How to Use This Reader
The IN-FOLIO layered technique (US. Patent No. 4,734,036) allows you to read, comprehend, and fully appreciate the original Japanese text, regardless of your level of proficiency. The Japanese, its phonetization, and English translation appear on consecutive odd-numbered pages. First read thc Japanese page and then, if necessary, briefly consult the phonetization and/or translation of a word or expression which appears on the following pages in same-line registry, and immediately revert to the Japanese text. In this way, your eyes remain focused on the spot where you left off, enabling a smooth and uninterrupted reading of the original.
The IN-FOLIO layered technique allows instant access to the pronunciation and meaning of kanji and is far less cumbersome than having to leave the text to look up the kanji in another field of vision. The Japanese text continues on odd-numbered pages, past the phonetization and translation pages.
Additional support is provided by "Phrases and Usage," which face the Japanese text. The even-numbered pages contain various types of background information and exercises. The book also contains a number of illustrations that are directly related to the text. In addition to their illustrative value, they can serve as vehicles to stimulate class discussion in Japanese. Note, also, that in order to further challenge the student, a key to the multiple-choice questions has not been provided.
To the Student
This reader has been designed to give the ambitious student as many advantages as possible. We assume the student already possesses a certain degree of knowledge, but wherever possible this book is designed to provide as many keys as possible to the unlocking of the many styles of Japanese writing.
My motivation for participating in this project was to do for students of Japanese what one of my teachers did for me when I was fortunate enough to study at Doshisha University in Kyoto. I hoped to save the student from excessive dictionary work, which, while admittedly a necessary skill, robs the student of valuable Learning time. Thus, redundancy has been built into the format of the text so as to give the student information when and where it is needed. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than having this reader be profitably used by those seeking to speed up their language acquisition.
The translations herein are literal. Some will seem awkward. The goal of the translation is not to be artful, but to try to reveal the literal meaning of the Japanese, and to be as faithful to the Japanese sentence structure as possible. Where this approach would produce nonsense or inaccurate translations unhelpful to the reader's understanding, a slightly more idiomatic approach has been used. In either case, the student is deliberately left room to improve and play on the rendering of the Japanese into English.
Good luck in your study of Japanese. May it bring you all the rewards it has brought me. Glenn T. Melchinger Honolulu, 1998
