Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Expand your Japanese, but outdated slang, July 6, 2003
This review is from: Japanese Street Slang (Paperback)
This book has been moderately useful because it gives you vocabulary that makes Japanese interesting and come alive. Most Japanese books don't include the slang spoken on the streets, which essentially is the way people speak. Try listening to TV in Japan and you'll understand why Berlitz insturction gets you no where in your quest to learn the language. No one speaks the way you will learn through books. This helps and does have some important slangish grammer focuses like the use of "me" for males from the polite "watakushi", the usualy "watashi", the boyish "boku", and the rough "ore". However, there are downsides to this book. It is terribly out-dated and with slang, you need to be on top of the latest phrases. I would give examples, but they would probably be offensive. More research and a new edition is needed. Moreover, the explainations of the words and expressions are too long: more vocabulary could be included instead of a mass of explaination. Some slang I learned from Japanese speakers was from the 80's and I got ridiculous smiles from locals. They hadn't heard "that" in years. One last word...the words in the book can be offensive and try them out with younger friends. Unko means "poo-poo" in Japanese, not the offensive 4-letter word the book says it means. Kids use it as well as wildlife shows. A lot of other words in here have debatable meanings, but the majority are interesting.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Too Useful..., June 1, 2001
This review is from: Japanese Street Slang (Paperback)
After having lived in Japan and interacted with Japanese on a daily basis, as well as a good dose of Japanese television and movies, I can tell you that most of the phrases in the book are just not used, are probably outdated, or even taken from obscure dialects. If you are looking for a good book on Japanese 'slang', I'd reccomend "Kansai Japanese" by Peter Tse - while not really 'slang' per se, it is one of the most interesting and lively dialects in Japan, and more useful than any of the 'slang' found in this book..
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Outdated, December 4, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Japanese Street Slang (Paperback)
When I read this book seven years ago and tried to use some of the new words I learned on some Japanese friends of mine, the only reactions I got were blank stares. I showed them the book and the words, and they still had no idea what I was talking about. I highly suggest staying away from this book. There are better ways to learn slang, like from real Japanese people. Japanese comics, or manga, are also a great source that I recommend for people wanting to learn slang.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
