Rating: 
Summary: I quit it and then picked it up again
Review: Here's my testimony. It will probably be marked "not helpful" by people who are determined not to like JSL 1. However, I did want to share this discovery with people who are truly looking to learn. My accelerated Japanese class used this book. I dropped the class after a month, overwhelmed from learning the spoken and written languages concurrently. For some reason I kept the book, and it sat in my collection. I then picked up "The Structure of the Japanese Language" by Susumu Kuno and taught myself the kana using the Tuttle books. I was surprised to find that Kuno referenced Jorden's JSL! I had already paid for the JSL book so what was there to lose? There I went again, back into JSL.
Here is what I found after reading the introduction to JSL 1(very important to read the authors' introduction) and then applying the techniques.
Jorden approach works. She tells you what she's going to do, why she's going to do it and then proceeds to actually do it. That's why the inroduction to the book is important. How many of your teachers have ever explained why they do things a certain way and where it will lead? Her whole approach is centered on teaching Japanese in a way that would make sense to a native Japanese speaker. She uses terms like Nominals, Verbals and Adjectivals because conceptually, to a native Japanese speaker, the English concepts of Noun, Verb and Adjective DO NOT apply exactly. No where else had I seen this distinction explained. What's the point? Well, when you try and apply English grammar concepts wholesale to Japanese you are more likely to get it wrong. They are two distinct languages. Again and again, she makes the point of not getting trapped into "decoding" the language into English. "Decoding" the language is one thing. Knowing the language instinctively is completely different. Jorden gets you on the road to the latter.
She tells you why she uses a different romanization scheme. Why you ask? Well, the original schemes tried to map Japanese to English. Jorden's romanization tries to map English to Japanese. She factors in the phonetic profile of the Japanese language, how it actually sounds. Some students do not like the accent marks that are found throughout the book. However, you ABSOLUTELY need to know where the accents fall in a word or phrase, otherwise YOU ARE NOT SPEAKING JAPANESE. Japanese, like other East Asian languages, is a tonal language. If you mess up the accents, at best you will confuse your audience, at worst deeply offend them. Isn't it great that someone took the time to write the accents out? It's up to you to learn them. Also, once you've learned them, you've learned them!!!
There is no kana/kanzi in the book itself. That is not a big deal. I taught myself the kana using the Tuttle books. The kanzi will take separate dedicated study no matter what. Do you really want to learn the spoken language and a pictogram/ideograph based writing system simutaneously? Learning kanzi will actually slow you down because at the stage, you are still trying to learn to listen and speak, the HARDER skills. There are plenty of books and online resources for practicing kana/kanzi. Why not master one set of skills, the harder skills, and then move on to the relatively easier skills, reading and writing? Say you learn the kana/kanzi without first mastering the spoken language and someone asks you to read aloud. You will have no concept of what the language sounds like. Also, compare the number of opportunities you have to speak Japanese and the number of opportunities you have to read and write it. Which skills should get the most focus? Here's another analogy. There are a lot of musicians who can play music on sight but can not sing the notes without the help of an instrument. Learning how the music sounds before you ever touch an instrument is the hardest skill, but the most valuable in the long run. Learning the instrument itself is comparatively easier. In this case, you want to have the sound authentically in your head before you use your instrument, your voice.
The vocabulary is relatively limited. Again that is not a big deal. You can buy a Japanese-English dictonary and fix that problem easily. Jorden makes the point that learning new vocabulary only makes sense if that vocabulary is constantly enforced. Otherwise, YOU WILL FORGET IT. Again, why make your learning complicated? Learn what's in the book and you will get constant reinforcement in the tapes(a must have!!!!)
