Product Description
Aimed at complete beginners, a Japanese language course for home study, which comprises a book and two cassettes. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Amazing, unique, beautiful and EFFECTIVE!
I am truly honored to be able to write the first review of "I'm Learning Japanese".The book is just absolutely fantastic on so many levels.I first noticed the wonderful enclosed-spiral binding which is solid, durable and lays flat.The artwork is simply beautiful, with softly colored pen and ink/watercolor humanistic manga-style illustrations.A complete hiragana character chart on the front inside cover and 23 included kanji, as well as a basic Japanese language pronounciation guide serve as quick references when working on the exercises, and a glossary at the back includes all vocabulary words learned throughout the book.Katakana are not presented in this edition.

The book is arranged as a story wherein three friends are greeted by a wise elder Fox and his faithful helper who masterfully manages to pique the curiosity of the initially skeptical kids.The attitude of the kids is very hip and tends toward slight sarcasm, but their observations are always spot-on, and the delivery is tasteful. My 9 year old son instantly identified with the characters and was hooked.The "masters" are loveable and endearing, providing wry commentary and tongue-in-cheek pomposity befitting their ancient sage status.Together they embark on a journey to speak, write, and read Japanese, as well as gain a better understanding of Japanese culture.

Lessons begin by focusing on Japanese grammar, using an extremely user-friendly hybrid of English words with Japanese syntax and particles,(Japanenglish) to firmly cement word order and importance of subject marker, object marker, location marker and question marker.From there, hiragana are introduced seamlessly as the reader/student is carried along the journey by way of the engaging storyline. Potentially confusing elements of the language are cleverly and humorously acknowledged and clarified by the student characters and masters respectively.This has one been one of the most remarkable acheivements of the book in that the reader feels that the characters in the book are *themselves* striving to learn something rather different than they are used to.In this respect, I think that children (or any students using the book) will feel they have advocates who understand their frustration.

We are relaxed homeschoolers, and after several only marginally successful attempts at foreign language learning, this book has been the proverbial "dream come true".It is fun, entertaining, well designed, clear, culturally relevant, visually beautiful and comprehensive.It is perfect for self-directed learning as it is not divided into lessons or units, but rather the student takes on "challenges" directly from the master.(Answers to these challenges are provided in the back of the book.) A family treasure-

My most sincere thanks and appreciation to the team that put this amazing book together...Ganbatte!

... Read more

Product Description
With 10,000 entries, this dictionary is the most complete of its kind. It is a major contribution to more accurate sharing of scientific and technological information.The dictionary is unique in providing a romanized transcription for each of the 10,000 Japanese terms. It promotes clear oral communication, whether one is using purely Japanese words or terms that have been borrowed from English but are pronounced somewhat differently by the Japanese.Professional translators of Japanese, English-speaking engineers and computer and dataprocessing professionals dealing with Japanese products or companies, marketing executives, and journalists are among those who will find this dictionary indispensable for such uses as translating an instruction manual, composing a telex message, ordering materials and parts, looking up a word during a face to face conversation, or interviewing executives in a technical field.The Japanese English section lists the romanized Japanese words (Romaji) according to the Roman rather than the Japanese alphabet, thus simplifying reference by Western speakers of Japanese as well as by native speakers of Japanese who are familiar with both Roman script and alphabetical order.The dictionary also aids Western recognition and reproduction of katakana characters (Japanese characters used to represent the sounds of borrowed foreign words) by providing the exact romanized transcriptions of words borrowed from English and expressed in katakana form instead of keeping such words in their original forms. The word "computer" for instance, may be translated indigenously as "keisanki," but the borrowed English "konpyuta" is also widely used. The dictionary gives the romanizations of both, to facilitate verbal communication; it also gives, for readers of Japanese, the ideogrammic representations of both words.Gene Ferber majored in Japanese language and culture at London University and has served a number of clients including AT&T the Japan Travel Bureau, and Toshiba International as a translator and an interpreter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very much dated, but very thorough
Unfortunately this is quite an old dictionary, and there are few Japanese-English "computer dictionaries" out there at all.

First, be forewarned! There is no Internet or World Wide Web terminology here! This book predates the Web and at the time it was written, the Internet was still an experiment used by a few organizations. You won't find terms like "email", "web page", "browser" -- the words *most* people are probably looking for.

However, if you are in a technical field, this book is extremely thorough regarding computers, software, and technology up to its time, so if you plan on communicating in detail with Japanese engineers and business people regarding data processing, computers, engineering, etc., this book is excellent. It gets so high-tech here that some of the terms, I didn't even know about them or what they meant in *English* before I read this book!

Yes, I would even recommend "reading" this book over a period of time.

The font and format are excellent, and the paper and binding are top-quality, making it much easier on the eyes than the average dictionary. Unlike other language dictionaries, it does not present a multitude of possible related meanings...but that is how it manages to squeeze so many entries (terms) in the book while keeping enough whitespace to ease the reading.

I just wish the publishers made an "addendum" to this book to bring it into the 21st century (email, web browsing, modern OSes, etc., consumer-type software terms). It royally stinks that I have to live with an old dictionary (and use my own version of "Janglish" with my Japanese friends), because I cannot justify $150-250 for one of the only 2 new Computer-Internet dictionaries that are out there!

A Hardcore Computer Science Dictionary
The format of this book is excellent. Words are easy to look up and everything is referenced nicely. However, the choice of words were not quite what I expected from the title. I think the book was a little heavy on the data-processing and hardware terms. If you are looking for a dictionary to help you read Japanese software documentation or use Japanese software. However, I feel that this book would be a useful addition to any technical translators library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Thorough, Useful, and Informative (but not for everyone)
I found this book to be a rich and useful tool for learning Japanese. The material is well organized and clearly presented.As the title suggests each lesson contains information on both the literal meaning and grammatical content of the topic as well as a "how to" section on communication strategies for how the English speaker can use the language in business and social settings.

I offer the following as a warning but not as a shortcoming. While the book is appropriate for those starting to learn Japanese or enhance their skills, the detailed treatment of linguistics may be a bit overwhelming. That is, depending on your interest in the structure of languages in general (including English), you may want to take a look at this title in a bookstore before buying it. If terms like "subordinate conjuction" and "auxiliary verb" seem like foreign words already, this may not be the book for you.

However, because learning to speak Japanese depends in no small part on knowing the structure behind the words, this book is one of the best I've come across.This isn't something to pick up if your trip to Japan is only a month or two away. Expect to spend several months working through it the first time.It will be worth the effort though. ... Read more

Product Description
SPEAK JAPANESE WITH CONFIDENCE IN JUST 6 WEEKS!

The Living Language® Japanese Complete Course teaches the basics of Japanese language and usage. It uses a highly effective speed-learning method developed by U.S. government experts to teach languages to overseas-bound service personnel and diplomats.

THREE 60-MINUTE COMPACT DISCS WITH 40 LESSONS
•Begin with simple words and progress to complex phrases and sentences.
•Just listen and repeat after the native speakers on the recordings to learn naturally, the way you learned English.

