Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Bingo!
Wow!Japanese people in Japan being interviewed, their responses being transcribed in natural Japanese (with furigana to clarify) and vocabulary lists to define some of the more difficult terms!I've been wanting something like this for a loooong time... even the aizuchi is transcribed.Everything - and there are no English translations - perfect!This is REAL Japanese, not from a textbook.The speech is all natural speed, the people interviewed are all different ages and genders, the questions are all about aspects of Japanese culture and society.This DVD / book combination feels long overdue.

Please note, as I mentioned, that there are vocabulary lists, but no English translations of the interviews.You might take this as too difficult, but it really isn't.Dive in and get to work.

Good resource for exposure to 'real' Japanese
This book/dvd set is very good for bringing Japanese as it is really spoken to those who are learning the language and don't have the fortune of actually living in Japan.It's especially nice that all the dialogue on the dvd is given in written form in the book, with proper explanations.One thing that lacks in many language learning devices is the opportunity to hear the language applied in reality, and this program fills that gap.Instead of set dialogues and situations, you hear unrehearsed responses to questions about daily life, such as family, work, and school.

However, because of the nature of this work it is not for beginners; I would recommend it for at least intermediate learners, unless one wants only to listen and train their ear. ... Read more

Book Description
Japanese From Zero! is an innovative and integrated approach to learning Japanese that was developed by professional Japanese interpreter George Trombley, Yukari Takenaka and was continuously refined over eight years in the classroom by native Japanese professors. Using up-to-date and easy-to-grasp grammar, Japanese From Zero! is the perfect course for current students of Japanese as well as absolute beginners. In volume one of the Japanese From Zero! series, readers are introduced to new grammar concepts, over 800 new words and expressions, and are also taught the Hiragana writing system. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Amazing Book to Start with
The book is amazing to learn the basics of Japanese. It covers Hiragana, basic vocabulary and some basic grammar in a progressive way. You learn something new every lesson. The examples and exercises are always interesting and mixed in difficulty. Even though there are some drawbacks I'm giving this book 5 stars, simply because it's so much fun and so effective to study from it and because all information is presented in a very understandable and fun way. I really can't imagine a better introduction to Japanese.

However, some of the drawbacks are:
- The book doesn't cover the pronunciation completely and there are no audio samples whatsoever. If you have never studied Japanese before or can't ask someone, you will probably start saying words the wrong way or will be unsure about the correct pronunciation.
- Sometimes the examples are confusing, because the books uses vocabulary or characters you haven't learned yet. It's not impossible to figure the meaning of these things out by yourself, it just gets annoying.
- There are a few typing errors, which can confuse you if you want to check your answers.

All in all, it's a great book. If you have no prior knowledge of Japanese (like me) it's the perfect place to start, especially if you have someone you can ask about the pronunciation (and some of the exercises) or if you have other books you can supplement it with.

An ok book
I really enjoy this book a writing practice but to learn Japanese from nothing it isn't that good for. First, it doesn't give you all the pronunciations that you need to know Japanese(ie desu is pronunced deh-sue and dess depending on how it's being used),it just gives you the very basic of the basics. Second, to learn Japanese you need to know how it sounds and how to speak it. It would be a great series if these two things were changed.

Great book
This book is great, i love the way it start up with numbers and then goes to proper introduccion lessons and age and everything, this book is one of the best learn to japanese books i have bought

Best so far -- Finally Learning Independantly is fun again!
I have been trying to learn Japanese independently now for quite some time, I have been even getting to the point of giving up because of difficulties. Each of the books that I've picked up seem to offer their own little niche in focus, and I have been having some difficulties because of the structure of those books and the way that some just throw things at you without a good format or presentation. This book has changed my experiences and eliminated a lot of the struggle for me.

I've found that the approach this book takes is almost like a course in school. Breaking down what you are learning into small portions that make sense. Start with numbers, then add a few letters at a time, then slowly integrate more, eventually replacing the English letters with the Japanese characters and sounds that you have learned. Some of the books don't even give you the proper pronunciation and that was the first thing the chapters do when they introduce the new sounds / characters you are using. The review questions and check-ups for each chapter and telling you what you need to review before moving to the next has really made me enjoy learning independently again!

I have even tried some of the learn by Manga and comic books that Amazon offers as well. I find that the material I learn in the Japanese from Zero! books is what I retain and the other books become reinforcement of that information. Each offer their own in the way of vocabulary, I would still recommend having a Japanese - English / English - Japanese dictionary handy for a quick reference.

Real-world Japanese
I was also a member of YesJapan from which the lessons in this book were drawn. There are some great interactive features that obviously can't be applied in this book, but the fact that JFZ is portable and has a built-in workbook is a big plus. (note: the "typos" mentioned in an earlier review refer to an early version of YesJapan, not this book) I bought this book for my niece who was having difficulty in her by-the-numbers high school Japanese class, and her grades and comprehension immediately improved. Highly recommended for students who want to learn practical, real-world Japanese. ... Read more

Book Description
Elementary Japanese Teacher's Guide provides teachers and self-study students with helpful information for using Elementary Japanese Volume One and Volume Two. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Nice And Easy Japanese
This is the Type of book you are used to use throughout school... the same familiar format, which was obviously reproduced thinking in its occidental users...
the content is very good, and the CD accompanying is perfect to achieve a good level both writing and orally for the self study students.
i totally recommend, speciallyif you are just beginning or you have a basic level, this is a must in your library!!!

