Page 9 - Easy Japanese - Learn to Speak Japanese Quickly! (TUTTLE)

from China) along with hiragana and katakana (two independent alphabets with
46 letters, each representing a Japanese sound). While authentic Japanese script
is included in the dialogues and vocabulary lists, no reading or writing
instruction is included. There are other books you can buy to learn the writing
system, for example Japanese Hiragana and Katakana for Beginners and
Japanese Kanji for Beginners.

Japanese pronunication

Japanese words and sentences are presented in phonetic romanized form (that is,
using the Roman alphabet to represent Japanese pronunciation). Dialogues and
vocabulary lists are also presented in authentic Japanese script along with
romanization. Romanization is not meant to be an accurate representation of
Japanese pronunciation but rather just a convenient tool for reference. Be

particularly mindful not to pronounce romanized Japanese as if you were reading
English but try to learn the correct Japanese way of pronuncing the words and
sentences.
It is highly recommended that you listen to the audio recordings of all the
dialogues, vocabulary lists and practice drills so you can learn to mimic the
native speaker pronunciations. When using the audio, try not to look at the
written scripts. For many of us, visual input will interfere with accurately

perceiving the audio input. You should refer to the written scripts only when you
need help with particular parts of the audio. After peeking at the script, go back
to the audio again.

How should you use this book?

Dialogues: The dialogues present frequently used exchanges that are part of a
longer conversation. It is important to memorize these to the point where you
can recite them automatically and naturally without referring to the text, while
integrating body language. You can expand each dialogue by adding elements
before and after it to create a longer conversation, or change parts of the
dialogue to fit different contexts. Either way, each dialogue serves as a basis to
explore other possibilities.

Pattern Practices: Each dialogue has at least two drills that target key grammar
patterns and vocabulary. These are meant to develop quick and automatic
formation skills. The recommended procedure for these drill practices is to 1)
listen to the two model exchanges and understand what changes to make in
responding to the cues.and only look at the scripts for the model answers if you