Japanese for Busy People: Kana Version v.3: Kana Version Vol 3 by The Association for Japanese Language Teaching published by Kodansha International Ltd (1997) Paperback

Just like the all the others of the series, it is chronically disorganised and without clear purpose. Unfortunately I needed the book as my free Japanese lessons use it. Its just makes more difficult to learn Japanese. They don't realise the market is mostly English teachers who need Japanese for day-to-day life. The latest one is just as bad. They fail to include all the Kanji and the ones they do include is just erratic. There is enough everyday Japanese to learn without arts or history or sport terms to crowd it (best to use a specialist phrase book for those situations). They think ordinary Japanese people know Sumo terms- they don't.How I would write a Japanese learning book- Book 0 Hiragana, Katana and pronounciation- lots of it.Book 1- Verbs, simple nouns (to express the verbs) and a few select particles- expressed in Kanji (all possible)- no expectation of learning those but it good to get the experience , kana and furigana just about everything you could possibly need. Verbs in both plain and polite form with lots of testing.Book 2- Adjectives, wide range of nouns and more verb practice.Book 3- Now fully formed expressions with the special adverbs with some conjugation with the rules of verb conjugation clearly spelt out- as you know the polite and plain it quite straightforward. Only everyday langauge and lots of testing. If language level is sufficient, start with practice and lead to roleplay with alternate scenarios.

This is not a very difficult book, which is both a good and a bad thing. Most people probably use this as a part of their class, and it is not too difficult to be used in self-study. Some grammar is introduced in a weird order - some very common (and not difficult) structures are introduced quite late. I liked "Shin Bunka Shokyuu Nihongo" a lot more, but wouldn't recommend it for self-study.The kanji-reference in the end does not (if i remember correctly) include kanji learned in japanese for busy people 1 & 2, which IMO is a problem.(correction: it seems they are included, i remembered wrong.)Even if it has its problems it's not too bad. Would recommend it for self-study, if it fits your level (past JLPT4, maybe studying for JLPT3).

I lived in Japan off and on over the course of 15 years, and I formally studied Japanese (in college or at a private language academy) for a little over two years. Even so, my Japanese was a combination of "perfect" and "invented". This book proved to be an excellent refresher course for me, and my Japanese improved remarkably. I have no problems with kana, but my kanji knowledge was limited to only about 600 -- I was reminded of a number of kanji I should have known, and learned quite a few more that I hadn't known before. Japanese for Busy People III offers a wonderful blend of review and new material, with plenty of reading, vocabulary work, practice of both writing kanji and grammar work/substitution drills. Explanations of grammar are written in English and romaji, but the majority of the text is kana and kanji, with furigana where appropriate. I highly recommend this book, (and books I and II for those in the earlier levels of Japanese study) for self-study.

We used this in my high school as our Japanese textbook, and I loved its style and effectiveness. Great language book.

JFBPIII is an extension of the previous volume providing more grammar rules and vocabulary following on from the previous edition thus maintaining a smooth learning curve. Explanations and transcripts are all given in English making this accessible for self learners.Each chapter gets to the point with the target grammar and vocabulary clearly explained without overwhelming the learner with too much information.However the book describes itself as the most effective and quickest way to speaking fluent Japanese. In a sense if you want to be able to communicate in Japanese as fast as possible this book will get you through the essentials. I myself found myself able to communicate to a certain degree with Japanese natives through the use of this book.However, many other grammar points are either skimmed over or missed out. If you want to discuss more hypothetical situations such as life and politics this book lacks enough grammar to do so. "The Japan Times An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" provides more thorough explanations, articles, dialogues and grammar points which are lacking in JFBPIII. However for anyone who had just completed JFBPII, the learning curve for "An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" would be too steep.A 3 CD set with recordings of the grammar and dialogues is also available. Studying this course with the CD's gives you the opportunity to improve your listening skills and compare your speaking skills. The CD's in my opinion are essential to making the best of this course. Brand new they are quite expensive at around £45 however they should be available for around £25-30 second hand.Overall Japanese for Busy People III does provide an essential solid foundation which I highly recommend especially if you have completed JFBPII. However once you have drilled yourself through the series it is highly advisable to seek another grammar book which can provide more depth on some of the grammar points.