Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals

I love Japanese From Zero! JFZ is a good place to start learning, especially if you have no prior knowledge of Japanese and you cannot read or write any of the language (this includes anyone who is currently using romaji). This first book walks you through learning hiragana. By the time you get done with this book, you will know your hiragana front, back and sideways. You may even dream in hiragana. That's how good it is at reinforcing hiragana for you. The information is NOT presented in an overwhelming manner as it can be in a lot of other text books. The lessons are short, which makes it ideal for learning on your own, and being able to pace yourself. You can learn 1 lesson per week or 1 lesson per day. It's totally up to you. The book presents lessons with usable examples. By the time you complete lesson 5, you will know how to say hello, tell someone things that you like or don't like, be able to count, ask who someone is, what things are, ask someone what something is in English, and tell someone what one you want or don't want. You'll learn colors, some animals, etc. So you can say "I have an orange cat named Garfield." "I like to go shopping" "Japanese food is delicious" "That doesn't taste good" "My car is a purple and white Honda" "Sachiko and Toshiyo are my friends" etc lol And that's not even 1/4 the way into the book!!! They present information in a way that allows you to be able to insert whatever you want, instead of using very rigid sentences that can't be altered much. You begin thinking of all the things that you CAN say, which I think is pretty neat. You, of course, learn more as you progress through the series. It's more of a "what you need to know, when you need to know it" kind of book... They don't go into dipthongs and verb conjugation and all that other stuff that you don't really care about. They just say "this is how you say _______." Why people have a problem with that is beyond me. If you really wanted to study dipthongs and that kind of stuff, Japanese From Zero probably isn't for you. If you have a "I can do it" attitude and want a fun, simple way to learn Japanese, (learn how to read/write AND speak) and you don't really care what a dipthong is, then this is the series for you! As you progress through the book, the vocabulary list gets more & more useful, so you can ask people things and have a basic conversation. Enough to maybe start looking for a penpal and discussing things that you enjoy. I like how the book is set up, in that you get your writing practice, you get lots of vocabulary, and you get to learn how to write words that use the kana that you have just learned that are not in your vocabulary list. You get lots & lots of writing practice. There's even "blank" practice pages that you can copy & get more writing practice. The grammar is presented so that it's not overwhelming and make you think "oh my god I can't do this".. the lessons are short & not bogged down with stuff that you don't really need to know to just be able to talk with people. There are tests after each lesson, which are short, and I think that is great, because you can take your test & check the answers in the back of the book (YAY! No separate answer key to buy!) & see how you have done.. It is a nice confidence booster. Your vocabulary is shown in hiragana, katakana (when applicable, ie: with fruit : furuutsu) and kanji (if applicable).. then the meaning of the word is given.. but as you progress, the romaji gets less and less, so eventually you'll be reading hiragana. For things like "furuutsu" that are written in katakana, it's a good way to learn a little katakana while you're at it! In regards to sounds or having a CD... They have sound files on their website. I'm a member of the website AND I have the book. I like using them both. The website tells you how to say things and you get to hear different people say things at their normal talking speed. The forum has a lot of helpful people in it, and George will answer your questions himself. The website has flash games, online flashcards, and all sorts of resources available. They also have free shows you can watch & listen to people speaking Japanese.. This includes people from YouTube, like applemilk1988, Uminekomiami and Kemushichan. They also have their own shows, like Japanese Topics Mania, The George and Keiko Show, The George and Hisashi Show, George in Japan, George vs Chie, The George & Eri show, The YesJapan! Ask A Teacher Show, You SO Crazy Cooking Show and the 3 Guys In Japan Show.. As well as one that's called "The Super Sexy Sayaka Show." You can also transfer your unused credits from YesJapan to JapanFiles & download Japanese music. JapanFiles has a huge selection of music, everything from pop to metal to electronic stuff to jazz and etc.. They even have visual kei bands and some bands have free music videos you can download. So you get lots of stuff to listen to and watch in Japanese. On top of that stuff, the YesJapan forum has a ton of websites where you can get live streaming television shows, anime and etc from Japan for free, as well as online radio shows, and etc. There's LOTS of resources on that website. If joining the website is not your cup of tea.. The Japanese From Zero books are good companions for Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur's Japanese series, the "Let's Learn Japanese" videos & workbooks, LingQ, or anything else you would like to pair them up with, even other books, ie: Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You or All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words . If you get this series, you won't be disappointed. It's simple, fun and really is wonderful!

