One of the best ways to improve your language fluency is by working on all four language skills simultaneously. Simple and fun activities work best and the Berlitz Basic Japanese Workbook is full of engaging activities to help students improve their Japanese language skills. This book is perfect for the student who needs to brush up on their Japanese by working on practice activities and drills.
Overview
Given that this is a workbook, each lesson is filled with a variety of exercises that help the student practice their language skills. In each unit the student will work on activities like matching exercises, sentence writing, puzzles/games going over important grammar points, blank fill activities and reading exercises. The order of the activities changes throughout each chapter and the lessons are all 4 pages long.
"A lot is covered throughout the book and the chapters slowly become more challenging as the more advanced student moves on to the final chapters."
Berlitz Basic Japanese Workbook is exactly that, a workbook. The book goes over basic level Japanese structures and it’s meant to help students learn Japanese by putting all four language skills to use. The book has 24 units that cover all sorts of beginner level topics such as likes, dislikes, family life, travelling, and a basic review of the Japanese writing system. As mentioned earlier, each chapter provides the student with a variety of activities to help them practice important language skills; this is perfect for the all-around learner who wants to develop all their skills as a whole. Most of the book provides activities and examples written in Romaji (Japanese written in the Latin alphabet) rather than the actual Japanese characters. Students who are absolute beginners will find this really useful and it might even help them learn proper pronunciation. There are also plenty of drawings and illustrations that complement the activities and provide visual examples throughout each chapter. A lot is covered throughout the book and the chapters slowly become more challenging as the more advanced student moves on to the final chapters. Personally I believe that near the end, students will come across some material that could be considered pre-intermediate; this could be very beneficial for students who want to prepare themselves to move on to the next language level.
Pros:
· The book provides an abundance of material that focus on all four language skills.
· The activities are brief and the structure of each chapter changes constantly; this maintains the student’s attention and keeps them engaged.
· There is a grammar reference section and answer key in the back of the book for extra assistance and practice.
Cons:
· The book doesn’t come with any listening exercises.
Recommended For:
· Students with some knowledge of Japanese who want to improve on what they already know.
· Students who want to focus on improving all four language skills except speaking.
· Students who want to transition out of the beginner level.
Overall, the Berlitz Basic Japanese Workbook is a great book for students who want to review important beginner level Japanese structures. With its large amount of activities and diverse range of exercises, learners can progress and build consistency in a matter of weeks. I feel that this book is perfect for the independent language learner, but many of the activities in the book can also be applied in a classroom setting. I would also highly recommend this book to language teachers to use in their group or private classes.
