here is a free (low-mid level) intermediate textbook that yale university uses:

http://www.cls.yale.edu:8000/surasura/index.html

the grammar is pretty useful. they focus on "conversational" grammar... patterns often used in oral communication and informal writing.

also, the topics are pretty interesting. most of the essays are useful... i found the essays on religion and the world economy to be particularly useful.

it's probably around the same level as "intermediate approach," but they do their best to abandon grammar points with little function.

enjoy!

also... there is a new book out called J-501. i would recommend it for anyone looking for a high level intermediate book. we just finished using it at my language school and i was quite pleased with it. they also have one called J-301 for people in the low-intermediate level.

Thanks for pointing out this excellent site!

It seems like they put the whole text book online, with sound files!

Some of the grammar is pretty basic, but you're right to say that most of it is quite useful, especially in conversational Japanese. Add that factor and the sound files, and I think you've found a nice win here!

Anyone knows how to put those sound files in Anki?

Ooh this is great, thanks . Just about perfect for my level. Been dying for something to read too.

But I have to ask, did anyone manage to get the audio files to play? From the other replies here I would guess so, but I've tried everything and they just won't work. My only guess is that the site's old and the links have died.

atylmo Wrote:Ooh this is great, thanks . Just about perfect for my level. Been dying for something to read too.

But I have to ask, did anyone manage to get the audio files to play? From the other replies here I would guess so, but I've tried everything and they just won't work. My only guess is that the site's old and the links have died.

Now that you mention it, I hadn't tried the sound files, but now that I did, they seem to download fine but I can't play them with anything. Hmm...

Well, I found out from somewhere that you can open .ram files with a text editor; all that's inside is an rstp:// streaming link. E.g. I clicked on "clip03.ram", downloaded it, opened it with Notepad, and this is what's inside:

Quote:rtsp://media1.its.yale.edu/japn140a/Surasura/text1.rm?start="25.880"&end="28"

Which means all you're downloading is a glorified text file that points to the real content on their servers (that's why they're so small). I extracted the links and tried them in just about every player under the sun but to no avail. Meaning, dead file.

Oh btw, I e-mailed the author with that "feedback" link telling him about this and the kanji page being "403 Forbidden", but I'm really doubting I'll get a reply. I did some digging and the site dates back to 2000.

Ahh, that's really unfortunately. Good job doing all the research, atylmo, thanks! Maybe we can get the author to update it a little bit.

You are totally welcome! Just another consequence of me having no life haha.

I thought about saving all its pages because if the audio links are dead then the chances of the whole thing going offline soon seem pretty high. If it does, it's available on Amazon for 32 bucks. Sadly, I don't think it comes with any audio. #$&(@!!! Ahem.

Ah well, the e-mail didn't bounce so we might have a chance to get through. I hope we can get them to update it. It's a fantastic resource.

I got that 2000 date from this page. Interestingly, there's another page that sets its start date as back in '99. One says "Completed (Currently Active)" and the other, newer one doesn't list a status. Amazon says the book was published in 1996. :/

*sing it with me* I've got tooo much time on my hands doo dee doo de do

Interesting textbook. I am doing "Integrated approach to Intermediate Japanese" and KO. But this textbook is very useful to mine things into ANKI.

The "audio" files point to RealAudio files. You need either RealPlayer or RealAlternative. (I'd use RealAlternative, because RealPlayer is full of bloatware.)

You might be able to find a program that can rip the audio streams... then again, it might not be worth the trouble.

rich_f Wrote:The "audio" files point to RealAudio files. You need either RealPlayer or RealAlternative. (I'd use RealAlternative, because RealPlayer is full of bloatware.)

You might be able to find a program that can rip the audio streams... then again, it might not be worth the trouble.

ffmpeg can convert real media to anything, so if one prefers mp3, it's not a problem.

Well, sadly it's happened. Kiss a resource goodbye.

Grr. I've not gotten it to load in the past two days. I wonder if my e-mail to them made them suspicious or something and they took it down. Though if that was the case I would have appreciated them telling me.

Once again my idiocy prevails in not saving the texts when I was worried this would happen.

note to self: no more sharing.

I'm really sorry

The lack of audio just really annoyed me and I guess the e-mail wasn't a smart idea.

I've started saving pages like this, but I wish I had done so for this as well since it seemed good. I think next time it'd be worth saving stuff as soon as I find them instead.

Did anyone save any of this?

Yes , I really miss this site. I wouldn't have a problem paying $30 for the book, but what I miss is the website. It was easy to mine grammar points and examples related to the texts into anki.
I saved the grammar and vocabulary pages, but I didn't save the texts.

I saved them. They are in a public Dropbox.

Should I post the link or just send it by email to anyone who asks?

adutrifoy Wrote:I saved them. They are in a public Dropbox.

Should I post the link or just send it by email to anyone who asks?

It was already on the internet, so you can go ahead and post the link. There won't be a problem. If they say "hey, we don't want it on the Internet anymore" then you can take it down.

OK then:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/663755/surasura.zip

thanks!

Ah, thank you SO much!

Thank you adutrifoy!

I checked this website today and it's back up and running!

Woo! That's awesome news.. quite a relief too.

Thanks for telling us