XD

good companion to the student editions
If you own the two student volumes, this is a must have.While the two textbooks themselves are quite good, there is no answer key to check your work.That is what makes this one a must buy. ... Read more

Book Description
A picture dictionary for young children organized by topic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A valuable resource
As a teacher of English as a Second Language, I have used many different picture dictionaries. The Oxford Picture Dictionary for Kids is very well organized and uses a group of characters that provide continuity throughout the dictionary.These characters provide a continual story line so that I use the dictionary not only for "finding words," but also as a base for teaching content-area information.The pictures are clear and well-defined and cover a large vocabulary spectrum. ... Read more

Book Description
This compact book is a lively collection of contemporary memory aids (mnemonics) that teaches you the shapes and sounds of hiragana and katakana, the two basic syllabaries used in written Japanese.Combining clever drawings and text memory aids, each hiragana and katakana pair is presented on a single page for comparison, with separate visual and text mnemonics.Fits handily into any pocket. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Small but mighty
This is one teeny, tiny book, but a great learning aid. Highly recommended, especially for right-brainers.

The Reviews are Correct.This Book Really is Great !!
I have to agree with all of the other 5 Star reviewers.This book is great!! I had learned about 25% of the characters in 2 hours.I was able to learn them all within 2-3 days.It really is amazing and it really does work.

Very useful
Very useful helpful book for remembering the kanna, playful and fun, an all around useful tool I think, a good supplement to your Japanese study regiment.

Great Cheap Little Book
I used this great little book to get around some of the terrible word/visual associations in Heisig's Remembering the Hiragana/Katakana. There's some great stuff in here.

This little book combined with something that teaches you the stroke order of the characters is awesome. This combined with Heisig's work had me mastering the kanas in a couple weeks time of slacker study.

Handy Item for Gaijin
The Japanese phonetic alphabets, hiragana for native words and katakana for "borrowed" words, can seem impenetrable to gaijin (foreigners). However, thisbrilliantly-conceived little gem will have you sounding out Japanese writing in no time.Each character is accompanied with a small cartoon that both resembles the character and represents its sound mmemonically in English.It's pocket-sized and has mini charts of both alphabets as well as a chart of easily-confused lookalike characters.You'll find this book incredibly useful whether you want to travel to the land of the rising sun or just amaze your friends - and yourself too - by reading the menu at your local sushi bar. ... Read more

Book Description
Who says dictionaries have to be dull? Berlitz's new Concise Dictionaries are a fun and effective tool for language learners. With approximately 50,000 entries, it is a comprehensive reference work. But that's where the similarity to other bilingual dictionaries ends. An exclusive 48-page bonus section, filled with word games and puzzles, challenges the user to hone vocabulary, spelling, grammar and comprehension skills while engaging in a popular, enjoyable pastime. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A useful but challenging tool for gaining reading fluency
The first thing you have to ask yourself before picking up "A Japanese Reader", is just how serious are you about reading Japanese?If all you want is to be able to whip through some manga, then this isn't the book for you.If want to be able to handle a Japanese newspaper, or read Kawabata Yasunari and Mishima Yukio in their original language, then this is going to be a tool that will help get you there.

Roy Miller's book is definitely university-level study, and is academic in nature.He references Florence Sakade's classic "Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese", and this book really works best when the two are used in conjunction.He gives Sakada numbers for much of the new kanji when it is introduced, so the reader can reference and practice the unfamiliar characters..

The range of articles goes from the very basic level, with reading practice for hiragana and katakana, and works up to the very advanced level, such as doing academic research in Japanese.In the introduction, Miller states that he assumes most students learning Japanese to that level will be interested in Japanese culture as well, and all of the articles are Japan-themed.It starts to get serious around the Elementary level, with articles such as "The essence of the Bunraku puppet theater" and "Genre painting of the 16th and 17th centuries".The real fun begins with the Advanced:Fiction section, where the student tackles literary masterpieces like Mishima's "The Sound of Waves", Kawabata's "Snow Country" and Tanizaki's "The Makioka Sisters". The Advanced:Non-Fiction section will challenge almost any Japanese learner, and is representative of true fluency.Articles on finance, politics and T'ang poetry are typical.

The main complaint with "The Japanese Reader" is that it is outdated, and this is true.The book comes from a different, more demanding period and that style is thick and heavy, different from a more modern "user-friendly" style of educationHowever, that can be overcome.To me, the real problem lies in its length. This should really be a series of graded readers, rather than a single book.Either you have a high level of ability meaning the earlier beginner lessons are unnecessary, or you are at an earlier stage, unable to make use of the majority of Miller's lessons.I have found that it is not a book to be read straight through, but to be studied, reading the same sections over and over again until mastered, then put aside to be picked up again when that level is reached.

This is something really lacking in Japanese studies.This same style of graded reader would be an absolute must if it were split into three or more volumes, each one providing several examples at the appropriate level.However, this necessary reference does not exist, and "A Japanese Reader" is one of the few, if not the only, Japanese readers that does graded reading exercises.

Avoid....outdated
One of the problems of someone like me, and probably you, is finding a Japanese reader that wasn't written over 40 years ago!

The Japanese government established a standard set of Kanji, around 2,000 in 1981 (? not positive about the date) so anything written much more than 20 years ago will contain Kanji that you won't find in a dictionary, and that are not used.

Also, not only are the Kanji no longer used but the expressions are antiquated.

So a suggestion for an alternative?I don't know, someone tell me...I'm still looking...

Would be a wonderful learning tool if it was updated
I gave this book 3 stars because it is a great concept and filled with material - however it is so outdated that it should simply not be used by the beginner/intermediate level student.

As previous reviewers said, this book is filled with archaic terms. Some of the vocabulary in this book is simply an old-fashioned form of modern commonly used words. I would worry about using this book to study vocabulary when I'm sure there is much more important, more modern vocabulary I should be learning.

I bought this reader because there are very few similar books out there - readers are scarce to begin with, and this one seemed so comprehensive. I thought I could get passed the fact that it was outdated - I mean, English wasn't so different in the 1960s. But it turns out Japanese was, and even the simple texts are filled with terms I won't need to know until I'm far more advanced - if ever. I wish I had saved my money and bought something more modern.

I don't know why Tuttle continue to publish this book, when a more updated version would be relatively easy to make. The only people who should buy this book are very advanced learners, who are just looking for reading practice. And if that's the case, a Japanese novel would work just as well.

