I'm Learning Japanese!

Emily, Nico and Teo are sitting on the grass after school, minding their own business, whenunbelievable!a giant talking fox dressed in a kimono appears. Explaining that he knows magic, speaks 3,000 languages and is respected as a sensei (master), he wonders if the three kids are ready to learn Japanese from him. During the next 128 amusing pages the three friends learn to speak, read and write the basics . . . along with taking breaks to try Japanese hot-spring baths, sumo wrestling, Zen meditation and more. Focusing on exactly what the 9 to 13-year-old learner wants to know, this book is carefully set up to allow them to learn Japanese independently, at their own speed, without an adult's help. Every page ofI'm Learning Japanese!is in full color and the illustrated comic book-approach, with its speech bubbles and funny side remarks, makes the learning seem to fly. It gives preteens a fun grounding in the language, and one that's accurate and practical. Nothing they learn here is owatered downo or will ever need to be unlearned, should they continue on with their Japanese studies in school or later in life.

Christian Galan is head of the Japanese department at the University of Toulouse. He is the author of more than a dozen books, textbooks and other language resources for Japanese learners, and has served as editor in chief of Daruma, the international journal of Japanese studies.