This book is amazing. George Trombley does a great job at explaining concepts. One thing that I appreciate is that he gives you a quick rundown of the formal Japanese (so that you recognize it when it pops up), but then focuses on how you'll most hear / be using it. He also just has a general demeanor of teaching in a down to earth manner. This removes some of the rigid feeling and droll of merely grinding through coursework. He also implements a "progressive" hiragana technique. This is a great idea. As you progress through the chapters, you pick up a new grammar concept, a list of new words, and 5-10 new Hiragana per chapter. The new Hiragana you learn will replace the "romaji" (english alphabet) until you are reading in complete Hiragana. This is a wonderful mechanism for learning as he eases you into everything rather than having massive knowledge dumps which feel discouraging. This book is not filled with a lot of filler and redundant information as other books can be. However, I would appreciate having extra examples or additional explanation of nuances like that you would find on the website / youtube version. For this reason I would highly encourage combining this with their website/youtube channel. Also, I'm a visual learner, so having the visual audio reinforcement really helps me excel. Something that you have to understand as a language student is that learning another language is not a passive activity; it takes hard work, dedication, and immersion. There is no other way to learn another language, so do not pay money to scam artists who will tell you otherwise. I have browsed through other Japanese learning programs like JapanesePod101 (which I don't feel is the best for actually learning Japanese), and have thus far found Japanese From Zero! to be the best there is. This book also does a really good job on worksheets. Again, I would recommend combining this with George Trombley's online resources so you can receive a few more helpful examples, pronunciation, and Japanese nuances. If you are debating between just doing online versus this book, realize that you will miss out on the worksheets which I feel are done better in the book. I definitely think you get a good deal for this as compared to other language learning programs (way better and cheaper than Rosetta Stone if that is on your mind). Is this book perfect? No. For instance, there are a few cases where a new Hiragana which you, as the student, have not learned yet will be slipped into text. It is, in my opinion the best book out there and prefer over Genki. As per my personal recommendation, you should make flashcards of words outside of the books. The books build a fantastic foundation, but you really need to build up your vocab on your own. It's pretty easy to find some word lists out there. However, I would work on those vocab lists after this book or when you are able to use it in a sentence. Learning words is MUCH easier when you can them in a sentence because then you aren't memorizing meaningless scribbles. This book consists of 13 chapters and gives you the basic structure of the Japanese Language. Everyone is different, but I would have a "focused study" a couple hours a day (you need to be practicing your and phrases throughout the day) and was able to get through this book in about a month. After completing it, my vocab was still relatively small, but I could pick out words and phrases people were saying. Certain topics people talked about, I could get the gist of what they were saying. Most topics though, I could only pick out small parts. Also remember that this is just book 1, so don't expect perfect fluency upon its completion. So far I have been very pleased with this book and my progress so far. Learning a language can definitely be daunting, especially when it is something as foreign as an Asian language. This series has definitely kept at bay that anxiety. Sometimes I have to remind myself of how far I've come and the things I do know rather than focusing on what I have yet to learn. George Trombley is very encouraging in his teaching. "Even dust when piled up becomes a mountain" As a little bit of my personal background, I have learned Portuguese as a second language and lived their several years. My experience in learning it was horrible, solely because I did not have anyone take the time to give me that down-to-earth explanation of how Portuguese functioned. I then made a friend who gave me that explanation I desperately needed. At this point in my Portuguese, I understood what people were saying but I could not speak very well myself. This friend transformed my Portuguese within a week so I sounded like a native and I could be considered "fluent". That friend to me in Portuguese is equivalent to how I feel George Trombley is for Japanese. ありがとう ございます