Not the tool for mastery
I have been studying Japanese for over ten years now and of all the books I own in and on the language, this is by far the most outdated and least user-friendly. I definitely agree with previous reviews that point out that the pace from basic sentences along the lines of "I like French movies" to articles on unglazed pottery and explanations on capitalism makes for daunting, if not defeating, study.

The texts themselves, while interesting to the dedicated student, are rather dry and full of archaic terms that the general Japanese person would either not use or would have trouble recognizing in a text without the appropriate furigana. Without sound previous knowledge of Japanese, it should be difficult for the average learner to estimate which words are really worth memorizing and which ones one might never encounter again outside of this reader.

The greatest drawback, however, is that this "reader" is unreadable without the help of a good Japanese dictionary. Only words in Kanji (with the *occasional* kana exception) are listed in the glossary accompanying each chapter, and in later lessons even some of those terms (which are rather difficult, by all accounts) do no longer make it into the vocabulary lists which leaves the reader to his own devices for figuring out reading and meaning. (And not having a rather technical dictionary, some of these terms cannot be found in more general Japanese-English dictionaries).

All in all, I really wish Tuttle would update and expand on what initially was a great idea. Obviously, every serious student of Japanese should eventually be able to read the texts presented in this volume, but the road to "mastering the language" is not made easier by using this book.

Slightly dated, but solid, intermediate-to-advanced reader
This book was written in the late 1950's and shows its age slightly in both the choice of selections and in its pedagogical style; however, I found the latter portions to be a valuable resource for learning to read Japanese works written in the "interstitial" period after WWII, but before the "modern" style took complete hold in Japanese literature. As such, many archaic kan'ji and out-of-use phrases are present in the cited works; however, it is important for the student of Japanese literature to have exposure to these forms in addition to the modern style. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Opps! Not what I was looking for
This product only has Katakana in it! There is a product that looks the same, but has Kanji instead. BE CAREFUL! It comes with an extra practice pad, which is nice.

Do not buy this book
Having studied Japanese for five years under three native speaking teachers, I can assure you that buying this book is the biggest mistake possible if you want to learn the Japanese. It is riddled with factual errors and is an overall convoluted approach to learning the Japanese writing system. Of the five Japanese textbook series that I have used, this one stands unparalleled as the absolute worst. To list the actual mistakes contained therein would be a gargantuan task that I am not about to begin. Let me give one example, something so elementary that it should stand as representation for the whole:

In a table of the Japanese characters and their pronunciations, the author includes the following as pronunciations: ti, tu, si. These sounds do not exist in Japanese and you will never hear them. They instead are supposed to be chi, tsu, shi. This is a fact that I have not seen misrepresented anywhere else, ever. There is no explanation of the pronunciation of r-based symbols in which the r is supposed to be pronounced as subtle combination of r and l. These mistakes (of which there are more, and more again in Jorden's other textbooks) are then spread throughout the entirety of the book. This drastically alters the sound of the language and you will find yourself quite embarrassed if you go to Japan and try to speak like this.

Do yourself a favor and buy something else.

The best introduction to Katakana available
Japanese: The Written Language, an updated version of Jorden's older Reading Japanese book.It has languished in a field test edition for years, but at last the final version of the book is starting slowly to come out.

This book, as the name implies, is 123 pages (plus an associated workbook) devoted entirely to katakana, the syllabery used in Japanese primarily to represent foreign loan words.The first thing that may strike the purchaser is the length of the book in comparison to the subject covered.Many Japanese courses deal with katakana by handing out a table to their students and asking them to memorize it within a week, give a quiz, and then assume the students have mastered them after that.The result is people who have been studying Japanese for years but still cannot reliably read items written in katakana.

The subject of this book is not simply acquiring knowledge of the symbols, but developing a true *reading* knowledge of katakana.Knowing how a single symbol is pronounced (or knowing the romanized equivalent) does you no good if you cannot read words that contain the symbol.In addition to introducing the symbols, the book spends a great deal of time teaching the student to convert foreign words to Japanese, and vice versa.Armed with this knowledge, the student can read a good amount of authentic material such as menus and catalogs.(For those readers who are interested in video games, an enormous amount of material in all kinds of video games are written in katakana.)

This last point also explains why katakana are covered before hiragana.Much more authentic Japanese can be read with only katakana than with only hiragana.

Given the subject of the book, it does not directly deal with the pronunciation of Japanese.It is correlated with the book Japanese: The Spoken Language that covers the topic in more depth, and the learner is assumed to already have some knowledge of pronunciation and the spoken language.However, audio files are available on the web for every example in the book so that the sounds of the words can be heard spoken by a native speaker.The book utilizes the same style of romanization that is used in JSL -- some people may be unfamiliar with the standard type of romanization used in Japan that contains such syllables as "si" and "tu", but it should always be remembered that no romanization system can teach pronunciation on its own.Even if Hepburn romanization were used in the book (and so the syllables were written "shi" and "tsu"), that still would not enable you to pronounce the syllables correctly without hearing them spoken.(If you are interested in why the author has chosen this kind of romanization, the introduction to JSL explains it.)

My chief complaint with this book is the price; at some point in the future when JWL is completed, hopefully a single volume will be published that is more economical.For those working on a tighter budget, the field test JWL or even the older Reading Japanese are fairly good as well, and also contain hiragana and some kanji practice.But this is a highly recommended book for anyone going to Japan with no knowledge of the writing system, or for someone who is starting the long process of learning to read Japanese.

