Customer Reviews

The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs (A Kodansha Dictionary)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been studying japanese for quite some time, and I wasn't even aware of how the japanese adjectives can conjugate just like verbs. I thought that the only conjugation's that adjectives possessed were the Plain/ Polite Past/Present, and negative/affirmative, as well as the -ba, -tari, -tara, and the -sa form. But turn's out that this is just part of the basic's. Just like with verbs the basics would be the -te form, the -ba form etc. to which you can add diffrent ending's to, to give diffrent meaning's to the verb, you can do the same with the Adjectives. This book is great for studying japanese adjectives. Now for the adverbs, the adverbs section is really good, they give you a bundle of words all sectioned off into categories according to time, quantity, degree, circumstance, onomatopoeic words (A MUST READ), adverbs used with negatives, adverbs with diffrent meaning's with positive and negative expressions, interrogative adverbs, adverbs used with conditionals, adverbs expressing desire, conjecture, or resemblence. As you can see, the list is long, and very helpfull, the most helpfull part of the adverbs section (to me) were the onomatopoeic words, and adverbs with diffrent meanings ith positive and negative sentences. If you buy this book, it will save you ATLEAST a good 10 hours of tedious looking up definition's for words, research, and so on.. because this book does it all, and not only that. Every few lessons or so, this book provides a pratice to see how well you have mastered what you have learned. Over all I give this book a perfect 5 out of 5, for it's great layout and great approach to learning japanese adjectives and adverbs. (I also recommend you buy "The handbook of japanese verbs" 'it's sister book', and "Jpanaese verbs at a glance" these two books give the most information you can learn about the conjugation of japanese verbs) Well, I hope this was a helpfull review, thanks for reading it. Bye.

First of all, I'd like to reiterate all the praise from previous reviewers: this book is a tremendous resource about the many mutant forms of Japanese adjectives and provides excellent explanations and practice exercises; the examples are given in kanji/kana as well as romaji. The adverbs are categorized by useful categories such as degree, circumstance, certainty, and so on, and the list of onamatopoeia is a wonder to behold.

However, I have one nagging nitpick, which is that the book lacks a comprehensive index. It seems to've been conceived as two entirely separate books, leaving the reference section at the end still awkwardly split in half: the adjective exercise answers are followed by (unindexed) Japanese/English and English/Japanese adjective glossaries ; after that, the adverb exercise answers are followed by a categorized list organized by (indexed) order of introduction in the text rather than by alphabet/kana for the actual words in English or Japanese, and then by another unindexed pair of Japanese/English and English/Japanese glossaries for the adverbs.

I suggest adding several bookmarks or post-its to mark the different reference sections in the back, and (to the publishers) page-indexing the glossaries in future editions to make it easier to look up usage examples. Other than that, this really is a very good book-- I just realized that the appendices also contain a list of sentence-pattern templates for adjective forms-- so buy it, but be prepared for some initial frustration until you get used to the way it's organized.

While I am not done with this one it is only because of my level of skill so far it is very helpful in explaning forms, introducing new words, and kanji. This is a masterpiece, but make two precautions. 1 Get a supplementing workbook. Actually put forth the effort to make your own sentences and there will be a vast increase in your language abilities and flow. I agree with all the other writers in the amazon.com book reviews that praised this book alongside with me. This books should help fragment any other textbook that seems cloudy. Caution: Not for total beginners. A learner of Japanese needs a fairly wide vocabulary to understand the sentence stuctures.

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

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

Part 1 is the backbone of the Japanese adjectives, which is presented in table format, for the i adjectives and na adjectives. Part 2 discusses different modifiers which conjugate with adjectives. For example, "daro" (probably) added to "tsumetai" (cold), means "it is probably cold". Each case is presented in a block in English and Japanese, and its meaning is given to the right. Then it follows with an example of the conjugate for each type of adjective, explanation of that conjugate, and three sentences each in Romaji, Japanese, and English, where that conjugate is used. The conjugate is highlighted in bold, in the Romaji and Japanese sentence, which makes it easier to pinpoint. Part 3 introduces a long list of adverbs and the way they modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and nouns. Each section ends with 8 or 9 exercises for which answers are given at the back.

The index has to be praised in particular, because each subject includes its own index. Each of i adjectives and na adjectives are organized in two different lists in Romaji (together with Japanese to the right), and another list is given in English for both types, with Japanese to the right). The adverbs are divided into sections in Romaji, for example, those expressing time, those expressing quantity, etc. Again a comprehensive list of adverbs is given in English.

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

For every case, two or three sentences are given, which demonstrate the various ways which the adjective or adverb is employed in sentence in Japanese. A Romaji sentence, which a transliteration in English of the Japanese one, is followed by one in Kana, that is original Japanese version, and then a complete English translation. Each case starts with a heading, of the item, in bold characters, enclosed in a box, easily found, especially when one looks for a particular adjective in the text. The index is very helpful, too. It comes in a few different flavors, covering every possible catagory that one might ascribe an adjective or an adverb, to. So, it is easy to spot quickly the item you are looking for, including the Table of Contents, itself. The depository is well beyond the ordinary ones that one might come across, in daily use of the language. Many are never encountered, depending on the field of specialization. But they are there, if you might one day need it.

I am a Japanese language student and I found this book not user friendly. I am discouraged to use it because I could never find what I want even though something tells me what I'm looking for is in it but I could never find it. I went on to search for user friendly Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs books.

This isn't really a handbook. It is a language practice book. The book is full of exercises throughout. It is aimed at advanced beginners or something like that.

Only two stars due to what I consider an incomplete description of the book and because owning a book on adjectives/adverbs isn't really that important in my view. A good usage dictionary is more convenient

I like this book a lot. It's easy to follow, well organized and filled with examples and concise explanations. It also contains Kana and Kanji version which is helpful as I just started to learn the writing. I am still a beginner and I think this book is very helpful. It has helped me understand grammar and how to use the words in a sentence.