Customer Reviews

All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words (Power Japanese Series)

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2 star:		(1)
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Every Japanese learner struggles with particles. Organizing particles is one of the most difficult part of the language, and there are few good resources to help you out. "All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words" is the single most useful book I have found on the topic.

This is a true reference book. Although it can be read straight through (and I recommend this at least once), it is most useful for looking up difficult particles as you discover them. Placing them in context will help the learning process. Read all in one sitting it is a little overwhelming, but good for an overview of all 70 plus particles.

One of the advantages of "All About Particles" is that the examples use various forms of politeness. It also demonstrates interchangeable particles, and which expressions are more daily-use. The text itself is very compact, and travels well.

I would recommend this book to any Japanese learner looking to bridge the gap from Advanced Beginner to Intermediate.

I bought this title because I thought it would give me in-depth information about those pesky few particles I still have questions about, but it turns out to be a simple, straightforward description of only the common particles and their common usage, with no in-depth explaination at all. I wanted to know in a very explicit manner the differences between wa/ga, -tara/-reba, dake/nomi, etc, but it only glosses over them. If you've studied Japanese for more than a couple years, don't bother at all with this book. I guess I'll give this copy to a friend just beginning Japanese or something.

This book discusses the use of about 70 particles, listed in order from most to least common. For each particle, Chino lists the different ways you can use it, grouping similar uses together, and provides at least two example sentences for each use. The examples are shown in kanji, roomaji, and English.

I think this book covers most particles a beginning or intermediate student would need to know. Finding the particle you want is fairly easy, either by using the table of contents, checking out the index, or glancing at the page headers. Chino did not include exercises, so the book is slim and to the point. However, the use of roomaji may bother some people.

This is a nifty little reference book.

I'm just starting the trek to fluency, however, this book is already on my shelf. I tried reading straight through this, but it was futile a cause because I had (and still have) insufficient vocabulary to make sentences that use many of these particles.

However, I still thumb through it and pick up particles here and there. For some reason, they stick better that way. Also, while reading sentences in Japanese, you'll start to recognize the particles you've seen while looking through this book. Randomly pick a page and learn the particle on that one.

The book also brings our attention to subtleties between similar particles. This helps when trying to generate a tone and attitude.

My only quibble is that it uses romaji instead of Furigana over the Kanji since i'm already familiar with the Kana. This doesn't depreciate the value of the book, though. You'll refer to it often when you're disecting or constructing sentences.

This book is a very good reference for the Intermediate student. The example sentences and kanji are too advanced for a beginner and the romaji is an insult to advanced students.

It helps a great deal if you sit down and read the entire book once, and then put it up on your shelf and only look in it when you encounter a new particle. While it claims to be a handbook, it is more of a dictionary, but nevertheless it is good if you need a quick reminder.

I recommend buying this book along with Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns by Naoko Chino for maximum effect. The book does no attempt in teaching anything about the example sentences, only the particles.

The Japanese particle was confusing before I owned this book. Other texts panned the information, or wrote particles off as 'not really meaning anything'. Don't fool youself, or let yourself be fooled- the particle determines specifics of information and direct the intent of a sentance. They quanitify many nouns into object, subject, direct object. The also describe ownership, adjective and adverb use. This book describes it all (well, I assume this is ALL) in order of most common usage. Each particle is shown in each way it might be used corresponding to English, with a sentence (or several) in English and japanese to explain usage.

Naoko Chino's pocket text is one of the most important Japanese instructional texts in print today.

I recommend this book to anyone studying Japanese. It is a great concise little book, which can be used as a reference or just to read through and get familiar with the usage. Included are many great examples, written in both Kanji and romaji, allowing learners of any level to dig in and get a handle on the ever elusive Japanese particle.

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

Before describing the book, a word or two has to be mentioned regarding the publisher, Kodansha International. I don't know if it's because of the policy within Kodansha, or the Japanese culture in general, but you can feel the tidiness, accuracy, and meticulous nature of each author, and the effort expended in order to convey information to the reader the best possible way.

When first starting to learn Japanese on my own, I had tried grammar texts and dictionaries from two other publishers. I found out after a couple of months, that they only cause the reader great confusion, lack a lot of important concepts, the print is often ineligible, and the sentences are in Romaji and not in the native alphabet (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji), which is so necessary in order to learn the language properly. Other Kodansha publications which I found useful for learning Japanese are Kodanshas Essential Kanji Dictionary (Japanese for Busy People)The Kodansha Kanji Learners Dictionary (Japanese for Busy People)Kodansha's Furigana Japanese Dictionary: Japanese-English English-JapaneseJapanese Verbs at a Glance (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics)The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs (Kodansha's Children's Classics)

The material is divided into groups of particles. The most common particles are presented first. The description for each particle is divided into sections. Each section discusses a different meaning and use of the particle. The particle "de" for example, means "a place where an action takes place", "the means by which the action is performed", as well as "the reason of the action". Each section includes a heading, which describes the particular meaning associated with the particle, and then follows with three sentences each in Japanese, Romaji, and English, where this particle is used. Where appropriate, a cross reference is given, regarding the use of different particles for the same situation. For example, "ni" indicates the location of a short term action, whereas "de" indicates the location of a long term action. The particles in each Japanese and English sentence are highlighted in bold, making it easier for the reader to pinpoint it. The index is in English. Sometimes the English translation isn't the way it is spoken in the US, but I don't see it as a major drawback.

In short, I recommend it for every English speaking Japanese student learning on his or her own, or even as supplementary material at college.

Among grammar items of Japanese, particles are the most critical in comprehension of the written text. A few are connotated highly diverse seemigly uncorrelated meanings, which a mere misunderstanding of the meaning at hand, can make the entire statement completely incomprehensible. These are a handful, the most diverse ones, 3 or at most 5. The rest are quite straight forward, and more or less, attributed one or at most four definitions. Noticing the position of the particle in the sentence, is of no less importance. It can make the difference between a notificatory statement and an interrogative one. The only way to get over, as a novice, who is not born as a native, is to try all possible cases for a particle at hand, until the sentence makes sense. This is requires quite hardship, but gradually one can crack down a new sentence more or less without resort to the particle list. The textbook provides the best possible support, to make the task easy to handle. The index for example, though short, is very correct and right to the point. Cross references, furthermore, provided at almost all particles, are an added benefit, a very indispensible one. Most notably, are ample statements to demonstrate the use of the particle in different instances. A Kana statement-Japanese version, is followed by a Ramaji-Transliteration in English, and an English translation of the sentence itself. At the heading of the case, the particle is consicely, accurately described, including general usages, and similar paticles which are used interchangeably. Many are seldom encountered in general daily read, but confronting particles in specialty fields, almost highly remote fields, are ready at hand.

This book was indespensable in my study of Japanese. The 69 different particles are all explained and used in examples. This makes an excellent supplement for study in a class and it is even good for independent students as well. There is another book by the same author called "How to tell the Difference Between Japanese Particles." It is every bit as good as this book, but its format is different. In this book, the particles are simply explained one by one. In "How to tell the Difference," the particles are grouped according to their function, in categories like "expressions of time" and so on. Either book would be excellent, but have a look at that one before choosing, so you can study with the format best for you. I personally like this one, because I look up unfamiliar particles more than I simply study them.