Rating: 
Summary: For serious learners, the best text series in print.
Review: "Japanese, the Spoken Language" and its companion text, "Japanese, the Written Language" provide a solid, systematic foundation for the use of Japanese in situationally appropriate, cultural contexts. It is unsuitable for those seeking only survival-level phrase-book Japanese, or for the dilettante with only a casual interest in acquiring fully functional competence in Japanese. For the serious learner who's willing to make a long-term commitment to mastering Japanese, this text series is ideal.
Rating:
Summary: Superb textbook
Review: "Japanese: The Spoken Language" is the most effective language textbook I have ever used. It is designed for the serious student who wants to become fluent in Japanese; it is not simply a basic phrasebook for the casual learner. It thoroughly covers Japanese grammar and basic vocabulary necessary for daily communications. The authors avoid overloading the student by focusing specifically on core words and grammatical structures of the language that are regularly used in real life conversations. Words are taught in context, rather than isolation, enabling faster learning and longer retention of them. The core conversations, which make up each chapter, not only teach the language, but also teach the student important aspects of Japanese culture. Although thorough, the quality of the book makes learning the language a pleasant experience. In addition to the book, I highly recommend purchasing the audio tapes containing the core conversations, to aid learning pronunciation and improve comprehension. In addition, I recommend buying the video tapes of the core conversations; they are an excellent learning aid.
Rating:
Summary: If you know anything about languages...
Review: ...then you would realize that this set is the definition of the Japanese language. I am currently attending the Middlebury Summer Language Program (in Japanese, of course) and I just had to look at some of the reviews that people put up for this series. The Middlebury Program is currently using (and has been using) the Jordan method for their first year student's introductions to the Japanese language. As far as I'm concerned, if you have four native speakers of Japanese who are currently getting their doctorates in linguistics, and they all use this book and swear by it when designing how they teach THEIR OWN language to first year learners of Japanese (which I am), then that's a better review than anyone else could possibly write. As for my views of the book, yes, you most definitely need teachers to help you with the grammar sometimes (which makes sense doesn't it?) But I must tell you, I learned German as my first foreign language, and there were no books that even came close to describing the who's what's where's when's and why's of grammar as well as this book does. Yes, I will concede that the characters are a bit humorous in the Core Conversations sometimes, and the vocabulary seems to be lacking in points as well... but despite the miniscule problems that may cause, this book is designed so that you can learn vocabulary on your own. Dr. Jordan has designed this book for the independent thinker... she gives beautiful descriptions in which the basic parts (nominals, verbals, adjectivals) of the Japanese system work, and then you can build from there yourself. As for the people who whine about the amount of grammar in the book: the Japanese language has a lot of grammar. If you don't want grammar, go learn something else. The fact that Jordan uses romanization in the book really shouldn't matter as a buying point. She has a written language supplement (which we are also using at Middlebury) that teaches you all of the words from the spoken language, in a fashion so that you do NOT get overwhelmed when you first attempt to write the incredibly daunting Japanese writing system. Dr. Jordan herself wrote in Chapter 10, pg. 280 "After all, romanization is a foreign system for expediting the acquisition of the spoken language by foreigners..." That's all she treats her romanization as, and that's all it really is: just a tool so that one can better pronounce the Japanese when speaking. Other than that, I really can't think of anything else to say. This book is intense, and only for those who truly want to learn how to use and manipulate the Japanese language. If you're serious about learning, buy it. Otherwise, don't waste your money... go buy a couple tapes that teach you how to say "Hello" and "Good Afternoon".
Rating:
Summary: A Comprehensive Study Program
Review: Armed with the information contained in this three-volume series, as well as quality instruction at a university, I spent 15 months in Japan and can honestly say that nothing contained in JSL was inaccurate. The dialogues were completely authentic, the numerous drill sections provide the necessary amount of accurate models, helping the learner to develop a sense of "what sounds appropriate" in Japanese. JSL treats Japanese language as a way of acting in Japanese society, enabling the learner to express him/herself in a way that is culturally acceptable. I cannot recommend this series enough- there is simply no better textbook out there. One word of advice: Use the tapes and videos religiously! You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Not good on its own.
Review: As someone who is only in his 4th term of learning Japanese, I probably don't have the right to say that this book is terrible, or bad at what it sets out to do.
