Japanese from Zero! 2: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals (Japanese Edition)

My teen son has been homeschooled since eighth grade. One of his main interests in languages. In his first couple years of homeschool, he attempted to learn Japanese using Rosetta Stone (he went through the full first level and most of the second), by using the first Genki book and workbook, various other beginner books (as I scroll through the popular books on Japanese language in Amazon, I see we now own many of the titles...), and by doing a few other things like us just going through flashcards of hiragana and katakana. Partway through last school year (Jan 2017), he told me he feels like he's learned a lot of Japanese, but said he felt he wouldn't be able to put together even the simplest sentence - written or spoken - if he was put to the test. As with all things homeschool, there's some trial and error, and we occasionally try something that doesn't work. This was definitely one of those things. I knew he was frustrated, but not at all ready to give up. We came across Japanese From Zero! Book 1 . When he started using that first workbook and discovered the hundreds of free videos the author, George Trombley, put on YouTube, I mean, this kid was transformed. He ate that book up, and book 2. By the end of that school year (June 2017) he'd gone from saying he couldn't say "How are you?" to being comfortable enough to converse with teens in Japan. In the summer he completed book 3. This school year (starting September 2017) he began Japanese From Zero! 4 and Kanji From Zero! 1 , and he's working his way through both now. He keeps up with the supplemental videos from George. When George asks a question, I'm continually impressed at how my son replies correctly, without fail, before George supplies the answer. My son just asked me what I was doing, and I told him I was typing up a review for these books -- he said I should say he doesn't feel he started actually learning Japanese before he opened the first from Zero! book. These books and the free supplemental videos are by far the best system we've found for any English speaker who wants to learn Japanese. UPDATE MAY 2019: My son graduated homeschool Spring 2018. He asked if he could take a placement test for Japanese at the university he was planning to attend. Recall he’d only gone through George Trombley’s Japanese From Zero! books 1-4 plus Kanji from Zero! book 1 and the free YouTube videos. From the placement test, he was put in 3rd semester Japanese. He likely tested into 4th semester, but as that class is only offered each Spring, he was happy to go into 3rd semester. How did he do? He got straight As - a 4.0 in both 3rd and 4th semester. Each class is worth 5 credits, and for the two classes he skipped, he was given 4 credits each. So for 3rd semester he got 13 credits for his one Japanese class, and another 5 in 4th semester. Just from self studying these books in homeschool.

This book builds on all the ideas established in the first one and expands on them in great detail. One of my favorite topics this books cover is the past-tense form of verbs. I especially liked the chapters that teaches compound sentences. This section was difficult for me understand at first, but once it clicked, I felt confident in my speaking ability. After finishing this book I was able to form thoughts in Japanese with friends on HelloTalk that I couldn't before. The layout is very clean and easy to read. If you buy the physical copy of the book you get the Kindle version free. Which is really nice if you wanna study on the go, but left your book on the shelf at home. I also appreciate that all the lessons covered in this book are in video form on the JFZ Youtube channel. That's actually where I first came across this series and I recommend watching those while going through the lessons. George Trombley is a cool dude, and he has tons of helpful videos on his channel that cover topics that aren't in the books. If you've hit a plateau in your Japanese learning, or you are fed-up with books with unhelpful explanations on grammar, I highly recommend you picking up this book series. This book will help you achieve your goals.

This book exponential increased my ability to understand and speak japanese. Its easy to learn vocabulary but its difficult to learn how to use it correctly. This book shows you how to use them multiple ways (informal, and polite ways). And on top of that you are learning Katakana. This book does contain typos but its not the end of the world, this book was made by humans.

My homeschooled teen used the first book in this series last year for learning Japanese and enjoyed it so much that we're continuing with this second book. It takes off where the first one ended and dives more deeply into the language, now that she understands the very basics. The videos to this series are available for free on youtube, which is nice. We do, however, use this book in conjunction with the online class, since it offers quizzes, extra practice, some support and more. It's a great series for those wanting to dig into the language and still enjoy it.

I asked for the first book of this series for Christmas and I loved the format so much that I had to get the second book. I really like the pace, because other books out there are not only faster, but they don’t provide as much sentence examples as these books do. I especially appreciate the reassurance I get from the lessons. The author does tell you not to fret over things like different sentence structures. It sounds like someone who is teaching you the lessons knows that some parts can be intimidating to learn, but they understand and they’ll guide you along the way. I needed that. As a busy person, I can only do one chapter a day and work on the activity part the next day. It’s a great series to start for absolute beginners and slow paced learners. Each chapter introduces a little chunk of new vocabulary words, followed by 2-3 new grammar points, and then sentence examples using those words and grammar points which is really helpful. I say the words out loud to help me practice my speech. The only criticism I have for the books so far are the typo errors. Sometimes I’ll catch an English translation error or a spelling typo and it’s very annoying to correct. The books says it’s been revised multiple times, yet they haven’t done much proofreading. Otherwise, it’s a really great learning format. I wish there were more series like this in languages like Vietnamese, Chinese, French, etc. it’s really fun to learn and I will be buying the rest of the released books.