Also, don't be distracted or discouraged by the lack of pictures, etc, about Japanese life and culture. There are plenty of resources on the web that can remedy that. You probably want a book that will help educate you. There are already plenty of books that will entertain you with pretty pictures and such. However, does that honestly help you to hold a conversation? Lastly, while the conversation may be dated, again, that's not a big deal. How many native English speakers honestly have trouble understanding English movies and books from the 40s-60s? I would prefer to sound dated then wrong. People may respect the former but will ridicule the latter. What you should focus on is learning the harder skills first, Speaking and Listening and then move on to Reading and Writing. Jorden clearly announced her intentions by calling this: Japanese THE SPOKEN LANGUAGE.
A few final notes:
1. You absolutely, positively need the audio tapes(containing Core Conversations and Drills) for this series. The video tape is only useful for the Core Conversations so you can see the vocabulary used in text. The video tape of the Drills is a nice to have but isn't really worth the price because the audio tapes cover the same material.
2. Jorden makes the point that if you master the first chapter, you've built up all the skills to master the remaining chapters. Isn't that reassuring?
3. The books is actually 371 pages long.
4. Listen to some of the webcasts/broadcasts of Japanese from NHK and listen to how often you can pick out the vocabulary in JSL. I was suprised at how often they said "Soo desu nee/Soo desu ne", phrases which Jorden explained to death.
5. The JSL series represents a core. If you do not know this core, can you say you know Japanese?
Rating: 
Summary: This series is out of date
Review: I couldn't stand this series. The book may have good information, but there are way too many books out there on learning Japanese that offer more, and are actually written in Japanese. That was my biggest complaint when I used it at my university -- a book on Japanese should be written in Japanese, not romaji. Apparently the staff at my university thought so, too, because they have since switched to the Nakama series, with marked improvement in reading ability among students (because they are actually reading Japanese for the three years, and not being held back by reading English letters the whole time). The book may be called "The Spoken Language," but there is no need to separate written characters from the actual language -- somebody tell Jorden this! Do Japanese people learn English written in all katakana without any exposure to the roman alphabet? No! The people who like this book may have learned from it, but there are much better books out there. I suggest you pass on this book and get something that will help you learn Japanese, both spoken and written. The "Nakama" and "Yookoso" series are much better, and are actually written in Japanese.
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone, but...
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book... overall, it gave me a great and functional jump start in Japanese... its practical, down to earth, and great for drilling people with bad memories like me. - - The disadvantage is... (aside from the fact that it can get a bit dry and tedious at times) is that to get around in Japan, reading and writing help. Unlike other languages (like English) in Japanese reading and writing actually help your speaking... As an example, in Japanese words are usually pronounced exactly like they're spelled. When it comes to the syllabary, if you live in Japan, you can see the words all around you - - Further, if you live in Japan, reading is great reinforcement. Even without knowelge of Kanji you can still pick up words by reading them on billboards and TV (half of them cognates from the English langauge) so you can pick up a lot more... but if you only do a spoken course, you miss out on this opportunity. - - But if you're living outside Japan, and you don't have that reinforcement... the Foreign Service Department drill method is great (and fair revenge to all those poor foreigners we've made put up with SIDE BY SIDE.)All in all, I'd say that with almost any language I'd have to agree with the method used in this book... but years down the line I'd say, its a great jump start to drill the forms into you and getting you to spit them out without having to remember them but even "lighter" courses like JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLE in many ways may turn out to be more practical in the long run... especially because they're situational. - - Still, if you're not great at learning languages, and want something infinitely more advanced than a talking phrase book, but not a college style read and comprehend text... this course is phenomenal... it really gets you on your feet... as you learn how to modify basic sentence patterns with an audio drill sargent beating the forms into you mercilessly ! My advice... if you're good at picking up languages, and have no problems with more "traditional" texts... go for the other ones reccomended by the other reviewers... If you're like me (capable of learning, but who struggled through all those other high school and college foreign langauge courses), this book might be your last hope ! (of course, make sure you get it with the tapes... the tapes are more important than the book !)
