson and reinforce what you have just learned. Each answer you input has a Japanese voice telling you if you are correct or wrong. Since you may not know what the voice is saying, it can be puzzling, but you'll get the hang of it after a few correct or wrong answers. That's all part of the immersion process.

On the side panel of every page is a search bar to look up any words in the lesson. The useful feature is like having a dictionary handy while going through the lesson.

A bonus to this package is the chapters on Japanese culture. These are inserted after every few lessons. Part of learning a language is learning a new culture. Every small detail is explained clearly, assuming you know nothing of Japan before embarking on this package. Little nuggets like this make the lessons come alive. It could also relieve the stress or boredom of handwriting and grammar.

However, do note that the approach to all lessons comes from the American point of view. Some analogies used are typically American, which the non-American may not understand or be familiar with. While I am exposed to American culture a lot, there were some examples that I could not relate to at all. If you can get past these minor irritations, this package is really a very good deal. The software is user friendly. Tech support responds immediately to questions. Photos are nice. Voices are clear. It is just like having a personal Japanese tutor, except that this is a teacher in a box. As with every language learning package, you can use other packages like Pimsleur to supplement your learning.

Learning Japanese will be a fun and successful experience!

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