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Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
* 6 short stories in vertical text with translations of all the complex passages
* Japanese-English dictionary for quick lookup, tailored to your needs
* Notes explain subtleties of nuance, usage, grammar, and culture
* Free CD with audio narrations performed by a professional actress
* Profiles of the individual writers place the stories in context
* Japanese-English dictionary for quick lookup, tailored to your needs
* Notes explain subtleties of nuance, usage, grammar, and culture
* Free CD with audio narrations performed by a professional actress
* Profiles of the individual writers place the stories in context
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 48 people found the following review helpful
By Zarxrax
I love this book! It presents you with 6 short stories (each one around 12 pages long or so, but the last one is only about 2 pages). On one page it presents the Japanese text, and on page opposite of it you will find a translation of the phrases. Towards the back of the book, you will find another 50 pages or so of additional notes, which explain things such as words or grammatical patterns and other such things. There is also a japanese-english dictionary containing the words that you find in the stories. I love this format, because everything you need is right here in the book, so you don't have to constantly be looking up phrases on your computer or electronic dictionary. You can just lay back, relax, and read! However, the format of having the notes in the back of the book make it a little annoying, since you have to keep flipping back and forth, but you should be alright if you use two bookmarks to keep your place.
The stories themselves are real Japanese, just as the title says. These aren't watered-down stories designed to be easy for beginners. I've only read the first story so far, and I found it extremely challenging. The translations and notes and everything really helped out a lot. Although it took me over an hour to read the first page, as I continued on, I found that my speed was increasing quite well. I've completed advanced classes in Japanese in college, and I could hardly understand any of the sentences in the first story. However, the notes are all so helpful, I feel like I learned enough from just one page of this book to make the price worth it. If something is difficult to explain in English, the author will sometimes provide you with additional sentences for the purpose of helping you understand how a certain phrase or grammar point is used. There is furigana over the kanji the first time a word appears. I really like this, since it forces you to learn the reading of the words when you encounter them again later in the stories. The included cd is also very helpful, since it lets you hear how to say everything naturally.
This book assumes you have about an intermediate (or higher) level of knowledge with Japanese. For someone who has only completed intermediate classes, you may find the book fairly slow to work through, but as long as you actually study and try to learn from the material, I don't think you will have a problem.
The stories themselves are real Japanese, just as the title says. These aren't watered-down stories designed to be easy for beginners. I've only read the first story so far, and I found it extremely challenging. The translations and notes and everything really helped out a lot. Although it took me over an hour to read the first page, as I continued on, I found that my speed was increasing quite well. I've completed advanced classes in Japanese in college, and I could hardly understand any of the sentences in the first story. However, the notes are all so helpful, I feel like I learned enough from just one page of this book to make the price worth it. If something is difficult to explain in English, the author will sometimes provide you with additional sentences for the purpose of helping you understand how a certain phrase or grammar point is used. There is furigana over the kanji the first time a word appears. I really like this, since it forces you to learn the reading of the words when you encounter them again later in the stories. The included cd is also very helpful, since it lets you hear how to say everything naturally.
This book assumes you have about an intermediate (or higher) level of knowledge with Japanese. For someone who has only completed intermediate classes, you may find the book fairly slow to work through, but as long as you actually study and try to learn from the material, I don't think you will have a problem.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Anatoli
The other reviewer have already praised the book enough and I agree wit their assessment. This is a must have book for Japanese learners.
Something that might discourage some buyers: the texts chosen are not simple at all, they are very challenging. The audio recording is natural but very fast, you need to work hard to be able to understand the text by listening. it's a big jump in difficulty from reading/listening to Genki, Japanese for everyone, Minna-no Nihongo and other popular textbooks, which was exactly what I was looking for.
Something that might discourage some buyers: the texts chosen are not simple at all, they are very challenging. The audio recording is natural but very fast, you need to work hard to be able to understand the text by listening. it's a big jump in difficulty from reading/listening to Genki, Japanese for everyone, Minna-no Nihongo and other popular textbooks, which was exactly what I was looking for.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
This is the Japanese reader I have been hoping for! I can hardly believe that such an excellent book has finally been made available after suffering through sub-par readers for so long. This book is just awesome, and if you are studying Japanese then you are going to want it as soon as possible.
Japanese has always suffered from a dearth of good readers. Some, like A Japanese Reader are so dense and academic as to put off all but the most dedicated student. Some, like Mangajin's Basic Japanese Through Comics, are fun to begin with but don't get you very far. The biggest problem has always been that middle ground, that 2-kyu level where you need some help getting over the hump from constructed text and into the real world.
I had the previous edition of Read Real Japanese, and this release is a vast improvement. The old version relied far to heavily on romaji, which anyone reading at this level should be long past. This new edition eliminates this problem, using only the kanji and hiragana character sets. All kanji are initially presented with furigana, but afterwards appear on their own so you have to work for it. The stories are presented with the right hand being the original text, then the left hand presenting translations on difficult passages. In the back, there are more detailed translation notes and a dictionary of all the words used. The system works excellently, and it is a good challenge to mentally create your own translation then flip to the back and see what the editor translated the passage as. A CD is included as well for pronunciation, and I have found it is helpful to put on the CD and read along to increase your speed.
