Overview Beginning Japanese

The Beginning Japanese course is concerned only with spoken Japanese in the 'standard' dialect of educated inhabitants of Tokyo. Learning to speak the language at normal speed is emphasized since the aim of the course is to teach you to understand and speak the everyday language just as it is spoken by the Japanese.

Introduction

Beginning Japanese (Parts I and II) contains thiry-five lessons, all of which have the same pattern and involve the same procedures. Each lesson requires many hours of class work supplemented by outside study and if possible, laboratory work.

The method underlying this text is guided imitatio; the aim is automaticity. Ideally, there are two teachers: under supervision of a scientific linguist, who talks ABOUT Japanese, the student learns to speak the language in direct imitation of a tutor who is a native speaker of Japanese. The tutor drills on the Japanese in the text, providing an authentic model for the student to imitate. Statements on how the text, which may be supplemented, if necessary, by further discussions on the part of the linguist.

Language learning is overlearning. Through memorization of whole utterances, and substitution within and manipulation of these utterances, a student achieves the fluency and automaticity that are necessary for control of a language. Language learning involves acquiring a new set of habits, and habits must be automatic. Just as the experienced driver performs the mechanics of driving - turning on the engine, shifting gears, applying the brakes, etc. - unconsciously, and concentrates on where he is going, so the fluent speaker of a language is concerned with what s/he is saying rather than the mechanics of how he is saying it.

This textbook is concerned only with spoken Japanese. Reading and writing involve a different set of habits and are best begun after acquiring some basic control of the spoken language. It is suggested that students interested in studying written Japanese begin using an introductory reading text only after completing at least ten or fifteen lessons of this volume.

The student should note the following general suggesions and warnings:

Always use normal speed. Do not permit yourself to speak more slowly than your tutor, and do not ask him to speak more slowly than is natural for him. The ability to understand slow, deliberate speech never heard outside of a classroom is of little practical value. The aim of the student should be to learn Japanese as it is spoken by the Japanese - not an artificial classroom dialect.

Drill hours with a native tutor should be conducted entirely in Japanese from the first day. A class which fluctuates between Japanese and English, where valuable repetition and drill aimed at developing fluency are constantly interrupted by English questions and comments, never achieves the desired results. It is recommended that a specific time be designated as discussion period and that interruption of drill at other times be avoided. A tutor who has not had technical linguistics training should not attempt technical explanations about Japanese. These are provided by the explanatory notes in the book and/or the scientific linguist.

Review constantly. Do not go ahead too rapidly. Remember that each new lesson presupposes thorough mastery of what has gone before.

Do not assume that the patterns of Japanese will resemble those of English, or that distinctions made in English will be present in Japanese. Expect differences and be surprised at similarities.

Remember that usage - not logic - determines what is accepted in a language. A native speaker is the final judge of whether or not an utterance is acceptable in their dialect. Differences of dialect, of course, cause frequent disagreement among native speakers. Not all dialect differences are geographical; many are social and educational.

Basic Dialogues

Each of the thrity-five lessons begins with a group of Basic Dialogues which form the core of the lesson. A student controls a lesson to the extent to which he has learned the dialogues by heart. Thorough memorization of the dialogues means thorough mastery of the text. Memorization is achieved by direct imitation of the native tutor in class, and by repeated use of tapes in the laboratory or at home.

Basic Dialogues are presented with their English equivalents. Numbered utterances in the dialogues are Basic Sentences. New words or phrases occuring in a Basic Sentence for the first time are listed separately, immediately before the sentence, as breakdowns. They are indented and not numbered.

Some lessons contain Additional Vocabulary, at the end of the Basic Dialogues. The words in these sections are always to be drilled within an appropriate pattern sentence, never in isolation.

Following the Basic Dialogues are Notes on the Basic Dialogues, containing assorted information on specific sentences. The numbering of the notes corresponds to that of the sentence.

Grammatical Notes

Discussions of new patterns introduced in the Basic Dialogues are found in the Grammatical Notes. These are to be read outside of class after the Basic Dialogues have been introduced, but before proceeding to the drills

In the Grammatical Notes, the procedure has been to introduce only material which will be of immediate practical use to a beginning student. No attempt is made to present the full scientific analysis of Japanese on which the text is based; rather, explanations are provided which will be useful within the framework of the Japanese material being studied.