I have just begun the Japanese From Zero; (JFZ 1) book, but I can already say I like it very much! The organization is excellent, the explanations are clear, and the Japanese taught is so relevant. The book starts you off with Pre-Lessons (in Roomaji;English letters;) that teach numbers and simple introductory exchanges, extremely useful for tourists and more serious students alike. I was especially impressed by JFZ teaching the question "Nansai ni miemasu ka?" (何歳に見えますか？), which means more or less "How old do you see me?", a cool question to ask when someone asks you how old you are (a common question to foreigners in Asia). The explanations of grammar, syntax and vocabulary are also accompanied by warnings of what NOT to say, which is very helpful (e.g., yonjuu; for 40, never shichijuu;). There is even information for how and when to bow, another important point not generally covered in a Japanese textbook. JFZ 1 also slowly teaches writing hiragana (katakana and kanji are tackled in later books), which is by far the most useful of the syllabaries for a beginning student. I already speak Chinese, so the kanji that the student will need to learn later on are far less of a problem, though the Japanese use the older traditional forms (繁体字 in Chinese) rather than the simplified characters (简体字) used in the PRC. But a person knowing Chinese can adapt pretty quickly. A knowledge of Chinese can also be very helpful with Japanese vocabulary, even after the phonetic modifications they undergo, since a large percentage of Japanese words were borrowed from Chinese (though usually from a different dialect than Modern Standard Chinese). The lessons are light-hearted and fun, a real pleasure to tackle, and this is a good thing, because Japanese appears as a rather "strange" language in its grammar and syntax (which to me are harder than Chinese). Though I haven't bought the other books in the series (JFZ 2, JFZ 3, JFZ 4), I've looked at them on Amazon, and they seem very good. The pacing in this series is conducive to mastery, and I disagree with the reviewer who wrote that it moves too slowly. How is that a problem? If you think the book moves slowly, go through it more quickly (duh). The point is that it is easy to become discouraged in studying a language---Japanese more than most---and the measured pace (which I don't find slow in the first place) encourages mastery and builds confidence in your ability to make real progress in the language. The author George Trombley doesn't avoid certain difficulties in the language but presents them in manageable bites (the modest distance I have covered has taught me irregularities in the counting system which are basic and certainly need to be learned at an early stage because of counting's fundamental nature). One of the best points of JFZ 1 is the online component, which is free. Apart from some crude language on the part of the author in one video that I watched, they are entertaining and extremely helpful. Japanese is a pitch language, and having recordings of native speakers using correct pitch will help your Japanese to sound more natural and even avoid confusion. I use the online component all the time. As a language teacher and learner, I know that poor textbooks can do great harm to the learning process, and the complexity of Japanese draws this point home in spades. JFZ 1 is a refreshingly manageable and even entertaining book that leads the learner by small steps to a good knowledge of the language and culture. I highly recommend it! すごいですね！

I really enjoyed working through Japanese From Zero 1. I have previously studied Japanese and could already read hiragana and katakana. It had been years since I’ve studied any Japanese. This book really starts from zero and works it’s way up. It’s an easy book and I think anyone can get through it. The things I liked most: -George presents all concepts in a way that is easy to grasp and backs it up with example sentences. He keeps things simple. -The writer has an online YouTube channel that has the book chapter by chapter. It’s almost exactly like taking a class online when you use the book and watch the YouTube videos. -In the workbook problems, example sentences, and reading comprehension exercises the author continues to use grammar and vocabulary from previous chapters. This is good because you’ll see something in a later chapter that you might have forgotten in a previous chapter and it helps reinforce what you’ve already learned. What I liked the least: -the hiragana is introduced chapter by chapter and the vocabulary words will be written using a combination of romaji and hiragana. So as you go through chapter by chapter, the words will be written more and more with hiragana. If you already know how to read hiragana this makes the reading a little difficult. But it was still good. And I knew how to read it, but I forgot how to write it. So it was still a good review. -I thought the book was kind of short. I got through it rather quickly. You might want to get book two as well. -I would like to see a section where the reader can also practice listening. Maybe in a future book add online audio files for the reader to practice in the workbook section. All in all, George really has a nice product. He avoids complex grammar words like volutional and present prefect tense. He’s learned the language himself. And took the time recently to become the student again and learn Korean and is currently learning Chinese. So he has a good understanding of how people learn languages. I actually have jfz 1,2,3, and 4 as well as his Kanji from zero book. I got through books 1-3 and most of 4 then went to Japan to try it out. To my disappointment, I really couldn’t understand much that was spoken to me. Which is normal. The truth is, listening and speaking is a skill that has to be developed over time. This book as with any other book won’t get you fluent. But it will help build a foundation for learning the language. I’ll probably buy JPFZ5 when it comes out.