(One last note -- this book was developed at Ohio State University primarily to fit in with the JSL series; as was stated above.In OSU's program, students begin studying this book after 6 weeks of study (roughly after lesson 3 of JSL); this is not intended as an introduction to the Japanese language.) ... Read more

Book Description
Japanese From Zero! is an innovative and integrated approach to learning Japanese that was developed by professional Japanese interpreter George Trombley, Yukari Takenaka and was continuously refined over eight years in the classroom by native Japanese professors. Using up-to-date and easy-to-grasp grammar, Japanese From Zero! is the perfect course for current students of Japanese as well as absolute beginners. In volume three of the Japanese From Zero! series, readers are introduced to new grammar concepts, over 1000 new words and expressions, and are also taught the Kanji writing system. ... Read more

Book Description
Contemporary Japanese Workbook Volume 2 serves as supplementary material for Contemporary Japanese: A Textbook for College Students Volume 2, as well as a self-sufficient comprehensive workbook for practicing and reviewing Japanese. Focusing on four language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing), it contains 12 chapters of worksheets and activities on vocabulary and grammar usage, and conversations in the context of formal and informal college daily life, business and travel. An audio CD of drills, dialogues and listening comprehensions for most activities accompanies the workbook. ... Read more

Book Description
Comprehensive Japanese II includes 30 additional lessons (16 hrs.), which build upon the language skills acquired in Level I.Increased spoken language ability.Also includes a Culture Booklet

Level II will double your vocabulary and grammatical structures while increasing your spoken proficiency exponentially. Upon completion of a Level II, you will be able to:

* engage in fuller conversations involving yourself, your family, daily activities, interests and personal preferences,

* combine known elements into increasingly longer sentences and strings ofsentences,

* create with language and function in informal situations,

* deal with concrete topics in the past, present, and future,

* meet social demands and limited job requirements.

Note:In order for the Pimsleur Method to work correctly, you must first complete the Level I language program before proceeding to the Level II language program.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

the more I listen, the more I like :)
I didnt particulary care for Pimsleur I (limited set) when I first started using it last Christmas but after using other CDS (and CD ROMS) Ive come to appreciate the Pimsleur approach much more. Pimsleur II price was reduced and there was free 2 day shipping so I thought what the heck I'll give it another go and Im very happy. Some stuff Ive learned so far in the first 5 lessons:

a) not yet
b) are you familiar with ---
c) how long are you going to stay in ---

Overall it's a very effective way to learn b/c the narrator forces you to participate. Each time I repeat a lesson, I pick up something I missed the first time. A bit pricey though.

An excellent language method
That's the second installment of the Pimsleur Language Program Japanese.
There are two very strong points to the method. One, that distinguishes it from anyother is the fact that everything is done orally. I thought I could only memorise by reading. This method proved me wrong. And with nowdays technology, from the ipod to any PDA or Pocket PC, this turns into a huge advantage as you can practice while being in the taxi, the tube or department stores.
The complementary quality of the method is the excellent choice of vocabulary. I have reach lesson 25 of Japanese II and I still do not know how to say the dog in Japanese, which pretty much any other method would teach you in lesson one. They teach you how to count, to express temporal and spatial concepts, to manage schedule, to speak about your family and they insist on collocial expressions. This proves to be the most useful vocabulary for the average corporate person and most of modern citizens. Well done. ... Read more

Book Description
A desire to communicate heart-to-heart with people from another culture is what attracts many people to language study in the first place. But it can take a long time to make friends and feel socially comfortable in a Japanese-speaking context, and there are few textbooks that can help. This
volume does just that, by collecting and discussing more than 400 phrases that are useful when talking about personal experience and nuances of feeling.

With this book you can learn to say that you like someone, love someone, respect someone, have a thing for someone, have a crush on someone, still carry a torch for someone, have no feelings either way for someone, or wouldn't give someone the time of day. You can tease a friend about their new
relationship, talk about children or parents, vent anger or express sympathy. You can learn many different ways to thank a person or to respond to a compliment, and the specific attitude that each conveys.

All entries are defined and then amplified with two or three sample sentences. The naturalness of the sentences keeps the reading interesting, and makes it easier to gain not only passive understanding but the confidence to start using these phrases right away in conversation.

Impress your boss, charm your neighbor, apologize to a co-worker. This handy guide will be welcomed by anyone hoping to make Japanese friends and influence Japanese people.

Previous published in the Power Japanese series under the same title. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

To the bride, the Sister-in-Law is a thousand demons
Some people say that Japanese is not a very expressive language, with such subtle nuances and high context that blunt emotional vocabulary just doesn't exist."Love, Hate and Everything In-between" will give you the necessary vocabulary to tell those people how wrong they are, and where they can stick it.

Basically a dictionary of emotional vocabulary, this small book is organized into two large sections, "From Uncertainty to Love" and "From Uncertainty to Hate."In these two are smaller sub-categories, such as Flattery, Sympathy, Tough Love, Love to Excess, Higher Love from Buddha, Frosty Silence, Arrogance and Pride, Finding Fault, Getting Mad, Revenge, Betrayal and too many others to name.Each sub-category has several vocabulary words and phrases, as well as common usage for each entry.Like any Japanese study book worth getting, both romaji and kana are used for each entry.

Anyone looking for a guide to picking up Japanese guys/girls might be disappointed with "Love, Hate and Everything In-between."This is a serious study aid for those looking to expand their fluency in Japanese, focusing on a specific, useful and fun aspect of the language.I have found it particularly of aid in reading Japanese manga, where relationships, both love and hate, form a major part of most storylines.

The only drawback to this book is that it is pretty much a straight dictionary, without any exercises such as are found in the "Handbook of Japanese Verbs."It probably isn't something that you will read straight through, but rather pick an emotion and expand your ability to express emotions in Japanese.

This is a useful book
This book isn't like a lot of books which fall under the category of picking up Japanese women. This book is about the words you use to talk about a relationship. Most other books just teach you some phrases, but this book teaches you a little bit more. It teaches you phrases based on different situations and feelings. You won't find anything in here about asking a girl for her phone number, but you will find good examples showing you how to express yourself in Japanese. The hate part of the book is probably more useful than the love part of the book. If a girl gets mad at you, you need to know what she is saying.