Awesome book! Not too slow, fast or complicated. Just right. Combined with the online videos, this is really great.

I have just finished book 2 of this series and whilst it is definitely more difficult than the first book, it is still satisfying to work from and builds on the knowledge you have previously gained. I have studied Japanese on and off for many years, but when I decided to 'get serious' with studying this wonderful language, this is the series of books I chose to study from. The accompanying videos on YouTube were a huge consideration for me. This is extremely clear to work from and the explanations make it easy to grasp the concepts of forming sentences and using the language you learn. It even manages to explain quite complex ideas in a clear way, although I did struggle from chapter 9 onward, as this is where it introduces informal forms (in past, present and positive and negative forms) and a little more grammar. I had to take it slow and keep reinforcing what I'd learnt, but bit by bit it is sinking in. Like the first book, this has a workbook built into it, with reading and writing exercises (with an answer guide at the end of each chapter this time, rather than in the back like in book 1) and these exercises really help you grasp and solidify what you have learnt in that chapter. This books also teaches you Katakana and I love the way that as you progress through the book the words are gradually built up with each Katakana you learn, until by the end everything is written in Hiragana and Katakana and you can read and understand written Japanese. Kanji will come in book 3!. The author has also written a book called Kanji from zero, which covers Kanji a little more. But learning Hiragana and Katakana so quickly and effortlessly is a huge win and will impress native Japanese and will also enrich your experience when you travel in Japan. This isn't necessarily a book that'll teach you lots of phrases you can use on your holidays, right off the bat, but instead builds a solid language framework and introduces vocab, so you can build your own sentences and actually understand the language. This is much better than simply learning by rote. This also includes lots of foreign words that Japan has borrowed, which is why there is Katakana and these vocab are easier to learn as they already feel familiar. I also like how the author teaches a style of Japanese that is actually used and which is useful when in the country. Some courses will teach very formal and stilted Japanese, and whilst the author does teach you polite forms, he also teaches language that sounds more natural. As someone who wishes to use Japanese when I am in the country, this is essential for me and will hopefully open up another side of Japan that I may not have seen. My personal way to use this book was to read through each chapter to familiarise myself with the material, then watch the accompanying YouTube video for that lesson to get a clearer idea of pronunciation and any tough parts. Then I'd go back and work though the chapter in a slower, more methodical way, answering the exercises and making notes. I used the Ankidroid app to make up flashcards for all the words and phrases from each chapter, so I could study and test myself when out and about. And I also used a notebook to write up mind maps and mnemonic techniques for the more 'non-sticky' words. In conjunction with this course I also listened to Michel Thomas cd's in the car, JLPT audio CD's and used an excellent Particles dictionary (which I have also reviewed on Amazon). Using all these techniques together has really helped the info in this course sink in and start to build a decent framework to build upon. This course is great to work from and really progresses well from what you have already learnt. You quickly grasp difficult concepts, feel as if you actually understand the way the language is formed and the accompanying videos are light hearted and a wonderful additional media to aid your study. I can't recommend this series enough and if you wish to seriously learn Japanese and unlock your full potential, then give this a try and see what it can do for you.

El contenido de este libro, así como del primero de JPZ es fantástico. Enseña de forma lenta y clara, contiene montones de ejercicios distintos con algunos de ellos muy interesantes, y enseña tanto la gramática como a escribir Hiragana/katakana de forma sencilla. Los vídeos en Youtube son un gran refuerzo, que se agradece sea de acceso gratuito, y la forma en la que enseña George es genial. El único pero que le pongo es que compré la 5ª edición y aun así hay numerosos errores que han pasado por alto. No en los ejercicios o en el japonés (creo) si no en las explicaciones o en los enunciados de los ejercicios (en inglés). Nada que dificulte el aprendizaje, ya que si vas siguiendo con atención es fácil reparar que son errores que se pasaron por alto en la revisión, pero me llamó la atención que no vi ninguno en el libro 1 ni hasta ahora en el 3, pero si hay varios en este.

Pratique, bien expliqué et accessible à tous

I finished book 2 today after having finished video series by the author and I have to say that the learning is super enjoyable. Many thanks to George for presenting the book and videos in a fun way. I am now looking forward to reading book 3.

So, I brought this on Kindle and I must say (even though its a bit more work, for me its how I learn best) the intergrated textbook works wonders for my Japanese (as I write the questions out before answering them in my notebook), but if you buy the book in hardcopy you can write in the bookitself. This book is part of a series (Japanese From Zero) and should be used after you have completed Japanese From Zero 1, and should be followed up by Japanese From Zero 3. Because of this, if you do plan on using the book on its own (without the rest of the series), remember to already have learnt you hiragana, because this book focuses on katakana learning instead. Like with the first book, it takes away the romaji of the katakana words as you learn them. You already start without romaji for hiragana words, so this book focuses on teaching you the second of the three scripts (katakana). Once again, using it with their accompying YouTube videos is recomended, but not essential