Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics) (Paperback)

by Jay Rubin (Author)
Key Phrases: Pacific War, Manchurian Incident, Murakami Haruki (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Brief, wittily written essays that gamely attempt to explain some of the most frustrating hurdles [of Japanese]...It can be read and enjoyed by students at any level."

Product Description
Making Sense of Japanese is the fruit of one foolhardy American's thirty-year struggle to learn and teach the Language of the Infinite. Previously known as Gone Fishin', this book has brought Jay Rubin more feedback than any of his literary translations or scholarly tomes, "even if," he says, "you discount the hate mail from spin-casters and the stray gill-netter."

To convey his conviction that "the Japanese language is not vague," Rubin has dared to explain how some of the most challenging Japanese grammatical forms work in terms of everyday English. Reached recently at a recuperative center in the hills north of Kyoto, Rubin declared, "I'm still pretty sure that Japanese is not vague. Or at least, it's not as vague as it used to be. Probably."

The notorious "subjectless sentence" of Japanese comes under close scrutiny in Part One. A sentence can't be a sentence without a subject, so even in cases where the subject seems to be lost or hiding, the author provides the tools to help you find it. Some attention is paid as well to the rest of the sentence, known technically to grammarians as "the rest of the sentence."

Part Two tackles a number of expressions that have baffled students of Japanese over the decades, and concludes with Rubin's patented technique of analyzing upside-down Japanese sentences right-side up, which, he claims, is "far more restful" than the traditional way, inside-out.

"The scholar," according to the great Japanese novelist Soseki Natsume, is "one who specializes in making the comprehensible incomprehensible." Despite his best scholarly efforts, Rubin seems to have done just the opposite.

Previously published in the Power Japanese series under the same title and originally as Gone Fishin' in the same series.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770028024
• ISBN-13: 978-4770028020
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,365 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Successfully disarms the scariest concepts in Japanese., July 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Making Sense of Japanese : What the Textbooks Don't Tell You (Paperback)

If you're an intermediate student of Japanese, but haven't yet begun to really understand the language, this book will clear up a lot of your concerns. The author takes a humorous approach to some intimidating topics, and yields new insight on other, easier topics which textbooks often leave vague. The book frequently illustrates these concepts with examples in Japanese literature and journalism. Even examples in speech are explained in-depth. Yet, it remains light-hearted and humorous, relating the mysterious translations and hidden connotations in a way that the English-speaking mind can understand. Most importantly, it debunks many of the myths and misconceptions about Japanese that make Westerners fear it so. It also seemed that the author was subtly trying to prepare the readers to think in Japanese, which as wel all know is a vital step towards fluency.

The title pretty much sums it up when it says "What the Textbooks Don't Tell You." This book ! ! essentially takes the information from your textbooks and makes sense of it. If you study independently, like me, this book should be on your list. If you don't need this book, you probably know someone who does.

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally deserving of these 5 stars, January 4, 2000

By	Tim (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Sense of Japanese : What the Textbooks Don't Tell You (Paperback)

When I ordered this book, I hadn't read it, or even seen the cover. I just picked it up because I'm anxious to learn more daily Japanese conversation. While this book didn't teach me the slang and modern speech I'm wanting to learn, I did find it to be extremely useful. I'm not finished yet, but this book has so far been very informative and easy to read. The writing is excellent, and it's entertaining to read. It explains how "subjectless" sentences work and how to use "wa" and "ga" properly, amomg other things of course. If you're a student of Japanese, and you want to actually understand the logic of the language instead of simply memorizing vocabulary, this book is a must-have.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only one that..., March 23, 2006

By	Shinjitsu no Uta "writer, college student" (Washington State, USA) - See all my reviews

I own numerous fantastic Japanese grammar reference volumes on Japanese (most of which are available through amazon.) All of them allude to the points that Rubin tackles in this deceivingly slender yet startlingly informative volume. Despite avid interest in grammar and having studied countless hours huddled over cup after cup of espresso, I had questions to which I could not seem to find adequate answers. That changed when I finally tracked down a copy of this book.

If it is credibility you're looking for, Jay Rubin has it: besides a position as a professor of Japanese at an ivy league, he is a famous translator whose works read like English rather than an attempt to superimpose foreign syntax upon each sentence. In other words, this is someone who is comfortable with Japanese and can explain it both as an expert and as one who at one time studied it in school (and struggled, as he explains briefly.)

As for content, the book is concise, funny (I laughed out loud a dozen times,) and incredibly helpful. The content is focused upon the greatest ills of English-speaking students of the Japanese language. The book begins with a fun introduction in which Rubin assaults the myth that Japanese is somehow vague or alien in comparison to other languages of the world. He begins by debunking the tale oft-perpetuated by well-meaning Japanese instructors. You know what I'm talking about: the subjectless sentence. In actuality, these are NOT subjectless anymore than an English sentence using a pronoun or demonstrative is subjectless. Rubin spends time warning the reader to re-evaluate his/her understanding of what it means to have a passive/intransitive verb versus one with an agent and helps to once and for all expell the confusion.

Next comes the reason I purchased the book: an explanation of WA versus GA. Certainly, one may go through years of study believing one's understanding of these particles is moving in the right direction, but Rubin separates them in a way this reviewer certainly has never been taught. Regardless of the mound of linguistic texts and the thousands of grammar drills that have turned my eyes bloodshot over the years, I have never found a single person/book/textbook that has been able to adequately explain which particle is grammatically correct given a specific linguistic environment.

The giving and receiving verbs, passives, causatives, causative-passives, multiple particles, and so on are all discussed in part one. Part two concerns specific problems, including TAME (its uses and distinction between the two), TUMORI (if you just said to yourself "that just means 'i intend...' I suggest checking out the book!), and so on.

It's an inexpensive title and it provides one with so much wonderful information. It's easily some of the best money I've ever spent on my education. I recommend it and could scarcely recommend it with more enthusiasm. I've purchased volumes heavier and much more expensive that have offered less in a half a thousand pages than this one does in far fewer.