This book does contain a lot of roma-ji, but it also contains a lot of hard Kanji. Usually I'd take off a star, because I really hate roma-ji, but this book deserves 5 stars. ... Read more

Book Description

Japanese difficult? Study boring? No way! Not with this "real manga, real Japanese" approach to learning. Presenting all spoken Japanese as a variation of three basic sentence types, Japanese the Manga Way shows how to build complex constructions step by step. Every grammar point is illustrated by an actual manga published in Japan to show how the language is used in real life, an approach that is entertaining and memorable. As an introduction, as a jump-start for struggling students, or (with its index) as a reference and review for veterans, Japanese the Manga Way is perfectfor all learners at all levels.

Wayne P. Lammers has taught Japanese at the college level and is an award-winning literary and commercial translator. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Customer Reviews (17)

Surprisingly Informative Book
Since there weren't any actual reviews of this book, I thought I'd contribute one. First, I'm a long-time student of Japanese, having studied to some degree of seriousness, for 15 years. I have enough grammar,vocabulary and text books for any three people.

Having said that, this book actually stands out in some ways from all the rest. At first it seems like many other solid grammar books, covering things like how to express: "If/when," "should/must do," etc etc. but what sets this apart from all those other books is it is focused on CONVERSATIONAL Japanese. If you are new to Japanese, let me save you a LOT of time and heartache by telling you that the Japanese you learn in books is rarely how it is actually spoken in casual conversation. Don't let the fact that this is a manga-type book fool you. The information here is very relevant and very accurate.
Speaking the kind of Japanese in your textbooks is perfectly fine, and your Japanese friends will understand you. But if you want to understand THEM, you'll need this kind of information. You won't be disappointed. Highly recommended.

Very good intermediate book
This is the best book I have seen for intermediate Japanese learners. For beginners, it probably goes too fast on the basics, and it does not approach vocabulary building on the basis of frequency. However, it will give you a lot more in the way of how Japanese is actually spoken (or written in manga). Many common expressions and particles that beginners' textbooks skip (probably because you can make yourself understood without them) are explained here. My main goal in studying Japanese is ability to read manga, and this book has been a breakthrough for me.

Splendid textbook if you want to read japanese
This is quite possibly the best language textbook I've encountered so far. Language textbooks use to have this little problem: they are quite boring. Mr. Smith at the airport; Mr. Smith at a restaurant; Mr. Smith shopping. Not this one: Japanese the Manga Way is fun to read. Who would've thought that language textbooks could be fun?

Its format is quite unique: there aren't long grammatical explanations, and almost all the examples are taken from manga. A lesson begins with some explanation, then a panel from some manga, followed by its translation and notes explaining new or unusual grammatical constructs found in it. Other books use manga panels as examples, so what's new here? Two things: first, the author explains the context in the story for every panel, so that the reader can follow the chain of events and understand what the characters are saying; and second, the book is organized so that examples only rarely use language constructs that weren't explained yet. Furthermore, there are a lot more examples than in similar books, as the whole exposition is guided by them.

This is all very good and dandy, especially if you want to learn to read manga, but it's important to be aware that the book is "an illustrated guide to grammar and structure" as it says on the title, so it's not a complete japanese course. It doesn't present any method to help learning the japanese writing system (kana or kanji), only kana charts at the beginning. Also, it obviously won't help with the spoken language. But within its own objectives, it's a very good book.

A basic japanese course for self-study could be organized like this: first, learn kana & kanji; my recommendations are Heisig's books Remembering the Kana: The Hiragana / The Katakana and Remembering the Kanji: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters. Then read this book to get a general feeling for the language; you won't of course be able to memorize all the details given in the notes, but you should get an idea how the language works. You should get a good dictionary too. Then the real learning begins with practice: read lots of manga, watch anime and movies (or TV), listen to japanese music, immerse yourself in the language and culture. And keep Lammers' book nearby; as you read manga you'll encounter many constructs covered in the book, so you can get back there and re-read the notes. With practice, it all gets internalized in your language skills.

And forget about other japanese books that teach through manga: I have the Japanese in Mangaland series, and while it's not that bad, it's not nearly as good as this one. I wish there were more language textbooks like this one, for other languages besides japanese.

Japanese is fun
If you are a beginner learning Japanese, you must have this book. It's fun and it teaches you the important grammatical facts with all bells and whistles in a very enjoyable way. It's great to brush up your Japanese too.
Kudos to the writers who managed to make a difficult language a joy to study. They also give lots of information about Japanese culture and life.
Best language study book I ever read.

very useful supplement
Mr Lammers explains grammar clearly and concisely. I've never enjoyed learning foreign languages before, but this book makes me //want// to study Japanese. I'm a beginning Nihongo student (1.5 months) and like to be spoonfed --- I've already learned so much from this book in only 2 days and cant wait to learn more. "Japanese the Manga Way" and a good textbook should be all you need to get started. It's worth far more than $17 IMHO.




... Read more

Book Description
The Japanese are extraordinarily polite and soft-spoken people who are always indirect and evasive in their dealings with each other. Right? Well, not really. They can be just as explicit, vicious, vile and downright vulgar as anyone else when they want to be.
This little gem of a book teaches you hundreds and hundreds of Japanese taunts, threats, curses and expletives that you'll never find in any dictionary-showing you how the Japanese really talk to one another when they are angry or emotional. It leaves no taboo untouched and sets the record completely straight.
Intended for students of all levels and anyone interested in how Japanese is really spoken, this book is absolutely indispensable for foreigners who live in Japan and want to know what is being said when someone insults you in Japanese!
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Customer Reviews (7)

Great slang - if you lived in Japan 40 years ago
I bought this book to try and learn some more "colorful" Japanese.However, when I asked my Japanese wife (born in Japan and just immigrated to the US) if the book was correct, she said that a good number of the insults were from when she was a child in the 1960's.

It's more for having fun than for actually using but...
Well, if you really want to sound dirty in Japanese, you should study something else.
If you want to reharse your japanese, and to know how Japanese people think, that's the book for you.
The only defect is that is printed only in Romaji- anyway, when I feel blue, I think to myself like a third class sumo fighter , or say to myself I ought to commit suicide at the presence of a superior, and the world gets better.
A book to re-read, not only to read

Very funny and entertaining
This is probably the most entertaining book you'll ever find on Japanese, and it's probably the funniest I've seen on any foreign language so far, and I've looked at a lot of language books.

