Japanese Step by Step : An Innovative Approach to Speaking and Reading Japanese
029 4 First off , this book it not going to have you speaking japanese once you finish reading it . What is will do , and do VERY well , is explain to you the complicated and heady rules and structures of japanese sentences and grammar . I found it to be a fabulous tool in showing everything from conjugating verbs to structuring simple sentences , all the way up to more comlicated sentences . Until I bought and used this book , I found that most books on Japanese were very vague on japanese grammar . The method of teaching tended to revolve around loosely explaining , and then showing students different sentences over and over until the meanings and usages eventually sunk in . The author here ( who states early on that he is an engineer by career ) uses a much more logical and systematic approach . He uses flow charts and lays out the stuctures of the senteces bare , explaining each part and how it works . Rather than naturally figuring it out ( which could take a great deal of time ) he points out how everything works and encourages you to make use of this knowledge . In this manner you are shown the things you would learn naturally and then shown how to corelate it to equivlant english meanings . This is the way that adult brains glean knowledge best . Given a bit of time and practice , the english associations soon fade away and you can look a Japanese sentence and understand both its meaning and its stucture !
As you progress through the book , the sentences get more challenging and build on things you've learned in previous chapters , so it becomes a natural preogress for your mind to learn the next step . It's a very effective and rewarding method , because as you may know when learning a language , the more you learn , the more you WANT to learn . . . it becomes fun and addicting . Struggling to memorize the usages of particles and verb versus noun cojugations only slows down the process and can take away the students ' desire to stay at it . Japanese Step by Step helps alleviate this ; it really helps you feel like Japanese is not an impenetrable force . . . just another language that's a little different than your own .
However , as i first stated , this book alone is not going to have you speaking perfect japanese . It's a terrific resource that I think every student of the language should have . . . in ADDITION to at least one other comprehensive text ( and / or audio lessons , and even better , live classes ) . My only complaint is that this book WAS designed for IBM employees originally , and as such teaches strictly very formal , professional japanese . . . the type an educated adult would use in the office or workplace . This is not a bad thing per se , but if you strictly learned to speak like this , you would sound rather awkward in social or family situations , particuarly among the younger crowd . But again , I don't recommend this as your sole learning source , just a strong supplement !
Anyone who's fist dipping into the Japanese language will find a lot of help in this book , and any intermediate student can benefit from it as an informative reference text . There's a lot to be learned here ; I know I wasn't disappointed ! !
001 4 Read this book first before wasting your money on other books . I just finished my first read through of this book . It was amazing . I learned more about how the Japanese language is structured in a few days than I have from other books in months .
Many students of Japanese just need basic information at the beginning in order to be productive in their studies .
Gene Nishi gets straight to the point , starting with the basic sentence structure , adding more information as the book progresses . And since everything complex is made up of simple things , you can start to see how a complicated Japanese sentence can be analyzed and understood . After reading through this book , I could get the gist of basic to intermediate Japanese sentences even though my vocabulary is yet not up to snuff . I could just tell that someone gave something to someone else at such and such time , for example . While that may sound trivial , my abilities will only increase as I engage in Japanese conversation and read the Japanese papers , because the blanks will be filled in from the context , just like any other language acquisition process . The point is , I now know where the blanks are , thanks to this book !
Gene Nishi also does an excellent job of targeting this book to a particular audience : adult professionals who need to conversate with Japanese adult professionals ( although this book would work for any student ) . Right now , I do not need to know all of the embellishments and ornaments in everyday Japanese language . I don't have the time . I just need to be able to have relatively educated conversations with a native speaker . This book has all of the tools to enable me to get the solid foundation needed to achieve that goal . He describes the different classes of adjectives , verbs and some of the more common particles ( wa , ga , ni , de , no ) in a clearer manner than anywhere else . Gene also said that learning the 1006 Kanji taught to Japanese grade schoolers would cover 90% of those used by newspapers . That was quite a relief ! I had heard there were 20000 of them ! If I learn 3 a day , I'm on my way . See how this book reduces some of the complications ? Finally , Nishi's organization of this book makes a lot of sense . He starts from simple examples and works up to more complicated ones .
A few notes , while this book is an excellent start , once you finish it , to get the deepest understanding you will need to look at other books for the following reasons :
1 . Understanding the Japanese language from a linguistic perspective . A few of Gene's descriptions do not match what I've learned elsewhere ( for example , the Japanese characters or Mora are not divisible ! You should not think of the particle no as a combination of the n sound and the o sound . To the Japanese , the particle no is one indivisible unit . )
2 . Mastering the Kana
3 . Learning Kanji
4 . Understanding the tonal structure of spoken Japanese
5 . Doing exercises ! This is not an exercise oriented book . The books by Eleanor Jorden are the best in that area . I plan on going that route after mastering this book .
002 4 . . . this would be the programmer's tech manual .
JAPANESE STEP BY STEP was written by a former IBM engineer . He applied tech-manual principles to the organization and presentation of the inner workings of the Japanese language . The author makes heavy use of logic flow charts to show how Japanese verbs are conjugated , and how present , negative , past and past-negative tenses are developed . He also presents five basic sentence patterns to be used as building blocks for more complex and compound sentences . And , the roman-alphabet representations of Japanese use CAPITAL letters to show the raised pitch accent .