JAPANESE COURSEBOOK
•40 lessons from the recordings with translations, additional vocabulary, detailed explanations, quizzes, and reviews.
•Verb charts, a comprehensive grammar summary, and a section on letter writing are also included.

JAPANESE–ENGLISH / ENGLISH–JAPANESE DICTIONARY
•More than 20,000 words, idioms, and expressions.
•Examples show how words are used in everyday conversation.
•1,000 frequently used words are highlighted for easy reference. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Great course, but I just get too annoyed sometimes...
I think Living Language courses at just great - I am a big consumer of audio-language-courses and in my opinion, LL beats e.g. Pimsleur courses.

But what really annoys me is the female voice that gives absolutely too long introductions to each and every subject. Maybe American listeners are used to something like that, but for us Europeans her overexcited and naive voice is just bit too much sometimes...

And she seems to be speaking in all LL courses! Sigh...

Complete in substance, not in format
This little box does indeed contain every datum necessary to speak japanese well. However, all the audio material is placed on two audio cassettes without any repetition. That's the only way to put this much material on two cassettes. I recommend digitizing the tapes, breaking the recordings up into the forty individual lessons, and practicing them repetitively one by one. In that form, there is a lot to be gained from this set. I wish the included dictionary were more literal in its sense of word translation. The great thing about this set is that it is complete at so small a price.

If price is not an issue, I suggest Pimsleur for learning competence in a language, but I'm glad I bought this set, just to begin with.

Important point for consideration
The Living Language Complete Course, is really better for students trying to get a quick handle on Japanese.Grammar explanations are minimized in favor of pattern sentences and learning the writing system is deferred.

The Living Language Ultimate Course is more dedicated towards the serious student who wants to know the mechanics of Japanese and delve deeper into the writing system as well.

This should be on the box so potential buyers can make a more informed choice; instead, it is on the company's home page FAQ.

So if you want a good course that isn't technical yet will get you talking quickly get the complete course.If you want a more scholarly work equivalent to a college Japanese education and fully learn the mechanics of the language, get the ultimate series.

I haven't tried the basic course although I am using the ultimate course, but after reading the other reviews addressing the lack of serious content I thought it might help to address why that is so.After all, the word "Complete" can be misleading.

Perfect tool to learn Japanese and it's a lot of fun too!
This complete course come with three audio CD's, Japanese to English/English Japanese dictionary, and a course book. This is a perfect tool for everyone who wants to learn Japanese! It's a lot of fun as you listen and repeat the words and phrases. It has 40 lessons on three CD's and it's a lot of fun! I really like the third disk because it has awesome dialoges and it's really cool!

If you want to learn Japanese and become really fluent try this complete course set and you'll start speaking Japanese right away! It's fast, easy, and a lot of fun when you learn a new language! Remember practice makes perfect and you'll want to learn more new words and phrase everyday and you'll be really fluent when you impress someone who speaks Japanese! It's fun to learn a new language and I really like this complete course set! Try it and you'll start speaking and understand Japanese!

Sayonara!

good book set , still needs work
I had this book set for over 4 years,and I have to say it is pretty good at teaching japanese (I picked it up pretty fast using their recommended study plan). But it still needs work...............

PROS:
Native speakers on the CD help you speak japanese clearly and tune your ears to fleunt spoken japanese .

Proper Verb and Sentence structure lessons

Essential Words and Phrases are given and explained

Japanese Dictionary and Pronunciation Guide

Japanese Grammar supplement inback of the book

Easy for absolute beginners

CONS:

Native speakers only cover the *SELECTED* words in the book.

No Kanji or Kana are used with the lessons (although there is a japanese alphabet section in the back of the book)

Even though grammar is explained, it could be simplified with using charts instead of blocky paragraphs. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn Japanese anywhere and anytime!If you can listen to a CD, you can learn Japanese.

Drive Time Japaneseis an innovative language-learning program from the experts at Living Language that lets you learn Japanese vocabulary, Japanese grammar, Japanese pronunciation, conversation and even Japanese culture without a book. This convenient all-audio introduction to Japanese includes 4 hours of language lessons of four CDs. Learn Japanese while you’re commuting to work, running errands, taking a trip with the family, or even while jogging or working out! The Drive Time Japanese course package includes

•Conversational lessons on four CDs — hear and practice Japanese with natural pronunciation and speed
•Lots of listening and speaking exercises, simple explanations, examples, and real conversational practice
•A 64-page learning guide book with Japanese vocabulary lists, dialogue scripts, and a grammar summary for extra reference ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Helpful introduction to the language
I found this series surprisingly better than I thought.I had bought it for a long commute I was planning.The trick is that you really have to pause between lessons and practice all the words you know in different combinations.It's not enough to understand intellectually what has been covered - you have to try new things

You also need to try the obvious things often.For example, the numbers one to ten are covered and are not hard to learn, but you need time to really integrate them so that you'll understand people's phone numbers and when people tell you the time of day that the train leaves and on what track. You don't want your associates to have to repeat information like this.Therefore, it is critical to drill the "easy" things until they feel less foreign.

The series makes skillful use of repetition.Vocabulary words appear in more than one chapter, for example.Grammar is covered so that the listener can feel confident trying new sentences beyond the set phrases they provide.

Ja ne!

love my lessons
I love this set of cd's. At first I was a little intimidated but soon realized that I can hit the repeat button as many times as needed. I was showing off all I learned this weekend to my family and they were impressed! There is lots to learn and it's fun and also a great value for the money. My son lives in japan and is fluent in japanese, and he said I am learning more than some of his college friends that are learning japanese!

Bad
It took weeks for this product to get here, I ordered it on the 6th(of Dec), and I didn't get it until after Christmas!

great way to learn japanese
I studied Japanese in Japan, but had forgotten most of my grammer. This CD set is brilliant - logical, clear, simple. I actually picked up grammer I had never been able to grasp in class. Will be buying next set tocontinue my study. Highly recommended. Good vocabularly and useful conversation - will have you speaking in no time!

Yatta!
I have tried many many programs and classes to learn a language and this has been amazing!I listen to a track or two when running errands.I only procede when I fully understand the previous tracks.It's great because I can work at my own pace and not someone elses.I know there have been complaints that you can't learn how to read/write with this products, but that's not what this product is for.besides- toddlers learn speech before they learn how to spell and write. ... Read more

Product Description
The comic book that teaches you how to read and write Japanese! This brand-new series from Manga University uses original comic artwork to teach readers how to identify and write the most common Japanese kanji ideographs. Volume 1 introduces 80 basic kanji that all Japanese schoolchildren are required to learn before entering the third grade. Subsequent volumes in the series will focus on more difficult kanji and kanji compounds. Each page features its own comic strip, kanji pronunciation guide, stroke order, and English explanations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Kindle version inefficient display
This comment is not about the content but the way it is being rendered on a 6" Kindle.
The content could have been "stretched" so that it utilizes the whole screen which in turn makes the text more "readable"

tr
I got this book for my e-reader because I thought it would be a fun way to learn. It said the text to speech was enabled but it isn't. This would be helpful while trying to read on a small screen. and it is always easier to learn another language when you can hear it.

