Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensive and Comprehensible, October 31, 2006
There is a bit of a myth about Japanese grammar--that it is too complicated, too alien for the non-native speaker to ever really master. This is a myth that many Japanese perpetuate themselves, seen in unflattering characterizations of non-native speakers, or in the (unhelpful) praise lavished upon anyone who can speak Japanese to any degree, no matter how ungrammatical it may be. This is a myth that is also unfortunately and unintentionally perpetuated by guides like Jorden's "Japanese the Spoken Language" that do the learner a disservice by explaining grammatical points in a language better suited for a linguist than a language learner. For people like you and me, who want to surpass these low expectations and confusing explanations and start on the road to true fluency, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" is an essential companion.
Let's face it--from the perspective of a native English speaker, mastering Japanese grammar is difficult. Very difficult. Don't trust anyone who says otherwise! Much is made of the difficult writing system, but mastering grammar is perhaps even more difficult and essential to smooth communication. Sure, learning the difference between "wa" and "ga" is not as sexy as learning how to write "love" or "raccoon dog" in kanji, but it's many times more useful on a daily basis. By providing easy-to-understand explanations as well as examples of both good and bad usage, the student is given a better understanding of basic (but still difficult-to-master) grammatical points. This dictionary does an especially good job of contrasting similar constructs that give beginning-to-intermediate (and even many advanced) students trouble (wa/ga, aida/uchi, ageru/kureru, hazu/beki, ni/de etc.)
Although I don't think it's possible to gain complete comfort and mastery of Japanese without living in Japan, or at the very least, interacting with Japanese people on a regular basis, this book is the perfect guide for explaining the nuances that a beginner might not notice, and an intermediate student might be aware of but not fully understand. This includes the deceptive "similar constructs" I mentioned before, words that are not easy to translate into English (sekkaku, darou come to mind), and other issues such as auxiliary verbs and onomatopoetic "sound words". Whether you're learning Japanese in school, living abroad in Japan, or even just studying on your own, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" is an indispensable companion for your studies.
One last comment--there are a few reviews that have comments along the lines of "yes, but the Japanese don't really talk like this" to which I say, "You're missing the point." That's a bit like arguing against learning multiplication tables because in the "real world" there are calculators. Sure it would be nice to go directly from "Sir, please give me that pen" to "Hey man, can ya grab that pen for me?" but language learning isn't that easy. If you understand the fundamentals of grammar, you will understand Japanese of all formalities, dialects, and other variations and transmutations. It is much easier to learn the shortcuts once you have a strong foundation because you are in a position to understand the nuances and principles involved. In other words, you know and understand what exactly is being "shortcutted". If you only learn the shortcuts, you will have a hard time generalizing your knowledge for usage out of a narrow, specific context. Worse, you might not even realize that you are even making a grammatical or etiquette mistake by misapplying knowledge from one context to another. The worst thing a language learner can do is to try to take shortcuts to "speed up" his or her progress without taking the time to build up a steady base. This dictionary provides that strong foundation that is needed for the serious Japanese language learner.
6/24/09 addendum: I've seen a small handful of reviews that insinuate that a strong knowledge of grammar is only important for reading & writing Japanese, and perhaps only for reading & writing formal Japanese at that. This couldn't be more untrue, and this gets to the idea that there are no shortcuts to language learning, even if you're just interested in "conversational Japanese". For any language, the spoken language and the written language are not the same, and formal and colloquial language differ as well. But they all rely on the same principles of grammar, even though they might be applied in different ways. You might be speaking casually with your friends, but greeting them with "Up what is?" instead of "What's up?" is still wrong (unless you're Yoda). Because of grammar.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The ultimate grammar resource, August 10, 2004
This book simply has no peer. It is by far the clearest, most thorough, most concise and well-thought-out Japanese language resource out there. If you really want to understand Japanese and how it works, this is the tool for you.
You can use this book as a reference when you come across a new grammatical pattern, or systematically go through it to learn new ones. The book explains Japanese grammar points in clear English and gives many example sentences to cover the range of their uses.
People often ask me, "what's the best textbook for learning Japanese?" In my opinion, there are no good textbooks. What you need are good RESOURCES on certain areas, and this is the best for grammar. Unlike all the silly "Mr. Smith goes to Tokyo" textbooks, this book does not make you go through a pointless story from which you mine a few nuggets of information. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar presents you with what you want to know, with no time wasted on anything else. This and a good Kanji-learning resource are what you need to begin your road to true profenciency in Japanese.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
they should call this Japanese For Dummies, September 16, 2000
I bought this book in Japan, so I don't how how available it is in North America. This book has become a vital part of my Japanese language library, helping me in more ways than I can count. Along with my English to Japanese dictionary, verb ductionary, and my kanji dictionary, this helps me structure any sentence I've ever wanted. By memorizing a few formulas and understanding examples of grammar, I understand the language so much more, I can express most thoughts I want, and I'm a step ahead of most people in my Japanese class. This is the transition for a beginner student between simple and complex sentences.
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