Customer Reviews:
A fantastic reference book.......2006-04-26
Everytime I am confused about an element of Japanese grammar I consult this reference book and I always walk away satisfied with all my questions answered. The translations are fantastic, the example sentences are chosen to clearly demonstrate the grammar point, and different usages are explained. What I like most is that this book takes varying English translations of the grammar point and shows how they are conceptually connected, so that you only have to remember the one grammar point rather than memorizing a bunch of seemingly different English translations.
I hope to be a Japanese teacher in the future, and I'll be keeping this book by my side at all times.
Essential Reference........2001-07-20
First of all, you need both this book and the beginner's guide (Also available). The index in the back of this volume references both books and occasionally you will look up a grammar phrase and find it's in the blue beginner's volume.
Expensive, but a necessary reference. My main gripe is that it's sometimes not obvious how to look up a phrase and i spend a lot of time digging through index. A little standardization would help (Ex: yarou to suru... would you look this up under "you to suru", or "to suru", or "suru"?)
The appendices offer good usage info on topics as compound verbs and counters. I use it as an English counterpart to some of the japanese profieciency exam grammar reviews that are available in Japan in Japanese.
get it.......2001-02-16
This is a great book as the Basic japanese grammar. it's well organized like an encyclopedia. having this book and the one before will cover most often used japanese grammars. one of the best grammar out there. very concise and useful for those who are serious about being fluent in japanese. no other book have i come across that is as easy to use and understand as this book. this book is like the bible of japanese grammar. Also get the Basic japanese grammar. it will give you a very strong foundation which is a must for those who love the japanese language.
You will keep this book forever.......2000-09-27
I bought this book when I was in Japan and it was one of the best investments I made. I was in a Japanese class where the teacher only spoke Japanese, and all of my classmates were Korean. It was very hard for me to learn grammar in that environment, because the teacher couldn't just tell me the meaning in English, he had to try to explain it in Japanese. I went out and bought this book, and it was a life saver. I could look up the grammer points I needed to learn, and the explanations were incredible. All of my friends who are learning Japanese love this book too.
I really can't think of anything bad about this book. It contains a very useful appendix of compound verbs and compound particles. This is the best 750 pages of grammar you will ever read.
A must-have reference for learning natural, fluent Japanese.......2000-08-07
I found this book while living in Japan, and it became my prime book for studying Japanese. My Japanese host father used this book just as much to study english--the example sentences and translations are incredibly natural and original. After my year in Japan, I went to the University of Washington and was lucky enough to take a Technical Japanese class with Professor Tsutsui. He was an incredible instructor, and this book reflects that.
This book is arranged like an encylopedia, with two to four pages dedicated to explaining each grammatical structure. Samples include 'sore ni', 'totan', 'zaru o enai', and 'kara to itte'. What is also very useful is the appendix, which includes all sorts of goodies such as compound verbs and particles. Although it all sounds as boring as the word 'grammar' itself, this book really makes it interesting.
I recommend this book for any ambitious student of Japanese at about a 3rd to 4th-year level. Furigana readings are attached to most Kanji, but there is very little romaji. There is also another companion book, which is by the same authors and covers basic Japanese grammer.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive and Comprehensible.......2006-11-01
There is a bit of a myth about Japanese grammar--that it is too complicated, too alien for the non-native speaker to ever really master. This is a myth that many Japanese perpetuate themselves, seen in characterizations of non-native speakers, or in the (unhelpful) praise lavished upon anyone who can speak Japanese to any degree, no matter how ungrammatical it may be. This is a myth that is also unfortunately and unintentionally perpetuated by guides like Jorden's "Japanese the Spoken Language" that do the learner a disservice by explaining grammatical points in a language better suited for a linguist than a language learner. For people like you, who presumably want to surpass these low expectations and confusing explanations and start on the road to true fluency, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" is an essential companion.
Let's face it--from the perspective of a native English speaker, mastering Japanese grammar is difficult. Very difficult. Don't trust anyone who says otherwise! Much is made of the difficult writing system, but mastering grammar is perhaps even more difficult and essential to smooth communication. Sure, learning the difference between "wa" and "ga" is not as sexy as learning how to write "love" or "raccoon dog" in kanji, but it's many times more useful on a daily basis. By providing easy-to-understand explanations as well as examples of both good and bad usage, the student is given a better understanding of basic (but still difficult-to-master) grammatical points. This dictionary does an especially good job of contrasting similar constructs that give beginning-to-intermediate (and even many advanced) students trouble (wa/ga, aida/uchi, ageru/kureru, hazu/beki, ni/de etc.)
Although I don't think it's possible to gain complete comfort and mastery of Japanese without living in Japan, or at the very least, interacting with Japanese people on a regular basis, this book is the perfect guide for explaining the nuances that a beginner might not notice, and an intermediate student might be aware of but not fully understand. This includes the deceptive "similar constructs" I mentioned before, words that are not easy to translate into English (sekkaku, darou come to mind), and other issues such as auxiliary verbs and onomatopoetic "sound words". Whether you're learning Japanese in school, living abroad in Japan, or even just studying on your own, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" is an indispensable companion for your studies.