A Fun Way to Learn Basic Kanji
These little books are a fun way to learn basic kanji. Each entry consists of a single page with one to four manga (or "comic strip") panels. The dialog is completely in kana (hirgana and katakana, which are phonetic Japanese characters) except for the featured kanji character, which usually appears a couple of times. There are English translations below, but no "romanji" (English characters). And, the translations are not word for word. So, unless you read kana fluently and already understand a little Japanese, these books won't be of much use to you. They do have a "Kana de Manga" book, which might be a better place to start, although I have not read it myself.

Do Not Buy! Unless you have the DX
Let me be clear, this manga, along with all other graphic novels is useless on the regular 6" kindle! Books in comic format cannot have text enlarged, to make matters worse, the way each page displays, it leaves an inch of blank border around each page to accomodate the page counter. This is a great book, but be sure to buy it in paperback format. I don't have a DX, but I would imagine that having one would make this book a lot easier to read.

good book
This book has helped me tremendously in memorizing kanji, but if you plan on becoming fluent in japanese, I recommend getting Japanese Vocabulary and Japanese Grammar by Carol Akiyama. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn Japanese in 4 Simple Steps.

With Living Language Complete Japanese: The Basics, you’ll start by learning words, and then you’ll progress to phrases, sentences, and conversations. This simple four-step building block approach will have you speaking with confidence right from the beginning, and you’ll be able to learn gradually and effectively. If you’re confident in your pronunciation, then this coursebook includes everything you need - vocabulary, grammar, culture, and practice.

This comprehensive coursebook includes:
• 40 step-by-step lessons
• Practical vocabulary and authentic everyday usage
• Simple explanations and plenty of examples
• Supplemental sections, including e-mail and internet resources
• A comprehensive grammar reference section ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Okay for certain uses
As a beginner of Japanese, I have found that this package is best as a grammatical reference.Most of the basics of Japanese grammar are very well outlined and explained in the booklet, and when I want to see how to form a particular sentence I can usually go to the booklet and find it easily.The material has been very helpful in this regard.

This set includes 3 audio CDs; however I did not find them particularly useful for a few reasons.First, the CDs only consist of Japanese sentences taken from the coursebook, with no English accompanying it, so you are hearing Japanese speech only with the idea that you will be using the book along with it.Also, Japanese pronunciation is generally pretty straightforward, so if you know how to read the Romaji system (the system in which Japanese words are written with English letters, and is not difficult at all to learn) it's easy to pronounce sentences correctly on your own.Now the first CD goes over pronunciation basics, and I found that part helpful, but after I learned that I didn't really need anything else on the CDs.

One drawback to this package is that, except for a small amount presented in the back, there is no Japanese kana writing accompanying the Romaji text in the material, either in the coursebook or the dictionary.Since this is a basic course I doubt the company wanted to include that.However if I want to learn to read and write the Japanese sentences presented I often have to look up the words separately in another dictionary.On the other hand, there is a chart in the back that teaches you how to write hiragana and katakana correctly, and this is a good reference if you are wanting to learn that.

So this is kind of a mixed bag, in actuality.I wouldn't recommend it as an audio resource, as I think there are probably more thorough ones out there.I think it would be a much better deal to purchase the coursebook separately (the Japanese Coursebook: Basic-Intermediate (LL(R) Complete Basic Courses)), which you can do, and a good dictionary, such as the Random House Japanese-English English-Japanese Dictionary.

Good place to start...
When I was preparing to leave for Japan this was the first book I picked up to help with my language preparation.Imagine how surprised I was to find out when I got there and use some of the phrases on my new Japanese friends they said "Yes, we understand what you want to say but that's not what real Japanese people say."Later on in my study, my Japanese friend found the book, got a pen, and started changing the phrases around to suit a more natural style.
In short; this book is a good starting off point for learning Japanese but in no way should be considered modern or comprehensive.

IMPORTANT NOTE!If your are going to get this book, make sure you are getting the CD's too.Japanese in a language where the vowel sounds are totally different from English and a long vowel sound can totally change the meaning of a word. (EG.The words "hospital" and "hair salon" in Japanese have VERY similar pronunciation, you need to hear the words spoken it to produce it correctly.)

Good book for beginners
I started this course book and cd collection and I really like it. Unlike most tutorials it starts off with the basics of grammer: understanding vowel and consonant pronounciation. Starts off with everyday words for each, very short lesson to show you how to pronounce all the vowels and consonants and then you listen to the CD after every lesson to hear exactly what you are reading.Just like learning our own native language it teaches everyday words first, just like we learned apple, Monday, dollar etc first and then sentences.It also explains syllabary.I've picked up many tutorials trying to learn Japanese and so far this has been the easiest to understand and relate to. It's not repition from a tape/CD it's actual learning how to understand and speak it.THEN you can go on to learning kana, kanji,writing etc.Some complaints I read is that it doesn't use the Japanese characters or real-world sentences and situations. Well this is like learning in elementary school. You learn letters, then the words, then the sentences and essays and so on. You don't just jump into writing long words and sentences when you don't even know how to read yet.My only complaint is that with this and all the tutorials is that it's difficult for me to hear some of the words so I have to keep playing back the entire lesson just to replay one word that I have trouble with (on a CD).

Helpful but not perfect
I am in the process of studying Japanese to prepare for living in Tokyo next year. Learning Japanese through the Living Language series is helpful but also has some drawbacks. The biggest drawback is that the writers fail to include pronunciation helps in the text itself, however they do indeed provide native Japanese speakers to help in the accompanying three CDs. Also, they spend the first four or five lessons on various grammatical topics, which can actually be a little confusing when trying to learn a new language. Other language series jump into learning words and phrases by repetition, citing the fact that to really learn any new language you must practice repeating it over and over out loud and not worry at first about grammar and syntax. That being said, I will seek to finish the 40 lesson in this course and hope it better prepare me for my year that will be spend in Japan. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

Cute, funny, great quick read!
Honestly, I didn't have that high expectations when I got it and picked it up to read it. The pictures are strange, with the face blurred out. One or two of the gestures it's hard to tell what they're doing exactly. Still, this book is filled with humor and it was worth the read. It shows different versions of the gestures, and how to make the gestures have different meanings or be more offensive. It also tells you if it used by someone older or younger, male or female, and when to/not to use it. They have a little description of the model at the back of the book, and that to me wasneat. But the book has a paragraph with each picture, and the word is written in both romaji and kana, which is nice. I thought it was quite funny and even interesting. Definitely borrow it from a friend or buy it used, because it is short! I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Hysterical!
This book is hilarious and at the same time informative! Who knew learning could be so entertaining?It has a lot of fun insights into different aspects of Japanese culture.I only wish the book was longer and went more in-depth.

Hilarious...and helpful
This book was funny and insightful. It makes visitors to Japan aware that much can be said through a gesture and great offense or insult as well. It's always a good idea to research any country that you are going to visit and this book brings the reader one step closer to avoiding potentially sticky situations.

