Customer Reviews

A Pocket Guide to Reading Katakana

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Shaad's little book is an outstanding presentation on the use of katakana in contemporary Japanese, particularly its use in transliterating English. If you are planning a trip to Japan then you must get this book to read on the flight.

Beginning with an overview of Japanese phonetics and syllable structure, he progresses to describe the 46 basic characters in the katakana syllabary, giving you tips on memorization. These descriptions are some of the most lucid I've read (though be aware that Shaad's intent is to provide you with enough information to handle English loan words written in katakana and should not be taken as a full description of either topic).

The introductory material is followed by chapters containing tips on deciphering English loans written in katakana: this ties the description of the syllabary with the representation of English (or more properly, non-Asian) sounds. Included here are lists of words that are not immediately recognizable.

The most useful aspect of this book though is the chapter containing pictures of signs and papers (like receipts and ticket stubs) using katakana in the "wild". Seeing such actual use is really useful: not only can you see how and where katakana are used, but also how they appear in different ways (from neon signs to stylized forms on hand-written signs). Shaad is careful to point out where spelling variants appear in these examples.

I would have liked to see even more pictures of real use. I would also like to a revised edition covering recent changes in the use of katakana: The late 1990s witnessed an increased use of katakana for writing Japanese words: whether for emphasis or just to be "kewl".

It would also be nice to include a description of hiragana, or at least a mention. When writing the Tokyo subway the station names are written in kanji and hiragana (and in romaji in some downtown stations): being able to read these can be quite useful. But then this additional information would increase the size of the book and really doesn't belong.

This is a fabulous book: if you have an interest in katakana, or are planning a trip to Japan, then make sure you take this with you.