First off, I want to say I was an absolute beginner starting this book (other than that I had memorized most of the hirigana and katakana). So as I first began to go through the book it was a blast learning slowly and learning more cultural tips and phrases rather than textbook ones that were probably outdated. It has a lot of exercises and repeats a lot of the vocab to really compound previous knowledge. I am glad for all of the vocabulary in there and all of the reading exercises. Everything was carefully broken down to help understand what might have been difficult to in the first place. Along with this book, I purchased the McGraw Hill's "Complete Japanese Grammar Workbook", the Kondasha's Kanji Course, the 'Kanji Study' app (I highly recommend for learning kanji. It allows you so many options for however you want to learn. It also made it easier to learn specific kanji, since you could decide what groups you wanted to put them into) and Tuttle's Hirigana and Katakana workbook. I bought each as my own part of a course. The Grammar workbook was fantastic in an aid with Japanese from Zero (JFZ) since it didn't really teach me basic grammar at the beginning, which for me makes it easier to memorize certain phrases since I understand why certain things would need to be there. However, the grammar book itself gives a lot of information and with no previous study, it has been almost too much to digest even with the fairly plentiful workbook sections. That's where JFZ comes in and gives that much needed back support (without intending it). I cannot speak to the hirigana and katakana sections, since I already knew them beforehand other than that it did help reinforce my knowledge. I do wish that I was learning kanji right away in the book too. I have to supplement that with the Kondasha's kanji course or with other self-study methods. As I got towards the end, however, my other books were teaching me miles faster than this book was. The same amount of time I spent studying JFZ was not nearly as effective as studying Kondasha or the Grammar book. I do think it was an essential component as it was the application and vocab part of my studies, but it makes me wonder if there is a better book out there that could keep pace with a very serious self-studying Japanese student. I am very torn between ordering the second book of this, or just trying the famed 'Genki' series since it might be cheaper to buy those two books instead of buying all 4 of these (and perhaps not learning as much in the process). I bought this book because it seemed like the most efficient self-study tool. However, after getting it, while fun and helpful, I don't think it is the most efficient in learning. I may end up trying another book just to see. Though, if you are split in trying this book, I would say just buy it. It is still a fantastic book to start and will test your dedication to learning the language. it also is slow and steady which is great if you want to study Japanese occasionally. The best part of all is that is one of the few books that inspires me to push on with my Japanese by making it all seem so easy. It's up to you for you to figure out what is your goal in studying Japanese.