Although the book uses Japanese characters above the roman text ( romaji ) , it uses the 2000 + - character KANJI with no furigana ( small hiragana characters to show the ` reading ' of the kanji characters . ) I'd like to be able to cover up the romaji and read just the Japanese characters , but the lack of furigana forces dependence on the romaji .
Another thing I found frustrating is having to flip back and forth through the book to figure out how a particular verb conjugates . This could have been solved if the author had either provided an appendix with all the verb conjugation flow charts , or ( better yet , ) provided an additional set of charts showing how to conjugate each type of verb into all the possible conjugations .
This book is NOT the only book on Japanese you'll ever need . But it's a useful addition to the Japanese-language student's arsenal of reference works . It presents information in a different way , which may be just what you need to get from confusion to increased understanding .
003 4 This book will not by itself have you speaking or reading Japanese . As a reference , especially for the verbal idioms , it is quite useful , but only after the fact , I fear . There are no drills , no exercises , and vocabulary is simply listed at the beginning of each major section . Here are 100 verbs , now go learn them . Here are 100 nouns , do likewise . His insistence that Japanes adjectives are words to modify a noun just as in English , can only confuse . You mean adjectives conjugate just like verbs rather than decline like nouns ?
His presentation of the Kana is also Here it is , now just go and memorize these tables . Even his presentation of the traditional syllabary tables is quirky , filling in the ya and wa columns with standard vowels , not at all helpful to the beginner , especially without explanation .
There is no practice reading connected prose . There aren't any connected dialogs at all . Any discussion of politeness levels and the in-out group dichotomy is totally missing . You just don't see / hear real Japanese here , spoken or written . There is no indication that real Japanese is often written vertically right to left . There is no discussion of innovative versus traditional Katakana spelling . Related to this , there is , quite surprizingly , no discussion of modern loan words , especially the huge modern English-borrowed vocabulary , and the rules of transcribing and trans-speaking English into Japanese . Especially surprising for someone in the scientific and engineering fields .
There is no help with real pronunciation ( devoiced high vowels and the soft medial g of the Tokyo dialect for example ) , and no help at all with determining general pitch patterns of connected speech . Once again , just memorize each sentence as you come up against it . Don't ask why , just do it . Most un-engineer-like .
His Romaji is also , to say the least , quirky . Capitalization to show pitch levels can make the neginning English user fall into stress accents rather than pitch accents very easily .
Last , but certainly not least , his non-explanation of Kanji , especially the possibility of multiple readings , of proper names in particular , and the just throw it at you in unrelated chunks of vocabulary are not at all helpful for a beginner . Let alone how you might write it yourself - stroke order and the like . No clue , either , how to use a Japanese-English dictionary .
All in all , a disappointing book . Being an engineer myself , I was hopeful that an engineering / scientific approach to Japanese might be interesting , but there is little here . Stay with the tried and true language experts . Eleanor Harz Jordan and the classic Reading Japanese and Part 1 of Japanese , The Spoken Language will be much more rewarding to the beginner , even if teaching him / herself .
004 4 This is a exellent text that explains alot about japanese to the beginning , and advanced student . It lays out the basics in an easy to understand way , and builds upon that foundation with easy to follow , explanations . The one criticism , is , though it is not actually very fair , is that it is low on exercises . Which makes this more of a book about japanese , than to practice japanese .
it's an important point , because I find that foreign learners of japanese , especially Americans tend to take shelter from making progress in using the language fluently by studying it academically much more than is necessary . I think it comes from the way foreign languages are taught in schools - - we are tested more on how much we can academically talk about how a language works , than on how well we can actually communicate in the language .
- - but Mr . Nishi isnt trying to make a workbook here , so its really up to the student to avoid the trap of being able to discuss how japanese expresses something , but not actually be able to express anything that way in japanese yourself .
- - One last point is - - I love how this book uses all 2000 necessary Kanji with zero furigana . there is romaji , and there is Kanji . This is perfect . Some reviewers here seem to think that Romaji is an evil crutch , but if romaji is a crutch , furigana is a worse one in this case . - - Yes , furigana is the phonetic transcription of kanji but the 2000 kanji deemed necessary for daily life are rarely if ever written with furigana ( only for kids in kids books ) . you cant read real japanese and rely on furigana - -
This makes the lack of furigana a bonus . Romaji can be readily understood - - no questions of if you're looking at ' nu ' or ' me ' - - which just distract beginners . - - - plus you can cover up the romaji , and try to learn to read the words without any visual cues . - - - if this book used furigana . . . this would be impossible . You would never have to read the kanji , your eyes would always cheat and check the furigana - -
you become dependent . and sorry to say it , but even though it might be more popular to claim that you dont read romaji , but only kanji texts with furigana - - you are still only reading
F-A-K-E
japanese .
Cheers to Mr . Nishi on this great resource , every student of japanese should own a copy .
005 4 After I read the glowing reviews of this book on About.com and Japanese123 . com , I decided that I had to add it to my own collection . As I am learning Japanese as an adult professional , I appreciate the grown-up approach that the author takes . So many Japanese texts talk down to the reader , or concern themselves solely with juvenile / school-oriented situations . This book contains language that will be useful to businesspersons from the beginning .
The explanations of grammar are flowcharted out in a way that makes it easy to see how Japanese sentences are constructed . Although the author has a Japanese last name , he was apparently born and raised in the United States . As I worked through the book , it was evident to me that Gene Nishi was explaining the Japanese language from an English-speaker's point of view - - - whereas many Japanese language texts written in Japan do not take into account the unique problems that English-speaking students of the langauge face .
