I can see how someone could learn Japanese this way, Maybe it would help a beginner, if they had absolutely no pre-existing knoweledge of the Japanese language, but I've been trying to teach myself japanese for years, whenever my very short attention span would allow it. I found it difficult for myself, because of the way the author spells things out, which is exactly the way they're supposed to be helping you. I got mixed up because I'm now used to pronouncing Japanese words with Japanese vowel sounds, but this book emphasizes using the english pronunciation, which again is the entire purpose of their teaching method. Not to mention the fact that it's a really bad idea on their part, it was also a complete waste of my time on mine because I didn't learn anything from it. I'm sure this book may prove helpful someone, but that someone just wasn't me.