Yes! 1,000 times, YES!!! At, least that was my answer. Finding a way to learn Japanese, successfully, was much more difficult than deciding I wanted to learn how. If your journey to find a teaching tool that would work for you is anything like mine was then you've already tried and failed to use other tools. In October of 2017 my sister and I decided we both wanted to learn Japanese together. So we set off on that journey only to fight with one another over the way to learn it which led us down different paths before finding Japanese From Zero! Now before finding Japanese from Zero! I had already successfully used RomanianPod101.com to learn how to speak Romanian and I liked the platform quite a bit. So I naturally headed over to JapanesePod101.com and shelled out around $200 for Premium Plus only to find that the language learning tools for Japanese were not very good once you got through the first 10 or so lessons. I had already bought and paid for Memrise ($49.99) which I had used for Romanian and German. So I tried progressing through the Japanese 1 course and what was clearly missing from that experience was context and the practicality of the vocabulary I was learning. The progression markers were encouraging and motivating but it just wasn't teaching me to "speak" Japanese but rather vocabulary and small phrases. I had concurrently used Kana Town to learn both Hirigana and Katakana yet I felt like I wasn't really getting anywhere near learning to "speak" Japanese. I decided to turn to Youtube for suggestions and it seemed that most people were suggesting utilizing Tae Kim's free grammar and video lessons or Genki. I found these suggestions from people who'd moved to Japan and were there teaching English or as students. The last thing I wanted was a textbook. I hated the language textbooks I'd used in high school and college and had always found them sorely lacking "real life" or "conversational" teachings. Knowing how Japanese culture has so many formalities, niceties, honorifics, etc I was concerned I'd learn how to speak Japanese like a foreigner from Genki. While Tae Kim's offerings were pretty good considering they were free I struggled to use his material for myself. It was while I was on Amazon looking at Genki that I came across the Japanese From Zero series. I took a look at the reviews, watched some of Georges videos, and was sure that I had found the resource that was going to work for me. My sister wasn't convinced based on my discovery. After having spent a few months on and off with Japanese because I was struggling with the tools I'd used I dove in head first into using Japanese From Zero! 1 and it just - worked! It's hard to explain but...I was...actually learning how to "speak" Japanese. Now as someone who had already spent hours and hours memorizing Hiragana and Katakana I wasn't thrilled with the progressive transition from Romaji to kana but had I just started with this it probably would have been so much easier to learn those characters than isolated drilling. The reason I found Japanese From Zero! 1 to be so much better than all the other resources I'd used is because the book was full of clear explanations about each topic, word, or phrase that was being taught. It seemed like for every question I had about the material the author had anticipated that and had an answer. Unlike the other resources I used I wasn't scouring the internet for clarification about what was being taught. Even better was finding that Japanese From Zero! has a video lesson that goes with the full book lesson where George helps his students make sure they really understand the topic and then he adds more knowledge and information that strengthens the learners confidence in their Japanese. I spent an entire weekend working through the first 4 full chapters of Japanese from Zero! 1 and I was actually "speaking" Japanese. I could say real sentences that were conversationally correct and didn't make me sound like I was a foreign learner. Could I walk around in Japan and successfully hold a conversation - no of course not but what I did have was the confidence that with this material, if I stayed dedicated, in the not too distant future I most certainly could. After that weekend of learning I forced my sister to try Japanese From Zero! 1 with me. We watched a few of George's lesson videos and then I actually taught her, with the Japanese I'd learned from the book, the material I knew. Yes, that's correct I taught my sister Japanese in Japanese. After that she was convinced and I bought her a book as well. As you can see I've committed myself to the whole series. I spent $155 after taxes for the five books that you see. When compared with the 2 Genki workbooks and the 2 Genki textbooks with at the time I purchased them were $189 after taxes these felt like a steal. I'm not sure the author would recommend this but I use Jisho.org for learning the Kanji stroke order and readings of all the vocab that appears in the book. It's amazing how quickly you start learning radicals, stroke order patterns, and general character recognition. I'd say that doing this is a big time commitment and is going well above and beyond the usage of the book. I have the aptitude for it this early in the learning process but not everyone does. So if you find it distracts from Japanese From Zero! then don't use it. At the end of the day, if you want to learn how to successfully speak Japanese that doesn't make you sound like a language learning foreigner then this is the resource for you!

After working through this magnificent book, I have never wanted to throw my money at someone more than George sensei. This book has all the ingredients to help you master the foundations of the Japanese language. It moves at a pace that is designed to ensure you do not get overwhelmed early on in your language-learning journey. I believe that this pacing is very effective when learning a new language, as becoming overwhelmed will only burn you out quicker and will confuse you when too many new things to learn are thrown at you. George is very careful not to overwhelm you and is very meticulous about his order of teaching. Not to mention, you can tell George is so passionate about these books when watching his videos on the lessons and ensuring you have a fun time mastering what is commonly thought to be one of the hardest languages for an English speaker to learn. His videos on YouTube where he talks you through each and every lesson in the book are so unbelievably helpful and reassuring when you are struggling with understanding what the books teach you, but honestly, the book is laid out so meticulously that I assure you as long as you put forth the effort and time, you will easily pick up new concepts quickly. I also must say that George is so friendly in his videos and he really makes you WANT to continue learning. He’s very humorous and makes the learning experience fun. I have had the book probably no longer than a couple of weeks and I just finished working through it without speeding, and I just ordered the second book tonight because I am so excited to see where this series will take my Japanese skills. Everything you learn from this book is so important and useful that I’m already able to make basic Japanese sentences out of my every day settings and formulate my own unique sentences based on what this book has taught me. There’s not enough good I can say about this book, all I can say is it will certainly be worth your money and time working through it. I am so happy with the progress I have made in such a short amount of time, and I owe it all to George and his wife for making this series available!