Bottom line : if you are a beginning or intermediate student of Japanese , this book belongs on your bookshelf .
006 4 The focus of the book is on Japanese Grammer , which it does very well and very logically . It does have a very good method of demonstrating how to pronounce words , but it usually omits the actual kana / kanji and shows only Romanji . The author misses a golden opportunity to teach the actual Kana / Kanji vocabulary that way .
Buy the book if you need a logical explanation of grammer . Pass on the book if you also want vocabulary .
007 4 No one book is going to give you everything you need , and I am surprised that other reviewers have given it as high marks as they have . I was disappointed with this book's ' innovative ' teaching system , in which cryptic letters and subscript numerals are used to identify certain sentence patterns . Rather than explaining Japanese grammar in tutorial form , it focuses more on making the reader memorize patterns , and it is constantly referring ahead or back to other parts of the book , making it hard to build one level of understanding on top of another . Some people apparently respond well to this IBM engineer's ' innovative system ' , but be warned , it is not for everybody . I used the book for a year and found it to be a somewhat useful supplement to my learning , as it did reinforce things I was picking up elsewhere and also contains information that isn't in other books , but it did not work out to be my primary resource for study . Japanese The Easy Way , by Karen Sandness , when paired with ( Barron's ) Japanese Grammar , was much easier to follow and learn from , and the knowledge I gained from those books and the Langenscheidt Japanese-English dictionary ended up being far more helpful when I was traveling in Japan . What I did like about this one was that while it is romaji-based , it still has a fair amoutn of kanji and kana , and it is the only book I have found that provides pitch cues for the vocabulary words ; most other books I've looked at don't even mention the fact that Japanese uses pitch to distinguish between homonyms . So , overall , I'd consider it good to have in your library , but it isn't an ideal primary reference .
008 4 I thought it ridiculous that people frequently pointed out just how it was that this book came from a programmer's mind until I actually bought it .
The book is short , and concise . Superfluous information is rarely given , and things are presented in such a way that , if you practice exactly what is given to you , you can speak Japanese well . That's a good thing , obviously . However , some people want more in-depth knowledge , and for those people , this book is not for you . You will be given things in a specific order , regimented carefully , and if you're extremely inquisitive you'll probably find this frustrating . If you combine this book with a few others , you'll do well . Finish this first , then do a book on particles , then on verbs , etc .
If it sounds like I'm being scornful of this book , you should know that I am not . I am merely saying that it , as any book , is not the perfect solution for becoming fluent in Japanese . However , no book is . What this book IS is a great resource and a great way to systematically learn the language in a brief period of time . . . step-by-step .
In summation : I strongly recommend this book , but it's not gonna work for everyone .
( If you're gonna buy this book , I urge you to also buy Kodansha's Kanji Learner's Dictionary , Kodansha's Dictionary of Japanese Particles , and a good J-E dict [ I'd recommend Random House's J-E / E-J dictionary or Kodansha's Furigana J / E-E / J dictionary ; the latter being strongly preferable . ] )
009 4 I had been gradually absorbing japanese for a few years from such sources as anime , and old samurai films . Six months ago , I decided to take the plunge and devote some time to learning Japanese , so I picked up this book . I was immediately impressed with the organization , and lucidity of the material .
Before , I was totally mystified by the Kanji . I thought I'd never be able to understand all of that crazy chickenscratch , as I sometimes ( jokingly ) put it . I tought that I could get by understanding the Kana , or maybe just the Romaji . I was totally put off by the different readings of the Kanji . Now , I understand more kanji than kana ( granted , I'm still pretty much the equivalent of a slow-witted japanese kindergartener ) . This book erased most of my initial apprehension over the subject .
The grammatical structure is handled , in my opinion , in the proper way . For the first few chapters , the reader is presented with a somewhat simplistic view , which must be learned by rote . As the reader progresses in the book , some of the earlier schemas are expanded , and elaborated , leaving the reader with an ever increasingly profound grasp on the language . The presentation and progression is in a logical order , allowing those with a scientist's ( like me ) or engineer's brain quick access to the language .
This is , of course , not to say that one can attain a complete mastery of the language by reading this one book . As I alluded in the title of this review , this is merely a good first step . It never pretends to be anything more . If one studies from this book with discipline and diligence , one should not have trouble making oneself understood in japanese .
010 4 As a number of people have already noted that this is more an adjunct to a regular Japanese language text than a text in its own right , so I won't dwell on that point . Suffice to say that using this book along with another text will give a heads up on what is to come .
This book takes the approach of presenting the skeletal structure of the language and in doing so it covers a lot of material in a short space . I really like this approach as it removes some of the frustration that can arise from having the language revealed slowly over the course of many chapters in a regular text . This can also help to get a better overview by allowing you to see connections that might be a little obscured by the drip-feed approach taken by most texts .
However , there are some weaknesses . Firstly , the text could do a lot more to explain the logic of the language . As an example , various uses ( though not all ) of the te form are covered , but there is no explanation of why the te form is used in those cases ; there is no explanation of the underlying similarity to all those uses . The only overall explanation of the form is to note that it is sometimes like the present participle in English . It would be so much more helpful to note the similarities between the te form and de ( which had been covered in a previous chapter ) . In virtually every section of the book there are similar insights that could have been given .