Just keep your hands in your pockets.
I'm not sure this was a better choice than the rather terrible and strange Hungry Sailor cookbook.I did learn that the way I make a fist in my sleep is a rude gesture but I regret doing this Amazon promo.Instead of getting 25% off on 4 books I wanted, I got one book I liked and three that were a waste.Never again.

Amazing wealth of knowledge about Japanese culture
If you're a fan of the Japanese culture, then you know that communication is often full of non-verbal communication - hand gestures, body movements. Here's the way to decipher what those mean!

Written by Hamiru-aqui and translated by Aileen Chang, this brilliant book contains photos of a Japanese person doing the gesture, the name of the gesture and its full history. This is invaluable whether you read manga, watch anime, or enjoy any sort of Japanese cinema.

For example, what does it mean when a Japanese person puts a pair of fists in front of their nose, making their nose look longer? Does it mean they're telling a lie, like in Pinnochio? Hardly! It's actually representing a tengu, or Japanese demon. Tengu were known as being very conceited, so this hand gesture means you think the person you're referring to is an overly-proud person.

The book is full of not only standard hand symbols but also swears and 'dangerous hand movements', ranked by intensity. There are some hand movements you definitely do NOT want to do to a Japanese person - but you might not even realize it!

It's like the middle finger in American / British culture. That middle finger movement has a long history and immediately means something to us. To other cultures, it might not mean anything at all. Just as when we see a middle finger stuck at us we get an instant reaction, so do the Japanese get instant reactions to certain hand gestures and body movements.

This book is the key to deciphering what those movements mean, so that your enjoyment of the Japanese culture is even more complete!

Highly recommended, and very entertaining! ... Read more

Product Description
In the fourth century A.D., through contact with Korea, Japan adopted the Chinese writing system which had been sweeping through Asia along with the new Buddhist religion. Modern Japanese writing uses three main scripts: kanji (Chinese ideograms), which are used for proper names, for nouns, and for verb roots; hiragana (deriving from the terms hira, "common," and kana "borrowed character"), used for adding to and distinguishing from sequences of Japanese grammar; and katakana (from kata, "part," and kana, "borrowed character" or rather, "partially borrowed character"), which is used to denote foreign pronunciations or to write terms borrowed from foreign languages.

With large depictions and clear step-by-step instructions, Mandel illustrates all 48 sounds in Japanese, presented in the traditional iroha order, in hiragana, katakana, and kanji forms, and each entry is accompanied with its roma-ji, or Roman phonetic spelling. The author clearly indicates the correct sequence for writing the individual strokes, and provides each kana, or character, with the Chinese kanji from which it was derived. He relates a concise history of Japanese writing, and provides the reader with charts of the Japanese and Chinese numbers, the hiragana and katakana contractions, and the"keys" or radicals that make up the Japanese kanji. A comprehensive guide to all of the characters of the Japanese alphabet, this is an ideal primer for the beginner, as well as a convenient reference for a more advanced student. Joining Abbeville's Chinese Calligraphy, Maya Script, and Arabic Script, Japanese Alphabet is an exhaustive compendium of the Japanese writing system and indispensable addition to any Japanese linguist's library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beatuiful and Practical
This is a great book that is both beautiful and practical.

The overall layout is artfully presented with beautiful artwork and typography.The main content of the book is a focused presentation of the different aspects for each of the 48 essential Japanese characters.The books starts with an historical account of how the written word evolved in Japan and then proceeds with a brief description of the various types of scripts that are used.

The main body of the book illustrates a systematic break down of each character for both the Hiragana and Katakana scripts.The pages are set up in juxposition so you can see the relationship between the various elements.Each page shows the stroke by stroke construction of a character as well as the associated voiced and half-voiced variations.The phonetics for each character are shown in "Romanji" and there is also a grid which helps to recognize some of the different font variations as they would appear in print.

The author is not a native Japanese linguist but he has an extensive background in calligraphy.His emphasis seems to be on the physical properties of each character as there is no discussion of how the characters are actually used to construct meaningful statements.The author uses a systematic but artful approach to dissect each character and to show the relationships between the various scripts.In addition to students of Japanese,this work would be appreciated by calligraphers, typographers, artists, and all those who love to dwell in the aesthetic beauty of the written word, no mater what the language.

Visual, step-by-step diagrams clearly indicate the proper stroke order when writing
Japanese Alphabet: The 48 Essential Characters is an in-depth guide to all the characters (kana) of the Japanese alphabet, presented in both their hiragana and katakana versions. Visual, step-by-step diagrams clearly indicate the proper stroke order when writing; also present are glimpses of each character in a variety of different typeface fonts. A thoughtful historical introduction to these beautiful and functional written letters rounds out this welcome addition to Japanese language studies shelves.
... Read more

Product Description
Understanding Japanese Information Processing provides detailedinformation on all aspects of handling Japanese text on computersystems. It brings all of the relevant information togetherin a single book and covers everything from the origins of modern- day Japanese to the latest information on specific emerging computerencoding standards. Appendices provide additional reference material,such as a code conversion table, character set tables, mapping tables,an extensive list of software sources, a glossary, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the best reference book that I have used
Provided complete information on all topics related to the subject.Discussion and examples are clear and detailed, I never had to look anywhere else. ... Read more

Product Description
New JLPT outlineProblems organization in the examProblems examplesMark SheetCorrect answersListening Script and CDFor level N4 and N5 ... Read more

Product Description
Yookoso!, meaning welcome in Japanese, is the second volume of a two-volume series for beginning Japanese courses. Based on modern principles of second-language acquisition, it was the first beginning Japanese text to integrate the teaching of all four language skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) and to be accompanied by a full complement of ancillary materials. Grammar is treated as a tool for developing the ability to communicate in Japanese, not as the focal point of the text. The illustration program (photographs, line drawings, realia) and the two-color, hard-cover format is unique in this field, providing an attractive context for language learning. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Buy From Amazon
If you have to get this workbook, get it from Amazon.Much cheaper than anywhere else (that I found) and delivered quickly.

A good stepping stone.
I used this book in college and I was not thrilled with it.Everything is beyond crammed in the study book. The lab manual is too vague and does not enforce what the beyond crammed chapters are about.As a college graduate with my degree in Japanese, I would not recommend using this workbook for personal growth in the language.It is a good stepping stone to the Professor's lectures. I've learned more from my professors in class than from this composition book and study book.If this is being used in your college class 200'ish level, be prepared for a cram shock.The only way to truly learn this language is pay attention to your Prof and ask tons of questions like I did. Always make kanji and vocabulary cards too!

Useful
The workbook is the perfect companion to the intermediate Japanese text. It reinforces the lesson and provides extra practice.

A language acquisition experiement gone RIGHT...
For those who expect to learn Japanese in less than a year, be fluent, and a master of the language... this book is not for you.It goes at Japanese (though this is the manual for Part Two) with a student-approach.It has everyday life scenarios, has written and reading Japanese activities, introduces Kanji practice exercises in the workbook, has available listening comprehension, and cultural notes.

