Alternative to FSI Japanese?

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thevagrant88
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Alternative to FSI Japanese?

Postby thevagrant88 » Thu Feb 20, 2020 12:34 pm

I'm trying to leverage my free time as best I can to aid my Japanese studies. It's hard to find suitable material to listen to at the gym for obvious reasons, but I found FSI to work really well because you have to be engaged and not just passively listening. It was a boon for my Spanish abilities for sure. Unfortunately, the Japanese course seems to be pretty paltry in comparison. At least, that is assuming the version on the Yojik site is indeed the full course

Is there another grammar-drill audio course that works similarly to FSI with which I could incorporate into my gym routine? If it has better audio quality than FSI, that would be a plus as well. Thanks in advance fellow language nerds!
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Speakeasy
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Re: Audio-lingual Japanese courses

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Feb 20, 2020 3:26 pm

Audio-lingual Japanese courses
As you are looking for FSI-style grammar-drill materials for the study of Japanese, with a view to more clearly signalling the category to other members, I suggest that you use the EDIT function and change the title of this thread to something like “Audio-lingual Japanese courses.” In searching for materials of this type, you will probably come across a number of textbooks from the period (1960’s through the 1970’s); the difficulty is locating the accompanying audio recordings. Beyond these intial comments, here’s what I’ve got:

FSI Japanese / Beginning Japanese (1962, 1963) by Elenor Harz Jorden
As far as I understand, the Foreign Service Institute did not publish their own audio-lingual course for Japanese and, instead, used Elenor Harz Jorden’s series of courses the best known of which was titled “ Beginning Japanese”; Barron’s Educational published a copy of this course under the title “Mastering Japanese.”

Fundamentals of Japanese (1974) by Uehara and Kiyose
I am unsure as to whether or not Fundamentals of Japanese employed the audio-lingual method. Published in 1974, it would have been in the “right period” for this since-abandoned method of instruction. The audio recordings, which are freely-available in mp3 format via the Indiana University CeLT Recorded Materials Archive website, seem substantial enough to support a course of this type.

Modern Japanese Reader (1966) by Hibbett and Itasaka
I make mention of Modern Japanese Reader because the substantial audio recordings (which are unusual complement to a reader) are also freely-available in mp3 format via the Indiana University CeLT Recorded Materials Archive website. The review, below, is quite supportive:
In 2012, Amazon Customer southpawami wrote:(4 stars) It deserves 5 stars: This is all you need to read Japanese. Oh, and a boat-load of discipline. As I am still working on the boat-load, I'll give this book collection 4 stars for not meeting me in the middle. To be quite honest, I don't know of any publication better for the purpose of going from zero to hero in reading Japanese. It's work... it requires you to put down your other projects, and focus day after day for a significant period of time. If you are able to do that... and you are... and if you do and continue to the end... then you will have more literacy than a friend I met in his junior year of college japanese. This is one of those book collections you find somewhere because you want to read manga, and by the end of it, you find yourself reading books. Anyhow, if you like Japanese, don't have money for a tutor and can't wait for classes in college... and are willing to give up a summer... this is your guide to literacy. Also, please be careful with with your purchase on Amazon, there are sales pages where only one of these books, volume I or volume II is being sold by itself. These books rely on each other. Vol II is the reading and kanji characters. Vol I is the vocabulary. The vocabulary you learn in Vol I is what you use to read the reading in vol II. For example, Chapter I vocabulary in Vol I is the vocabulary you need to know to read Chapter I reading in Vol II. Pre Chapter I kana reading in Vol II requires pre chapter one Kana information in Vol I. Theres around 60 chapters.


Japanese Language Patterns: A structural approach (1966, 1974) by Anthony Alfonso
Japanese Language Patterns, for which a massive amount of audio recordings were prepared (74 cassettes), employed the audio-lingual method. The following discussion took place in April, 2019:
Speakeasy wrote:eido, upon reading your post, I referred by to PeterBeischmidt’s comment above, and Googled “Japanese Language Patterns Nihongo ban vols 1 & 2” for which a reported set of 74 one-hour audio-cassettes were recorded. I had a few hits indicating that Anthony Alfonso also authored “Japanese language patterns. A structural approach” for which the year(s) of publication, 1966 and 1971, fit very nicely into the period when the audio-lingual method was still very popular. One of the listings indicates that the publisher was “Sophia University L.L. Center of Applied Linguistics”: http://www.worldcat.org/identities/nc-l%20l%20center%20of%20applied%20linguistics%20sophia%20university%20jochi%20daigaku/

My understanding is that Sophia University (https://www.sophia.ac.jp/eng/) is a private Jesuit research university in Japan, with its main campus located near Yotsuya station. Presumably, or perhaps only hopefully, they would have (might have) a copy of the audio recordings in their archives. Obtaining a copy of the complete set of course manuals, too, represents a challenge. Good luck with your quest! Finally, should you get your hands on the complete set of materials, perhaps you could ask the university if they could provide permission to host them on the Yojik website (whine, pout, push, strong-arm, finagle).