Secondly , there is some inconsistency with the presentation of kanji and kana . Now , I'm not a romaaji-phobe like many people these days , but having been given the impression that kanji and kana will be used throughout , it is a let down to find some items rendered only in romaaji .
Finally , the later parts of the book have a rushed feel to them , one gets the impression that it may have been cropped to meet space restrictions .
In short it is a very worthy , but not quite perfect attempt at an outline of the language . I would love to see an updated version that addressed some of the points above , as well as one or two errors and questionable generalisations - in two volumes if neccesary . With a little more work it could be a classic work .
011 4 I am strictly a beginner with no previous knowledge of any of the forms of Japanese , so this book was confusing at first . Once I got the hang of the book's method of teaching , the chapters went by a little smoother .
I get the feeling of a stern , business-like presentation of the material , and in fact , the author does mention that his original goal was to teach IBM employees . . .
012 4 People will debate whether Japanese language books are better off written in Hiragana or Romaji . This book is primarily in Romaji ( with accompanying Kanji / Furigana ) and that's the smart move . This book is aiming to get you speaking as soon as possible . I think the practice of reading and writing Hiragana / Kanji can be done in other ways and with other books .
I really like the approach this book takes to getting you right in there . There are tons of examples and so the book has a good flow . The reader isn't apt to get bogged down on one page or a particular idea . In a lot of books , you are left to figure out the language e.g . . . . so I guess this is how you would say that , etc . . Nishi's book tells you exactly what you are learning and so you really feel like you have a birds-eye view of the language . I cannot tell you how reassuring that is .
I teach English here in Japan and even after hundreds and hundreds of lessons , I am still discovering the best approaches to help my students . Learning languages is still an ' art ' ( and may always be ) but this book gives a real sense of direction and makes you feel like you have a solid start .
013 4 The back cover of this book promises that it will teach you how to construct Japanese sentences and learn to speak and read formal Japanese .
Well , it does teach us how to construct sentences . It does it pretty well , and that's just about all it does . Each section introduces a sentence pattern and gives several examples . Period .
As far as speaking Japanese , the best you could hope for is to say the robotic sentences you have learned . Two sentences are never provided back to back , so you can't see how they change in context . And he never shows you how to appropriately respond in any situation . These are things that are indispensable for any sort of real communication - professional or otherwise .
As for reading , I learned to recognize a few kanji and that's it . That goes about as far as I can spit towards reading Japanese . Every sentence was written in both romanji and above it in kanji / kana . Apparently , I was supposed to absorb it through osmosis as I read the romanji .
Other Notes :
1 . Kudos for the graphical descriptions of sentence patterns . They really are very clear . Same goes for the conjugation flow charts .
2 . Excellent chapter on the uses of particles ( He calls them postpositions . They are similar to English prepositions )
3 . A number of good , simple - sometimes overly simple - explanations of English grammar and its Japanese equivalent .
4 . Vocab is awful . As he introduces a certain part of speech , he will just list a hundred or so words ( all adjectives , for example ) and say memorize these . No thank you .
014 4 This book is great for people just starting to study Japanese .
If you have been studying at college level for over a year , you may find this book basic . However , it is still good for review .
This book is great for the computer programmers . The author worked at IBM as a programmer , it is designed to suit the programmer mind .
The book does well to show you inflections and accents . It is not romaji exclusively ; though I find it has a bit more then I would like to see .
Overall , add this to your collection if you are of a programmer's mindset , and just starting with Japanese .
015 4 I was really surprised that any book could be considered ' innovative ' . However , this book explains Japanese in a way I had not seen before . I have been studying Japanese for a number of years and this book has really helped me understand the way Japanese sentences are constructed .
I think this is the best book I have ever seen for learning Japanese .
016 4 Nishi san has done a wonderful job for people that need practial , understandable Japanese lessons . No book can ever be complete as a language learning tool , but this one covers a topic that most miss , the pitch changes that make for different words . Because the book also uses both the kana and kanji , it does not suffer the trap of being a pure romanji based tool . It also covers proper grammar and both formal and informal use of the language . Since strangers speak formally , and news papers and co-workers use more informal structures , it is important to be able to identify and use both .
Between this book , some good flash cards , like the ones by White Rabbit Press , and audio tapes , like the companion ones for the White Rabbit cards , you will be well on your way to mastering the day to day Japanese needed for getting lunch , directions , business meetings , and so on .
Nothing can completely replace formal training in a language . However , this book is one of the tools I strongly recommend to anyone that has a need to be able to study alone . It builds as it goes , and has a very ordered structure of progression .
The only reason I give it 4 , rather than 5 stars , is because no book without companion audio can truly teach pronunciation . However , this book comes closer than any other , and since I have over $2500 worth of Japanese self study materials , that is saying something .
017 4 Explicitly explains the different forms of verbs and sentence structures . Does not go to far into particles but explains the appropriate uses for wa and ga . Excellent in vocabulary and kanji usage and reading . The pitch accents marked by CAPS let the reader know how to pronounce each word correctly . This is the best book I have ever needed . The perfect guide to Japanese .
The flowcharts are especially helpful and are compatible to people that work in the field of computers . I have learned many kanji from reading this book . The excercises are thorough .