This Japanese learning series is based on a student-learning level.It is not for someone looking to study Business Japanese, or someone with an extreme cultural focus.This book focuses (and the other in the series) on teaching basic, practical Japanese.In the second book, it goes into more detail and harder forms of verbs, tenses, and so forth.Both plain and polite language is discussed, and it gives vocabulary words at easy-to-grasp levels.

There is a glossary in the back, and a thorough index.

I studied Book One on a High School school level (a level which, curriculum wise, is only allowed to move slow) for four years.Later, I continued with Japanese, and went through the second book.

This is not the type of book that will teach contemporary Japanese in an instant.It is not the type of book that NEEDS to make the learner love Japanese more or less.A stutent of Japanese (or any language) should go into the field with a desire to learn.Japanese is very different from much of the English language.It is a hard language, but, the book is correct on one matter.Japanese is elegant, beautiful, and a language that everyone should be proud to study.It takes perserverence and a great attention to practice and detail.It also takes a good instructor.The book cannot do all the work FOR you.

Therefore, with careful study, practice, diligence, a good textbook, and a teacher who is up to date in Japanese, a student can learn and become fluent.You can't blame a textbook for what your class was lacking.

But, Youkoso (both Volume 1 and 2, and the accompanying workbooks) will be beneficial to a student of Japanese and are good tools for learning and mastering a different language.

A language acquisition experiment gone terribly wrong...
I own Yookoso I and II, both versions of each. This book is the worst thing you can use to teach Japanese to native English speakers. The author has the bizarre notion that Japanese is a simple and elegant language compared to English, and all that is needed is to present it to English speakers in this light, and they'll spontaneously start speaking and reading as fluently as a Japanese who took 12 years in school to learn his kanji.

I started out believing that it was of primary importance to learn the script simultaneously with the other aspects of the language. Unfortunately, it took two years of slow, stumbling sounding out of syllables to be able to read at any reasonable speed. (Wa...ta...shi...wa...su...shi...o...ta...be...ma...su...) Even though I spent far more time than is reasonable (or was expected) studying the material, I never felt as though I mastered any of it. By the time I had taken 4 semesters, everybody else had become discouraged and quit Japanese entirely. Worst of all, I had no listening comprehension and could not produce anything remotely resembling speech. The exercises in the books are full of unexplained irregularities, so when you do them, you get them wrong and can't figure out why. (They fixed that in the second edition by taking the answers out of the back of the book, so we couldn't check our work.) The workbook, on the other hand, seems to be written by someone who is unconcerned that they material they are using hasn't been presented to the student.

A book must be judged on its result, and this book didn't result in any of over 100 students learning to speak Japanese, or continuing its study. As a linguistics grad student, I am now convinced that to learn a spoken language, you must be exposed to speech, and how much you learn is directly related to that exposure. The more you attempt to intellectualize the task, the more you distract from the natural acquisition of language.

If you think the way to learning a language is paved with endless multidimensional tables of grammatical rules, long lists of vocabulary without context, and myriad bookwork exercises, this is the book for you.

If you want to learn Japanese, get RosettaStone. ... Read more

Product Description
Living Language In-Flight Japanese is the perfect boarding pass to learning Japanese before you land.

There's no better way to make use of all that spare time on a plane than to master the essentials of a language.This 60-minute program is the simplest way to learn just enough to get by in every situation essential to both the tourist and business traveler.

The program covers everything from greetings and polite expressions to asking directions, getting around, checking into a hotel, and going to a restaurant.There are even sections for meeting people and spending a night on the town.

Short lessons make In-Flight Japanese easy to use, and a handy pocket-sized insert is included as a cheat sheet for use on the go. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Handy phrases for travelers, not a language CD
I've used several titles in this series - Czech, Japanese, Italian, Greek, Turkish, and Korean. I find that having some consistency in learning the same phrases from language to language really makes it easier, because I know what phrases I should be able to recall every time, if I can just search my mind (or the pocket size-booklet that comes with the CD) for it.

These CDs are not intended to teach you any complete language! These are handy phrases that smooth things over during your trip. Knowing how to say "thank you," "please," and the most crucial phrase of all, "excuse me," makes my trips much more pleasant. If you want to actually learn Japanese, you will need something more intensive, but if you just want to be able to ask where the train station is, this will do the trick.

No, you probably can't learn all the phrases on your flight to Japan or anywhere else. I put the CD in my car's CD player about a month before I leave on a trip and listen to it driving back and forth to work. Some minor flaws in the series are that some of the native speakers speak more clearly with others and there is little attempt to customize the phrases to each culture (do I really need to know how to say chopsticks in Czech?). But overall, I've been very happy with the series and knowing these phrases usually gets me out of one or two tight spots per trip.

One example is when I was getting bothered by a vendor in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, who kept following me and asking me in English why I didn't say hello to him. I turned and with exaggerated politeness gave him a dramatic "merhaba," and he laughed and left me alone. A few local words can turn you from an lost American tourist to someone of at least vague sophistication who no longer looks like an easy mark. Or at least you can be someone who can get a friendly laugh from a Japanese restaurant owner when trying to compliment her on the meal. So if your goal is to actually learn the language, look elsewhere, but this series is great if you just want to be confident and polite.

Crash Landing
The blurb on the back of the package claims that if you work on this programme during your flight, you will learn enough of the language to get by. Unless your flight will be equal in length to a flight to Mars, you will certainly not be able to absorb enough of this 60-minute course to even nearly get by. This is a CD "update" to Fast & Easy Japanese (also by Living Language). In-Flight Japanese boasts over 400 essential words & phrases (a 100 word increase from Fast & Easy). Less is sometimes better. Each phrase on In-Flight is only spoken once (rather than twice as on the Fast & Easy series), not enough if you want to gauge your progress. The native speakers are for the most part speaking clearly, but WAY too fast.It comes with a "boarding pass"(booklet with the entire script, but no Japanese script, very bad when you end up needing help from a native speaker).If you are already familiar with the language, the In-Flight series might actually get you up to speed in between the in-flight movie & the meal (soda pop & peanuts). If you are trying to learn Japanese, try Pimsleur's Japanese I thru III (expensive but effective). Pimsleur Japanese has 30 lessons in each unit, and will get you SPEAKING (the course is audio only) straight away. Pimsleur is by far the best course available. If you are short on time and need a "survival" course, get Language/30 Japanese (by Educational Services Corp). Language/30 comes with 2 tapes and a booklet (has Romanised script as well as Japanese characters, in case you need help from a native speaker). The truly serious language learner will be wise to go through all 3 Pimsleur courses and finish up with Living Language Ultimate Japanese Level I & II. ... Read more

Product Description
Essential Kanji is an integrated course for learning to read and write the 2,000 basic Japanese characters. It introduces the kanji that are now in everyday use, a mastery of which makes it possible to read most modern Japanese. Devised for either home or classroom use, the book has been tested and refined by years of use in university classes taught by the author. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

The worst Japanese language book I have seen
This is the worst Japanese language book that I've reviewed. It consists of the approved kanji in a list together with old translations. A book has to have some value-add.

