Contemporary Japanese Workbook Volume 1 / Practice Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing Japanese

This Japanese language workbook was created as supplementary material for Contemporary Japanese.

A workbook which is best used for reviewing and reinforcing the concepts and learning materials introduced in the textbook, it is also designed to function as a standalone comprehensive workbook. Some of the features included for this purpose are (a) presentation of a brief note on the concept tested before every question, (b) providing of vocabulary and kanji glossaries on unfamiliar words, and (c) an audio input by native speakers. This workbook also offers materials in the business, traveling and daily life contexts, in addition to the college life context featured greatly in the textbook.

Contemporary Japanese Workbook series comes in two volumes, consisting of 26 chapters (Chapter One to Fourteen in Volume 1 and Chapter Fifteen to Twenty-Six in Volume Two) in all. It integrates all the information provided in the textbook. Each chapter in the workbook has specific objectives and includes the following six sections:

• Kanjia and vocabulary
• Grammar.
• Conversation and Usage.
• Listening Comprehension.
• Writing.
• New Vocabulary Reference List.

In Contemporary Japanese Workbook Volume One, hiragana characters are introduced in Chapter One in the form of questions along with audio recordings and are used in subsequent chapters without ruby, in this case in romanji. Katakana characters are introduced in Chapter Four, also in the form of questions, and are used in subsequent chapters without ruby. Kanji characters are introduced in the form of questions, accompanied by detailed information such as meanings, component equations, remembering guides, stroke order, and usage examples. The required kanji characters in every chapter are introduced without ruby. When they appear again in the following chapters, ruby is sparingly provided, wherever it is thought to be helpful, and the use of this pronunciation guide is gradually reduced. Non-required kanji characters occasionally appear with ruby to help learners get accustomed to kanji and thus, able to see the phrase boundaries in a sentence easily.

All media content is accessible on the Tuttle Publishing website.

Eriko Sato is Associate Professor of Japanese and translation studies at the State of University of New York at Stony Brook, where she is also the Director of the Japanese Teacher Education Program. She has authored and co-authored over a dozen books, includingJapanese Stories for Language Learners, Essential Japanese GrammarandLearning Japanese Kanji.She has also authored or co-authored Japanese Demystified, Japanese for Dummies, Complete Japanese Grammar, Japanese Phrases for Dummies, Basic Japanese, and My First Japanese Kanji Book.