The author has over 50 years of experience with Japanese and Japanese culture, including having written over 30 books, and he brings that wealth of experience and a very wry wit and ironic sense of humor to this book. And he's not shy about including some very funny and ribald stories from his younger army days about his first encounters with the seamy side of Japanese culture.

For example, "Ian-fu" means "a girl with no elastic in her drawers." This refers to the women who were sent to comfort the men during times of social unrest and war. As Seward says, most of the comforting took place in silence and in the horizontal position. And a "baka no baita" means an "ignorant slut."

Besides the above, Japanese has so many words for disparaging someone's intelligence that it would be impossible to list them all, but here is a selection from the book:

aho--dumb-ass

gutara--addlepated loafer

gubutsu--foolish chucklehead (this reminds me of when I was learning Mandarin Chinese, and I was told that a "tsao-tao" was a "stupid, happy person"

baka--horse-deer (whatever that is) :-)

Then there are a few strange curses:

Kuso sh_te shine--sh_t and die

Kuso sh_te nero--sh_t and go to sleep (one would think going to sleep constipated would be worse)

Mama-gon--forever scolding hell-hag of a mother

Snakes and turtles come in for a fair amount of abuse in Japanese for some reason, and the phrase, "Omae no yo na dongame wo yatou to wa yume ni mo orawenzo," translates as, "I would never dream of hiring a dull turtle like you." And "deb-game" translates as "a turtle with buckteeth," meaning "a peeping Tom."

So overall, a very funny and entertaining book on an aspect of Japanese language and culture that I haven't seen addressed by the many other books I've seen on Japanese.

Great book But not alot of variety
This book is great. It is quite short though. The only problem i had was that half of the Slang was a diffrent way to say prostitute in japanese. I would recomend the power japanese slang book but this one is orginized very nice.

Irreverent, tongue-in-cheek fun, anyone?
Some books just have it!This short paperback, purchased out of desperation for my 11 yr old son, gave us both hours of much-needed laughter! Struggling with school-required Japanese, he felt hopeless &resented every minute of required study.Reading this book as a reward forcompleting a frustrating study session helped him look forward to gettingthe work done! The book is seriously organized by the most absurdtopics, e.g., chapters re: insults and expressions involving body parts. The pronunciation guide is extremely clear- anyone could spout out theepithets without knowing a word of Japanese!The zaniness of some remarksleft us hysterically laughing out loud!Enjoy!Now if they'd only writethese for other languages... ... Read more

Book Description
Available October 2003 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Very Good Intermediate Book
Initially, I wasn't pleased with this book, but once I started using it a lot more, I increasingly grew fond of it's teaching method and the way the lessons are structured. The way it teaches the kanji is very good. It's not as advanced as it says, but I'd say it's suitable for someone who passed JLPT lvl 3.

Here's my suggestion: use the second half of the book with all Japanese. Don't waste your time with the first half (roomaji/English) except to check the English translation of the passages if you need to or review any grammar that goes over your head. If you can comprehend the CD, you probably don't need to do either of these things much.

The main problem I have with the book is it's business bias. This company (Living Language) tends to do this and for many, this isn't a problem, but for me, it'd be more interesting if the dialog mixed and matched between business and play since I go to Japan for both. I'd like to hear more informal dialog for one thing.

CDS are superb and book is pretty good
What I like best about this set is the realistic (albeit overly long) dialogues, practical business vocabulary and kanji reading practice. Im a beginner but decided to jump straight ahead to the advanced course because it seems (from the reviews here) that this repeats a lot of stuff from the basic any way. Also I have the Pimsleur CDS for the easier stuff and wanted to be in a more realistic "environment" where I dont understand 100% of what's being said.

I listened to the "AT HOME" CDS --- which are all Japanese dialogue --- and read the English (instead of romaji) transcript simultaneously. In this way, Ive learned by pseudo osmosis. After repeated listening, one can actually understand the gist of what's being said without having to translate every single word into English. I hope this means Im thinking in Japanese now. The "ON THE GO" CDS review basic grammar, phrases and vocabulary. Overall I love it!!!

Outstanding service and merchandise!!
Prompt Service, attractively and securely wrapped package, outstanding merchandise.A very reliable seller!!!

Not advanced at all
This book isn't bad, it's just not what the title claims. Advanced? Far from it! Don't buy this if you're expecting anything above low-intermediate level Japanese.

A bit easy for an advanced series
Great dialogues and useful situations but I was expecting something a little more difficult from the advanced series. I completed the basic-advanced series and thought it was fantastic. However, the advanced series teaches many of the grammar structures already taught in the intermediate section of the first book. Not to say it isnt a nice book, but from what I had learned from the first book, I easily understood the first five lessons on the CD the first time I listened to them. I only learned about three new words or so from the first five lessons. Not to say this isnt a nice series, but if you completed the beginner-intermediate book, you may find the advanced series a bit easy. ... Read more

Book Description
Visual Japanese Vocabulary Connections are lightweight, durableflash cards that contain nearly 400 useful vocabulary words in a fullyportable package. English words are on the front of each card and arerelated by a central theme.The theme, or category, is symbolized byan icon.The back of the card shows the Japanese translations.Thesecards will help you connect several related words together so seeingone word will help you remember other similar words.

VisualJapanese Vocabulary Connections are bound together by a small ring socards can be added or removed as needed.They have a tough, plasticcover on the front and back so they can slip into your pocket or purseand go anywhere.Visual Japanese Vocabulary Connections help you learnJapanese more effectively by turning wasted moments into study time. ... Read more

Book Description
A concise summary of Japanese grammar is presented for beginning students of the language. Topics include parts of speech, sentence structure, idioms, and pronunciation advice. All Japanese words are presented phonetically. Important points of grammar or vocabulary, as well as subject heads, are printed in a second color as a quick-reference aid for students. New to this edition is a Japanese-English vocabulary list. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

all in romaji but compact and easy on the eyes
Im taking the second semester of Nihongo at a local college and find this handy little book useful for double checking homework. Grammar points are explained clearly and the sentences are diagrammed so it's easy on the eyes. Whats more ... the cover is sort of laminated so it's easier to keep clean than a normal paper cover. I wish it had kanji instead of romaji though.