Hardly any usage help:
- Is the kanji used in a few compounds or is it being productive in creating new compounds?
- Is it mainly used for the kun reading?
- Is it normally used as a prefix?
- How frequently is it used?
- How does it compare to the other kanji in the list with roughly the same meaning?

Hardly any memorisation help:
- What about ordering the kanji based on similar shapes?
- Or starting with the kanji with fewer components? The Japanese school order, which is followed, does not do this.
- Or maybe ordering the kanji based on frequency of use.
- Or providing some mnemonics

I have reviewed around 50 language books so my conclusion is well founded. How anyone could give this book more than two stars is totally unbelievable. I guess people have different levels of expectation. There are so many other better books out there. For instance these two books: A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters (Tuttle language library) and The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary

Good Reference Book
This book is a good reference book to use in order to learn to write Kanji.I have had this book for many years and used it many times.Excellent book for the student to use as study material.

Pretty Good
This is what they teach you in Japan to learn Kanji.The same steps.It is useful for reference.

One of the best kanji books I've used
This book is amazing if you are an intermediate student in Japanese needing to learn more kanji. The kanji themselves are presented in a systematic order, as described in the book title, and they usually present simple characters first, but sometimes they will present a more complex character if it is really useful and handy to know earlier on. The stroke lookup is very nice too, and I have not yet found a kanji I've looked up that I could not find (though that's bound to change eventually, I guess). I learned 25 new characters my first day with this book, (and completely got the meanings in my head the next morning with my review) and while your mileage will probably vary (as my mileage varies in the amount I seem to be able to memorize per day--sometimes it's only 6, usually it's 10 or so, on occasion 20-25), I think the book is a great tool to use if you've had other courses or studied for a while and have the kana and your basic vocabulary and grammar foundation down.

One thing I'd like to address is the complaints on the use of romaji and how this can make knowing the kana readings difficult. Yes, sometimes it could be a problem, but honestly? EVERY Japanese learner should have JWPce installed for those times when the reading is unclear. There's no reason I can think of not to get this free program which is a wonderful companion to the book and has romaji lookup, hiragana lookup, radical lookup, stroke order lookup, four-corner lookup, and there's even an index lookup with this book as an option to select. With the index lookup, you can just pick the book, and enter the kanji number as listed by the book in "index" and it will pop up and you can get complete info on any character in the book this way.

I hate to sound like I'm just going on a rant, but seriously, no book or tool should be your ONLY tool in learning kanji. It's my opinion that this book is an excellent tool when used with other references while learning.

Another thing I found to be an excellent companion to the book (aside from your actual normal Japanese courses and texts) is "Kageyama Method: Tadashii Kanji Kakitori-Kun - Kondo wa Kanken Taidaku Dayo!" for the Nintendo DS. Now, not all of you may own a DS, but if you do, I can say it's well worth the ~$50 to get this game. It has animated stroke order (awesome), multiple example sentences and readings (really awesome), and kanji handwriting evaluation (it can be shaky sometimes but it can help on occasion). Did I mention everything in the entire game has furigana for ease of use by beginners? That's probably my favourite part; although it is entirely in Japanese, it is very helpful for the intermediate student. It's kinda nice to learn a kanji, then go over to kakitori-kun and get the writing down and glance at the different readings while I'm at it. It also shows your progress in learning the kanji it offers (which are mostly the kana and the joyo kanji).


Anyway, enough about those...In summary, I would say this book is a GREAT tool when used in conjunction with some of the software I've given here. Kakitori-kun doesn't even have all the characters this book does (I think it's missing some of the last few mainly used in names), but it's a good aid. JWPce is free, and even if you don't buy this book, I'd highly recommend giving it a spin. The index lookup really quells any romaji issues I can think of, and the book doesn't really make the task of learning all the characters "easier" (I really hate learning tons of mnemonics anyway), but all it takes is perseverance and learning a few characters a day, and soon you will have a much better grasp on the language.

I would highly recommend this book to an intermediate or advanced student who hasn't learned all the kanji yet they need to be fluent. If you haven't developed a mastery for basic grammatical structure, vocabulary, and the kana, this is probably not the best place to start. A regular Japanese text may be better for self-learners starting out, but nothing can beat having a teacher, as trite as that is. However, it is understandable if you cannot find/get to a teacher, so I'd recommend just using the texts and to make sure you listen to the language as well, since often it's easy to forget to practice speaking and hearing the language.

Most importantly, just don't forget to practice every day. It will severely hurt you to just decide "well, I don't really feel like studying today". If you start doing that, it's often easy to get in the mode where you don't want to EVER study, and you just forget about it for a long time. Even if it's just a few characters or a glance at a text or something, don't forget to do this.

I hope you found my review comprehensive and helpful, and I hope you will consider my review when buying this book!

Pretty good but...
This book is pretty useful but Ido have two complaints about it:

1. It can be a little difficult to understand all of the information in each entry, especially at first. It doesn't take long to get used to it, but at first it can actually be a little discouraging.

2. It would be very helpful to look up kanji by meaning sometimes, and doing so with this book is pretty much impossible.

On the other hand, though, this is a great book for systematically teaching yourself the kanji. It starts out with the simplest and builds from there, giving you new kanji only after you have learned the kanji which make up the new one. I would definitely recommend that any serious student of Japanese buy this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Developed at the University of Hawai'i's National Foreign Language Centre as a communicative approach to learning a notoriously difficult language for Westerners. It features: - Vocabulary and grammatical patterns are reinforced and expanded through spiralling review exercises. - Guided conversations, interviews and suggested activities are emphasised. - Cultural notes and culturally accurate illustrations enhance the students' Japanese language learning experience. ... Read more

Product Description
All students of Japanese, whether they have studied physics or not, know the word "particle," and they realize that particles, like English prepositions, require a special effort to master. Thus the high evaluation of the previous edition of this small handbook, which provides all the information students need in a scant 128 pages, was not surprising.

All About Particles covers 69 particles, the most common ones along with the less frequent. The particles are shown to have some 200 usages -- sufficient to keep most students hard at work for a good many years. The book can be approached as a textbook and studied religiously from beginning to end. It is as a reference book, however, that All AboutParticles shines: light enough to carry around, slim enough to fit into the corner of a shoulder bag, concise enough to take one quickly to the crux of the matter, it combines the best of several worlds and is priced to be affordable.

No wonder, then, that wherever students of Japanese congregate, there is bound to be a copy of All About Particles around. By the author of A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns and Japanese Verbs at a Glance.

Previous published in the Power Japanese series under the title All About Particles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Get the other book by the author (see review)
You get information about 69 particles organised alphabetically. Book is quite basic. Several sentence examples for each entry, but the usage comments are not that extensive. The alphabetical organisation makes it sometimes hard to see related to particles.

Book is written in 1991, but I suppose the particles haven't changed that much in the last 20 years.

