Common Japanese Phrases (Power Japanese International Series) (Paperback)

by Sanseido (Author), John Brennan (Translator)

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Product Description
Words don't exist in isolation, to be placed willy-nilly in grammatical slots by a speaker exercising absolute freedom of choice. Rather, words come in neatly bound packages--in phrases or entire sentences--ready to communicate an idea that cannot be expressed economically in any other way. For example, "I wouldn't do that if I were you" is basically a set expression, allowing for little change. If a student of English wanted to express the thought behind this phrase, but wasn't aware that a means of doing it already existed, he or she would be forced to resort to a great deal of circumlocution before the point was made.

This is exactly why common phrases are so important: they facilitate communication. Japanese, too, is rich in common phrases perfect for any number and variety of occasions. This book lists over fifty and explains when, where, and how to use them, providing alternatives for slightly varied circumstances and revealing the underlying psychology. While all this is done in an informative, practical manner, the book is also immensely entertaining. All in all, Common Japanese Phrases is a delight for students of Japanese at every level.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface [slightly abridged and minus the original macrons]

Early on in my own education in Japanese (a process that may conclude in time for the colonization of Uranus), I witnessed something that alerted me to the prominent role reserved for established phraseology. It was during my first few months in Tokyo, long before I could really speak the language, and the outfit I was working for was hosting a daytime gathering to celebrate the opening of a new branch. Other than me almost everyone in attendance was Japanese, except for a foursome of business school types from the United States who had apparently sneaked out of the office upstairs where they were interning for the summer. Before the drinks were served, we all had to stand around in a big circle and introduce ourselves--in Japanese, naturally. As it happened, the MBA boys from upstairs were up first, and I was more than curious to see what they would say. I myself did not yet know how to introduce myself in Japanese. The first American cruised through his brief introduction; he had the routine down pretty well, I thought. I probably smirked a bit, though, when the second one simply repeated the words used by the guy before him, changing only the name. When the other two Americans followed suit, rattling off the very same phrase their colleagues had, I glanced around to see if any of the native speakers found this as fishy as I did. None did. In fact, to a man they used exactly the same phrase to introduce themselves--so I did, too. By the time my turn came around, I had my introduction down cold--Burenan desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegai shimasu. I even pulled off the bow that went with it.

Now, outside of the military or the realm of comedy (and not counting that scene near the end of "Spartacus"), it's pretty hard to imagine two dozen English speakers using exactly the same phrase, one after the other, to introduce themselves. That Japanese speakers do so as a matter of course not only points up the very different roles that words can serve in different cultures, but also holds an immediate implication for anyone hoping to communicate in Japanese: Learn that phrase!

The introduction, naturally, is only the beginning. There a whole storehouse of expressions that have become entrenched in Japanese-language behavior through endless repetition and are now all but automatically employed in certain situations and exchanges. This book invites English-language readers inside that storehouse to browse around and sample some of the stock.

There are two groups of readers for whom this book will be particularly useful. The first group comprises serious students of Japanese, those who are already familiar with Japanese grammar and with the various structural inflections designating polite, honorific, and humble language. None of these points are explained here; that's a job for other books, some of which the serious student has likely read. For those readers, this book serves up a host of pointers for pursuing the Japanese language further down the timeworn paths traced and retraced by its native speakers, whose behavior defines conventional usage.

The other group for whom this book will have special value consists of people who don't know any Japanese and don't care about the underlying linguistic details. They just want a few words they can memorize and deliver in given situations to show that, even if they can't always express it, they're clued in and are onto the spirit of the thing. Such readers will find in these pages not only the right words to say but also abundant guidance on when and how to say them.

Beyond the utility of the phrases presented, both serious students of Japanese and more casual readers are apt to be interested in the observations about the social and psychological contexts in which these expressions are used. Language conventions often reflect a set of tacit assumptions about the world that permeate--though they may not be shared by--the entire society, and this is conspicuously prevalent in Japanese. The editors at Sanseido, whose 1992 Kimari Monku no Jiten ("Dictionary of Common Phrases") is this book's source, made a point of enlivening their remarks on Japanese phraseology with little object lessons on the social graces, drawn from a very characteristic worldview. Wherever possible, this approach has been preserved in the translation here, with certain adjustments for the benefit of English-language readers. Suffice it to say that the worldview represented here isn't necessarily my own.

I've done my best to translate all the phrases and accompanying commentary into natural-sounding standard American English, whenever necessary forgoing a literal decoding of the components of a phrase or sentence in order to be faithful to the meaning of the whole. To some extent I've tried to approximate in English the level of formality, politeness, or humility that's usually explicit in the Japanese, but American English has such variable standards for these dimensions of expression that any given interpretation is sure to sound odd to somebody. Japanese phrases or sentences that contain what are considered exclusively female or exclusively male speech forms are designated by an F in a circle and an M in a circle, respectively. The conventions for transliterating Japanese are those observed in the other books in the Power Japanese series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN) (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770020724
• ISBN-13: 978-4770020727
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,344,849 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond "Ohayo gozaimas" and "Where's the bathroom?", October 26, 1999

By	Eleanor Taniguchi (Minnesota. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This has become my favorite Japanese phrase/instant reference book: unlike most phrase books, which seem frozen in a moment of polite meetings with strangers, this one actually gives context and character to the speech (admiring a co-worker's baby, for instance, or visiting an acquaintance in the hospital). It also allows the speaker to deliver a line with a bit more panache and informality to a neighbor, colleague, fellow student, etc. so that one doesn't end up sounding like a cyborg. The added bonus is that it's fun to read, a nice companion book while you're waiting for that connecting flight at Haneda or your train to Yokohama.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars nicely presented, easy to read with a lot of fine explanatio, November 17, 1999

By	Jochen Lang - See all my reviews

nicely presented, easy to read with a lot of fine explanations to understand really the use of the phrases. It is worthwhile if one is interested in patterns (which helps a lot)

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars japanese phrases youll never use, November 6, 2000

By A Customer

i dont see anything common about these phrases. there is a useful item for daily use here and there but for the most part heres what you get. ex-since this event unfortunately coincides with the arrival of the U.S. president, im affraid many of you may have been inconvinienced by security checks at train stations or on the streets. thank you for putting up with all the bother it has taken to be here. ive only lived in japan for 3 months but i highly doubt thats a common japanese phrase. i did however like the in depth descriptions of when to use the said phrase