Customer Reviews

Handbook of Japanese Grammar (Tuttle Language Library)

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I read the reviews carefully, and thought this is it. As a beginner with 4 years of reading, I was disappointed that there was no index, even though it is arranged alphabetically. Verb structure is sketchy and I have to look elsewhere for details. As usual the extensive use of romaji and in some places only romaji lowers this book and wastes a lot of my time. I prefer kanji along with furigana or kana helps. I would pay 4 times the amount to get those details included. But I don't know where to go. But this book does give some help along with pretty good particle, preposition and other syntax details. I could not use this book at all without help from the Monash editor.

This book is useful as a reference for students of Japanese. It includes over 600 enteries of Japanese grammar points listed in alphabetical order for easy reference. For those looking for a text for learning Japanese, this isn't a good choice because most of the enteries have only one example for each usage. However, it's great for people who have studied or are studying Japanese. I use it for checking points which I don't often use and easily forget. If you're going to study Japanese, you could use this as a reference for your studies. If you are looking for clear explanations rather than reminders, you should find a more comprehensive book.

This book bears a strong similarity to A Handbook of Japanese Usage, but differs in a few ways - this book focuses more on larger grammatical terms than the other - for example, this book has an entry for 'ni chigai nai' - 'it must be', whereas the other has entries for smaller terms and particles, such as 'ni' and 'nai'. Therefore, I have also found this book to be useful and interesting as a language learning resource, while the other is more useful as a reference.

A Handbook of Japanese Grammar is structured like a dictionary, with alphabetical entries, and example sentences given for each one to detail their possible usages. This is quite a valuable book. Note: The system of romanization used here is the Hepburn system.

This book seems to have just about everything I need for grammar purposes when I translate to and from Japanese. However, I have on rare occassion been stumped, with no help from this book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to translate, but I'd advise other tools for learning the language.

This book has its strenght in simplicity. But it is only worth its price, not a good handbook. The explanation is too sketchy. There are mistakes, which are very annoying. Some intended cross references are broken (eg. entry "A", see "B". When you turn to entry "B", there is no mention of the relation of "B" to "A" whatsoever). The use of Romanji only in parts of the book is a waste of resource. I hope that the author can fix these problems in future revised editions.

I purchased this book some time back, when I was still a beginner in Japanese; I managed to get a couple weeks' usage out of it, but it soon afterwards fell to the wayside, and I have not found reason to open it again after well over six months. I find that it's best for beginners of Japanese, but serious students of Japanese (particularly those with an eye on learning the three syllabaries), should look elsewhere.

Cons:

- This handbook really only covers basic grammar patterns, with smatterings of advanced usage here and there; it's nowhere near comprehensive enough to handle lengthy texts - I imagine you might get on by with short articles and manga, but not much else.
- This is a reference book, not a guide; if you need a resource with which grammar mastery is your aim, this book is NOT for you.
- While kana and kanji are used, romaji is also utilized prominently throughout the book; fine for those who seek only conversational fluency in Japanese, but a hindrance to most serious students.
- The verb conjugation and vocab-builder towards the back of the book is weak and forgettable; if you do not already have a firm grasp on how to work with basic tenses, or differentiating between plain and polite forms, you are far better off investing in a separate resource that's dedicated to this task. The space dedicated to this section would have been put to better use on strengthening the grammar section.

The book does enjoy a few benefits:

- It's thin, lightweight, easy to carry about.
- It's very inexpensive - even if you find this purchase wasn't worth it after a few months' usage, at least it won't be 80 or 100 dollars down the drain for you.
- Admirably covers basic grammar patterns with hundreds of sample sentences, all competently translated and explained - which I believe to be this book's strongest point.
- Its extensive use of romaji makes this accessible to casual and conversational students of Japanese.

Ultimately, this book is best suited toward causal language learners, and I believe it wouldn't be a bad investment to make, considering the low price.

For those seeking a more comprehensive experience, those who would like to tackle more difficult and scholarly texts, and those who are aiming for fluency in both conversation and literacy, this book does not merit a recommendation.

As alternatives, I strongly recommend a resource like A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, or the free online guide, Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese.

great book, lots of useful info on sentence structure and grammatical patterns. However, i'd prefer more usage of hiragana and less romanji.