One last comment--there are a few reviews that have comments along the lines of "yes, but the Japanese don't really talk like this" to which I say, "You're missing the point." That's a bit like arguing against learning multiplication tables because in the "real world" there are calculators. Sure it would be nice to go directly from "Please give me that pen" to "Hey man, can ya grab that pen over there for me?" but language learning isn't that easy. If you understand the fundamentals of grammar, you will understand Japanese of all formalities, dialects, and other variations and transmutations. It is much easier to learn the shortcuts once you have a strong foundation because you are in a position to understand the nuances and principles involved. In other words, you know and understand what exactly is being "shortcutted". If you only learn the shortcuts, you will have a hard time generalizing your knowledge for usage out of a narrow, specific context. Worse, you might not even realize that you are even making a grammatical or etiquette mistake by misapplying knowledge from one context to another. The worst thing a language learner can do is to try to take shortcuts to "speed up" his or her progress without taking the time to build up a steady base. This dictionary provides that strong foundation that is needed for the serious Japanese language learner.
A dangerous book.......2006-10-13
It is more than 1 year since the last review for this book was written here, but reading through all the reviews there seems almost only to be positive comments about this book (the few negative comments there are, are rather unimportant things). BUT this book, used wrongly, may very well teach you Japanese that has never been heard from a native speaker's mouth.
The information provided in the book is overwhelming and the explanations are almost too good to be true. However, depending on what you are trying to learn from the book, in may get you in big trouble.
I am currently living in Japan and trying to pick up the language, and one thing I have come to understand is that there is not only one Japanese language ... but several. There is spoken langauge (actually there are 2 spoken languages, formal and informal), there is written language in books etc., there is news paper language, there is subtitle language (this is a fancy one!) and there are probably many more.
This is not a unique feature to the Japanese language, that is not the point I am trying to make, but especially the difference between spoken language and written language in general is so destinctive, that you must be very well aware of it.
Now, what has all this to do with the book that this review is about? A whole lot!
One evening when I sat at the dinner table studying my host brother (I live with a host family) came down from his room, saw me and placed himself on the chair besides me. He asked me what I was doing, and I of course answered `studying Japanese`. I was reading some random entry from "A dictionary of basic Japanese grammar" and when I showed it to him he started laughing and asked me why I was studying weird stuff like that.
Of course I had no idea what he was talking about, so he explained me that what I was studying was not useful at all. He had only read it once in a book but never heard it in a conversation (he is 30 and native Japanese). After consulting my hostdad he agreed as well, the stuff I was reading was useless and waste of time to study.
That little incident made me start asking my Japanese friends about stuff I had learnt from this book, and a lot of the entries they told, they never used in normal conversation.
When purchasing this book and starting to use it as a study aid or grammar reference, you should definitely have some native speaker to ask, whether what you are studying is useful at all, because the authors of this book completely fail to provide any information on where you will find the grammar you are studying. Some of the grammatical expressions in book, you will never hear in a conversation and others are restricted to movie subtitles. So if you use this book without being critical you will end up with an understandable and grammatically correct but extremely odd Japanese.
As I said earlier the Japanese used in subtitles is a category itself. "Subtitle Japanese" is a paradise for people who has used "A dictionary of basic Japanese grammar", but you will never hear it in daily life conversations.
So please be careful to use this great but dangerous book!
I'm lucky to have bought it.......2005-04-12
Personally, I feel that these two books (basic/intermediate) goes together in order to have a complete reference. If it's separated, it's like splitting elementary school's vocabulary and highschool's vocabulary into two dictionary. Which dictionary should you buy if you want to check for words that seemed to be in between these two levels. For example, words like "honor".
The other reviewers are very informative, so i'll just give you a good example of a grammar from the "Intermediate japanese grammar". (I chose intermediate because it can better express a more complete capacity of how the book work. (I apologize if you're a beginner audience)
"believe it or not" - nanishiro
Three ways to use it
#1. (sentence 1). nanishiro (sentence 2)
#2. (sentence 1). un, nanishiro...
#3. (sentence 1), nanishiro, (sentence 2)
Example for #1 (there are 5 examples for this particular grammar)
Ano hito ha kanemochi desuyo. *NANISHIRO* bentsu wo sandaimo motteirun desu karane. (In Hinagana)
(He is rich, you know. *Believe it or not*, he has three Mercedes Benz) (gives you translation)
Unlike regular dictionaries, I find the joy in flipping thru these grammar dictionaries just because it's easy to read and it's also informative. Other than *Nanishiro* in the previous sentence, didn't you also learn what kanemochi means?