018 4 I used this book in the very beginning of my Nihongo self study 8 months ago . The 1st pass through the text was difficult - - - the kanji gave me nightmares : ) So I put it aside and learned 500 + kanji ( definitions in English and some readings ) then picked this up again from the library and it was a lot more helpful the 2nd time around ! It's fairly well organized and if you copy the sentences by hand . . . the grammar and kanji do stick . However I didnt like how the romaji was presented ( strange capitalization ) . Ive spent 100s of dollars on Japanese texts from Amazon , Kinokuniya and Cheng Tsui and this is 1 of the better deals out there .
019 4 Allthough very explainatory this is not a book for everyone who whishes to learn Japanese . Unlike most other language books this one does not start with learning you common simple phrases . Instead it requires you to dig in to the structure of Japanese . But it does so without leaving out any necessary steps in understanding what is going on .
If you already know some phrases , you can ask your way around in a shop etc . and want to start learning the linguistic structures of Japanese I'd recommend this book . If you're an absolute beginner or if you're not sure how serious you are about learning Japanese , chose a phrase book first and then if you still think it's fun , get this one .
Olof , Halmstad , Sweden
020 4 I am a 12 year old who has been teaching herself Japanese for about a year with Japanese Step by Step and a couple of other language learning resources ( a DS game and a book that teaches Kanji ) , but I think that , by far , Japanese Step by Step is one of the best books to learn Japanese from . It is very straightforward and teaches almost all you need to know about sentence structure and verbs . I think this book teaches you almost everything , but it doesn't go into great detail on how to write characters ( I mean , this book would be HUGE if it did , and it is a book to teach speaking and reading ) .
I went from completely illiterate in Japanese a year ago to being able to read , write , and play games in this language . ( For writing I would recommend A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese by Tuttle Language Library . ) I think that one of the most helpful things about this book is the way it puts the English letters ( romanji ) underneath sentences , especially those with Kanji ( bigger , more complex characters derived from Chinese ) . It also gives literal meanings of phrases along with a more simplified way of interpreting them . It teaches how to conjugate verbs , and multiple patterns of sentence structure .
With this book , you cannot go wrong . I have tried [ . . . ] Rosetta Stone after this book just to see how it would compare , and in my opinion , this not-even - 300 - page-long book puts it to shame ! I think that any student could learn SO much from this book and it is necessary to any serious student . I paid $16 for mine and I personally think that it was the best investment I had ever made . If I could have only one book to study from , without a single doubt I would choose this one .
Though this book doesn't teach Kanji keystrokes , it definitely does teach some through sentences . Though , as you may have thought , this book does not teach EVERYTHING ( I mean , what can ? ! ) , this book definitely gives any student an amazing amount of verbs , sentence patterns , and examples of how to use them , and SO much more for such a low price . If you use this book along with something to build vocabulary , ( My Japanese Word Coach for the Nintendo DS is good , but watching officially subtitled shows in Japanese is good , too ! ) then you could be unstoppable ! This book does teach Hiragana and Katakana ( two writing systems known together as the Kana ) , but it does not teach keystrokes . This book is a guide to SPEAKING AND READING Japanese like it says on the cover , so you couldn't expect it . This book also has pronunciation guides underneath every sentence to help you learn how to properly pronounce words used in sentences .
I am only 12 years old and I think that this is the best book I have ever read . If you are considering this book , please don't delay in buying it - you won't regret it !
021 4 This book won't teach you enough japanese to understand most conversations . It will , however , teach you an extensive amount of grammar using a limited set of vocabulary words . Taking time to memorize the lists of vocab ( except the list of verbs ) will allow you to speed through the book , quickly learning and understanding the example sentences . However , the amount of vocab taught will not be enough for everyday conversation ; you will need another textbook to teach you vocab . Also , this book 1 ) uses romanji ( something educators japanese prefer to avoid ) ; 2 ) does not have full , realistic sample conversations ; and 3 ) does not provide in depth information about informal japanese . One redeeming feature of this book that I have not seen in others is that it shows the intonation of the spoken words , something that before required a student to hear the spoken japanese before being able to speak it . In conclusion , this is an indispensable reference for intermediates and a good starting point for beginners .
022 4 Very comprehensive and innovative book . Not only explains structure of nihon-go but also ellaborates on the reasons for why aspects of the structure are the way they are . The pitch accents on the romanji are extra-extremely useful . You won't be discontent with this purchase .
- Making a copy of the table of contents will make this book more usable .
023 4 I have tried several different types of methods , programs and books for learning Japanese and this has been the best . I have learned more in the first chapter of this single book than I have thought possible so far . It is very well done and is a must have for those people trying to learn Japanese .
024 4 This book provides excellent background for the Japanese grammar but that is the extent of its value . Without any recording to help you pronounce correctly you do not learn how to speak Japanese . The book offers limited value in terms of reading Japanese . So buy it for the value it offers in learning the Japanese grammar . Otherwise you may be disappointed .
025 4 This review is from :
Japanese Step by Step : An Innovative Approach to Speaking and Reading Japanese ( Paperback )
I only had this book for a few weeks and I already understand basic reading and writing in Japanese . I can now sound out Japanese words and spell them using Hiragana and Katakana . I also have managed to remember what most of the words mean as well . I've tried other resources for learning the Japanese language and it was always very confusing to the point where I thought it would be nearly impossible . There is a reason why this book has so many high stars . If you're a beginner with Japanese , like me , then this is your first stop !
Update : A few short months has gone by and I've studied almost everyday . I'm half way thru the book and I can now form several sentence patterns in Japanese and ask questions all in a flexible manner . Meaning I can ask many questions and put together many sentences depending on whether or not I know the words to use instead of just learning plain old sentences you get from a guide book . It makes coming up with a real conversation on your own very easy .