I can say this, however: I have several other Japanese textbooks, and the majority of the benefit I have gotten in terms of comprehending and speaking ability has come through classroom instruction that does not follow the book's guidelines and through perusal of other textbooks.
While this book is very big on formal grammar, useful grammar is delayed horrendously. As someone who is used to covering the complete grammar in 2 years of language instruction (Latin, German), I find this frustrating. Unlike Latin and German, I have easily 100 times the exposure to the language available to me, thanks to the omnipresence of anime, manga, etc. With a sound understanding of grammar, I really feel that general language acquisition would be a lot faster.
So, if you are stuck with this book, for whatever reason, make the best of it. Listen to the tapes. If you can, encode them in mp3 and find a way to play them back at a faster speed, since they're artificially slow. Japanese is spoken rather quickly, and improving your listening skills as much as possible is going to be key no matter how you look at it.
After you have been introduced to direct style in JSL, go out and buy yourself a copy of a different text and study up. Obviously, don't stop doing the JSL stuff, lest your performance in your class start deteriorating, but build up your passive grammar skills as fast as possible.
Also, vocab is lacking. I routinely learn the 15-20 vocab words per lesson about 20 minutes before class. I remember them, but, then again, I don't remember having trouble with vocab lists twice that big back when I was learning German or Latin.
As for writing, 'The Written Language' is insufficient. Do yourself a favor and stop stalling - you need to either do reading and writing exercises from a book that takes this stuff seriously. Once you're done with learning hiragana and katakana, start learning kanji and don't stop.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive Nihongo Grammar training
Review: Before recently enrolling in an intensive immersive Japanese language program at Cornell University (FALCON), I spent some time trying to learn Japanese on my own and encountered several different books in my quest. I've studied Systematic Japanese (Gene Nishi), Japanese for Busy People, Yookoso! Part 1, various Tuttle Library Kana workbooks, and finally Jordan's book. My advice: First, this is an all-or-nothing book, focusing on spoken Japanese grammar to the exclusion of the reading and writing aspects of the language. Many people have criticized that, without realizing that it is titled "Japanese the Spoken Language" for a reason, and also without realizing that there is a companion series of books and tapes called "Japanese the Written Language", which is also titled such for a reason and follows the grammar and vocabularly of the JSL series (JSL1,2,3). (there's also "Reading Japanese", another Jordan book on the reading and writing aspects, which is imho better than JWL series, but does not follow the JSL series as closely). Second, Eleanor Jordan is a linguistic perfectionist, going so far as to devise her own romanization system b/c the others in use (Hepburn, Kunrei, Nippon-shiki) are to varying degrees flawed. So, If you consider yourself an intermediate or advanced student, or a very serious beginner, or just a perfectionist, and you want to master spoken Japanese grammer at least as well as most Japanese people, then this book (series) is for you. It provides a rigorous and thorough, romaji-based course in the intracacies of Japanese grammar. No katakana, hiragana, or kanji. If you buy this book under that expectation, it will not disappoint, and is the reason I gave it 5 stars. Now I just want to address some critiques other Amazon reviewers have made that I find unfair and misleading. First, Jordan does use a romaji (romazi as she spells it) system that is different than the Hepburn system that so many Westerners seem familiar with. The reason is b/c the Hepburn system is antiquainted and flawed and teaches Westerners to speak Japanese incorrectly, with a Gaizin accent. Jordan has attempted to correct that in her romanization, which is based on the improved Kunrei system used by the Japanese government. What many of the critics don't seem to understand about romazi is that it is NOT a direct translation of Japanese sounds into phonetic English, rather it is a symbolic representation of Japanese sounds using english letters. For example, there is a sound in Japanase similar to the sound "ji", and Hepburn represents that sound by using the English letters "ji". However, the Japanese don't actually say "ji" as English speakers pronouce it. They say something that is a mix of "ji" and "zi" with their tongue at the front of their mouth, just behind their top gums. But anyone who learns Japanese using the Hepburn system comes away pronouncing that particular mora (roughly equivalent to a syllable) incorrectly and therefore sounding like a gaijin. Jordan's system is designed specifically to help Japanese learners avoid that and learn how to pronounce these sounds correctly, as the Japanese do. In the Introduction and Chapter 1 of JSL1 she even explains in depth why and how she created her romanization system to do this. She explains that even "zi" is not the correct pronunciation, but rather a symbolic representation for a sound that simply does not exist in English and cannot be accurately recreated with our alphabet. She could just as well have used any random sequence of letters, or even some wingding or tiddleywoo like '*' or '}{' to represent the sound. But she uses "zi" to make it easier to remember the correct sound while still reminding students of the fact that the English letters are not a phonetic spelling of the Japanese sound. Same for other mora like tsu/tu (Hepburn/Jordan), chi/ti, shi/si, ja/zya, etc. Allow me to quote from her JSL1 Introduction: -------------
Always bear in mind "that the letters (of romazi) are no more than arbitrary symbols which are meant to *remind* you of the actually occuring Japanese sounds.