Skip this book. Consider the following 2005 book by the same author instead: How to Tell the Difference between Japanese Particles: Comparisons and Exercises.It actually has slightly fewer particles, but it is organised topically instead of alphabetically. This makes for a much better learning experience.

If you want a book that covers a larger number of particles I would definitely go for this general grammar instead: A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

Complete and Handy
This particle book has many sections that cover a wide variety of particle usage in everyday Japanese.I find it a useful handbook for brushing up on Japanese used in everyday situations.It is small but relatively complete.The paper is nice, Japanese paper and smells nice.Comes with bookmark and glossy cover.

It's Ok
I used this book for my japanese and this book is ok. For me I thought, it was really easy to forget the particles and it doesn't really stick out in your mind. It's more of a here's the particle and the sentence that's it. I thought her other book The Difference between Particles is way better because it also has english translation like what it translates to english for example kara= from. I thought it was more easier to remember the particles overall I recommned her other book. How to Tell the Difference between Japanese Particles: Comparisons and Exercises <--- This book is way better

handy
this book has served me well so far. in my studies of japanese, i often come across particles i'm not familiar with, and this book explains them. (my studies include breaking down japanese song lyrics and reading manga in japanese, the only thing i can read in japanese. three cheers for kanji.)

before i purchased this book, i read some of the reviews about it, and i have a comment on one of them. this comment complained that this book doesn't seem to have any order to the particles. had that reviewer read the preface, they would have learned that the particles are put in order of frequency. that reader should also have explored the entirety of this book, including the alphabetical index at the back.

inside this great reference book, you'll find 69 particles defined. many particles have multiple uses, which are explained. each explanation i've looked at includes at least two examples. you'll find no exercises, though. if you want exercises for particles, you'll just have to come up with your own sentences, which is what you do when you speak a language anyway.

The "a-ha" moment!
Finally a book that explains Japanese particles in great detail! This book gives many examples of the different situations various particles are used in. If you are in need of a good explanation of the many Japanese particles, here is an easy to read book with as many explanations as you may need. I would also like to note that the Japanese sentences are given a translation and many of them are amusing on their own. The book is reasonably priced and one that I will keep with me for future reference. Good stuff! ... Read more

Product Description
Genki outlines in 23 structured lessons all thefundamentals of the Japanese language. Abundantly illustrated andcontaining a wide variety of exercises, Genki is sure to bring vigorto your classroom! Though primarily meant for use in college-levelclasses, it is also a good guide for independent learners and is anice resource book for teachers of Japanese. Genki's authors teach atKansai Gaidai University, which hosts the largest number of NorthAmerican students spending their junior year in Japan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (65)

GET THIS!
If you're serious about wanting to learn Japanese, the Genki series is the best.I honestly recommend the workbook over the textbook but together they are a lethal combination.I am serious! GET THIS.I had primitive japanese skill that was limited to a few memorized coin phrases.I took a class, where this and the workbook were my study aides, and worked relentlessly to finish the workbook, erased all my answers and did it again, and again (which is why I recommend the workbook).Then I went and spent 3 months in Osaka.When I got to Osaka, I had a really good understanding of Japanese Grammar, and an alright vocabulary, only I'd not had much experiencing really using the language.By the time I left Osaka (90 days later) I was to the point of being able to walk into a shot bar/club/handmade crafts store and have a fun filled/deep/entertaining conversation with anyone there.My jump was insane, and it was because of the genki series.

You know how people talk about male enhancers on late night infomercials?"I cannot believe the results!Amazing!"that's how I feel about genki.buy the text used and the workbook new.Use a pencil to write in, so you can erase and go over it again.

Once you feel like you've really devoured (and I mean you picked the crumbs out of the couch cushion too) genki I, move onto the genki II books.

hope this helps you save a little money and time on the way to experiencing one of the most beautiful cultures in the world.

good Japanese intro textbook
This is probably the most commonly used Japanese textbook on the market for college students, and it has earned that status. The organization is good within each chapter, things come in reasonable chunks (vocab, grammar or phrases), and the end-of-chapter exercises are enough to keep you busy if you choose not to buy the workbook (which you should buy if you are taking a class!) My only complaint was the fact that chapters have themes that really don't fit with their content -- barbecue, for instance, is a chapter, and really does not focus on that. Also, words like "this semester" and "last semester" may well be found in different chapters (true example). Lastly, if you are going further in Japanese and want to learn some kanji, you will need to look at the back of the book for each chapter's kanji list. They are organized by chapter but are not included in the chapters themselves, which I find strange and annoying, and they may or may not be vocab words from that chapter. The question word "what," for instance, is randomly placed and learned much later than is useful, even though it is relatively easy to write.

If you are taking a class that uses this book: Buy it. Used or new shouldn't matter, but familiarize yourself with its organization and read all the grammar sections carefully. Some situations (like using a noun where an adjective is commonly used in a particular structure) are written but easy to miss if you skim.

If you are not taking a class but want to learn Japanese: You might or might not find this a good match. If you memorize quickly and forget quickly, forget it. If you want things in context so they have somewhere to stick in your brain, forget it. It's really formatted for a formal classroom setting.

Decent quality book with great shipping time
The book came in great condition and so far has been very easy to use to learn Japanese!

The BEST workbook out there for learning Japanese
This book is amazing.It teaches you grammar quickly, in a way that makes sense.Very few times I was confused with what was going on with this book.I would advise you to have a dictionary with you (Or be at your computer with a dictionary site ready) because flipping pages is a pain sometimes.There are plenty of examples that never try to trick you.

Only downside is the audio tape isn't too helpful.They pronounce all the words for you, and they read out certain scenarios, but they don't slow down.Sure its great listening practice, but its very hard to do for a beginning student.Believe me, listening to full pace Japanese is hard to make out.If you want good listening comprehension, might want to go to rosetta stone or something.

The kanji they teach is pretty good.They dont go over radicals or anything, but they teach you about 20 of them then give you some reading exercises, repeat for about 160 or so.Also, during the main lessons, all the kanji have furigana for you to read.You may end up 'accidentally learning kanji' this way.Where you see the same kanji enough times you just remember it without studying it.Other books weren't so good at teaching kanji, or do so in a different manner.Know that this book wont teach you all of the joyo kanji, not even close, but it gets you started with a few hundred of the most common ones.It is very organized.

PS: I recommend a dry erase whiteboard + a thick tip chisel dry erase marker for all your kanji drawing.A pen and pad will not cut it.Write down all the kanji you learn a few times, and try to remember it by parts.EG-- thein(ni-hon-go --- Japan) is made up of(to say) (5) (mouth).Definitely makes it easier to remember.Just know that learning kanji will suck no matter what, but this book makes it slightly less sucky.I found it a bit fun to read their little stories, too.

Keep in mind that the Genki series wont teach you -everything-, but it will get you started.I've attained several Japanese textbooks and this one is the best.

PS:How each lesson works is they have a story at the beginning, then a few pages on the grammar tricks used in each story.If you cant read a lesson without 100% understanding, don't advance.

