Collins Easy Learning Japanese Review

Collins Easy Learning Japanese--Collins Easy Learning Audio Course--CD

My first dive into learning Japanese

This is it. This is the very first program that I used to start my journey into learning Japanese. I loved that it was all audio (well, it does come with a booklet too, but I didn't really use that). I wanted to start out with something that was just hearing and talking, because that is how we naturally learn language as children; we hear and then speak years before we start to read and write. So I started here; with Collins Easy Learning Japanese audio course on CD.

What I loved about Collins Easy Learning Japanese

First off, the guy talking is British. Yes, it's a UK program, and I'm from the US, but I loved the sound of his voice (real girl moment, I know). Also, they started the program off with some really easy words and short sentences, something else I really liked. But they didn't make the whole course too easy; I felt like in no time I was using longer and longer sentences and knowing what I was saying and hearing. Granted, this isn't exactly a comprehensive course, it's mostly meant to prepare you for a short visit for either business or pleasure, but it does that, I feel fairly well.

What was lacking about Collins Easy Learning Japanese (if anything)

Well, like I said, it is only meant to prepare you for a visit to Japan, which means it just covers the basic kinds of questions and answers that a traveler is likely to run into. While that's great for most people, and it is a good beginning introduction to the Japanese language, it was not what I wanted since my goal is fluency, not surviving a short trip. Really, the brevity of the program was my only complaint. While the main narrator was British, most of the voices doing the actual speaking examples were clearly native Japanese speakers.

Collins Easy Learning Japanese Final Verdict

I would say, at only fifteen dollars on this site ( http://www.tower.com/collins-easy-learning-japanese-uk-cd/wapi/113271843 ) it would be worth the investment. I strongly believe that an audio course is a much better way to learn Japanese at whatever level you are trying to learn at. Whether you're looking for surviving a summer vacation or moving there for a couple decades, it's a nice little starter program. Plus nowadays you can always resell things like this for almost what you bought them for if you keep them in good condition. So what are you waiting for? Ganbatte!