I know the Hiragana by heart and my reading , writing and spelling in both Katakana and Hiragana is being perfected each time I study . I've learned lots of new words too . I can sing along better to my favorite Japanese songs and even read Japanese signs in the background when I watch Anime and Japanese movies . I can even pick out certain spoken words and their meaning without the use of English subtitles . Now I'm searching for a CD to help build up my pronouncationn skills . With this book plus ( hopefully ) a great Japanese language CD I'm only going to get better .
My only compliant with this book is I wish that half way thru it the author would get rid of the Romaji and use Hiragana for the pronouncation . I admit the Romaji under the Japanese was a great starting out point to understanding the language but now it's become an annoyance . I don't want to continue to fall back on Romaji . I've even started to rewrite the Japanese in a notebook and write down the pronouncations in Hiragana so when I want to recap what I've learned I'll use my notebook to avoid the Romaji in the book . The words and sentences I know by heart in the book I've used a pencil to cross out the Romaji .
Other than that this is the best book for a beginner , in a little while you won't even feel like a beginner anymore ! I'm planning to live in Japan for a while soon and I'm no longer intimidated by the language .
026 4 I only had this book for a few weeks and I already understand basic reading and writing in Japanese . I can now sound out Japanese words and spell them using Hiragana and Katakana . I also have managed to remember what most of the words mean as well . I've tried other resources for learning the Japanese language and it was always very confusing to the point where I thought it would be nearly impossible . There is a reason why this book has so many high stars . If you're a beginner with Japanese , like me , then this is your first stop !
Update : A few short months has gone by and I've studied almost everyday . I'm half way thru the book and I can now form several sentence patterns in Japanese and ask questions all in a flexible manner . Meaning I can ask many questions and put together many sentences depending on whether or not I know the words to use instead of just learning plain old sentences you get from a guide book . It makes coming up with a real conversation on your own very easy .
I know the Hiragana by heart and my reading , writing and spelling in both Katakana and Hiragana is being perfected each time I study . I've learned lots of new words too . I can sing along better to my favorite Japanese songs and even read Japanese signs in the background when I watch Anime and Japanese movies . I can even pick out certain spoken words and their meaning without the use of English subtitles . Now I'm searching for a CD to help build up my pronouncationn skills . With this book plus ( hopefully ) a great Japanese language CD I'm only going to get better .
My only compliant with this book is I wish that half way thru it the author would get rid of the Romaji and use Hiragana for the pronouncation . I admit the Romaji under the Japanese was a great starting out point to understanding the language but now it's become an annoyance . I don't want to continue to fall back on Romaji . I've even started to rewrite the Japanese in a notebook and write down the pronouncations in Hiragana so when I want to recap what I've learned I'll use my notebook to avoid the Romaji in the book . The words and sentences I know by heart in the book I've used a pencil to cross out the Romaji .
Other than that this is the best book for a beginner , in a little while you won't even feel like a beginner anymore ! I'm planning to live in Japan for a while soon and I'm no longer intimidated by the language .
027 4 This book isn't really suitable for use as one's primary way to learn Japanese , although it may be somewhat useful as a supplement to other forms of study . The basic format of most of the book is to give a terse description of a language feature , followed by several example sentences ( given in kanji and kana , plus the author's own ugly romanization system ) . There are no exercises , and no longer examples . There are also long vocabulary lists given when new parts of speech are introduced , but no real attempt is made to relate them to the rest of the material or break them down into manageable chunks . There is also no real attempt to teach kanji , although they do appear in the examples ; hiragana and katakana tables are given and briefly described , but the book mainly uses romanization . The book is not really structured in digestible lessons , and its terse explanations aren't always enough to really make a grammar point entirely clear .
This book does have some nice features , such as its conjugation tables and flow charts , which are certainly a clearer and more concise format than what is used in many textbooks . Its concise treatment of grammar points may also be a nice supplement to other textbooks , although I think once you get beyond the absolute fundamentals of Japanese grammar , something like
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
would be a better reference for much of the material covered in the later parts of this book ( plus a good deal more ) . This book has some value as a reference , but I don't think that's enough to make it a good buy .
028 4 This book is overall a great book and covers all of the areas that you will ever need in learning Japanese grammar . I am very happy with it , but it may not be for some people , because it has an odd way of presenting the material .
The verbs are given in a long list of five to six pages . In fact , there are many lists of random vocab ( no nouns ) , and you will find most of these at the beginning , so if you do indeed wish to read the book to learn Japanese step by step you will have to wade through lots of vocab before you get the real grammar . Otherwise , You will have to find a way to review it and organize the learning process yourself , because this book presents it in such a way that it would be silly to go in order .
There are plenty of examples that illustrate every concept , along with kanji . However , this is another quirk . The use of kanji is not consistent . Kanji only appears in the examples ( and the section on kanji ) and is relatively non-existent other wise . There are many tables and lists of words that have no kanji at all . This is frustrating , because I find the kanji very helpful when remembering the word , and I have to look most of it up myself .
The portions that are written in romaji use an odd style to inform you of the tones . Capital letters and underlining are supposed to show you how you should increase the pitch , and this will easily through you in to accenting the capital letters instead of raising the pitch which is not terribly important in the first place .