A vital piece of reference for your Japanese library! .......2005-03-13
I bought this book and its follow-up title "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar," and I must say that it's one of the best investments I've ever made in my effort to learn Japanese. Not only does the book cover all the basic grammatical points in great detail, but it provides several examples for each one. Moreover, it also provides several examples of sentences that are grammatically INCORRECT, and explains WHY they're wrong.
Only a couple of things hold me back from giving this book a perfect 5-star rating. I didn't care too much for the use of Roomaji throughout the text. Although each example sentence is given in kanji/hiragana, the Roomaji for each example follows immediately after. When learning to read Japanese, Roomaji is detrimental to your progress, especially if you've already learned hiragana and katakana; however, in the Intermediate dictionary, this problem has been corrected. All of the kanji have furigana/ruby above them, and no Romanization.
Another minus for this book is that the entry headings are also in Roomaji. They should've been in hiragana (which wasn't fixed in the Intermediate book), and it would've been nice if the entries were alphabetized according to the Japanese kana syllabary (as opposed to being alphabetized according to the Roman alphabet). This would condition the mind of the Japanese language student to get used to the order of the kana syllabary for the sake of quickly and effectively looking up words in a Japanese dictionary.
In spite of its flaws, the book does deliver on what it's really intended for: teaching grammar. The book isn't intended to teach you how to read Japanese, so Romanization is only a small issue. Both the Basic and Intermediate books do an excellent job at explaining particles, expressions and other grammatical points. I don't know if "A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar" will ever become available, but if it does, I would seriously consider getting that as well.
I cannot recommend this book enough........2004-11-28
This book is great. It is as it says a dictionary of basic Japanese grammar.
This book explains grammar in a way that is very easy to understand. With this book and the "Dictionary of intermediate Japanese grammar", you will be set. I recommend all serious students of Japanese to get these two books. Then find a good Kanji study system, and follow that up with a good workbook, to enforce practice.
Average customer rating:
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A Systemic Functional Grammar of Japanese (Functional Descriptions of Language)
Kazuhiro Teruya
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
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Book Description
This book is the first to provide a systemic functional interpretation of the grammar of Japanese, describing it as a resource for making meaning rather than as a set of formal rules. It offers a general overview of all the major systems of Japanese grammar, covering the three major functions of language - the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual functions. The account of the grammar of Japanese is based on extensive corpus material and throughout the book the account is shown at work in Japanese discourse analysis. The book is also intended to extend our understanding of the semiotic potential of Japanese, and of language in general, for making meanings, taking into account both grammatical and lexical resources and linking them in a unified description of the lexicogrammar of Japanese.
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 perfect for 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:
Surprisingly Informative Book.......2007-09-09
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.......2007-05-22
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.......2007-05-14
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.......2007-05-04
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.......2007-02-13
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.
Book Description
Making Sense of Japanese is the fruit of one foolhardy American's thirty-year struggle to learn and teach the Language of the Infinite. Previously known as Gone Fishin', this book has brought Jay Rubin more feedback than any of his literary translations or scholarly tomes, "even if," he says,
"you discount the hate mail from spin-casters and the stray gill-netter."
To convey his conviction that "the Japanese language is not vague," Rubin has dared to explain how some of the most challenging Japanese grammatical forms work in terms of everyday English. Reached recently at a recuperative center in the hills north of Kyoto, Rubin declared, "I'm still pretty sure
that Japanese is not vague. Or at least, it's not as vague as it used to be. Probably."
The notorious "subjectless sentence" of Japanese comes under close scrutiny in Part One. A sentence can't be a sentence without a subject, so even in cases where the subject seems to be lost or hiding, the author provides the tools to help you find it. Some attention is paid as well to the rest of
the sentence, known technically to grammarians as "the rest of the sentence."
Part Two tackles a number of expressions that have baffled students of Japanese over the decades, and concludes with Rubin's patented technique of analyzing upside-down Japanese sentences right-side up, which, he claims, is "far more restful" than the traditional way, inside-out.
"The scholar," according to the great Japanese novelist Soseki Natsume, is "one who specializes in making the comprehensible incomprehensible." Despite his best scholarly efforts, Rubin seems to have done just the opposite.
Previously published in the Power Japanese series under the same title and originally as Gone Fishin' in the same series.
Customer Reviews:
Good information and a good read.......2007-04-24
This book is exactly as advertised; complete, concise information about Japanese grammar. It really fills in the holes in my college Japanese textbook. The auther has a way with words, he had me laughing and remembering language structures I had been struggling with
Such an awesome book for third-years.......2007-04-01
I've been studying Japanese for three years now and I've been hitting real walls to my understanding. Jay Rubin is awesome! I had the worst trouble understanding giving and receiving verbs, but he explains them in a way that I can finally understand. The same goes for his section on causatives and passives.
If you are an intermediate Japanese student, BUY THIS BOOK!!! I was blown away.
