Customer Reviews

An Introduction to Modern Japanese: Book 1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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This is quite possibly the best Japanese grammar/teaching text I have purchased. It is neither pedantic nor superficial. However, it is VERY dense (in the content sense). The introductory text "Yookoso!" by Tousaku, at its slower pace, is probably more appropriate for someone who knows absolutely no Japanese (IMPORTANT: for "Yookoso!", buy the soft-bound lesson book and audio CD's too). If you know some Japanese but are a bit rusty, or if you are seriously trying to teach yourself, Bowring and Laurie is a wonderful reference book (although I find it very readable too).

The book is organized into 52 lessons, each preceded by a passage in Japanese. Each passage in the reading is cleverly selected to demonstrate a particular grammatical construction. These constructions are then picked apart one-by-one in the lesson. I loudly applaud the authors for refusing to use ANY romanization except in the romanized translation of the passage for each lesson (which is isolated from the lesson itself) and except for the very early lessons where it is required for explanation of the syllabaries. This prevents students from handicapping themselves with a fake and truly useless writing system. It makes me very upset to see the profusion of Japanese texts peppering the shelves that concentrate only on speaking and lean on the crippling crutch of romanization. Try to read a subway map in Toyama or some other small city having learned nothing but romaji; let me know how you do. "Learning" Japanese without learning how to write is like "learning" physics without first learning basic calculus- you will never truly understand. There's no way around it: if you want to know Japanese, you must learn your kanji and kana just like everyone else.

This book is heavy. At close to 500 pages, there is a lot of material to cover (the recommended study time is 1-2 years). Again, the authors win my respect for their completeness. There is no way around this. No matter what that computer software or those car-audio tapes advertise, I'm sorry: you cannot learn Japanese in 90 days by studying "just X minutes a day."

The authors' tone is light and for the most part avoids linguistic terminology. American-English or other non-UK English speakers may notice some differences in diction, but this does not affect the learning experience at all. The material and the pace are very enjoyable.

My recommendation, if you are truly serious about learning Japanese is the following. Buy this book, the lesson book (Volume 2), a Kodansha EJ-JE furigana dictionary, and a kanji learner's dictionary. Make a Japanese friend and/or date a cute Japanese girl or guy (seriously- you'll be surprised how motivated you'll become). Concentrate on forcing yourself to speak and read Japanese. Read as much every-day material as you can: newspapers, advertisements, comics, whatever you can get your hands on. Most importantly, be persistent! And if you can afford it, travel to Japan and immerse yourself.

I just wanted to state the importance of getting An Introduction to Modern Japanese: Book Two (Vol 2) (the workbook) with Book One (the textbook). The workbook increases the student's learning ability tenfold. I've been writing out all the exercises, there are an average of five exercises for each of the 52 lessons, and found my retention of the kanji and sentence structure to be very high: much higher than without the exercises.

The textbook makes it easy to learn the different kanji, both name readings and standard readings, by presenting them all in the context. Instead of bombarding the student with different kanji and the numerous readings, a kanji will be introduced in the context of one reading at a time. Only in a later lesson will a new reading and context be given so the student can intuitively understand which is the appropriate one: instead of guessing.

The 52 lessons and exercises average about 20 new kanji and 60 new words including particles and new readings of previously learned kanji. Without the exercises this would seem like a lot, after doing the exercises, it isn't so hard, just time consuming.

These books were created to teach students to tackle a short story after 6 months and a newspaper after a year. So the student will not need to wait until the end before being able to find applications.

One more thing, get a kanji learner's dictionary such as Kodansha's. It helps a lot with the written exercises.

I first checked this book out at my university's library, and I was impressed from the get go.

While the explainations at time may be only somewhat vague, they are for the most part concise and straight to the point. The one feature I enjoy most was the building up of vocabulary and usage, and how one lesson carried fairly smoothly in to the next.

I've been using it for the past month on my own and I've noticed a marked improvement in my grammar skills. Of course, this book does nothing for verbal ability - but if practiced verbally, it sure does. My tutor has noticed a marked amount of improvement in my speaking ability, and I've noticed an improvement in my understanding as well.

As with any guide, this book is just that: a guide. Practicing what you learn is always the key to improvement. I highly suggest buying this book coupled with the second one. The vocabulary lists and excercises are invaluable for comprehension.

This book is a grammar book, and yet is very easy to read. The material is presented in a variety of ways within each chapter, which helps with keeping interest.

Each chapter starts with a conversation written with kanji/hiragan/katakana and an english translation. The romaji version is included at the end of the chapter, so you can refer to it if you are not sure of the kanji reading. Then the grammar points are discussed one by one, with examples and cultural references.

I already knew some Japanese before I started on this book, and I have found it excellent and would highly recommend it for any intermediate learner of Japanese. The first chapters are an excellent recap, and my teacher says that the later chapters are harder than GCSE level (UK exam for 16 yr olds), approximately the standard of the AS level (UK exam for 17 yr olds).

As to whether this book should be chosen as the sole book for an absolute beginner, I'm not so sure - my recommendation would be to buy it because it is excellent, but in addition, to get something like "Japanese Language and Culture" for a slightly easier ride at first.

Note: This is Volume I, the grammar Volume. Note that Volume II does not follow on sequentially from it - instead the two volumes complement each other, with volume II containing the word lists and exercises, so it is worth getting both volumes.

I own many Japanese text in many forms: kana, romanised, hybrids. This is far and away the best. Learn hiragana and katakana first, then buy this book used and read it!

The authors have done a great job of communicating all the essentials of written Japanese. The explanations are very readable/beginner friendly.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the workbook (book two) is a necessary complement to the text.

This text is an amazing blend of grammar, writing, and style. It will have you up and reading Japanese in 6 - 12 months.

