My mother is determined to come visit me and my in-laws in Japan - once I move there myself - and wants to learn some basic Japanese. As a tourist she could probably manage well enough pointing, but it's mostly for the sake of the in-laws that a little verbal communication, or even the attempt, may impress.

Any tips or advice for this particular scenario? Has anyone experienced teaching an older person, or a complete newbie, Japanese before?

My own thinking is that I should focus on pronunciation - because that's basically non-existent - and then small set phrases and useful single words. Kanji and kana, I'd love to teach but it's probably not of much value for a visitor. Possibly even just get her to the stage where she could pronounce from a phrasebook without getting too many blank stares.

I should perhaps also mention that she's quite ill, so sustained concentration is difficult but, on the other hand, being unable to work she can perhaps chip away at things throughout the day.

Thanks!

40 hours shadowing (10-60 mins a day) + pimsleur followed by smart.fm core 2000.

Or just send have her run through a bit of the core 2000. Pronunciation will come if you have her repeat the sentences as she goes through each course.

Give her a copy of the pimsleur japanese audio course.

I'm going to third the Pimsleur option. I attribute my pronunciation skills to that. On one of my first calls with my language partner, she said my pronunciation was 'perfect'. Even allowing for exaggeration, it was obvious that she could understand my words and was impressed by that.

If she gets through 90 lessons of that, I would find some shadowing to do, so she gets used to hearing Japanese.

My advice: give up now. Get her a phrase book that teaches basic stuff like sumimasen and arigatou.

She's not going to study hard/long enough to learn anything just for a short visit with the in-laws, so you'll just be wasting both of your time setting up some sophisticated regimen. People need real motivation to learn a language.

Thanks guys, I'll check out the Pimsleur.

kazelee Wrote:40 hours shadowing (10-60 mins a day) + pimsleur followed by smart.fm core 2000.

Or just send have her run through a bit of the core 2000. Pronunciation will come if you have her repeat the sentences as she goes through each course.

You can be so cute sometimes kazelee

For motivation, once you're there send her videos of you living in Japan and talking and doing things in Japanese. Ad some short messages directed to her by you and your in-laws. Add full Japanese transcriptions (with furigana) and translations.

You could also have a bilingual blog about your life in Japan. It would serve as motivation for both your mother and yourself.

Last, while you're with her, let her take some part in your studies, even if it's only to see you studying or practising.

Those are just some ideas.

Good luck.

http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Japanese-e...0804833664

"The idea is simple-learn 100 words and say 1,000 things. The trick is knowing which words to learn."

I agree with ahibba. Learning to read is mystified and quite scary to most people. I think a phrase book, like the one mentioned, would be the best solution. 100 words doesn't seem to intimidating but does cover a wide range of situations--even if the conversations are simple.

I also liked the idea of video lessons showing basic vocabulary. (n_n)b

I'm with Jarvik7. Learning a language for real is hard work and isn't going to happen unless the learner has motivation and a lot of time to spare. Instead of making a big project out of it which will lead to nothing, go for something really simple and accessible. Learning some set phrases and expressions is probably good. Once your mother has a grasp of them, both pronunciation, understanding etc, see if she's up to learning more and go from there if she is.

that's why pimsleur is suited in this situation. It's probably the most minimum effort activity that actually yields results (however limited) and shows the learner that they can say a lot just by remixing the same patterns.

gavin.schultz-ohkubo Wrote:My own thinking is that I should focus on pronunciation ... and then small set phrases and useful single words. Kanji and kana, I'd love to teach but it's probably not of much value for a visitor.

Sounds like you were already on the right track. If she's keen to learn more down the road (Japanese speaking grandkids?) I'd still stick to spoken Japanese using romaji/audio.

You might find this story encouraging. My Japanese homestay parents stayed with my parents in Canada for 2 weeks without an interpreter. My parents were able to use some essential phrases they had memorized as well as create understandable caveman-like utterances when needed. By all reports they all had a great time and laughed a lot. The moms taught each other cooking, and the dads fished and golfed together.

About 3 months earlier, I had given them a list of vocab tailored to the visit, a tourist phrase book with photos, crappy audio samples, and some very basic grammar instruction. They accomplished a decent amount with a bunch of words and 2-3 patterns! Gestures and an old Wordtank filled in the rest, apparently.

I was astonished how well my mom did. She said trying to communicate in a different language was a fun experience - a new one for her. (Dad was, well, less successful.) My mom was about 55 at the time. I can't imagine she spent too much time on it.

I hope your visit goes well and your mom enjoys the challenge too.

I made a thread about it, but the Point and Speak Phrasebook might be useful for her. Despite how elementary it looks, it's very dense with information that works both directions (J-E, E-J) thanks to the organized areas and pictures for every word and phrase.

A fellow Adelaidean!

For a very first exposure to Japanese, I found the CDs and booklets which I borrowed from our local library, of 'Learn Japanese In your Car' to be very useful and user friendly. It starts with, words, quickly builds to phrases and then sentences, concentrating, at least initially, on what is practical for a visitor to Japan. There is a lot of material in it. You wouldn't get through a lesson a day and if you did it would still take months. There is very little explanation of grammar though. As you go along, it becomes necessary to refer to some other source for verb conjugation etc etc. However, I learnt a lot from it, enjoyed it, and because like Pimsleur, you have to speak the Japanese, it helps with pronunciation. Comparing to Pimsleur - I think (your mother) would end up with a much larger vocabulary.