All that said , this is the best book I've found that touches on all of the points you will need to know . I recommend it for those who have studied Japanese before , but are still looking for a concrete method to go by . Beginners should probably read something else first and late intermediate will probably not find this book necessary unless as a reference .
4 / 5
030 4 I do not doubt that the author can SPEAK Japanese , but he is utterly incapable of TEACHING it in this book .
The book goes wrong from the very start , incorrectly claiming that Japanese mora are exactly the same thing as syllables . This is NOT true ; and any beginner foolish enough to try pronouncing every mora like a whole syllable will sound like they are suffering from brain damage , or a speech impediment . ( For example , the author claims that shinbun is a four-syllable word . This is not only false , but patently absurd . It may have four mora , but it is a TWO-syllable word - - and one need only hear the word spoken by a Japanese native to know it . )
The author also chose to ignore all existing forms of transliteration , in favor of a bizarre ( and ugly ) system of his own - - which includes , among other unhelpful features , an insistence upon hyphenating all particles ( and even subordinate clauses ) as though they are part of the same word they modify . What this was supposed to accomplish is beyond me .
In fairness , the rules of sentence structure presented in the book ARE accurate . Unfortunately , they are this book's only redeeming feature - - and in total , they constitute less than a quarter of the book's content .
Instead , huge swaths of the book are wasted on vocabulary lists ( apparently in the belief that rote memorization is a good way to learn , instead of a useless annoyance ) , or on similarly boring lists of example sentences .
And worst of all , this book makes absolutely no attempt whatsoever to explain KANJI - - without which , one CANNOT read Japanese . Kanji do appear in the book , but each one is merely shown above the author's ugly transliteration of the relevant reading . Alternative readings are never addressed , and neither are any of the many other things one needs to know about kanji . Even stroke order for kanji is omitted - - just as it is for the kana .
Given that the book claims right on its cover to present An Innovative Approach to Speaking and Reading Japanese , I'd say that's false advertising . NO ONE will learn to read Japanese from this book , because it doesn't even attempt to teach it - - and no one will learn how to SPEAK Japanese from this book either , although they might learn a bit about sentence patterns .
Frankly , I've seen tiny little hip-pocket traveler's phrase books that could contribute more to one's knowledge of Japanese .
031 4 As a total beginner I choosed this book with the help of a japanese friend . Right from the start you can understand the principles of this language , it gives good explanation on how to write ( although it's not the main objective of this book ) and speak japanese . Absolutely fantastic . I'm about to finish reading the book for the 1st time and I will go through some parts of it again . I reccommend it . Worth the bucks spent on it .
032 4 This book guides you to speaking and reading as its says . It
is simple to follow and worth the money . Also the grammar section provided are worth it than most books I have seen . Throughout the book , it build up sentence pattern , new vocabulary , the book explain certain usage for some particles . I gave this book 4 stars because I expected to see lots of japanese characters . Also more grammar would be even better . This will help you understand japanese's sentence patterns for anyone . Purchase it for yourself and see .
033 4 Author Gene Nishi breaks down the grammar and sentence structures of the Japanese language using basic flow charts and logic patterns . Although I already knew some basic Japanese before reading this book , after walking away from it I have a much better understanding of it . Nishi really goes into great depth explaining the basics of the Japanese language , and even defines basic grammar words in English in case your high school teachers failed to teach you the basics ( such as subject , direct object , etc . ) . This is a great book for beginner and intermediate study on the sentence structure and grammar of the Japanese language . I highly recommend this product for anyone who is serious about learning Japanese .
034 4 This was the first book I bought when I decided to study japanese and I will never regret it . In fact , when I look through some other books on the same subject I almost think that I would never have continued studying if I had not bought this book .
This book starts of with presenting the structure behind simple japanese sentences so that you can say That building is high or I like apples after the first 1 - 2 chapters ( say 30 minutes of reading ) .
Come chapter 4 , time , place , adverbs and other things are covered and although it is impossible to learn how all the particles are used in different situations the first time you read about them you will always have some of their usages explained as a valuable reference .
Once you progress through chapter 4 you will have a solid foundation on which to build upon . The author then covers bits and pieces that appear again and again in common japanese speech and can really help you improve your japanese through almost no work at all .
I strongly recommend reading about these bits and pieces and then watching a japanese film . You will notice that these expressions appear again and again with different verbs in different situations . And as you hear them , you will remember what they meant and understanding will no longer be a problem .
I hope this review was somewhat coherent . I like this book and I have tried to explain why .
035 4 This review is from :
Japanese Step by Step : An Innovative Approach to Speaking and Reading Japanese ( Paperback )
This is an excellent book as a supplement resource to learning Japanese . It is not intended to teach you the language if you are a beginner . Just a great book that should be read often if you have some mastery of the language beyond the beginner level . Everytime I read it , I pick something new or consolidate a previously learned topic .
036 4 This is an excellent book as a supplement resource to learning Japanese . It is not intended to teach you the language if you are a beginner . Just a great book that should be read often if you have some mastery of the language beyond the beginner level . Everytime I read it , I pick something new or consolidate a previously learned topic .
037 4 I bought this book maybe three years ago . When things are still getting good rating many years later , you know it has to be a decent buy . I've read partially through when I was just starting out in Japanese , and I'm still starting out in Japanese . I've been going on and off in it's study for the past ten years getting no where really . But this book is an incredible book . I believe it will definitely , now that I have the time to get serious about studying again , be a an indispensable asset . I am always looking for good introduction books to foreign language ( but a master of none ) the best things this book has : structure , diagrams , tables and lots of minor detail . And of course , when needed , it refers you to other chapters of the book . Note : This is GRAMMAR of Japanese . It does not teach you how to write Japanese . Not a downfall either . It wasn't meant to . A good book for that would be Kanji Power by John Millen - Tuttle Publishing .