Bloody marvellous!.......2006-09-15
[Pros]
Crystal clear explanations. Rubin knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't waste your time showing off to you that he's knowledgeable. Instead he spends it showing you the concept--giving lucid explanations of sticky ideas. Believe it: there is a subtle but significant difference between showing, and showing off. And there is subtle but significant difference between (wa) and (ga). For clarifying the wa/ga dichotomy alone, this book deserves your attention.
Guts. Rubin has a great attitude--Japanese is fun and understandable, and he is going to show you. He has the guts to go against the conventional wisdom of Japanese, to brush aside the stereotypical assumption of a vague language of a vague people who suppress their individuality. Japanese taken word for word in English seems indirect, but when understood by its own rules and values, you realize that it is in fact very precise and unambiguous; it is a language that says only what needs to be said to get the job done. Rubin will show you how and why.
[Cons]
Attitude to Kanji, use of romaji. Maybe he's just seen too many illiterate foreigners, but Rubin seems to be of the opinion that kanji are "hard". That's a four-letter word that a learner just starting out does not need to hear. In truth, kanji are as simple, logical and understandable as the grammar that Rubin so adroitly explains. And as for using romaji? Totally N.G. (no good). Every 5-year-old Japanese kid knows kana. So should every non-Japanese learner, regardless of age--everyone learning Japanese has at least the intellectual level of a 5-year-old? Right?
[Overall]
This book is warrants its title--it really is just what the textbooks don't tell you. Plus it's funny, concise and relatively cheap: everything that a typical textbook isn't. The beauty of this book, and books like this, is that they are designed to make you not need them any more. Ultimately, if you're learning Japanese, you're probably doing it so that one day soon, you can ride the bicycle that is Japanese, free of English resources like this book. Until that day, Rubin has written a great set of training wheels. A worthy addition to your library and definitely worth your precious dollars.
For more some fun reading material in and about Japanese, visit [...]
The only one that..........2006-03-24
I own numerous fantastic Japanese grammar reference volumes on Japanese (most of which are available through amazon.) All of them allude to the points that Rubin tackles in this deceivingly slender yet startlingly informative volume. Despite avid interest in grammar and having studied countless hours huddled over cup after cup of espresso, I had questions to which I could not seem to find adequate answers. That changed when I finally tracked down a copy of this book.
If it is credibility you're looking for, Jay Rubin has it: besides a position as a professor of Japanese at an ivy league, he is a famous translator whose works read like English rather than an attempt to superimpose foreign syntax upon each sentence. In other words, this is someone who is comfortable with Japanese and can explain it both as an expert and as one who at one time studied it in school (and struggled, as he explains briefly.)
As for content, the book is concise, funny (I laughed out loud a dozen times,) and incredibly helpful. The content is focused upon the greatest ills of English-speaking students of the Japanese language. The book begins with a fun introduction in which Rubin assaults the myth that Japanese is somehow vague or alien in comparison to other languages of the world. He begins by debunking the tale oft-perpetuated by well-meaning Japanese instructors. You know what I'm talking about: the subjectless sentence. In actuality, these are NOT subjectless anymore than an English sentence using a pronoun or demonstrative is subjectless. Rubin spends time warning the reader to re-evaluate his/her understanding of what it means to have a passive/intransitive verb versus one with an agent and helps to once and for all expell the confusion.
Next comes the reason I purchased the book: an explanation of WA versus GA. Certainly, one may go through years of study believing one's understanding of these particles is moving in the right direction, but Rubin separates them in a way this reviewer certainly has never been taught. Regardless of the mound of linguistic texts and the thousands of grammar drills that have turned my eyes bloodshot over the years, I have never found a single person/book/textbook that has been able to adequately explain which particle is grammatically correct given a specific linguistic environment.
The giving and receiving verbs, passives, causatives, causative-passives, multiple particles, and so on are all discussed in part one. Part two concerns specific problems, including TAME (its uses and distinction between the two), TUMORI (if you just said to yourself "that just means 'i intend...' I suggest checking out the book!), and so on.
It's an inexpensive title and it provides one with so much wonderful information. It's easily some of the best money I've ever spent on my education. I recommend it and could scarcely recommend it with more enthusiasm. I've purchased volumes heavier and much more expensive that have offered less in a half a thousand pages than this one does in far fewer.
Buy this book.......2005-09-28
Ahh, the wonderful world of particles. Especially wa and ga. If you were confused as I was with the use of these two, fear not for this book will save you. Somebody finally took the time to thoroughly explain these in a perfectly clear fashion, and gives you a whole chapter on them no less.
I am so glad I found this book, the title doesn't lie. Everything is explained in an interesting and sometimes humorous way, and focuses on the topics that most English speakers struggle with while learning Japanese. I highly recommend this book, it will pay for itself 100 times over.
