Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 1

3. How is this textbook structured? This textbook is comprised of ten lessons that follow the introductory Before We Begin and Lesson 0 Greetings and Ritual Expressions sections. Each lesson consists of four dialogues. Each dialogue is followed by a vocabulary list, grammar notes, drills and exercises. At the end of each lesson, you will find a grammar review and application activities. 4. How is reading and writing handled in this textbook? The modern Japanese is written using a combination of kanji (characters borrowed from China) along with hiragana and katakana (two independent systems representing Japanese syllables). While the textbook introduces hiragana and katakana , no reading or writing instruction is included in this volume. 5. How is Japanese pronunciation presented in this textbook? The headphones symbol indicates that there is an audio recording for the section marked by this symbol. The accompanying audio should be maximally used to learn all the dialogues and vocabulary lists and to practice drills. Keep in mind as you learn how to speak Japanese that you can only learn accurate pronunciation by listening to and mimicking the pronunciation of native speakers. Avoid reading off the written scripts. When using the audio, make sure you do not refer to the written scripts. For many of us, visual input affects audio processing so much that it may interfere with accurately perceiving the audio input. You should refer to the written scripts only when you need help with particular parts of the audio. After peeking at the script, go back to the audio again. In the first four lessons in the textbook, Japanese words and sentences are presented in Romanization (Roman alphabet representing Japanese sounds) along with the authentic Japanese script. Romanization is not meant to be an accurate representation of Japanese sounds but rather just a reminder of the sounds you hear when listening to your instructor or the audio recordings. Be particularly mindful not to pronounce Romanized Japanese as if you were reading English or any other language. Starting in Lesson 5, Japanese words and sentences are presented using the authentic Japanese orthography. Hiragana will be placed above kanji to indicate the correct reading. This use of kana is called furigana and is common in comic books and other publications where the writer wants to ensure the correct reading of the kanji used. 6. How should you use this textbook? The dialogues present frequently observed exchanges that are part of a longer conversation. It is practical and useful to memorize these to the point where you can recite them automatically and naturally. As suggested above, make sure you memorize dialogues using the audio and while integrating body language. You can expand each dialogue by adding elements before and after each to create a longer conversation. You can also