...
"Various systems of romanization -- representation of the Japanese language by letters of the Roman alphabet -- are in use in Japan today. The system used in this book is an adaptation of the Shin-kunrei-shiki 'New Official System' and will be designated as JSL Romanization. Other common romanizations are Hepburn (Hebon-shiki, also called Hyojun-shiki 'Standard System') and Nippon-shiki 'Japanese System.' The differences among them are slight and can be learned with little difficulty. For example, the word for 'romanization' is variously represented as follows: JSL: roomazi
Shin-kunrei-shiki: romazi (with a '^' over the 'o')
Hepburn: romaji (with a '-' over the 'o')
Nippon-shiki: romadi (with a '-' over the 'o') "Hepburn is the system most familiar to Westerners; but there are three cogent reasons for not using it in a Japanese textbook. (to paraphrase)
1. Hepburn does not parallel the structure of the Japanese language as the other three do, making many explanations of both grammer and pronunciation uneccessarily complicated.
2. For the student who plans to learn the native Japanese writing system, the transition from Hepburn is more difficult than from other systems.
3. The Japanese do not adhere to any one system and sometimes even mix several systems within the same word. It is therefore beneficial for foreign students to be familiar with all the romanization systems; however students who learn Japanese under JSL, Shin-kunrei-shiki, and Nippon-shiki can switch to Hepburn much more easily than Hepburn students can switch to one of the others. (perhaps that's the reason for all the complaints about Jordan's romazi - too many people addicted to Hepburn and too mentally rigid to adjust) "The minor differences between JSL on the one hand and Shin-kunrei-shiki and Nippon-shiki on the other result from an attempt to avoid certain inconsistencies and ambiguity in latter systems. For example, in JSL, 'ee' and 'ei' consistently represent different and distinct sequences of sounds in Tokyo Japanese. The spelling of these sequences in all the other romanizations (including Hepburn) is inconsistent, so that it is often impossible for a student to be certain which value a given occurrence of ei represents. This destroys the regularity we expect of romanization. "The most important difference between JSL and the other systems described above is that only JSL includes a system for marking accent, which is viewed as an intrinsic and essential feature of the language that should be represented in romanization."
------------- Of course, the problem with this approach is that if you're going to use JSL to learn Japanese, it is immensely helplful to have a sensei that is trained in Jordan's methods, and who understands JSL romanization and the pronunciation issues it addresses. And if that's not possible, then you definitely need the accompanying audio tapes so you can hear the correct pronunciation and practice recreating it. Jordan warns about this also in her Introduction: -------------
"A final reminder: In dealing with romanization -- or any kind of writing system -- we are working with a new code, and only the speech of a native speaker (and/or recordings of a native speaker) can provide us with an authentic code breaker. Without the specific code breaker for the language we are dealing with, we are totally in the dark as to how the language really sounds. No writing system -- native or romanized -- can serve as a substitute. Remember the (learning) order: *first*, the sound; *then* the written symbols
we use to represent them."
------------- And yes, this no picture book. If you're not a strong reader who can't take in dense material, synthesize, and understand it, then this book may be slow going for you. But if you appreciate a text dense with useful information and absolutely no fat, then you'll love the JSL series. It is essentially an introductory course on Japanese linguistics, rather than just language training. Finally I take issue with the comment that most people who decide to learn Japanese do so b/c they want to be able to read and write it rather than speak it. There may be some academics at Harvard who want to research the latest trends in Manga and therefore only need to know how to read and write it, but I suspect that anyone who wants to live and/or do business in Japan wants to be able to speak it at least as much as read and write it. This text and the accompanying tapes will do more toward teaching you how to speak Japanese as the Japanese do, and not as Gaizin's do, than just about any other I'm aware of. Ganbatte.