Customer Reviews:
This book should be retitled.......2006-02-14
This book is not for the novice and will not teach you the "Structure of the Japanese Language", irrespective of what the title says. This book is written for people who have a solid(at least level 3) understanding of Japanese and a basic background in linguistics. This requirement includes fluency with the language and deep knowledge of the grammar. The author covers grammatical points that tend to cause problems for the non-native speaker. This book is more for learning how NOT to use certain grammatical forms, and for understanding why certain sentences, phrases would be considered awkward or just plain wrong by a native Japanese speaker. Until you have a strong mental repository of positive examples of Japanese grammar against which you can compare, this book is of extremely limited use.
The book itself is well written and may prove useful for non-natives of Japan who are fluent in the written and spoken language but would like to improve by learning certain concepts. For a real book on the structure of the Japanese Language check out Alfonso Anthony's Japanese Language Patterns(JLP). The Anthony book starts for ground zero and just works out more complex and elaborated sentence structures. FYI, the editions I've seen of JLP are all in romazi.
Book Description
Basic Connections provides basic information about expressions and usages that facilitate the flow of ideas and thoughts in written and spoken Japanese. It explains how words and phrases dovetail, how clauses pair up with other clauses, how sentences come together to create harmonious
paragraphs. Since this is a book about the basics it starts with the fundamentals, explaining first the two types of Japanese sentence-"A is B" and "A does B." Then it proceeds to the problem of the modifier and the modified-a matter of "which is which." Wa and ga naturally get considerable play;
after all, it is downright impossible to speak properly without them. There is also a discussion of linking nouns and noun phrases, not to speak of verbs and verb phrases. The book goes on to devote a whole chapter to common mistakes and troublesome usages. The final chapter attempts to pin down
some particularly slippery locutions: such as toshite, imada ni, sore kara, whoppers like "Sentence A-te sae inakereba, Sentence B," and many more.
Any beginning or intermediate student, having spent a certain amount of time and energy studying this book, will be able to speak and read Japanese in a much more coherent fashion.
Customer Reviews:
anthing BUT basic.......2007-04-17
I bought this book in order to prepare myself to take the JLPT4 exam. And, well, I was in for a shock. The title is nothing if not misleading. The grammar covered DOES NOT focus on what you would expect to be basic material. Of the hundred odd "connections" that the author has chosen, only a handful are JLPT4, and the other half are split between JLPT3 and JLPT2. Other cons are that the language of the author is of a very wordy and academic nature, so the explanations seem more complex than clear or concise! And, contrary to the premise that much of this book is aimed at beginners, in the majority of cases the author clearly expects readers to already have a grasp of intermediate grammar, thus leaving far too many things improperly explained, skimmed over, or even lacking in any explanation at all.
However, this is not to say that this book is a waste of good paper. If you are of an intermediate-higher level (read: higher JLPT3 and above) it can come in quite useful, because it at least alerted me to a lot of aspects many other grammar books did not even touch on, even though it failed to explain many of these in detail. And if you're a beginner, consider it for future reference, but don't be in any hurry to buy it.
If you have a certain backround- it's a nice book.......2006-11-04
The field of language books and Japanese language in particular, is as enormous as can be. It's important to know where to start, and how to accumulate information in order to make a steady move forward while learning any language. This book, though trying to give you as much general information about the language as possible, is not for beginners. If you want some real basic Japanese, try any Kodansha book or any other college students book that will give you the right start. Although not for beginners as I said, it's a very handy book for the more experienced Japanese learner, and will give you bunds of information that'll make your language familiarity better. Again, a book not to start from, but a great supplementary didactic tool for the advanced user.
Clear and In-Depth!.......2005-11-13
This is a great book for beginning/intermediate Japanese students. It describes the usage of particles, select verb phrases, and common sentence patterns very thoroughly, especially where appropriate context is required. Instead of just saying "A kara, B" means "because of A, B", this book delves into the complexities of kara implying direct cause and effect, even blame.
As for the use of romanji, it's annoying and ill-suited to a book that is not for absolute beginners. However, in a way it's also better than furigana because it's easier to practice reading kanji. I find that I've developed the annoyingly lazy habit of just reading furigana even if I know the kanji.
All in all, a great supplemental text!!
I love this book.......2005-03-11
This is a very good book for beginners, but you still have to sit down and practice the basics with it... it's very good.
The most important grammar book you'll find?.......2004-05-31
This could be the most important Japanese grammar book you could buy, and I'll tell you why. If you're already learning Japanese, you know how complex the sentence structures and grammar can be. It's one thing to be able to get your ideas across in a reasonably intelligent manner, but it's another thing entirely to make what you're saying flow and sound natural. This book teaches you how to connect ideas and sentences so they more naturally flow into the next one. Now, if you're like me, you might be really good and saying things in Japanese, as long as you don't have to build on what you said the sentence before, or put together one long thought or sentence. This book shows you how to "look ahead" so you can figure out how to construct the sentence from the beginning so that, by the time you get to the end, everything has neatly connected itself along the way.
My only regret is I didn't find this book sooner than I did. It is truly invaluable for the beginning student, and even for the intermediate student, as well. Don't even hesitate to buy this book. It is cheap and EASILY worth the price.