Review of “Easy Japanese Workbook: A Simple Guide for Beginners” If you’re looking for a straightforward and approachable way to start learning Japanese, this workbook is a perfect choice. Designed with beginners in mind, it offers a step-by-step breakdown of the essentials without overwhelming you. The layout is clean and organized, making it easy to follow along. Each chapter introduces a new concept—be it hiragana, katakana, basic vocabulary, or simple grammar structures—with clear explanations and plenty of practice exercises. The exercises are engaging yet not too challenging, allowing you to gradually build confidence and reinforce what you’ve learned. What sets this workbook apart is its simplicity. The explanations are concise and jargon-free, making it ideal for anyone new to the language. Plus, the pace is perfect—you’re never rushed but also never left behind. Overall, if you’re a beginner looking for a low-pressure way to dive into Japanese, this workbook is an excellent resource to start your journey! I will be getting the rest of the workbooks soon!

الكتاب كبير وممتاز ولكن الغلاف معفط للاسف مو مرره جديد

Recomendado como introducción para el aprendizaje del idioma japonés, tiene muchas actividades, va de lo simple a lo complejo y tiene buena dinámica de inserción de nuevo vocabulario y escritura japonesa progresiva. No es un libro infantil, es más para adolescentes y adultos. Se puede complementar el aprendizaje al avanzar de nivel los libros de niveles posteriores.

Awesome guide for beginner … go for it !!

This book is structured for beginner's learning of Japanese. I have learnt how to read Hiragana from this book. And I even understand simple conversation and request.

Questo è il libro perfetto per chi non ha mai toccato (e dico mai toccato nulla) che sia inerente al giapponese. Il libro parte proprio dal sillabario hiragana (nel secondo il katakana, cioè il sillabario per termini stranieri) su come scrivere ogni singolo carattere, partendo poi con le frasi più basilari ( ad esempio nella prima lezione la presentazione, poi i numeri etc) con tanto di piccole sezioni dedicate a vocaboli ad inizio capitolo (con tanto di scrittura in romaji, hiragana e kanji), grammatica e note culturali per ogni capitolo, passando poi infine agli esercizi (domanda e risposta) e traduzione.Il libro può trarre in inganno le persone adulte dando perscontato che sia un libro adatto solo per bambini per via della copertina ma non è così, il libro spiega in modo molto semplice e chiaro tutta la grammatica e struttura della frase giapponese.Questo è solo il primo libro e per ora ne conta in totale 4, in arrivo forse il quinto. Posso dire che ho il libro della hoepli e il genki (il genki poi costa un botto) e tra questi 3 preferisco proprio japanese from zero, forse perché spiega in maniera meno schematica e monotona rispetto agli altri due, contando anche che questi due libri sono più rivolti ad uno studio scolastico, mentre japanese from zero è rivolto di più verso gli autodidatti. Forse l'unica pecca è che il libro non è proprio adatto ad un neofita (non sono né neofita ma neanche ad un livello intermedio) e trovare le frasi scritte (parlo di frasi, non della singola parola) scritte solo in hiragana può essere un po' fastidioso ma...nulla di grave alla fine.Conosco quasi tutti i kanji a memoria (intendo quelli del libro di Heisig) e vedere solo la versione in hiragana fa quasi sentire l'apprendimento un po' parziale, non del tutto completo.Ad ogni modo è perfetto per qualunque categoria, sia per chi non sa nulla ma anche per chi sa già qualcosa, è sempre un buon strumento per rispolverare la lingua.La cosa che trovo molto carina è la fase progressiva di come i romaji (i nostri caratteri) vengono sostituiti nel tempo dagli hiragana dopo l'apprendimento di alcuni di essi dopo ogni capitolo. Ad esempio, se io trovo la frase -> kuruma desu ka? dopo 2 capitoli diventa kuるma deすか? e poi くるまですか? ed infine con l'aiuto dei kanji inseriti per ogni vocabolo 車ですか?. Altra pecca (ma è soggettiva come cosa) è che il libro è disponibile solo in lingua inglese, quindi non adatto a chi non conosce la lingua.Per chi invece ha dubbi può consultare la versione kindle e farsì lì direttamente un'idea più o meno chiara se acquistarlo o meno. Vi assicuro comunque che il libro è che scritto in un inglese molto semplice e che tutti (o almeno la maggioranza) può benissimo acquistarlo con tutta la serenità possibile, ve lo assicuro :). Ultima cosa che ho dimenticato di citare è che il libro non ha in dotazione il cd, ma credo che per la maggior parte delle persone non sarà un problema per via della diffusione di manga e anime; ma per chi non ha mai avuto a che fare con il giapponese, vi posso rassicurare che la sua fonetica è come quella italiana, per cui non sarà un problema.