Rating: 
Summary: Welcome to Jordan-Go! The worst Japanese book ever!
Review: Everyone do you a favor; do not buy this book! I repeat do not buy this book! In fact if you are studying at a University that uses this book, don't walk RUN as fast as you can away from it! Jordan, the author of this book has only accomplished the astonishing feat of producing her own language, Jordan-go. This book is certainly not Japanese. First it is not written in Japanese. It is written in Romanji, a useless method of learning Japanese that does not lead to fluency. What does Jordan think? Kanji or least Hiragana is impossible? You have got to be kidding me. Even in the high levels of this book you find more Romanji. You also find a bunch of linguistic mumbo jumbo that overcomplicates the book. The vocabulary is too simple for many of the advanced chapters and for many graduates of this method find that their writing and reading skills are undeveloped. If they took the national Japanese examination they would probably not be able to pass level 2. (level 1 and 2 are the hardest by the way) Why should this be? 4 years in Japanese should be plenty to learn almost all aspects of the Japanese language. I have lived in Japan for over a year and let me tell you, the language that is used in this book is far from what you will find in natural conversations. I suggest using Minna no Nihongo. This book is straightforward in grammar explanations and has plenty of useful vocabulary that will help you become more fluent. As for this waste of paper you are now thinking about purchasing, the only highlight of this book is that it will get you speaking somewhat. Actors have to remember scripts, and this is also the method using this book. You remember a set Japanese script. If the situation deviates from the script then guess what? You will have no idea what is going on cause buddy you don't know real Japanese...
Rating:
Summary: This product needs updating
Review: For this price, I was expecting to get a nice interactive package of software to supplement or enhance my studies. Unfortunately, it is a bit outdated in the technology department and it has problems installing on Windows NT and 2000 (hint: don't bother installing it. If you have Win2k or NT, browse to the CD drive and double-click on the "jsl32.exe" file to run it directly from the CD). What you get with this package is a series of nice video renditions of the JSL core conversations, some interactive question-and-answer sessions, listening practice, and drill practices. The software interface that is used seems old and unstable. The concept is good, though not as good as having a study partner to practice with, but it needs to be updated to use a more modern interface. Perhaps they could add some more features, like vocabulary quizzes and character and word recognition exercises. My recommendation: split the cost with a friend and share it. It is not worth spending more than ... on your own.
Rating:
Summary: Boring but thorough, for dedicated students of Japanese
Review: Having completed my first year of Japanese study at a university that uses the Jordan method, I can honestly say that though there were times when JSL's core conversations were the most effective sedative I've ever found, I ended up with a fairly good start to my Japanese skills. After questioning the Japanese department as to why they continue to use JSL when newer/"more effective" methods have since been created, I was told that (besides the time/money factor of retraining staff to another method) the main reason that my school still uses JSL is because they feel that it gives you the best building blocks for conversing in Japanese because the conversations can be easily adapted for a great many situations (which I have found to be true). They also felt that while you can ALWAYS learn new kanji on your own, picking up speaking skills is very difficult without a real native speaker to work with you. One teacher said that in his opinion, starting the book out with conversations written in kana would make it even harder for students with no previous background in Japanese to get used to the language. I have also been informed by professors from several large US universities that when my school's students study abroad in Japan, we tend to have far better conversational skills than others, though we may not know as many kanji. I have seven hours of Japanese a week with JSL, and by the end of the year, even when I wasn't quite sure of myself during unrehearsed conversations, I always found something to draw upon from the core conversations and drills. Yes, the textbook uses a version of romanji that takes some getting used to (and often makes things look more difficult to pronounce than they really are), but the grammatical notes really did help me (and I'm not a student of linguisitics, either). One thing - I simply CANNOT imagine using this book without being in a classroom setting. I own the CD-ROM as well, and even with the videos of the conversations, I think I would have thrown in the towel looooong ago without my various sensei to correct my mistakes and clear things up. A note about the CD-ROM and/or videos: I had no trouble running it on Windows ME, and found it useful to get a better sense of context and pronounciation. However, if at all possible, SPLIT THE COST WITH SOMEONE. As good as it is, it's not worth the amount they charge for it. The videos will (unwittingly) give you the occasional laugh over their antiquity, though you may notice that sometimes the actors don't follow the CC's exact wording, which can confuse you a bit.