Book Description
For any beginner of Japanese, adjectives and adverbs are bound to present a challenge. Unlike English adjectives, Japanese ones conjugate, meaning that you must memorize their various forms before being able to build sentences of any complexity. Adverbs do not conjugate, but make use of particles to show their grammatical relationship to other words, and some have very subtle shades of meaning that are difficult to grasp. Moreover, many do not translate into adverbs in English. The role these parts of speech play in adding flavor to the Japanese language is invaluable. This handy reference manual introduces the basic (and basics of) adjectives and adverbs in a clear and sensible way, enabling students not only to speak Japanese but to do it with pizzazz. The book is divided roughly in half, the first half dealing with adjectives, the second with adverbs. Each is prefaced by a short introduction that serves as an overview of the material introduced. The section on adjectives is divided into two parts: Part 1 covers the conjugations of i- and na-adjectives and some basic auxiliary adjectives, and Part 2 presents common sentence patterns in which adjectives appear. The adverb section is arranged by topic. Among the types of adverbs explained here are those used to express time, quantity, degree, circumstance, and natural sounds or actions (the ubiquitous onomatopoeic adverbs). Each entry in this book is given a simple, concise English explanation and two or more example sentences to illustrate its usage. Exercises every few pages enable students to measure their understanding. Finally, a number of quick-reference lists in the appendixes provide a convenient means of recalling and building vocabulary. Together with its sister publication, The Handbook of Japanese Verbs, this unique manual is certain to provide years of friendly guidance.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Source to Find Out About Japanese Adjectives.......2007-05-30
Before describing the book, a word or two has to be mentioned regarding the publisher, Kodansha International. I don't know if it's because of the policy within Kodansha, or the Japanese culture in general, but you can feel the tidiness, accuracy, and meticulous nature of each author, and the effort expended in order to convey information to the reader the best possible way.
When first starting to learn Japanese on my own, I had tried grammar texts and dictionaries from two other publishers. I found out after a couple of months, that they only cause the reader great confusion, lack a lot of important concepts, the print is often ineligible, and the sentences are in Romaji and not in the native alphabet (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji), which is so necessary in order to learn the language properly. Other Kodansha publications which I found useful for learning Japanese are Kodanshas Essential Kanji Dictionary (Japanese for Busy People)The Kodansha Kanji Learners Dictionary (Japanese for Busy People)Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary: Japanese-English English-JapaneseAll About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics)Japanese Verbs at a Glance (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics)
Part 1 is the backbone of the Japanese adjectives, which is presented in table format, for the i adjectives and na adjectives. Part 2 discusses different modifiers which conjugate with adjectives. For example, "daro" (probably) added to "tsumetai" (cold), means "it is probably cold". Each case is presented in a block in English and Japanese, and its meaning is given to the right. Then it follows with an example of the conjugate for each type of adjective, explanation of that conjugate, and three sentences each in Romaji, Japanese, and English, where that conjugate is used. The conjugate is highlighted in bold, in the Romaji and Japanese sentence, which makes it easier to pinpoint. Part 3 introduces a long list of adverbs and the way they modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and nouns. Each section ends with 8 or 9 exercises for which answers are given at the back.
The index has to be praised in particular, because each subject includes its own index. Each of i adjectives and na adjectives are organized in two different lists in Romaji (together with Japanese to the right), and another list is given in English for both types, with Japanese to the right). The adverbs are divided into sections in Romaji, for example, those expressing time, those expressing quantity, etc. Again a comprehensive list of adverbs is given in English.
In short, I recommend it for every English speaking Japanese student learning on his or her own, or even as supplementary material at college.
A Little Book Packed with Lots of Information .......2006-01-30
I like this book a lot. It's easy to follow, well organized and filled with examples and concise explanations. It also contains Kana and Kanji version which is helpful as I just started to learn the writing. I am still a beginner and I think this book is very helpful. It has helped me understand grammar and how to use the words in a sentence.
Informative, but weirdly indexed.......2005-05-20
First of all, I'd like to reiterate all the praise from previous reviewers: this book is a tremendous resource about the many mutant forms of Japanese adjectives and provides excellent explanations and practice exercises; the examples are given in kanji/kana as well as romaji. The adverbs are categorized by useful categories such as degree, circumstance, certainty, and so on, and the list of onamatopoeia is a wonder to behold.
However, I have one nagging nitpick, which is that the book lacks a comprehensive index. It seems to've been conceived as two entirely separate books, leaving the reference section at the end still awkwardly split in half: the adjective exercise answers are followed by (unindexed) Japanese/English and English/Japanese adjective glossaries ; after that, the adverb exercise answers are followed by a categorized list organized by (indexed) order of introduction in the text rather than by alphabet/kana for the actual words in English or Japanese, and then by another unindexed pair of Japanese/English and English/Japanese glossaries for the adverbs.
