Japanese From Zero! 5: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals

So what has seemed like an eternity is now finally upon us, Japanese from zero book 5 has landed, and the book is so big that you could hear the *thump* of it dropping from streets away (Kidding, but you get the idea). I will admit to have only being able to glance through the book at this stage, it will take many weeks, even months to complete and I just wanted to put a review out there for you guys as a brief heads up. First Impressions: Like I say, the book is big, coming in with 442 pages. As I first opened the book my eyes were immediately drawn to how much smaller the font actually is, I suspect some people will require to wear eye glasses in order to comfortably read the material, it's not a major issue but one worthy of noting. I do want to mention there is a distinct lack of the cute pictures that have adorned previous JFZ books, sure they are still here, but much fewer of them, this book looks like a serious tool, it is most definitely NOT a childrens book and do not let the cover fool you otherwise. Two of the best things I like about the book in a huge way (and these are not to be underestimated as they are excellent) are... 1. The translation section, one thing I think we students of this level need a lot of is reading material and there is plenty here, in the description it states you will need a separate piece of paper to translate onto as there is no room for this in the book (I will come to this more in a minute) and whilst that might bum a few people off it was actually necessary, I suppose the smaller font style is also part of the same reason, I mean, this book is already jammed into 442 pages and if the font was bigger and there was space to write in the translations sections then this book would have been well over 500 pages long and or could have become 2 separate books. 2. Now this is golden, throughout the grammar explanations sections are reference points to previous Japanese From Zero books where a similar grammar or verb point may have been taught there is a little box which states what book, lesson and page the point was taught, and this is truly excellent. There is not a lot more I can say at this stage, I only just recieved the book, but my first impressions and very favourable and I highly recommend it to anyone who has completed the previous 4 books in this series. I paid £27 for my copy, it arrived today, so order away, and be rest assured that this really is a thing... it finally does exist. Thank you for reading.

È una collana di libri fantastica per imparare il giapponese. Mancano forse alcuni argomenti e regole grammaticali da coprire, ma è tutto spiegato molto bene e rende l'apprendimento di questa fantastica lingua molto più semplice di quel che sarebbe normalmente.

I love this series of books. It feels incredibly rewarding working through them as the chapters do not cover too much grammar, but convey a lot at the same time. You can feel the author's enthusiasm for teaching. One thing to note is that these books do not follow the JLPT framework, so if you are looking to sit this exams, you may need to use Genki or Minna No Nihongo. Having said that, I find these books very dense and less enjoyable.

Its a great book which is helping me in pursing my dream to understand Japanese

I finished the 5th book. As this book is a part of the whole series and you're supposed to get through all of 5 books, I'll write a general review. These books are pleasurable to look at and the language is introduced step by step so learners don't get overwhelmed with the amount of information. As a result, they learn more quickly because they don't mess up grammar or expressions. The explanations in these books are easy to understand (even for non-native speakers of English). Each point, nuance, etc. is followed by MANY examples. The examples are light hearted and often quite funny which makes the information stuck in your head better. Generally speaking, students can learn quite a lot of Japanese without struggling much. These books are great for beginners who get discouraged easily and give up quickly. Moreover, I love the "side-notes" about Japanese culture, about kanji etc. And the comments from the author as well. He's a wonderful teacher, I recommend watching his videos on yt where he teaches Japanese in his videos. He's friendly, positive and encouraging. Also, he gives you a lot information about the culture and shares his experiences.