Rating:
Summary: CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!!!!
Review: Having just survived the intensive elementary Japanese course at Harvard, which covers an entire year in seven weeks, I feel well-qualified to offer the following advice: CAVEAT EMPTOR. The Jorden system can be summed up in one simple English word, but instead why don't I write it for you in Jordenese: âbusúrudo. I have read the other reviewers' remarks, and it is clear to me that the Jorden polarizing effect reflects a distinction between those who already knew Japanese before opening Jorden's books, and those who did not. Anyone who wants to learn how to speak, read and write Japanese would do well to avoid these texts at all costs. I am thrilled to report that Harvard has finally seen the light, and has now adopted NAKAMA (to begin in the fall of 2003), a text with examples written in Japanese and English explanations. At last, after decades of inertia, the experts have finally recognized that the worst way to learn a new language is to do it via another new language, in this case, "Jordenese". It does not take a pedagogical genius to recognize that the best way to learn a new language is through the use of examples written in the language itself. How many people learn German via Esperanto? Answer: none. How many people learn Japanese via Jordenese? I ask you sincerely. The last thing that Japanese needs is gratuitous obfuscation and that, in my view, is Eleanor Jorden's sole contribution to language pedagogy. Leave the accents circonflexes where they belong, namely, in the French language, s'il vous plaît. Japanese is a phonetic language: what you see is what you say. All you have to do is learn the basic phonemes (syllables) as represented by hiragana and katakana, and you are on your way to reading and speaking Japanese. The real challenge of Japanese is not how to pronounce syllables, which is in no way clarified through romanization (and even less through jordenization), but how to learn the kanji and their multiple interpretations. This task takes time, and the sooner you begin the better. Spending a year or more learning "spoken Japanese" via the Jorden method will make it MORE not LESS difficult to advance to the written language, which is undoubtedly the primary attraction for most people who decide to learn Japanese. I will, however, concede that if you buy only the drill tapes (not the textbooks) and the "instructor's supplement" typescripts (which are written entirely in hiragana, katakana, and kanji), then you will not sabotage your acquisition of fluency in Japanese. But what beginners really need is a well-organized text with clear explanations written in good English (which, by the way, Jorden's is not), accompanied by examples written in Japanese. Far from being user-friendly, Jorden's texts are user-hostile. It is virtually impossible to look even the simplest grammar point up, so in order to review, one is forced to completely re-read entire chapters. This is a complete waste of time (not to mention painful, given Jorden's horrid English). Aside from the ridiculousness of forcing students to learn Jordenese when they really signed up for a course on Japanese, I would like to explain why reading Jorden's texts is a complete nightmare for anyone with a strongly visual memory. The grammar explanations in Jorden's text are of course written in English. But the examples of "Japanese usage" are written in Jordenese, which is NOT phonetic English. This means that after having suffered through thick passages of Jorden's ugly prose, one must first translate her Jordenese examples into phonetic English BEFORE translating them into Japanese. This is likely to induce severe cognitive dissonance in anyone whose memory is primarily visual (as is my own). Ironically, the people best-suited to learn Japanese are least likely to be able to read Jorden's text and, sadly, many of them have probably dropped their classes in despair. In addition to impeding students' acquisition of reading fluency in Japanese, the Jorden method is a complete waste of time. There are many languages out there worth learning-finitude dictates that we choose some small number of those to make our own. Jorden's Solipsistic Language (JSL) is not worth learning because it is used by no people anywhere. Nor does it have any linguistic or historical interest, as do languages such as Sanskrit and ancient Greek. For all of these reasons (and more...) I implore all language lovers to band together to stop the Jorden madness today. Do not buy this book or use this book in your courses. Do not talk to people who do. Only we can stop the megalomaniacal Jorden from further diminishing the already tiny percentage of foreigners willing to invest the time needed to learn Japanese. When I think of the gifted students who signed up for Japanese intrigued by the kanji-hiragana-katakana system and dropped out because of their unwillingness (or inability) to learn Jordenese, I just want to cry.
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