It's okay, but supplementary
My University will be using this textbook for the Japanese 1 class. To get a heads start, I purchased this book, accessed many online resources (i.e. Smart.FM), and utilized another book called: 'Hakwon kal shigani upnun bun weehan: dokhak chutkul eum (For those who don't have time to go to class: Japanese, first step) published in korea.

I titled this review as "It's okay, but supplementary" because I wouldn't learn the Japanese language using ONLY this book. It doesn't cover everything, and often, it does very vaguely. For example: it goes over Katakana and Hiragana pretty fast and doesn't elaborate on the use ofand its various pronunciations; nor does it include stroke order for any of the Kana or Kanji within the book. You are required to use other sources to nail down these important concepts.

As a learner who speaks both English and Korean fluently, I find the previously mentioned book (from Korean<->Japanese) much more elaborate and concise when explaining grammar.

This book is an excellent supplement to learning the Japanese language. I recommend utilizing online resources!

[...] ... Read more

Product Description
Summarizing what is known of the history andprehistory of Korean and Japanese, a problem that necessarilyinvolves their possible genetic relationship to the Altaic(Turkic, Mongiol, Tungus) languages, the author examines--anddemonstrates that it is necessary to reject--arguments nowdominant in most Western scolarship that would attribute allsimilarities among these languages to borrowing rather thangenetic relationship. He argues that the now widely acceptedtruism that "Korean and Japanese cannot be Altaic laguages"because "there are no Altaic languages" can no longer seriouslybe maintained. Korean and Japanese both possess important earlywritten records, until now either ignored or largelymisrepresented by those who dismiss the Altaic hyphotesis. Theauthor shows that these texts, when approached with properphilological precision, bolster the Altaic hyphotesis in much thesame way that the discovery of Tokharian and Hittite materialsearlier stimulated and clarified Indo-European historicallinguistics ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Miller's wars
When I first saw this book I thought that the idea of Japanese being an Altaic language was widely accepted and that this book will just confirm it and give truthful proof of it. I started reading it and I should say that I liked the style in which this work was written. After finishing it, I understand Miller's thoughts and I really think he's a good linguist, however, I was not convinced of the Altaic theory.
Some given etymologies are quite good examples of the Altaic divergence theory and would persuade much of the readers, but on the other hand some fantasizing phonologic mutations are totally disappointing and unexplicable.
Miller does not provide regular phonological changes rules, but an amount of possible cognates ranging from turkish, chuvash, hungarian to tungus and korean, with no clear correspondences among all those languages.
Sometimes, Miller spends much time talking about basic historical linguistics in his crusade against anti-altaicist linguists: this is just funny but does not add much to the work.
After all, I think Miller has been opening the path from Japanese to Altaic since many years ago with effort and he could be right, but he should not discard the many substratums in the Japanese (Austronesian, Tibeto-Burman, etc.).
I recommend this book, but see also other works contrasting with these like Beckwith's "Koguryo: The Language of Japan's Continental Relatives".

Fascinating introduction to the study of languages
Having lived in the Far East for the last 16 years, I was intrigued by Prof. Miller's title, especially his sub-title:Japanese, Korean, and Altaic.During my five years in Japan and my three years in Korea, many people from all walks of life were horrified by my suggestion that Japanese and Korean might be related to each other.Most people I talked to in both countries consider their language to be unique in more than one way, although both languages were heavily influenced by Chinese, especially the writing system (Chinese characters, known as "han-zi" in mainland China, "han-ja" in Korea, and "kan-ji" in Japan).

In both Japanese and Korean, many words that we call nouns and verbs were originally taken from Chinese.Over time, the pronunciations have diverged, as we can see above from the respective names for Chinese characters in the three countries.In addition, Japanese and Korean sentences have a remarkable "grammatical" similarity, using postpositions (instead of prepositions) of similar meaning and spelling in many of the same positions in the sentence.Most people cannot help but accept these basic similarities, but they quickly reject the notion that the two languages are "sisters" or even remote cousins.This is the background I brought to Prof. Miller's book, which not only suggests the two languages are related to each other but posits a connection to a larger language family, Altaic.

Prof. Miller brings to this study a background that stretches from Tibetan to Chinese to Japanese and Korean.However, instead of embracing the connectedness of the languages based on the syntactic features (sentence structure), he holds that the sound systems of Japanese and Korean are related to an older Altaic.This is perhaps his most controversial claim.This argument makes for a fascinating introduction to the study of languages.

In his opening chapter he sets out a series of working definitions of comparative and historical linguistics, and shows how these can be applied to any language family.He also notes that most of the objections to proposals of an Altaic family come from those who are more expert in Indo-European, which includes languages as different as English, Greek, and Hindi, but which are "well attested" by many ancient written records.The trail of written words is harder to follow in Altaic, a fact which Prof. Miller meets head on in his second chapter.In the third, he explains the concepts of Altaic, arguing that any reconstruction naturally starts from certain assumptions.He then goes on to show, with copious examples, how Japanese and Korean have a relationship with the other members of the Altaic family, which some scholars say includes Turkish, Tungusic, Mongolian, Manchu, and others.

Next, Prof. Miller demonstrates those features of Altaic that he believes are still evident in Japanese and Korean.One of the most frequent complaints against his theory is that many of the features common to Japanese and Korean could have been borrowed, as they borrowed words from Chinese. (English, for example, has many words and expressions of French origin.)Prof. Miller deals with these objections in his sixth chapter; in sum, borrowing alone cannot explain the kind of rich interrelatedness he finds in the two "sister" languages and their older "parent".

Finally, Prof. Miller sets out the kind of work that he believes still needs to be done to fill in the many missing pieces of the Altaic puzzle as it relates to Japanese and Korean.More important, though, is his appeal, repeated from the first chapter, for a thorough grounding of comparative studies in the principles he attributes to earlier Neo-Grammarian scholars.The book is carefully indexed, and the bibliography ("Selected Literature") is a gold mine of material on this subject, including works that dispute his thesis.

This brief review cannot give Prof. Miller's passionate commitment to his thesis all that it deserves.There are times when his passion works so strongly, that one wonders whether he isn't simply snapping back at perceived slights.At other times, he seems so intent on proving his own thesis that he discounts evidence presented by others that would seem to support his opinion; he rejects some evidence as "unsound" or not carefully thought through.In this sense, this book also gives us insight into the world of modern scholars, who often bring to their work a certain jealousy and protectiveness that puts off others devoted to the same goal.

Although this book is mainly written with fellow scholars in mind, I think that amateurs like me can benefit from Prof. Miller's detailed presentation of the subject of historical linguistics and his dogged pursuit of his thesis of the connection of Japanese and Korean to a larger Altaic group of languages.If, as it seems to me, more people in Korea and Japan are now acknowledging their languages' relatedness, and thus finding reasons to respect each other's cultures after years (centuries?) of acrimony, then part of the credit should be given to Prof. Miller's work.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in exploring different languages and cultures, especially those of the Far East. ... Read more