Watch some Japanese cinema after reading this text and the conversations will jump out at you.

Highly recommended.

This is one of the best Japanese Grammar books I have bought. The best feature, in my opinion, is the fact that the books does not restrict itself to Romanji (Romanized Japanese writing) or Kana (the phonetic Japanese writing). Instead, all the expressions and vocabulary given is written in both Kanji and Romanji from lesson 1. And there are quite a few lessons (about 40)! So by the end of the book you will be reading page long passages in Japanese!. This may be a bit rough in the beggining (since reading Kanji is hard because each character can be read in *MANY* different ways), and that is why I suggest another book, like Eleanor Harz Jorden's "Reading Japanese", since it has many reading drills and will make you more confortable with reading more quickly. The combination of these two books makes the reader very familiar with common Japanese sentence structures and day-to-day Kanji characters. Definetly a great buy!

Fantastic text! I have studied a few languages in my day, used many language books, but i am delighted to declare that these two books are the most useful, straightforward, and complete of any texts I have ever studied from. I spent three months in Japan, with no knowledge of the language previous to my arrival except a few phrases, and how to read both kana syllabaries. I purchased these books before I left America, and am nothing but pleased with both my progress in Japanese, and in these texts.

I was always impressed with the author's choice of vocabulary included in each lesson. It seemed on a day-to-day basis, I would more often than not end up using, hearing, and/or reading, one or many of the words I literally would have just learned. The amount of material, and pages, i found perfectly amenable. Each lesson (of the 52 total) has roughly 50-70 vocabuary words. They begin with an introductory passage/dialogue (written in japanese, romanizations/romaji, and english for your convenience). The passages are calculated in the regard that they are often brief, but are dense enough to cover a reasonable amount of points in each lesson. Furthermore, special attention is payed to illustrating the use of idiomatic phrases, colloquialisms, irregularities, and token grammatical structures. The organization of the instruction in each lesson works off of an introductory dialogue/passage, dissecting its notable sentences, explaining how they work, generalizing the grammar when possible, sometimes talking about the history of the grammar, pointing out common pitfalls novice learners of the language may find themselves in, etc. The reader is greeted, and spoken to, as if English is their native language, and japanese is his/her second language. Explanations are clear, understandable, and phrased in a splendid manner. It is nice to finally find a text that does not treat the reader like a complete linguistic moron. I have used many books that do not even try to articulate to the reader how grammar works, or why it works, but rather teaches more or less by way of example.

I only got through 25 lessons during my stay in Japan, but it was more than adequate for not only business/service conversations, but also for talking to locals, etc. Not only are the words in this text themselves useful, but the general topics covered in the passages are also usually helpful. Whether it be speaking about your schedule, buying Shinkansen tickets, ordering at a restaurant, etc. The author instructs you on how to phrase things correctly, why certain ways of speaking are more polite than others, what is appropriate to say, how people will respond, clues you in on the social structure and behaviorisms that occur in conversation (quite useful, as japanese is admittedly an ambiguous/vague language).

Digressing for a moment to address the prospective/presently polyglot types out there: I have seen most actual university students learn from the "Genki?" texts, i have perused these and they are indeed university level, but not a level most non-college students would enjoy (i.e. not fast enough, and too emphasized with being a student). For those of you who have studied a few languages in your time such as myself, i -- for one -- found this book tremendous. It allows rapid, correct learning of Japanese, and i obtained a sound grasp/fluency with the language by the time i departed japan. I recommend purchasing both the grammar book and the lesson workbook. All the vocabulary lists are in that purple workbook!, and the lessons themselves are beneficial up until a point (they can get repetitive). Point and case, the author is articulate, and succinct, Bowring does not peregrinate and provides articulate, direct explanations/constructions without relying too much on example to explain for him, the vocabulary and grammar are presented in comfortable steps. Good luck!

So in context: I hit the local bookstores looking for a good book to refresh my Japenese knowledge from. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed -- there wasn't a book that covered both grammar, and also used the Japanese writing system (or, some would use Hiragana and/or Katakana, but seemed to go out of their way to avoid Kanji). Such books may be somewhat useful for oral usage, but are almost completely useless for learning how to actually read Japanese. Japanese for Dummies was the biggest cuplrit -- not an iota of even Hiragana or Katakana! What's the point, then?

So I decided to try this book after getting it on Amazon. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to read through this book because, I learned, much to my chagrin, that not only is it worth getting book two as well as book one, but it's also *mandatory* to do so -- book one contains only the grammatical constructs -- the book uses Kanji without presenting any explanations for what they mean -- such explanations are given in Book Two.

That said, from what I've seen in Book one suggests that the quality of instruction is great -- it doesn't try to dumb anything down, and gets you going in comprehending real Japanese text, using the actual writing system, from the get-go. This factor alone sets it apart from every other book I've seen out there. Furthermore, the grammar is explained in an academic, structured manner. In fact, it covers grammatical concepts that I didn't even know existed in English! I had to go look them up -- another thumbs up (from me, at least). I don't want punches pulled.

Remember, I cannot emphasize enough -- this book is *useless* -- not just "less useful" or "not as good" -- unless you also get Book Two (or, at the very least, some other book that teaches you extensive vocabulary with Kanji). You won't be able to actually read any of the Kanji without Book Two. I can't really understand why they didn't just combine the two volumes in the first place. Probably to make it look less expensive.

Ultimately, I'd recommend this book for someone that has some time, and needs to get serious about reading or writing Japanese in a fairly short time frame (though by the looks of it, it'll take me a few months to get through it all). However, for someone just interested in being able to get by on a trip to Japan, you'll probably want one of the "lighter" phrasebooks.