This is a comprehensive beginning-level Japanese textbook and language learning program.
Elementary Japanese is designed for students who are just beginning their study of the Japanese language at the first-year college level or on their own. The author and contributors have created a highly structured approach to learning Japanese based on acquiring the fundamental patterns and constructions of the language as well as the Japanese writing system including the primary Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji characters.
Each volume of this two-book set is designed for one semester of study. The books feature detailed grammatical explanations which make them extremely useful as references and for review purposes when traveling to Japan or preparing for the Japanese Language Proficiency Examination (JLPT).
Printable PDFs and MP3 audio files are included with each volume on free CD-ROMs, making this a great way to learn Japanese on your own while ensuring that you learn the correct pronunciation. The recordings also help you build up your listening comprehension skills.
After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Describe yourself, your family and your friends.
• Talk about daily events using basic vocabulary and grammatical constructions.
• Understand conversations on these topics as well as classroom activities.
• Read Japanese articles and write short compositions and letters.

Elementary Japanese Volume One covers the first semester of a college-level Japanese beginner course. It contains 14 lessons, each representing one week of instruction over multiple sessions. Each lesson consists of a dialogue, usage notes, grammar notes, exercises, new kanji and explanations, and new vocabulary. Authentic Japanese script is used throughout; the two volumes together introduce 313 Kanji.
All disc content is alternatively accessible on tuttlepublishing.com/downloadable-content.

Yoko Hasegawa is Associate Professor of Japanese Linguistics in the Department of East Asia Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley. She currently teaches Japanese linguistics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and also serves as Coordinator of the university's Japanese language program. She previously taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and received her Ph.D. in linguistics from Berkeley in 1992.