038 4 This is the best book for learning Japanese on your own , that I have bought . It is as good or better than most textbooks that I have read .
There are lots of examples and vocab as well as grammer . Only complaint is that the book uses different size letters to teach you the correct pitch for each word , but it is nothing you can't get used to .
039 4 This book was also a pretty good add to my collection . Although I found some parts of the book to be rather dry and somewhat boring , I feel that this it would prove to be a rather excellent tool for beginners .
041 4 This book isn't so bad when paired with several other study aids . The slant of the text is done from a far more technically linguistic perspective . While I can appreciate ( and actually enjoyed it from that point of view ) , it's far less efficient than , say , using the Genki study system on your own , or the infamous Rosetta Stone program . Either of those two will probably suit you far better . This makes an excellent supplement and reinforcement to either . If you're technically minded it might also be interesting from that viewpoint , as well .
In any case , I find it a useful addition to my Japanese library . It's come in handy for some nice changes in scenery while studying . You may find this as well , if you're collecting books to augment your studies .
042 4 As a mostly self-studying student , I use a few text books . Mostly the Japanese for Busy People books . Japanese Step by Step is an excellent companion to the Japanese for Busy People series , as it gives formulas and strategies for congugating verbs , adjectives etc , which as a scientist I find very useful . For example , flow charts are used to show how verbs change according to past , present etc . This is much better , IMHO , than some books that just say Here are some examples , memorise them . If you like to learn processes , rather than examples , this book would be excellent for you .
However , as a self study book , it is near useless . It has no exercises , just several examples for each point .
The language used is concise and to the point , something I greatly appreciate . It is also great at self referencing . For example , if it is discussing a new verb type , and it refers to a previous verb type , it always give the location where the latter was discussed . I have found that a lot of text books expect you to remember everything that you have learnt , which makes looking back over the text tedious . This book avoids that to a large degree .
Overall , a good reference , but you will probably need at least one other text book series ( e.g . Minna no Nihongo ) to get much benefit out of it .
043 4 This book would benefit from from hiragana / katakana usage . It is almost more of a grammar for the language than a step by step learning guide . But it goes very in-depth on the possibilities of sentence structure .
044 4 This book covers all the basics of Japanese grammer . I bought it because the romaji is displayed with the kanji for examples . It's a good way to transition from kana to kanji . It could use more examples and is not great for conversational Japanese , but all in all , it's good . Verb conjugation is complex in Japanese and this book does a good job of breaking that down to a system of rules . I would hope the next edition is expanded and has more examples , but this one is worth the money for sure . Ganbatte kudasai .
045 4 Like many other reviews have already stated , this is NOT the only book you'll want handy while learning Japanese . I bought my copy after flipping through one in a bookstore so I knew what I was in for before I handed over my cash .
Maybe it's because I come from a family of engineers , but I really like the way it's set up . I found that even after an hour or so of aimlessly flipping through and picking up bits of kanji , I understood more than I thought I would . Kanji appears at first to be so intimidating that I'd left it for last in my language studies , but now I'm digging in and enjoying it .
Again , it's a worthy supplement , but do invest in other books to get you through your first year of study . I'll be keeping my copy handy for now , shelved next to Remembering the Kana and Japanese in Mangaland .
046 4 I have started using it and have made it through chapter one . It is truly helpful with pronunciation , and the order of lessons makes sense . I was a beginner before I bought this book , as in I had no previous exposure to the Japanese language , but I was able to improve my speech from page one ! It was a worthwhile buy and something that should help beginners as well as anyone who needs to brush up on the basics !
047 4 When I first thought about learning Japanese , I was worried it would be too difficult .
This book has taught me otherwise .
It explains all there is to know about Japanese pronounciation and signs . If you're looking for a guide to this amazing language , Japanese Step by Step is highly recommended .
048 4 I bought this book because I wanted something to prepare me for my Japanese classes .
This book just sits on my bookshelf . It wasn't really helpfull by itself . I'd use this book as reference at the most .
I recommend buying Genki : An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese . It costs more but it is way better than this book .
049 4 Well , I think that if you are a computer engenier you will learn Japanese in no time with such a book .
I was completely lost with the do-re lullabies in order to get the proper tone when I say bridge or chopsticks in Japanese , and then I find awful to encourage people to use kanji , when the book itself has most of the examples in romaji .
I think the author should anyway have to show the stroke order , but that is superfluos for Ibm professionals , perhaps .
An interesting experience , anyway
050 4 When I first received this book , I thought I'd have a better understanding of the Japanese language . The verb chapter to me was a little confusing because he uses arrows instead of being straight to the point ( ie like in Spanish verbs ) . Also , there aren't many Japanese characters throughtout the book . As I am learning a new word , I also like to know the Kanji or know if it's written soley in kana . This was a waste of my money , it's for people that don't know squat about Japanese .
052 4 This book is great if you want to seriously study Japanese - and it's so cheap ! This gives you all the basics and more - I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to study Japanese . All that can be said is - - this is an awesome book .
053 4 This book came quickly and helps me communicate with my best friend . . . i love it ! ! !
