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Basic Connections: Making Your Japanese Flow (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics)

by Kakuko Shoji (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-4770028600
ISBN-10: 4770028601
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Basic Connections: Making Your Japanese Flow
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Product Details

  • Series: Kodansha's Children's Classics
  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Kodansha USA (July 26, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 4770028601
  • ISBN-13: 978-4770028600
  • Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 0.4 x 5.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,667,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe most important grammar book you'll find?
By J. FELLA VINE VOICE on May 30, 2004
Format: Paperback
This could be the most important Japanese grammar book you could buy, and I'll tell you why. If you're already learning Japanese, you know how complex the sentence structures and grammar can be. It's one thing to be able to get your ideas across in a reasonably intelligent manner, but it's another thing entirely to make what you're saying flow and sound natural. This book teaches you how to connect ideas and sentences so they more naturally flow into the next one. Now, if you're like me, you might be really good and saying things in Japanese, as long as you don't have to build on what you said the sentence before, or put together one long thought or sentence. This book shows you how to "look ahead" so you can figure out how to construct the sentence from the beginning so that, by the time you get to the end, everything has neatly connected itself along the way.
My only regret is I didn't find this book sooner than I did. It is truly invaluable for the beginning student, and even for the intermediate student, as well. Don't even hesitate to buy this book. It is cheap and EASILY worth the price.
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4.0 out of 5 starsThe Best in a Great Series
By Reader etc. on May 8, 2001
Format: Paperback
I have read/used almost all of Kodansha's "Power Japanese" series. "Basic Connections" (BC)and its immediate predecessor "Japanese Verbs at a Glance" (JVC) are the best. "All About Particles" and the many idiom/vocabulary books are useful references with nice examples (though many typos, especially in "Love, Hate, and Everything in Between"). However, BC and JVG are more communication/learning-oriented. They present very useful forms clearly. Moreover, BC has some discourse-level passages and actual exercises to do. It is by far the best in a great series for intermediate Japanese students.
One useful addition would be an index. It's very difficult to find structures, especially as the layout is a little crowded. But overall I enjoyed it very much. It contains structures that I read and hear all the time in Japan, but don't fully understand yet. The male/female usage designations were also helpful.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA definitive guide to Japanese sentence construction.
By A Customer on February 13, 1998
Format: Paperback
This book is a great reference for nearly any student of Japanese who wants to learn some common Japanese sentence structures. The book does assume that the reader knows some basics, such as simple verb conjugations, but even if one doesn't, the book is still a wonderful guide. It goes into enormous detail about many expressions of the language--too many to count--and has several examples for each (in kana/kanji, romaji, and English), to demonstrate all their possible uses. Also included are exercises and answers that the reader can practice with to guage his or her progress. The author has packed an overwhelming amount of information into this seemingly small volume, and it's simply too good a deal for anyone learning Japanese to pass up.
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4.0 out of 5 starsExcellent concept, but way too short.
By F. Toro on October 28, 2007
Format: Paperback
After you've spent a few months studying Japanese, you will begin to realize why a book like this is necessary. Saying short simple sentences in Japanese (e.g., "I want to go to that coffeshop" "the cake is good at that coffeeshop", "I want to go with you") is relatively easy. But saying anything more complex (e.g. "I want to go with you to that coffeeshop because the cake there is delicious") is HARD. And making relatively complex sentences sound natural takes a long time.

So the concept behind this book is brilliant. Lower intermediate students NEED this kind of instruction. This book, though, while well written and certainly useful, didn't really live up to my expectations. Why?

Because this is a slim little volume, too short to really deliver on the substantial promises it makes. Many of the explanations felt rushed to me. There are just one or two examples for each explanation, where four or five would be far more useful. And the exercises are too few and not always very well conceived.

So it's a great concept and a good book, but it could definitely be improved. Mostly it needs to fatten up. A future edition, with twice as many examples and exercises would be heartily appreciated.
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5.0 out of 5 starsClear and In-Depth!
By E. Frye on November 12, 2005
Format: Paperback
This is a great book for beginning/intermediate Japanese students. It describes the usage of particles, select verb phrases, and common sentence patterns very thoroughly, especially where appropriate context is required. Instead of just saying "A kara, B" means "because of A, B", this book delves into the complexities of kara implying direct cause and effect, even blame.

As for the use of romanji, it's annoying and ill-suited to a book that is not for absolute beginners. However, in a way it's also better than furigana because it's easier to practice reading kanji. I find that I've developed the annoyingly lazy habit of just reading furigana even if I know the kanji.

All in all, a great supplemental text!!
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4.0 out of 5 starsA very helpful book for beginners and intermediates
By AaronB on November 23, 2010
Format: Paperback
When you're reading something in Japanese, do you ever get the feeling like, "oh, we never learned how to use this particle like THIS." Or maybe you're not sure of when certain to use certain grammar constructions in conversation or in writing. Or perhaps you just think your speech is stale and repetitious and you wanna try and spice things up. Well this book will definitely help you.

This book will not teach you the basics, but rather it will expand upon them. Go into depth on things you may have learned and solidify them. For instance, the usage of the particles ' has six different uses and it goes into the nuance of each; how to say "but" three different ways; etc...

It's not a textbook, it's supplemental reading...but I think most english speakers of Japanese should read it. There are many shades of meaning in Japanese that sometimes can be hard to learn from a textbook and I think this book tackles some of them.

My only gripe with the book are that I wish there were more examples for some sections and possibly more in depth explanation, but other than that it is a very solid purchase.
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