I suggest adding several bookmarks or post-its to mark the different reference sections in the back, and (to the publishers) page-indexing the glossaries in future editions to make it easier to look up usage examples. Other than that, this really is a very good book-- I just realized that the appendices also contain a list of sentence-pattern templates for adjective forms-- so buy it, but be prepared for some initial frustration until you get used to the way it's organized.
Very good book!.......2004-08-03
While I am not done with this one it is only because of my level of skill so far it is very helpful in explaning forms, introducing new words, and kanji. This is a masterpiece, but make two precautions. 1 Get a supplementing workbook. Actually put forth the effort to make your own sentences and there will be a vast increase in your language abilities and flow. I agree with all the other writers in the amazon.com book reviews that praised this book alongside with me. This books should help fragment any other textbook that seems cloudy. Caution: Not for total beginners. A learner of Japanese needs a fairly wide vocabulary to understand the sentence stuctures.
This is such an Eye Opener Book.......2002-12-28
I've been studying japanese for quite some time, and I wasn't even aware of how the japanese adjectives can conjugate just like verbs. I thought that the only conjugation's that adjectives possessed were the Plain/ Polite Past/Present, and negative/affirmative, as well as the -ba, -tari, -tara, and the -sa form. But turn's out that this is just part of the basic's. Just like with verbs the basics would be the -te form, the -ba form etc. to which you can add diffrent ending's to, to give diffrent meaning's to the verb, you can do the same with the Adjectives. This book is great for studying japanese adjectives. Now for the adverbs, the adverbs section is really good, they give you a bundle of words all sectioned off into categories according to time, quantity, degree, circumstance, onomatopoeic words (A MUST READ), adverbs used with negatives, adverbs with diffrent meaning's with positive and negative expressions, interrogative adverbs, adverbs used with conditionals, adverbs expressing desire, conjecture, or resemblence. As you can see, the list is long, and very helpfull, the most helpfull part of the adverbs section (to me) were the onomatopoeic words, and adverbs with diffrent meanings ith positive and negative sentences. If you buy this book, it will save you ATLEAST a good 10 hours of tedious looking up definition's for words, research, and so on.. because this book does it all, and not only that. Every few lessons or so, this book provides a pratice to see how well you have mastered what you have learned. Over all I give this book a perfect 5 out of 5, for it's great layout and great approach to learning japanese adjectives and adverbs. (I also recommend you buy "The handbook of japanese verbs" 'it's sister book', and "Jpanaese verbs at a glance" these two books give the most information you can learn about the conjugation of japanese verbs) Well, I hope this was a helpfull review, thanks for reading it. Bye.
Customer Reviews:
A great resource for managing your Kanji study.......2007-06-27
I've been studying Japanese for nearly five years, now, and I've found that organizing Kanji into specific groups based on similarities has helped a great deal with learning them. I'm currently using this book to help with the process of mastering my ability to read and write Kanji and it's working like a charm. I suggest that anyone serious about studying Japanese--those wishing to take the level 2 or 1 Japanese Proficiency Test, for example--look into investing in this study tool. It's sure to help!
A Must for Students of Japanese.......2006-12-31
My daughter borrowed this from her Japanese teacher over Christmas break and we are now going to buy it for her and an extra copy for her teacher so he can lend more out. As the reviewer below me stated, the characters build on each other and you can learn them.
As an artist, I find the explanation on how to write the letters very helpful. There is nothing easy about learning Kanji, but this book shows you how to break it down and learn it.
very happy.......2006-08-31
I am very happy with this book, but I'm not trying to learn Japanese. I'm an elementary school art teacher and it seems every year I spend hours on line trying to look for English words translated into Japanese symbols that the kids can use in projects. While this book wasn't quite as easy to use as I had hoped, I think that was more because I had underestimated the complexity of the language. I must admit I've never looked at another translation book... but this one seems like a fantastic choice!
EXCELLENT and Can Make into Study Cards.......2006-05-31
This book is a must buy. It simplifies the learning process and categorizes the characters by grouping them according to shape and meaning. With so many SIMILAR characters to learn, it is vital to have an effective system for memorizing and distinguishing them. Some characters are so similar that many students give up for this reason alone. No other book has been able to effectively group characters in a system for memorizing.
One of the most practical applications of this book is that it is laid out in such a way, that you can photocopy each page onto cardstock and make your own study cards. After copying, I folded mine horizontally along the lines so I could alternate guessing at the meaning or guessing at the character readings. I don't think the publisher even thought of this, but it works! Another great element about this book is that beside each character is shown the meaning of each complex root. For instance "irodo(ru), SAI" has the meaning of "color" and comes from the root of "harvest" and "style." At the beginning of the book, you are taught each individual root, called graphemes, so you can easily pick out which part of the complex character means harvest and which means style. Also, beside each character is reference numbers so you may look them up in dictionaries for further study. And, one of the most important things for me is that this books contains all of the joyo kanji, "the 1,945 characters recommended for everyday use by the Japanese government." The graphemes are also numbered for stroke order so that you may practice writing. It is a great place to start, and you may find out at the end you are way ahead of everbody else! This book makes learning Japanese as easy as, well, ABC.
read the other reviews for content analysis.......2006-03-19
The "see inside" option for this book is useless, as it does not actually show you how the book teaches you kanji, instead offering only the indices. If you really want to know what the book is like, find it in a library or bookstore and flip through it first - it might not be for you.
