Customer Reviews

Japanese Idioms (Barron's Idioms)

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Getting bogged down with grammar? Then this books for you. A great way to add some fun to your japanese study, this book presents japanese idioms clearly and precisely. The idioms are easy to look up and written both in kanji and romanji, complete with examples of usage in everyday conversation. Relevant for beginner to advanced level students.

Barron's really hit one out of the park with this volume of idiomatic Japanese expressions. Carol and Nobuo Akiyama have not just thrown together a long list of arbitrary phrases. They have assembled a huge collection of idioms, (over 2000), carefully organized them alphabetically by the key component word of each phrase, (all the expressions whose key word is "voice" are found together, etc.), and each phrase has a direct literal translation as well as a figurative translation. Each idiom is also accompanied by an example sentence to demonstrate how the phrase is used. These sentences are also great sources for vocabulary words that you can be sure are still in contemporary use.

The key words, the idioms themselves, and the example sentences are all written in Japanese kanji and kana as well as in Roman letters. This makes this book much more accessible to any native Japanese who may be helping you with your studies. The authors have included a fundamental pronunciation guide as well as a convenient English to Japanese index. If you are looking for an idiom to express the idea of "embarrassment" look up that word in the index and they will have the page listed for the phrase or phrases that match up best with that word.

The book itself is compact with almost no wasted space. Too often I have come across various Japanese texts and guidebooks that have entirely too much blank page, maybe from extremely poor editing or perhaps a thinly veiled attempt to inflate their page numbers with something other than actual content. This volume however is packed to the seams with useful material. Though the book is paperback it comes with a snugly fit dust jacket so it can hold up really well to repeated handling. Highly recommended.

For me, a big part of any language book's usefulness is based not only on content, but portability and durability as well - I'm always on the go, and I've had more than one book fall apart in my bag, and very often two or more weigh it down and take up way too much space on a crowded train. That said, this book ROCKS! Okay, so it - like all other books of Japanese idioms - is not always up to date, and you will need to try these on a friend to see if they're still in vogue or old enough to sound awkward... but the volume is there, with many hundreds of idioms, categorized by usage situation as well as romnji alphebetization. There is a whole lot of information in this book, and used properly will go far toward giving you a more natural turn of phrase in casual conversation. But here's what puts the package over the top - it's tiny, and it comes in a plastic slipcase! You can put this book in your pocket! It's a bit bigger than a deck of cards, and the plastic means you can drop it, kick it, throw it in a shopping bag and it'll be none the worse for wear. Also, the spine does not crease easily, which is another thoughtful touch. If you need it to be portable, this is truly the best study guide available.

Right on the front of the book, Japanese Idioms says it has over 2000 commonly used idioms. There's no doubt about the amount of idioms. This book is packed solid. What can be questioned is the "commonly used" part. I ran some of the idioms at random to my Japanese friends. Half the time they either shrugged or just laughed at how antiquated the idiom is.

The book isn't one that you can use to just study idioms since there's a good chance that the idiom you spent so much time learning is useless. However, it should be used as a great reference guide to look up an idiom that you heard or read elsewhere. Even more practical is that you can learn a lot of vocabulary.

The book is more like a dictionary than a textbook. Few people would study Japanese by picking up a dictionary and start reading. It can be fun to just browse and maybe learn a few new words. But as a book for learning idioms, I would have preferred fewer idioms that can actually be used without looking like a fool.

This is much more interesting to read than a textbook. I pick 1 sentence a day and "deconstruct" it by looking up words I dont know and getting a "feel" for how Nihongo is structured. Many sentences are amusing so it isnt as boring as it sounds. The sentences are written 3X: kanji, romaji and English so it's very easy to check my work. This method is a miracle and after deconstructing merely 3 sentences, I have a much stronger grasp of Japanese than by reading pages and pages of Genki I.