Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script [Paperback]

Helen Gilhooly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0071419853 | ISBN-13: 978-0071419857 | Edition: 1

Now learning non-Roman-alphabet languages is as easy as A-B-C!

Readers wanting to learn the basics of reading and writing a new language that employs script will find all they need in the Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series. Each book includes a step-by-step introduction to reading and writing in a new language as well as tips and practice exercises to build learners' skills. Thanks to the experts at Teach Yourself, script will no longer be all "Greek" to language learners--unless of course, it is Greek script! Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series books feature:

• Origins of the language
• A systematic approach to mastering the script
• Lots of "hands-on" exercises and activities
• Practical examples from real-life situations

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Helen Gilhooly has lived and worked in Japan and is a university teacher-trainer and director of a specialist language school.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (June 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071419853
• ISBN-13: 978-0071419857
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,076,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Start., November 27, 2004

By 

S. Melvin Jr. (STL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script (Paperback)

For it's price this book is a good find. There were some problems regarding pronouncation. Since the book is written by a British author American readers may be confused by the sounds of the hiragana.

Example:

あ= a, as in hat

え= e, as in end

い= i, as in hit

う= u, as in blue

お= o, as in hot

the two confusing ones are い and お. They should be pronounced like "ee" and "oh", respectively. The examples given, hit and hot make american readers give い the "eh" sound and お the "aw" sound, which is wrong. But if you can get past that, its actually a well written book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction To The Kanji and Kana, September 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script (Paperback)

It is difficult to think of a better introduction to learning Kanji. First lessons start with pictures on which certain charasters are based. Then the real characters are presented. The student is offered to establish a link between a picture and the corresponding character. It is a good stimulating exercise which makes the student pay attention to the elements of a certain character on one hand and prerares him to discover its meaning on the other. The lessons are supplied with exercises that help remember the material and also refresh what was learnt in the previous lesson. The exercises are very practical and present real language situations, e.g. to work with Japanese calendar, ads, warnings, notices, etc. The inroduction to kana is built on associations as well. However, I think it is slightly condensed. For those who are interested in learning Kana using picture mnemonics I would recommend Kana Pictographics by M.Rowley. Ohterwise, H. Gilhooly did a great job on creating this book. I just regret that the number of the Kanji introduced is only about fifty. This book is defenitely designed to maintain the student's interest to the language and gives sufficient knowledge to continue studying Japanese.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Start--Not the best, May 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script (Paperback)

If you want to learn Kanji, this is a very good choice to start with. The book is written simply, by and established author, and leads you well through many simple kanji, including a nice set of general rules for stroke order.

There are only a single real problem I found with this book. For one thing, the author does not always introduce the names of the kanji when she presents them--given, there is an index in the back, but I would like to not have to flip back and forth quite so often. This was my major concern with the book; if you want to have speaking ability with these new kanji you must learn how to say their names.

Other than this, I believe this is a good choice of book if you are looking to learn kanji; even some of the pictoral mnemonics (I need a way to help me remember how to spell that! *grins*) were helpful, though some didn't seem to be very well-linked unless you looked them over quite carefully.

So to you I say--nihongo gambatte!

~KeViN!