The first step to understanding Japanese grammar
"Barron's Japanese Grammar" was the first book I purchased that dealt with grammar at its core. I was not a beginner at the time I bought this book, but I would recommend it both for the beginner and the intermediate student. The beginner will find new material to study, such as passive forms, causative forms, adjectives, nouns, etc., and the intermediate student will have an excellent book to use as a reference for Japanese grammar. The price is more than generous for the amount of knowledge you will gain from reading this book. Inside, besides in-depth coverage of grammar points and examples, you also have charts on hiragana and katakana and lists on common greetings, weather, numbers, and other topics for quick reference. The only sore spot I have with this book is its use of romaji instead of a combination of kanji with furigana, but I believe the publisher may have thought the font size was too small to be able to read furigana properly. There may also be Japanese students out there who cannot read kana at the moment, but need a more in-depth knowledge of Japanese grammar before traveling to the country. In the end, I highly recommend this book. I took it everywhere with me for months and you can learn a lot from it, too.

Stellar reference book
This is a stellar little reference book. Clear, to the point, and with very easy to understand examples.

It does a wonderful job comparing Japanese grammar with English grammar, which allowed me to immediately put the ideas into a context I could understand and build upon.

The Japanese words and phrases are written in romaji, which, for someone like me, is critical. I have only just begun to learn Japanese, and have barely tackled hiragana and kana, never mind kanji! With romaji, I can get the full impact of the grammar lesson without having to struggle with Japanese characters, too. THAT is a DIFFERENT lesson! :)

There is some vocabulary, and some tips on conversational usage, but it does remain focused on Japanese sentence structures, parts of speech, and verb tenses.

It is a surprisingly in-depth and indispensable reference book.

Compact.
This book is compact, fits in your pocket.Good for most reasons, however, could have done a much better job in the part about verbs.

Very good for all levels!
I have learned more from this book than I had from my three years of Japanese in school. It helped me realize why I have such a hard time translating to Japanese. Plus, it's cheap! ... Read more

Book Description
THE REVISED 3RD EDITION OF JAPANESE FOR BUSY PEOPLEIn the 22 years since its publication, Japanese for Busy People has won acclaim worldwide as an effective, easy-to-understand textbook, either for classroom use or for independent study. Now, in its first revision in more than a decade, the series is being redesigned, updated, and consolidated to meet the needs of today's students and businesspeople who want to learn natural, spoken Japanese as effectively as possible in a limited amount of time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Good book to start off your Nihongo studies!
How to learn Japanese: First, get a book and master the Hiragana and Katakana syllabary. This is a must and it shouldn't take you more than a month to do that. Japanese for Busy People has a Kana workbook and that works very well with this first volume since it includes vocabulary from chapters 1 through 10. That way, by the time you immerse yourself with this book, you can start focusing more on sentence patterns. Once you've familiarized yourself with the Kana syllabary, work through the activities in this book. It will give you a solid foundation on two things - mastery of the kana (since everything is written in kana), and basic sentence patterns.If you still have the time, get a kanji book and start working on the first few hundred kanji. I highly recommend Basic Kanji Book. This way, you can correlate the kana spellings of the new vocabulary words with the actual kanji. However, your focus should be more on the correct kana spelling. I always get confused with the long vowel sounds.

About this book: real excellent introduction to Japanese vocabulary, culture, and grammar. The exercises can be repetitive and are mostly substitution exercises. However, this is a great way to master the sentence patterns. My suggestion is to do the exercises and then to create one or two other sentences of your own based on what you just did. This way, you can further apply what you have just learned.

Negative comment: I don't like how the book mixes hindu-arabic numerals with kana. I think this is very confusing especially for a beginner. Again, while the kanji can come later, mastering the kana spelling should take precedence over convenience. The book does tell you the correct spelling first but for the exercises, it asks you to use hindu-arabic numerals. For instance, instead of writing out (in kana) sanji (3 o'clock), it has 3ji.

Once you're done with this book, skip volumes II & III. Move on to either the Genki series or Minna no Nihongo series, although I'm somewhat partial to the Minna no Nihongo series because it's more comprehensive albeit more expensive. It covers reading, writing, listening, and composition. At the same time, keep chipping away at the 1945 Joyo Kanji. In time, you will have mastered enough Nihongo to either pass the JLPT or order your favorite sushi.

Best of the Best for Beginners!
If you're looking for a good book to learn Japanese language, you probably have too many choices flooding your mind and have no idea which one is for you, because every one of them seems good. So, why this one?

This book is very well organized. It contains 11 units to cover the most practical topics surviving in Japan, such as meeting people, shopping, gettig around, dinning out, visiting a japanese home, responding inquiries at office, and socializing, etc. Each unit is consist of a culture note, a specific grammar syntax and usage, and a couple of lessons. Each lesson starts with a short dialogue to illustrate the common conversation of the unit's topic. It also provides a detail explanation on the sentence usage and the new vocabulary introduced in the dialogue. Few exercises are followed to help readers to get familiarized and practice what they have just learned. An audio CD is also accompanied with this book to demonstrate the conversation addressed in each dialogues. At the end of the book, it comes with the Appendixes, which provides a summary of all the particles, sentence patterns, adjectives, etc. in a list with examples and reference to the book's units & lessons. In addition, it has a mini-dictionary with english to japanese and japanese to english. This book also makes use of a lot of pictures to illustrate dialogues and exercises. It really helps the reader to have a more relax and interesting learning journey. After finishing this book, you should be able to have the following skills: (i) basic usage of nouns, verbs, adjectives, (b) basic conversation for essential everyday siturations, and (c) reading and writing hiragana & katakana.

