Kana From Zero!: Learn Japanese Hiragana and Katakana with integrated workbook.

It helped me get back on track with my lessons and learning Japanese. Check out his YouTube videos!!!

When I realized I wanted to learn Japanese I bought a bunch of books and computer programs. They ended up sitting and collecting dust before I finally tried to dig into it all. I came to a conclusion very quickly, similar to one that hindered my ability to learn any other language that I've tried to learn--the books and programs go too fast for me. When chapter 1 of your book introduces 25 new characters, and expects you to have memorized them all by chapter 2, making progress seems really slow, because you now have to stop, spend time studying and recognizing them, before you can really move on, all while at the same time they are introducing vocab and grammar, and some cultural tidbits of information.I actually started reading Japanese from Zero first, and quickly stopped since the first part of that book was how to count in Japanese. My next attempt was with Human Japanese, and I made it several chapters into it when I realized I was treating it more like a video game of quickly learning some relevant information so I could get 5 stars on the quizzes and unlock the next chapter only not retain really any of that information. So that wasn't really working for me, luckily I remembered I also bought this book and started my third attempt at beginning to learn Japanese.So, I'm proud to say I've actually made it through the entire book. This was able to teach me hiragana and katakana to a point where I can now recognize all the characters as well as pronounce them (semi-reasonably well--ok, let's be honest, I'm probably butchering most of the words based on the pangs on my Japanese friends faces when I try to say something, but that's okay, I'll get better with more practice).So, if you are like me, and want to approach Japanese a little slower, and give yourself a head start when you pick up your first Japanese book on grammar, I highly recommend you pick up this book, along with some flash cards, and a Campus notepad and just take it slow. Do the exercises in the workbook, practice writing the characters, and drill yourself using some flashcards. The beauty of this book is how its structured. Each chapter contains a set of characters (sometimes with dakuten), so the usual bunch of characters you need to memorize are 10 per chapter. So it actually feels like you are making progress.Ok, so I did give this book 4 stars instead 5 because there are errors in the book. I'm lucky enough to have some Japanese friends to pester with questions, and there were several times that I sent them pics of some of the vocab examples and they were like, that's so not right, that's not how we say that (that ranged for everything from some examples of color, to the word no (ノー). There were also some printing mistakes, like when you get to lesson 9 in Hiragana, the box of characters doesn't tell you that the last character ろ is ro, or in the final chapter when learning katakana they give the example of the word fuse, which they spelled ヒュース but its actually spelled ヒューズ.Did these mistakes really hinder my ability to learn hiragana and katakana, no, but educational books shouldn't have obvious mistakes in them like these. So I still recommend the book, and I'm looking forward to going back and picking up Japanese from Zero and starting Human Japanese from the beginning since now I have learned both syllabaries and don't have to get bogged down learning too much at once.

This book will definitely make you learn the kana and is suggested before you begin any Japanese course that uses kana (which any good one will do).My 12 year old son is working his way through this book. While it's not his favorite activity, it definitely is teaching him and give him pointers on what he's doing wrong. The chapters aren't too long and are self-reinforcing.The guy who makes these books (George something) has a ton of Japanese from Zero videos on YouTube that are EXTREMELY detailed and helpful even if you don't use his book. I highly recommend you check them out.

I have been learning through self-study and this whole series is one of my favorites. I never dread opening it for a lesson and the additional sites are full of information. I recommend this whole series for those interested in Japanese or Korean.

This book is good for either learning or touching up your Hiragana or Katakana. It not only teaches you what the characters are it also shows the stroke order for writing quickly and explains the pronunciation to sound more natural. It also offers a good amount of practice words in it that can be used to expand your Japanese vocabulary.

I would put it five star, but I found an error in the book that I only realized was wrong till I searched online. The word was あう (au) to meet. But it also said あう for blue. When I looked it up online, it only said あう was to meet and later I found out that あお (ao) means blue. I still don't know about any more of the vocabulary. When I was reaching the end of the book, there was a preview of a book called "Kanji From Zero". The Kanji for five is correct, but the one that helps you to practice writing isn't. They're two different characters. And what disappointed me even more, is that I really was looking forward to buy the book "Kanji From Zero", but it doesn't exist!

Excellent book! So amazing and helpful ! teaches you both alphabets in one book and Has PLENTY of fun exercises to cement the letters into your memory because the best way to remember something is to use it frequently The writing portion is great because writing the letters our out makes it so much easier to retain them in your memory there is also an answer key at the end of each chapter where you can check your answer and it is very helpful to reinforce what you have learned. learning kana is made very fun in this book, it is quite a useful resource Thank you for your hard work

I had absolutely no self confidence about this before I started, but I decided to give learning Japanese a try. This was an excellent foundation for me, and gave the confidence to move forward with Japanese From Zero book 1. Sure, the two books overlap with many of the same vocabulary, but hey, repetitious practice only reinforces the learning. I have just finished JFZ book 1, and I'm looking forward to continuing this adventure with book 2.I really don't have any real criticism with this book. It's very clean in it's layout, and the subject matter is easy to understand. If you were as timid as I was, start here, and don't be afraid to take it slow.

Lesson 1 and already a mistake あう for blue. Some parts lacking information, for example, why does in lesson 1 red is akai あかい and later in lesson 2 it is just aka あか ? I know one (had to look up) that one is adjective and other noun but was it so hard to just mention it. Also why do we need to know how ray fish えい is in lesson 1. It is not even the common word. And there are lots of other words that may or not make sense anymore and you need to look up as you are not sure if it is a mistake or not (which can be a good or bad thing, depending how you look at it). Overall, good to learn kana but forces you to google to make sure.

I bought the kindle version a few years ago and found a that the word for Blue (AO) was incorrect - thankfully I already knew the word.I then bought the phyical book a week or so a go and found the exact same mistake. Not great if you are completely new to Japanese.Some of the print is messy and misalligned.Other than that the book is well structured and I think it is one of the better ways to learn Kana with each lesson being bitesized rather than giving you a chart of characters and throwing you in at the deepend.Small mistakes stop me recommending it however.

i'm really enjoying this book. I am doing 1 lesson a week and find the workbook format really nicely laid out. I like the slightly large font size. Its great having hiragana and katakana in one book - hopefully this will encourage me to continue with my learning. It also includes the first chapter of Kanji from Zero to whet your appetite. I wanted to just concentrate on reading and writing hiragana first there is a bit of vocab in this but not too much to overwhelm you. One improvement would be to package the flash cards sheets at the back as separate loose pages and not bound into the book - I made my own out of card as did not want to cut the book up. Don't buy the kindle edition you need to actually write in this book - thats the point of it.

I decided to pick this up before JFZ: 1 (ordered alongside this book ready) as I want to master the Kana syllabary in terms of writing etc. As you'll see for all reviews on any of the JFZ book series the books are very methodical going through bits step by step so that it's not overwhelming! I just can't wait to start being fluent in Japanese down the line!がんばろう！

This has greatly improved my understanding and ability to use both katakana and hiragana. The first half is included in Japanese from Zero 1 and the second in JFZ2, however I found it useful to have the extra practice. The extra practice sheets added to each chapter are useful for even more practice of the specific characters that are harder to remember. I will continue to buy books in the JFZ! series as they are all of good quality and have helped me immensely.