Anyone used J.Bridge series?

[doraemon]

I am trying to get hold of a copy with accompanying CD. I was wondering if anyone has used this - before I spent a ton on shipping costs.

Thanks all!

J.Bridge Intermediate Japanese with CD
Bonjinsha
4-89358-499-5

[NickT]

I have used it. In fact, it is sitting on top of my PC right now. I liked it.

How are you planning on using it? Self-study? In a class?

[doraemon]

Nick-san
Good to know! Thanks for the thumbs up.

I will be using it in a course. They only plan on using 2 units (6 and 7) and they had the pages up to download and print out. The problem is, the furigana is so hard to read, (sometimes impossible) on the printout- I was thinking of buying the book.

Also, I think the CD would be good to have, no?


I haven´t found it in any shop yet though, so shipping from Japan is going to be $$$$

What did you like about it? I´d love to hear how it helped you improve.

[NickT]

Of course, having the CD is always a good thing, but they do sometimes tend to be extremely expensive for some reason. And to be honest, my listening skill improves more from listening to Jpod101 than to the CDs that come with my textbooks.

The thing I liked best about it was the grammar explanations. I liked the fact that it didn't use any English at all to explain the grammar, but instead presented 2 or 3 example sentances using similar grammar or contructions, and then asked a series of questions (In Japanese) which highlight the differences in nuance or meaning between the sentences.

Having said that, I know a few people in my class hated the book for the exact same reason: No explanations in English, no translations, and more questions than answers.

For me though, that is exactly the point of the book. It is a "bridge" from beginner to intermediate, and it weans you off English explanations and translations and gets you ready for proper intermediate & advanced all-Japanese textbooks, and gets you thinking about Japanese in Japanese. If you are not ready to do those things, then you are not ready to make the jump from beginners level Japanese to intermediate level.