The selection of authors is also enjoyable, with only the ubiquitous Yoshimoto Banana making a repeat appearance from the previous edition. There are horror stories, magical realism, "slice-of-life"...one of my favorites was a scary tale about a solitary boy late at night and a mysterious sandbox with something lurking underneath. They are graduated in level, with the earlier stories being simpler to read, and then slowly gaining in difficulty. The goal is to eventually wean you off of readers, and the editor gives several suggestions of follow-up stories on each level that you can seek out and try on your own.
I am really happy that "Read Real Japanese" was published, and I hope that more follow suit. There is a companion book, "Read Real Japanese Essays: Contemporary Writings by Popular Authors 1 free CD included", which is of the same high quality, and students of Japanese will be wanting that as well. Highly, highly recommended.
Japanese has always suffered from a dearth of good readers. Some, like A Japanese Reader are so dense and academic as to put off all but the most dedicated student. Some, like Mangajin's Basic Japanese Through Comics, are fun to begin with but don't get you very far. The biggest problem has always been that middle ground, that 2-kyu level where you need some help getting over the hump from constructed text and into the real world.
I had the previous edition of Read Real Japanese, and this release is a vast improvement. The old version relied far to heavily on romaji, which anyone reading at this level should be long past. This new edition eliminates this problem, using only the kanji and hiragana character sets. All kanji are initially presented with furigana, but afterwards appear on their own so you have to work for it. The stories are presented with the right hand being the original text, then the left hand presenting translations on difficult passages. In the back, there are more detailed translation notes and a dictionary of all the words used. The system works excellently, and it is a good challenge to mentally create your own translation then flip to the back and see what the editor translated the passage as. A CD is included as well for pronunciation, and I have found it is helpful to put on the CD and read along to increase your speed.
The selection of authors is also enjoyable, with only the ubiquitous Yoshimoto Banana making a repeat appearance from the previous edition. There are horror stories, magical realism, "slice-of-life"...one of my favorites was a scary tale about a solitary boy late at night and a mysterious sandbox with something lurking underneath. They are graduated in level, with the earlier stories being simpler to read, and then slowly gaining in difficulty. The goal is to eventually wean you off of readers, and the editor gives several suggestions of follow-up stories on each level that you can seek out and try on your own.
I am really happy that "Read Real Japanese" was published, and I hope that more follow suit. There is a companion book, "Read Real Japanese Essays: Contemporary Writings by Popular Authors 1 free CD included", which is of the same high quality, and students of Japanese will be wanting that as well. Highly, highly recommended.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unpleasant story selection.
This book is fine for people who enjoy reading about sexual depravity or decapitation, undead children at the bottom of sand pits, and the like, I was not expecting to be subjected... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Alison Francis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable read, but didn't fit my purpose of purchase
This book has some great stories in it. They're so good, I have a hard time following along with the Japanese version. Read more
Published 11 months ago by PankoDX
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Book for Those Who Want to Read Real Japanese
Japanese is the fastest language to read in, provided you can find a book that speaks of the nuances. This is just such a book. A great translator, Mr. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Thomas A. Dimattia
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Roller Coaster Ride Through Japanese Contemporary Literature
Michael Emmerich has chosen well. The six short stories are absolutely marvelous and leave a taste for more. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Simon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not for beginners, just right for where I'm at
Picked this up about a week ago and have been doing a paragraph a night. Although I've been studying Japanese on and off for more than 10 years, I'm still pretty weak by my own... Read more
Published on April 8, 2011 by Keith Peters
3.0 out of 5 stars
Actually, Japanese is hard.
The editor, who has a PhD in Japanese literature from Columbia, prefaces this volume with the astonishing claim that Japanese really isn't that hard. Read more
Published on February 20, 2011 by Larson Juhl
3.0 out of 5 stars
A interesting way to improve your Japanese reading proficiency
I've only gone through the first story of this book, but it's really well put together. You get the feeling of really being able to read a Japanese short story with the kanji and... Read more
Published on August 26, 2010 by Sally A. Martin
1.0 out of 5 stars
Warning - this is full of furigana
(FYI - I'm posting the same review for 2 books, since it applies to both. The examples I give are from the non-fiction volume)
I was quiet disappointed in this product, and... Read more
I was quiet disappointed in this product, and... Read more
Published on March 24, 2010 by leosmith
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read Real Japanese
If you're a Japanese geek, you will love this book. It's got very legible kanji with legible furigana. Lots of notes with in-depth analysis. Read more
Published on March 22, 2010 by Henry J. Garner
4.0 out of 5 stars
a helpful resource
I really like the concept for this book, and the dictionary and CD are extremely helpful.
My only real issue with this book is that I am an intermediate Japanese... Read more
My only real issue with this book is that I am an intermediate Japanese... Read more
Published on February 10, 2010 by Kimberly Patton
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