Book Description
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns is a fundamental learning tool for all students of the Japanese language, whether they be unblemished beginners or scarred veterans. With both types of struggling student, as well as for all the gradations that fall in between, there is a strong tendency, in the heat of battle, to lose sight of the essential nature of the Japanese sentence. It is for just such people that this dictionary has been created, to help them keep their eyes fixed firmly on the target and not be led astray. The dictionary contains fifty of the most fundamental Japanese sentence patterns as well as sixty-nine variations. This number covers all the patterns that are needed for levels 3 and 4 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Each pattern and variation is clearly defined by a formula given in Japanese, romanization, and English. Each is exemplified by sample sentences (both in single sentences and in dialogues), and each is represented in both polite and informal usage. By means of this approach, the essential nature of the Japanese sentence is clarified, and once that has been done, the many patterns and variations fall easily into place. The simple, undisguised truth is that there are only three types of sentence in Japanese, and all of the convolutions and complications that distract and bemuse the student are nothing more than modifications of these three fundamental types. The study of the Japanese sentence need not be as difficult as it is seems. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns may be used as a reference book to look up individual patterns for the purpose of learning, confirming, or reapproaching them, or it may be used as a textbook to be read from beginning to end, providing an overview of the Japanese sentence while buttressing the student's grasp of individual patterns.
Customer Reviews:
A good reference.......2006-12-17
Since a search that brought up this book probably also brought up Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication: A Self-Study Course and Reference (same publisher) and at first glance one might be tempted to just buy whichever is cheapest at the time. It's worth noting that they are very different books.
A Dictionary... is indexed for a reader that encounters a strange construction. It is formatted in a way to facilitate looking-up strange new sentences. Japanese Sentence Patterns is indexed for someone that wants to say something in Japanese.
Thus, If you want to tell someone in Japanese that one thing would be better to do than another, Japanese Sentence Patterns will tell you how to say it. On the other hand, if you see or hear "Yukkuri tabeta hou ga kenkou ni ii yo." Then A dictionary... is better for figuring out what the person meant.
In all, both books are very much worth getting. Both serve completely different needs, they are definitely not duplicates of the same book. I gave a 3 star because I find the indexing system a bit unwieldy, not for lack of content.
Great book for beginners.......2005-03-11
This is a very good book for beginners, but you still have to sit down and practice the basics with it... it's very good.
Just not quite enough.......2004-09-13
A basic dictionary is right. This book can be used to help one deconstruct simple sentences, but any complex structures involving one or more patterns just isn't there. You won't be able to learn Japanese from this book, nor construct more realistic, complex sentences.
The book spends too much time with routine analysis of each sentence pattern and not enough really useful, complex examples that use one or more patterns together. Most of the examples for the polite speech are fairly routine and what one would expect in a text book. However the casual sentence patterns that are also provided give a more detailed look at real conversation. But these complex examples are few and far between, and sometimes quite complex to understand.
I also found the reference section of verbs and adjectives at the back lacking in detail. There were many verbs used in the book that just weren't there.
So, in all, I read it. It was okay. I wouldn't buy my own copy if I had borrowed it from someone else.
A solid reference book for beginning/intermediate students.......2004-09-06
This book is exactly what it says it is, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns." Like all dictionaries, it is a reference book designed to supplement other methods of language learning, rather than being a text book on its own. After all, you don't learn English by reading the Dictionary!
As a reference book, it is excellent. It breaks down the Japanese language into 3 basic sentence patterns (Nominal, Adjectival, and Verbal), then shows possible variations. As it is a grammar reference, the book assumes that one is fluent in grammatical English as well, and that the readers know a participle from a predicate. Along with the basic patterns, the book demonstrates how formality/informality and men's/women's languages can influence the shape of a Japanese sentence. There are many example dialogs, showing the same conversation from a few viewpoints.
As with all decent Japanese texts, it uses Japanese kana, in this case complete kanji, when writing Japanese, then provides a romaji translation. I don't think that this is a good reference for learning new vocabulary, but a few words might be picked up here and there.
All in all, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns" provides a good resource for what can be a confusing element of the Japanese language. Sometimes having something explained in a different manner can help it to click, and even when deciphering longer sentences, it is good to know that they will fit the variation of one of the three patterns.
Good as a side book.......2004-09-02
This was my first book to learn about the Japanese language, and I find this pretty good once I understand it's pattern. I had to re-read several times. And this is really just about learning sentence structures, not on learning vocabulary.
What I like about it is that it also includes the Japanese language and not just the English Romanji.
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