Minna no Nihongo Shokyu Q&A

Q1.What is the Minna no Nihongo study method? How should I study with these books?

Covering easy to difficult sentence patterns as well as simple situations to complicated, abstract ones, the books concentrate on the conversational ability of the learner. Minna no Nihongo is made up of two main texts, I and II, with 25 chapters in each book, making a total of 50 chapters. Each chapter comprises sentence patterns, example sentences, a dialogue and review questions. The sentence patterns are arranged in order of ease of comprehension, so that the learner can steadily build up his/her knowledge and ability, and the conversational settings have been selected taking into consideration the situations foreigners in Japan are likely to meet. Learners using the illustrated sheets and/or videos that are available for use with the books can easily understand how to speak Japanese in specific contexts, enabling them to advance their studies. Separately from the main text is the Translation and Grammatical Notes. In this book, which is available in many different languages, you will find a translation of the vocabulary, sentence patterns, example sentences, dialogues, and related vocabulary, as well as grammatical explanations and cultural information.

Q2.What are the Minna no Nihongo learning materials made up of? What do I need to buy?

Minna no Nihongo I is the introductory and lower beginner text; Minna no Nihongo II is the upper beginner text. You should select the book appropriate to your level, and, along with this, use the appropriate Translation and Grammatical Notes, which is available in over ten languages, including English, Chinese, Spanish, French and Korean. In addition, CDs are available for use with the books. The combination of using the main texts for reading and conversation practice, the CDs for listening comprehension, and the Translation and Grammatical Notes for confirming the meaning will greatly enhance your studies.

Q3. What does the * mark on the vocabulary pages of the "Translation and Grammar Notes" mean?

On the vocabulary pages of the Translation and Grammar Notes, "related words that you need to remember along with new words in that lesson" are marked with an *. Some of the words marked by * do not appear at all in the main text, and some appear later in the 問題 (Mondai) and 復習 (Fukushū) sections. These are treated as "vocabulary that your need to learn" in the presented lesson.

Q4.What is on the CDs?

There are two sets of CDs for the two main texts. On the CDs, you will find recorded the Vocabulary, Sentence Patterns, Example Sentences, Drill C and Dialogue found in each chapter of the main text. The questions from all the chapters are located all together on the fourth CD of each set. Please note that the CDs are in Japanese only.

Q5. What should people who cannot read hiragana and katakana do?

For those who cannot read hiragana and katakana, there is a Romanized version (i.e., the Japanese words are written in Roman letters) of Minna no Nihongo I, as well as a Romanized version of the Translation and Grammatical Notes in English. These books can be used along with the CDs for Minna no Nihongo I. Please note, however, there is no Romanized version of Minna no Nihongo II.

Q6.What about people who want to study hiragana and katakana?

For those who wish to study hiragana and katakana, we recommend the Self-Study Kana Workbook, which is available in English, Chinese, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese, and comes with a CD.

Q7.How are Minna no Nihongo and Shin Nihongo no Kiso different?

In terms of study method and level, they are basically the same. The biggest difference is in whom the books are aimed at. Shin Nihongo no Kiso is aimed at technical trainees/engineers. The vocabulary, therefore, contains many technical or engineering terms; similarly, many of the dialogues are set in such places as factories. Minna no Nihongo is aimed at the general learner, and deals with general situations that he or she might face in Japan.

Q8.After I finish Minna no Nihongo (or Shin Nihongo no Kiso), which textbook should I use next?

This will depend very much on the learner’s objectives. For people who wish to review the more difficult items they have already learned while moving onto the intermediate level, we recommend Wakatte Tsukaeru Nihongo (Understanding and Using Japanese). For those who wish to concentrate on their conversational ability, there is Shin Nihongo no Chukyu, and for those interested in furthering their reading ability, there is Nihongo Chukyu J301.