As its name indicates, QUARTET: Intermediate Japanese Across the Four Language Skills is designed to help intermediate Japanese-language learners build up the four skill areas—reading, writing, speaking, and listening—in a well-balanced manner. Quartet is divided into two textbook volumes, each with a workbook. Volume 1 presents Lessons 1–6, and Volume 2 covers Lessons 7–12.
Both volumes cover grammatical patterns, expressions, kanji, and reading strategies. The material in Volume I is mostly on par with Level N3 of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), while that of Volume II centers on Level N2. The content is designed to help learners who have completed the beginning level to smoothly transition to intermediate studies; for example, it is assumed that the learners have mastered the kanji studied in GENKI: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. Together, the two volumes are intended to help learners study for level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), with the goal of advancing to the start of level B2.
Every textbook lesson has four sections for the four language skills—読む, 書く, 話す and 聞く—with each sharing the same theme. The sections are interconnected in various ways. For instance, the topic of the readings in 読む is taken up in the compositions of 書く, the dialogues of 話す, and the listening comprehension material of 聞く. As another example, the grammatical patterns and expressions used in the readings are also encountered in the listening comprehension tasks. This interlinking enables you to build up the four skills in a natural, well-balanced manner. The vocabulary and kanji lists have been compiled into a separate supplement （別冊） so that they can be viewed alongside the textbook material.
The lessons in each volume are followed a “Brush-up” part for additional study. In Volume 1 this includes review of beginning grammar points, while Volume 1 presents activities for expanding the learner’s knowledge of words and expressions. Both volumes also include a kanji-related section in their Brush-up. English translations are provided for grammar commentary and vocabulary terms.
| Volume 1 | |
|---|---|
| Lesson 1 |
読む「日本を代表する有名人」 書く「私が尊敬する有名人」 話す「新しい出会い」 聞く「アメリカ人留学生から見た日本」 |
| Lesson 2 |
読む「メールと手紙」 書く「お礼の手紙」 話す「先生とのやりとり」 聞く「フランス人留学生から見た日本」 |
| Lesson 3 |
読む「日本を楽しむ」 書く「私の好きな町」 話す「友人との集まり」 聞く「イタリア人留学生から見た日本」 |
| Lesson 4 |
読む「外国での経験」 書く「座談会の記事」 話す「困った時には」 聞く「ドイツ人留学生から見た日本」 |
| Lesson 5 |
読む「和食のすすめ」 書く「私のおすすめ料理」 話す「週末の予定」 聞く「韓国人留学生から見た日本」 |
| Lesson 6 |
読む「日本社会への声」 書く「投書文を書く」 話す「寮生活でのトラブル」 聞く「中国人留学生から見た日本」 |
| Brush-up |
初級文法チェック 漢字チャレンジ |
| Listening answers and scripts |
文型・表現さくいん 単語さくいん |
| separate supplement （別冊） |
単語リスト 漢字リスト |
| Volume 2 | |
|---|---|
| Lesson 7 |
読む「異文化での気づき」 書く「経験からの学び」 話す「国際交流」 聞く「異文化コミュニケーション」 |
| Lesson 8 |
読む「インタビューに見るプロ意識」 書く「インタビュー記事」 話す「大切な物」 聞く「温泉事情」 |
| Lesson 9 |
読む「小説・エッセイを通じて考える愛」 書く「小説や映画のレビュー」 話す「ある日のできごと」 聞く「ペットに関する社会事情」 |
| Lesson 10 |
読む「データから考える社会」 書く「データ分析」 話す「学生生活」 聞く「格差社会」 |
| Lesson 11 |
読む「言葉の裏にあるもの」 書く「日本語と母語の違い」 話す「コミュニケーションスタイル」 聞く「若者のコミュニケーション」 |
| Lesson 12 |
読む「発想の転換」 書く「小論文」 話す「人や社会とのつながり」 聞く「求められる人材」 |
| Brush-up |
上級へのチャレンジ 漢字チャレンジ |
| Listening answers and scripts |
文型・表現さくいん 単語さくいん |
| separate supplement （別冊） |
単語リスト 漢字リスト |
For details see the following.
QUARTET 1 Contents (PDF)
QUARTET 1 About This Book (PDF)
QUARTET 2 Contents (PDF)
QUARTET 2 About This Book (PDF)
The workbook offers practice exercises related to each textbook lesson’s 読み物 and 文型・表現ノート.
This section provides three types of exercises for 読み物1 and 2—(A) true/false questions on the readings, (B) reading strategy exercises, and (C) questions that delve into the readings’ content in greater detail.
These are exercises provided for the items covered by 文型・表現ノート. Workbook I has three types of exercises: (A) basic problems on items that require output (marked with ☆ in the textbook), (B) exercises covering all grammatical patterns and expressions presented in the lesson, and (C) problems requiring oral responses using the lesson’s grammatical patterns and expressions. Workbook II has two types, (A) and (B).
The effective way to use the 初級文法チェック worksheets is to do them before going through the corresponding textbook lesson; first check your understanding of elementary grammar points by doing the worksheets, and then use the textbook to brush up on the points that need more work. The worksheets for 上級へのチャレンジ (workbook 2) and 漢字チャレンジ (workbooks 1 & 2) are used to check your mastery of the material studied in the textbook.