Well, although there's a romanji version of this "Japanese for Busy People I (Revised 3rd Edition)", I would still recommend the readers to get this "Kana" version to learn the real Japanese in a Japanese character forms. If you do not know about the Japanese sound system, hiragana and katakana. You can pick up the "Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Workbook", which is an excellent book for starters. After that, go for this "Japanese for Busy People I: Kana Version". Indeed, this is the best!

(Reviewed by Otto Yuen, 17-May-2007)

A bit repetitive, but a great book!
I've heard so many good reviews about this book, that I finally bought it. I've learned more with this book about making sentences, than I have with all my other books. My other books start off with "This is a pen. That over there is a pen." Yeah ok, how useful is that really?

This book tells about Mr. Smith, the lawyer from ABC Foods, and his adventures in Japan. A couple of useful items are Mr. Smith's schedule, and giving directions to a driver. Both of which are great lessons I wish I had known when talking to Japanese friends months ago!! Other relevant subjects are shopping, going out to dinner or a movie. Ordering food, tickets or getting your size clothing is not mentioned. Hopefully that will be covered in future books.

This book is well thought out, and gives the definitions of words when they first occur. English translations are only at the beginning of the next lesson. After that, they expect you to remember the words and be able to read Japanese. My only complaints about the book, is I wish they would start introducing kanji in each chapter, and give you more room to write.

AJALT confusion!!
These books are actually very handy learning tools. What frustrates me is how many version there are!! I got the romaji verison of volume I a few years back, but I grew frustrated with all the English characters in it. After all, the only way to practice kana is by reading it. So I recently decided to order volume I in the Kana version, but it's not even remotely the same book. How often to they change this book, like every year? It's completely different material!! It's confusing to know which workbook goes with which volume and so on and so forth. I wish this company would be more clear about all the different verison available and what goes with each volume, b/c the exercises in them are really helpful.

Kana version is the way to go
This series has been around for 10 years, and I'm glad to see a new version. I've been through the first kana edition, and own the Level II book as well (but stay away from that one). I've already leafed through this new edition at Borders but didn't want to pay the full comver price. It's a totally new format, and the CD is a nice bonus. Same for the workbook. I'm going to purchse this even though I already went through the old version Level I just for the additional practice. Genki is the other book you should have if interested in learning on your own or with a tutor. ... Read more

Book Description
This authoritative reference aid to mastering the Japanese writing system makes learning kanji and kana a quick and painless process. In clear, large-sized entires, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters--the 1,945 characters prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education for everyday use. Both Japanese readings and English meanings are given, along with stroke-count and stroke-order, examples of usage, and suggestions for memorizing. The components of each character are detailed. The kanji are graded according to Ministry of Education guidelines, allowing the student to prioritize them and track progress.

Comprehensive and clear, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters makes Japanese writing accessible to everyone. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

Hugely helpful
I wish I had this book when I first started leaning kanji.Knowing the history of the characters makes it much easier to identify radicals and remember meanings.

Excellent Kanji dictionary for the layman!
I like Japanese but I've never taken a class.This book has been beautifully structured in a way that facilitates short lessons for the casual reader.I've also found the indices especially helpful in quickly identifying various kanji by either stroke order or phonetic reading.This is a very well thought out and elegantly presented book.

A fun way to study kanji
This book has been an amazing resource for me throughout my study of the Japanese language. More than any other this book has inspired me to develop my kanji proficiency.

(See the image of the back cover of the first edition for a reproduction of what the pages look like.)

I love the whole idea of the book. It is because books like this can be written that I became so infatuated with the Japanese language. Obviously it is a book that could only be written for an ideograph-based language, and that's what makes it so interesting. You can simply flip through the book and you are reviewing kanji, just as if you were using flash cards. There are also three example vocabulary words given for each character. So you can use the book to learn the characters and also to add to your vocabulary.

I wrote my own mnemonics in the book as I found many of his to be unhelpful, but I think that is always the way it works with mnemonics--the ones you develop yourself are always more effective.

One of the problems with the way the mnemonics work is that the examples given often "go in the wrong direction". For me, my problem with kanji almost always stems from trying to decipher a character I am trying to read. So I want to get from the pattern of the character to the meaning. I seldom write kanji, so it is less helpful to go from the meaning to the pattern of the character, but the mnemonics are mixed up so they often go both ways.

In general, the book is not great for studying vocabulary words. More helpful for vocabulary for me has been simply studying the definitions given in a somewhat basic middle schoolers' Japanese-Japanese dictionary.

So bottom line: This book offers the best way to study kanji.

An Excellent Reference
The book contains brief entries that excellently explain the etymology of each of the joyo kanji. Each entry also contains pronunciations, examples, stroke count, suggestions for memorization, and a brief mnemonic. The mnemonics are (as in most textbooks) of inconsistent quality (some are just _weird_), but some are quite good, and the suggestions for memorization are useful. The book is well-indexed (the index of characters by reading is extremely helpful) and well cross-referenced (very useful when encountering new components in a complex kanji).

The only major strike against this book is its somewhat misleading title; it really should be called "A Guide to the Origins of Japanese Characters" or something similar. While some people (including myself) will find the etymological information alone to be a major help in learning and memorizing characters, some will find it far less helpful for that purpose.

Minor strikes against this book include the lack of kana readings (the author also somewhat confusingly transliterates "ou" and "oo" in the same way, as another reviewer pointed out) and the lack of stroke order (leaving that out was probably a good decision overall, though, since adding that would make the book quite a bit bigger and it's quite sizable as it is).It's worth noting that this is neither textbook nor kanji dictionary, nor is it a substitute for either. Still, I think this book is an excellent reference for any serious student of Japanese writing, preferably as a supplement to a good kanji textbook and dictionary.

A LOT of superfluous info....
This book is obviously very well-researched and t