All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics) (Paperback)

by Naoko Chino (Author)
Key Phrases: desu mono, mono nara, sample sentences, United States

Editorial Reviews

Review
"... nearly 11 years old, it is just as relevant now as it was then." -- Brandon Jirou Hayashi, The Hawaii Herald

Product Description
All students of Japanese, whether they have studied physics or not, know the word "particle," and they realize that particles, like English prepositions, require a special effort to master. Thus the high evaluation of the previous edition of this small handbook, which provides all the information students need in a scant 128 pages, was not surprising.

All About Particles covers 69 particles, the most common ones along with the less frequent. The particles are shown to have some 200 usages -- sufficient to keep most students hard at work for a good many years. The book can be approached as a textbook and studied religiously from beginning to end. It is as a reference book, however, that All AboutParticles shines: light enough to carry around, slim enough to fit into the corner of a shoulder bag, concise enough to take one quickly to the crux of the matter, it combines the best of several worlds and is priced to be affordable.

No wonder, then, that wherever students of Japanese congregate, there is bound to be a copy of All About Particles around. By the author of A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns and Japanese Verbs at a Glance.

Previous published in the Power Japanese series under the title All About Particles.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (September 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770027818
• ISBN-13: 978-4770027818
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #120,558 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning Japanese? Get this book., September 18, 2002

By	Zack Davisson "All Good Things" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Every Japanese learner struggles with particles. Organizing particles is one of the most difficult part of the language, and there are few good resources to help you out. "All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words" is the single most useful book I have found on the topic.

This is a true reference book. Although it can be read straight through (and I recommend this at least once), it is most useful for looking up difficult particles as you discover them. Placing them in context will help the learning process. Read all in one sitting it is a little overwhelming, but good for an overview of all 70 plus particles.

One of the advantages of "All About Particles" is that the examples use various forms of politeness. It also demonstrates interchangeable particles, and which expressions are more daily-use. The text itself is very compact, and travels well.

I would recommend this book to any Japanese learner looking to bridge the gap from Advanced Beginner to Intermediate.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad book, but way too simplistic, January 8, 2005

By	Alanna Krause "majime-ni" (ojai, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this title because I thought it would give me in-depth information about those pesky few particles I still have questions about, but it turns out to be a simple, straightforward description of only the common particles and their common usage, with no in-depth explaination at all. I wanted to know in a very explicit manner the differences between wa/ga, -tara/-reba, dake/nomi, etc, but it only glosses over them. If you've studied Japanese for more than a couple years, don't bother at all with this book. I guess I'll give this copy to a friend just beginning Japanese or something.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise, thorough, April 27, 2002

By A Customer

This book discusses the use of about 70 particles, listed in order from most to least common. For each particle, Chino lists the different ways you can use it, grouping similar uses together, and provides at least two example sentences for each use. The examples are shown in kanji, roomaji, and English.

I think this book covers most particles a beginning or intermediate student would need to know. Finding the particle you want is fairly easy, either by using the table of contents, checking out the index, or glancing at the page headers. Chino did not include exercises, so the book is slim and to the point. However, the use of roomaji may bother some people.