PS: While in the process of bookmarking this discussion, I discovered that I had previously bookmarked a source for both publications mentioned above (memory failure): http://www.trussel.com/jap/jbooks01.htm#166

PSS: The last time I communicated with PeterBeischmidt, which goes back about a couple of months, he was in the midst of preparing for major international relocation. So then, as he might not be following the activities on the forum, should you intend sending him a Private Message, let me know and I will send him an Email drawing his attention to your PM.
Speakeasy wrote: Assistance Requested in Communicating with Sophia University (Japan)
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&p=138970#p138970
zenmonkey wrote: … Contact https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginald-le ... -23998915/ who may have a copy without going all the way to Japan. (He did a review on Amazon and mentioned the tapes.)
Glossika Japanese
My familiarity with Glossika is limited to the first generation of German files, I am unsure as to whether or not the current generation of Glossika Japanese files follow the same pattern as the original series. As far as I understand, the first generation files were sets of sentences (somewhat akin to sentence-pattern drills) which had been prepared in English and then translated into a large catalogue of target languages for use by students who had already achieved the CEFR A2 level of aural/oral competency. Practising these sentences was meant to promote automaticity in the basic structure of the target languages. NOTE CAREFULLY: these sets of practice sentences are not a course of study; rather, they are supplements only. Assuming that the current generation of Glossika files serves the same purpose, they might be of interest to you. Be advised however, that some users have complained that (in some cases) the translations were poorly rendered and that the rigorous practice of these files might lead to the fossilisation of a number of grammatically-weak constructions. Hopefully, someone who has used the Glossika Japanese files will read this thread and comment.

American Association of Teachers of Japanese
The American Association of Teachers of Japanese is a non-profit, non-political organization of individuals and institutions seeking to promote the study of Japanese language, linguistics, literature, culture, and pedagogy, at all levels of instruction. AATJ fosters professional development, the promotion of Japanese and foreign language education, and the exchange of research, and seeks to coordinate its activities with related organizations to promote Japanese studies, including a network of state and regional affiliate organizations. AATJ is the product of the consolidation of two national organizations: the Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ), founded in 1963, and the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers (NCJLT), founded in 1992.

Were you to submit a request for information to the American Association of Teachers of Japanese (be sure to identify the materials as having employ “audio-lingual” method), you just might find the Holy Grail. Either way, if you do contact them, please let us know how this worked out for you.

EDITED:
Insertion of links; tinkering.
Insertion of a comment on Glossika Japanese.
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Re: Alternative to FSI Japanese?

Postby katsu » Fri Feb 21, 2020 1:39 am

There's an entire FSI-like series of audio drills accompanying Eleanor Harz Jorden's excellent textbook Japanese: The Spoken Language. I listened to this on cassette tapes (which I had to order directly from Yale) back in the day, but I'm not sure what format if any they're available in now. A bit of googling did turn up this site, which looks like it contains the audio for the first volume:

https://mediasite.osu.edu/Mediasite/Catalog/catalogs/fll-japanese

As with most Japanese-language materials written in the 1980s, there's a heavy emphasis on business situations and vocabulary, but I can attest to the high quality of both the book and the audio. There were also videos of the dialogues from the textbook available on VHS, but I have no idea if these have survived in other formats.
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Re: Audio-lingual Japanese courses

Postby Fortheo » Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:05 pm

Speakeasy wrote:Audio-lingual Japanese courses
As you are looking for FSI-style grammar-drill materials for the study of Japanese, with a view to more clearly signalling the category to other members, I suggest that you use the EDIT function and change the title of this thread to something like “Audio-lingual Japanese courses.” In searching for materials of this type, you will probably come across a number of textbooks from the period (1960’s through the 1970’s); the difficulty is locating the accompanying audio recordings. Beyond these intial comments, here’s what I’ve got:



Thank's for the extensive list, but unfortunately all of the links from Indiana University's CELT links seem to be dead. Does anyone know if this audio has been saved somewhere else?
Last edited by Fortheo on Mon Mar 22, 2021 10:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Alternative to FSI Japanese?

Postby księżycowy » Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:47 pm

CELT is in the process of migrating their files to a new site. I can't say whether the links will work when they are done, but the files should be back up in a few weeks. I've had recent correspondence with them.

Hope this helps.
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Re: Alternative to FSI Japanese?

Postby willcouchman » Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:26 am

Just to add to this, the Cortina Japanese course - with plenty of audio-lingual type drills - is (with permission) available freely online:

https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/language ... l#Japanese

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Re: Alternative to FSI Japanese?

Postby hopkins2 » Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:13 pm

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Re: Alternative to FSI Japanese?

Postby Fortheo » Sat Jan 01, 2022 8:24 pm

księżycowy wrote:CELT is in the process of migrating their files to a new site. I can't say whether the links will work when they are done, but the files should be back up in a few weeks. I've had recent correspondence with them.

Hope this helps.


Do you happen to have a new link for their site? the previous "Recorded Materials Archive" on their site seems to be gone, or I just can't find it for the life of me.
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Re: Alternative to FSI Japanese?

Postby księżycowy » Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:24 pm

Sure, it's here:
https://celt.indiana.edu/portal/portal/index.html

I don't particularly see much in the Japanese section, however. Not sure if what you are looking for is still there.
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Re: Alternative to FSI Japanese?

Postby Fortheo » Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:38 am

księżycowy wrote:Sure, it's here:
https://celt.indiana.edu/portal/portal/index.html

I don't particularly see much in the Japanese section, however. Not sure if what you are looking for is still there.


Yeah, only one course is there. They definitely used to have a lot more. Thanks for sharing the link, though.
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