| Title | : | Basic Japanese Grammar: Learn the Grammar You Need to Speak Correctly and Master the Japanese Language Proficiency Test |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 4805311436 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9784805311431 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 160 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1963 |
Basic Japanese Grammar teaches all the grammar you need to speak Japanese and understand simple spoken Japanese. Covering what is essential, it provides an efficient way for learners who have limited time to learn Japanese and begin to communicate naturally with Japanese speakers. It is intended for self–study or classroom use. It offers a practical course in colloquial Japanese but leaves aside forms that are unnecessary or little used as well as those that are more important for written Japanese. In short chapters, it helps the user understand the logic of Japanese grammar, while its straightforward explanations and clear examples make learning as easy as possible.
The grammar section includes a glossary of grammatical terms and an index, as well as appendixes on Japanese pronunciation and verb conjugation. All Japanese words and phrases are written in Kanji and Kana (Hiragana and Katakana) as well as Romanized Japanese (Romanji) and English. Explanations are given in English.
Basic Japanese Grammar: Learn the Grammar You Need to Speak Correctly and Master the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Reviews
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Basic Japanese Grammar is an excellent text for those semi-new to Japanese. I say 'semi' because the book does anticipate you have a little basic knowledge and are looking to build a better understand of the grammar, having learnt some vocabulary/phrases. Unlike the last Japanese grammar book I borrowed from the library, this one does open by explaining important basic facts, such as the lack of plurals etc. In terms of conjugations, it sticks to two forms: abrupt/informal and polite/formal. That works well though, as it doesn't inundate you right off the bat. Everything was explained simply and well, and I had no trouble understanding any of the concepts. Yes, you would need to go beyond this book eventually for a more comprehensive understanding, but as a beginner's text, I thought it did a perfect job.
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Giving it four stars, just because there are some details that are contradictory to what I learned in other books. For instance, I always learned that "boku" was only used by men, and "hajimemashite" is more like "How do you do?" as it always precedes introducing yourself by name, rather than "pleased to meet you". That said, I like that they used the Hepburn romanization rather than the method that uses double-vowels for long vowel sounds (which makes "sayonara" look like "sayoonara" - Wikipedia tells me this is called the JSL romanization).
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This book is at the same time annoyingly specific and exceptionally vague, and puts romaji ahead of kana in examples. It is also chock-a-block full of errors, making it a terrible text for beginners despite the title.
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Good book to supplement my Genki. But Genki already provided ample explanation on grammar and lots of practice.
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Outside of the the various websites I've been using, this book is the single best resource I've picked up for my studies so far. Has it stands it's a streamlined manual, but it given more space to explain things and more examples, it'd become a text book in no time, but, BUT, that would make it far clunkier to use.
The writing is clean, the explanations are all to the point, and what examples are given are all given in Romaji, 日本語, a literal translation, and in english. Which seems pretty basic to me, but this is one of the only resources I've found that does all four.
My only complaint, if you want to call it that, is that you kind of need to read the book through, to then use it. The entire book is annotated to refer you to later sections for information. I don't really see how you could fix that in a ~160 page bound volume. My point being, if you pick this up to help with your own Japanese studies, just push through it on a first read, then go back and use the sections for practice. I feel you are going to waste time otherwise.
It's so useful, I've taken it out for another 2 weeks from the Library. Though ultimately, I'll probably buy it. Just wished I found it 4 months ago.
