MINNA NO NIHONGO SHOKYU Q&A For people looking at ‘Minna no Nihongo Shokyu’ for the first time. What is the Minna no Nihongo Shokyu learning method? How do people study with the book? Progressing from easy to difficult sentence pattems, the student studies by focusing on conversations, set in simple but practical situations and gradually advancing to more complex, abstract ones. Each chapter of the Main Text is structured in the following manner: presentation of the sentence patterns to be learned, example usage, application in an example conversation and then finally practice exercises Books I and IT have 25 chapters each, making a total of $0 chapters. The sentence patterns to be focused on are presented in an easy-to-learn order. The conversation settings have been selected based on the situations that foreign learn- ers ate likely to find themselves in. The illustrations in the book, as well as the available DVDs, enable the learner to directly comprehend what kind of Japanese to use in specific situations, enabling them to develop their skills in the language. The Translation and Grammatical Notes provides a translation of the vocabulary, sentence pattems, conversa- tion and related expressions found in each chapter of the book, as well as explanations of the grammar and cultural points, The Translation is available in 11 languages, including English, Chinese, French, German and Spanish. What materials are needed to study with Minna no Nihongo Shokyu? Book 1 is for the complete or false beginner, It introduces the language and gives the leamer a firm grounding in the basics, Book II takes the leamer to the end of the beginner stage. The Main Text and the appropriate Translation and Grammatical Notes should be used as a set, Iti also recommended that the CDs be use The Main Text is used for conversation and reading, the CDs for listen Notes for confirming the meaning, and the Translation and Grammatical What's on the CDs? ‘There are CD sets for both Main Texts (I and I). On the CDs are recorded the vocabulary, sentence patterns, example sentences, drill C, and conversation found in each chapter of the Main Text. A collection of listening comprehension exer- cises can be found on one CD per set. Each CD set contains four CDs. Note that the CDs are recorded in Japanese only; there are no instructions or translation in any other language. ‘What should people who wish to study hiragana and katakana do? We recommend people who wish to study hiragana and katakana to use Hitori de Manaheru Hiragana Katakana (Self- Study Kana Workbook: Learning Through Listening and Writing). This CD book is available in English, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian. What book should be used after finishing Minna no Nihongo Shokyu? ‘The book to be used next is Minn reading and writi level. Minna no future. no Nih ngo Chukyu Honsatsu I (Main Text). The book focuses on speaking, listening, at the lower intermediate level. The book allows the learner to proceed smoothly to a more advanced ihongo Chukyu Honsatsu II (Main Text) is now in development and should be available in the near fA) Cy