Hey y'all!

So, lately, I've been trying to focus on improving my pitch accent, and I stumbled upon this shadowing book series (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4874244..._i=desktop), and I was wondering if any of you all had any experience with it. I've seen a few other threads around here, but more opinions can never hurt.

I'm doing prep for the N1, so while speaking is a different skill entirely, I wonder if the beginner book isn't too simplistic. For those of you who've used both, do you think the first book is too easy?

In general, what do you all think of the method/the books themselves?

I have the first book but can't speak for the Intermediate - Advanced. I like it but I'm not the same level as you. I finished Assimil's Japanese with Ease before this and I think the shadowing method is excellent for picking up vocabulary and internalising grammar. It also did wonders for my speaking ability. Having already acquired a fair sized vocabulary I went into the Shadowing book with different goals in mind, I mostly bought it because I wanted to shadow material at a bit more of a natural pace than the Assimil course.

There are 5 units, each one consists of 8 or 9 sections one to two minutes in length. It starts out very very simple but gets more challenging. The book claims to cover JLPT levels 4-2 but I've never taken the test so I don't know how accurate that is. Here are some dialogues so you can see how things progress.

From Unit 1:
A:あー、うまかった。
B:本当、おいしかったね。

Unit 2
A:大人はいいよね。
B:え？どうした？
A:嫌いなものを食べなくていいから。
B:あ～、そうだね。自由だよね。

Unit 3
A:今晩、何食べたい?
B:う～ん。カレーは?
A:カレー?マンネリじゃない？

Unit 4
A:明日、時間通りに来てね。
B:大丈夫、10分前に来ますから。

Unit 5
A:髪にゆるめのカールをつけたいんですが。
B:はい、わかりました。
A:あのー、できればこの写真みたいにしてください。
B:はい、わかりました！

If you are working on N1 then unless you have been seriously neglecting speaking I suspect most of the beginner book might be wasted on you.

By the way I'm not sure how it works out with converting into US dollars but I bought my copy from Amazon.co.jp and it worked out cheaper than buying from the Japanese bookstore in London. Another thing, if you want to improve pitch accent there might be another book that interests you, it places specific emphasis on intonation.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/48831...26&sr=8-26
http://shop.whiterabbitjapan.com/product...-shadowing

I don't know if it's any good or not or what level it is but your post reminded me of this book.

I've used the first book (green one), and I honestly found it pretty useless. I did it for several weeks if not months, and I honestly didn't feel like I gained anything from it. Also there really isn't much content at all. It only comes with one cd, so there is basically less than 74 minutes of content (and if I recall correctly the cd was only about half full). The blue blook might come with 2 cds though, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for the thoughts you two!

I did some looking around, and the intermediate-advanced book does indeed have 2 CDs. At this point, it might be best to focus on this one. I suppose if it allows you to train your overall accent, the first wouldn't be all that necessary.

As far as the book you linked me to goes, JK, have you used it? What were your thoughts on it? I saw a few of the images, and I definitely appreciated the intonation markers, but when I checked the length, it was about half of the intermediate-advanced book. Granted, length doesn't always equal quality, but I would be curious to see what you made of it if you've tried it.

Thanks again!

I'm afraid haven't used it. I quite liked the look of it but chose Shadowing instead because I knew for sure that the content was around my level and I was able to preview the audio as well. It has helped me become a much better speaker which is what I bought it for (Assimil can be painfully slow) and I like it enough that I'll be buying the intermediate - advanced when I'm confident enough, but as Zarxrax mentioned it definitely is a bit on the thin side and the CD is only a little over an hour including gaps. Like I said, a lot of the content is at such a low level that it would be wasted on you, I started the book about six months after starting the language. As for the other book, it does seem like it might be useful for someone training pitch accent but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turned out to be beginner level.

The advanced book is really, really good. I'm going through it right now, and I passed N1 in 2013. Speaking's my weakest area, and its definitely helped with that. I haven't gotten to it yet, but the ones in the last section would be really useful if I lived in Japan: a job interview, wedding speech, giving a presentation, etc.

I have it! Used it a bit but I find in pretty embarrassing to do now that I live with a Japanese lady, haha. I guess she counts as my speaking practice (since she doesn't know any English).

Maybe I should stop being a lazy ass and try doing it again.

Thanks for all the feedback y'all!

All things considered, I think I'll go with the Intermediate-Advanced book. This'll be my first speaking focused textbook, so I'm pretty darn excited!