Interested in learning Japanese with
Linguaphone Japanese?

Best Price: $399.95
(CD Version)

Our Rating:
69%

Linguaphone Japanese review

By Gerrit du Plessis

Linguaphone is one of the oldest language instruction companies in existence, and was a pioneer in the combination of audio recordings with written texts. So they've had a lot of time to figure out what they're doing, but on the other hand, it's understandable if they're a bit - well, traditional. Actually, Linguaphone is beloved by many visual learners, and it's easy to see why.

When Linguaphone says their package includes books, these people mean books. There's a beautifully-designed 148-page textbook containing the full transcripts of the CDs. There's a comprehensive 326-page book of step-by-step lesson plans, grammar, and "activities" (I'd call them exercises). There's a guide to help you plan a more disciplined study experience. There's even a carrying case for all this stuff.

What there isn't, however, is any kind of interactive support at all. If you have problems with the software or the language or the instructional material, you're essentially on your own. So aside from the fact that Linguaphone Japanese is widely advertised as a way to learn Japanese online, there's nothing really "online" about it. In addition, many users feel the material zips along too rapidly, and if you don't relate to books as well as you do to computers, you'll be lost. Once Linguaphone figures out how to really harness the power of the digital age, they'll have an excellent program. Until then, however, I can only give them a 69% rating.

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P.S. It's clear that Rocket Japanese is the best way to learn Japanese online because it's so multi-faceted - these people have thought of everything! Read my review and let me know what you think.