Rating:
Summary: An awful Japanese text
Review: I have read three other Japanese textbooks and Jordans's book is the worst I have ever read. I would agree with some of the other reviewers that Jordan invents her own version of Japanese. She uses Romaji, however she doesn't use standard Romaji but invents her own system. Example, Jordan changes ji to zi in her book. Jordan thinks chi = ti. These changes makes the book harder to read and will not teach good pronunciation. The lack of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji is another big minus. According to Jordan you don't need to learn "Kanzi". You won't be able to read anything in Japan with out knowing the basic writing systems. Overall she tries to take a very mathematical approach to learning Japanese with tedious and outdated core conversations and drills. Most of the drills can't be used in day to day conversation. The explanations on grammar are way over done to the point at which they become more complex than they need to be. Don't buy this book. Buy yourself a much better Japanese book like Yookoso.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book or use it in your classroom!!!
Review: I have studied Japanese in one form or another at three different schools over the past three years with several different textbooks and I can honestly say that this is the worst textbook I have ever seen. Not only does it leave out the Japanese writing system, which is neccesary for learning how to read but the contents of the book are not useful in real world situations that would require one to interact with others. I would not wish this book upon my worst enemy and I beg any teacher that is thinking about using it to reconsider.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult book.. there are better ones out there
Review: I studied japanese for 1 year before going to college and ending up with this book. I found it extremely frustrating. I can't figure out why the author wrote the book in romaji as opposed to japanese. There is good information in the book about sentence pattern and structure but I spent a majority of my time translating all the of the romaji sentences into hiragana so that I could actually read them. I feel it's much more beneficial for students to flat out learn hiragana/katakana/kanji at the beginning than trying to go through romaji. Several of the advanced students I know who started out with the "Jordan" method still cling far more to the romaji than is necessary and it is a hinderance to their learning. I recommend the "Nakama" textbook series or "Japanese for Everyone" textbook as much better alternatives to this book.
Rating:
Summary: Does not support Windows 2000
Review: I was forced to give a rating but actually I cannot rate this CD Rom since I was unable to use it. I think buyers should be warned that, with Windows 2000, installation brings up the message "OS not supported" and then installation dies when you try to continue. From the user's guide it seems like it would be a very good program if you could use it.
Rating:
Summary: Curriculum and Methodology VERY outdated
Review: I was forced to teach high school Japanese using this textbook for seven years. Both I and my students were unimpressed with the heavy emphasis on its audiolingual methodology. I had to supplement with my own materials for culture and kana/kanji writing. The entire book centers around grammar, not useful Japanese. The current ACTFL proficiency guidelines and National Foreign Language standards now stress task-based curricula used with a more modern teaching methodology that incorporates real-life situations and materials. The book does contain some weird Japanese that is only there to fit the grammar point. The videos are old and the sound quality is bad. If you want good, current Japanese that also includes culture (NONE in the Jorden method!) notes, go with anything put out by the publishers of the Nihongo Journal (ALC Press). No textbook these days is entirely in roomaji either. I gave this book one star for its usefulness as a grammar guide.
Rating:
Summary: I have never hated anything more than I hate this book
Review: I'm in the third year of this program and I watch my class continue to struggle everyday with even the simplest grammar. The emphasis is on memorizing conversations, which is completely worthless unless everyone in Japan asks you the same questions regarding the convience of your subway stop and the availablity of certain types of pens. One may also find it rather absurd that they will learn the kanji for hospital director and economics before dog or window. Note also that the word "table" is not introduced until the middle of the second volume. The material is poorly organized, hard to find, and absolutely chart-less. Worst of all, our the Japanese teaching assistants (native speakers mind you) chuckle at how out of date the material is and tell us that the only people who talk like this are old rich women and elevator operators. Run away from this teaching method while you still can.
Rating:
Summary: Best language text of any language I've seen
Review: I've learned French, Spanish, Chinese, and even dabbled in Latin, but this text stands out in that it focuses on the oral, spoken part of the language. Kana/Kanji can be learned by rote memorization, but the hardest part of learning a language is learning how to communicate effectively. This is the text used at Harvard, MIT, etc. Combined with the audio learning aids, I highly recommend this text to any serious learner of the Japanese language.
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