Recommendations needed - conversational Japanese courses on CD or DVD
 

I have been trying to learn conversational Japanese via self-study. So far read a few books but none with the aid of audio.

I am looking for some simple audio course(s) for everyday conversational Japanese, with English written phonic (as well as English I know of one course that costs hundreds of $$. A bit out of reach. Prefer something under $100.
TIA for all your recommendations. Please state why you like and dislike of what you tried.

I am also looking for an instructional Japanese course, preferably one that can be used on the computer. I have previewed a library copy of Instant Immersion Japanese, but it is not exactly what I need.
I had much success learning French with the interactive BBC language course (free on the BBC website), but they do not offer a similar course in Japanese.
Rosetta Stone looks very good, but is too pricey. Has anyone tried the Berlitz software that can be used on the computer and also can be loaded on to your iPod? That looks pretty useful.

Anyone?

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Busy-...49&sr=1-12

I took a twelve week Japanese course and we used this book (Japanese for busy people) in class. It comes with an audio CD. Be careful to order the copy in Romanji if that's what you want. I was also learning hiragana and katakana so this version was recommended.

Japanese for Busy People is quite good for self study. It's conversational, not tourism based.

I have an older version of "Japanese for busy people" with 2 30-minute cassette tapes. I used it few years back. Now I want sometime perhaps more portable (ie: play on notebook; or mp3 player). I want to get something more toward every day conversation as oppose to "business" oriented.

For me, the most helpful audio course has been Pimsleur Japanese. It forces you to think about how to respond in a conversation in an intuitive way. Each lesson builds on the previous ones. There's thirty 30-minute lessons. There's no written workbook so you'll have to use something like Japanese for Busy People for that self study. Also, it's pretty expensive, especially if you go the whole route and buy all 3 volumes.

Japanese for Busy People starts off a little slanted towards business conversation. The first few lessons teaches you how to say lawyer or secretary.

I agree with Haruna regards Pimsleur. We're planning a trip to Japan in November and we're into chapter 4 of the 8 chapter audio CD ( after about 3 weeks ) & it's better than a book ( we also bought a Lonely Planet Japanese Phrase Book ). Got this for Aus$50.00 online.

Bonjour,

There are good ressources for self study on this site
http://www.nihongo.org/english/language/education/

I used to study with the Nihongo Journal, but you need to be familiar with the hiragana and katakana syllabaries to use it.
Nihongo Journal on line subscription: http://www.jbox.com/SEARCH/nihongo_journal/1/


Kinokuniya usually has a wide section of Japanese study books and CDs:

NEW YORK KINOKUNIYA BOOK STORE 10 West 49th Street, New York, NY 10020, U.S.A.�@TEL 212-765-7766 FAX 212-541-9335
SAN JOSE KINOKUNIYA BOOK STORE 685 Saratoga Ave.,San Jose, CA 95129, U.S.A.�@TEL 408-252-1300 FAX 408-252-2687
SEATTLE KINOKUNIYA BOOK STORE 525 South Weller St, Seattle, WA 98104, U.S.A. �@TEL 206-587-2477 FAX 206-587-0160
LOS ANGELES KINOKUNIYA BOOK STORE 123 Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Street, Suite 205,Los Angeles, CA 90012, U.S.A. TEL 213-687- 4480 FAX 213-621-4456
COSTA MESA KINOKUNIYA BOOK STORE 3030 Habor Blvd.,Suite G3 Costa Mesa, CA 92626, U.S.A. TEL 714-662-2319 FAX 714-662-2474

Not on CD or DVD, but:

The NHK radio online lessons are pretty good, and free (you'll need realplay):
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html


And these lessons come as MP3s. They use pretty informal conversational situations:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/
The downloads are free (you need to read the FAQ to find early ones), but they charge for the full lesson materials.

I'm listening to the Pimsleur right now and I'm not a big fan. I've taken a few Japanese courses in college so I was able to go through the first disc pretty quickly but I think if I didn't already learn the vocab (looking at it and learning it)-- it would be tough.

Also, I was able to order it through my local library-- so that might be a good option if you want to see if you like it.