Japanese Core Words and Phrases: Things You Can't Find in a Dictionary (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics) 2nd Edition

by Kakuko Shoji (Author)

15 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-4770027740

ISBN-10: 4770027745

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Some Japanese words and phrases, even though they lie at the core of the language, forever elude the student's grasp. They are not explained satisfactorily in dictionaries or textbooks for the simple reason that they cannot be conveniently defined. Japanese Core Words and Phrases brings these recalcitrants to bay.

The book is divided into two parts, each of which is arranged in alphabetical order. The first part is devoted to words indicating physical as well as psychological distance-roughly equivalent to "this," "that," "that over there," and "where," but quite different in usage. Physical distance is covered in most textbooks, but psychological distance-every student's nemesis-is not.

The second part of the book covers a variety of idiomatic expressions, many of which appear in Japanese proficiency tests. Each entry word or phrase is not simply explained but exemplified in sentence form, clarifying its meaning (in the case of many students) for the very first time.

Japanese Core Words and Phrases has a great deal to offer the beginning student and much to offer the intermediate student. Little more can be asked of a book on the Japanese language.

Previously published in the Power Japanese series as Core Words and Phrases: Things You Can't Find in a Dictionary.

Japanese Core Words and Phrases: Things You Can't Find in a Dictionary (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics)

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Product Details

Series: Kodansha's Children's Classics
Paperback: 131 pages
Publisher: Kodansha USA; 2nd edition (September 4, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 4770027745
ISBN-13: 978-4770027740
Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 0.4 x 4.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,232,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #369 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Foreign Languages > Japanese
- #922 in Books > Travel > Reference > Phrasebooks
- #8616 in Books > Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language Dictionaries & Thesauruses

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Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars

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4 star		27%
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Top Customer Reviews

A Great List of Expressions that are not in Dictionaries

By Amazon Customer on August 7, 2001

Format: Paperback

I feel that my comprehension of written Japanese has improved as a result of reading this book. By reading novels in Japanese I found out how insufficient most dictionaries and grammar references are with regard to the Japanese I often found in novels. Thus, I was quite pleased when I found this book because it seemed to cover a lot of the words that I had been unsuccessfully searching for in dictionaries. This book is broken down into two sections: gdemonstrative pronounsh and gidiomatic expression.h Under each section there is a list of phrases; each phrase covered receives over a paragraph long explanation, as well as numerous example sentences. Furthermore, I feel that this bookfs best point is the selection of words covered. Thus, I feel that this book is a good value because you will likely not find the same expressions in other resources. Also, I think that this book has particular value to those students who want to start to gain confidence reading Japanese literature.

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A little more advanced than I was looking for

By A Customer on March 25, 2002

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

This book seems quite useful, and is well-indexed... but this is really for intermediate to advanced students of Japanese. To use this book, you should be able to read some Kanji, and already have a good knowledge of Japanese sentence structure and a reasonable vocabulary.

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Wish I'd bought this sooner!

By J. FELLA VINE VOICE on May 30, 2004

Format: Paperback

This book really is excellent in every way. I'm an intermediate/advanced japanese student, although I mainly study on my own these days. Because of that, I needed something to teach me some of the little things that are difficult to find in a book, yet are a big part of the language, and this book does that. It has a HUGE list of Japanese idioms, set phrases, and similar grammatical tools that are absolutely integral to the Japanese language, and I often found myself going "Oh yah, that's the kind of thing I would say in English, but never thought to learn it in Japanese!"
Basically, if you want to take a break from the textbooks and learn some really good fundamental and natural Japanese grammar, this book is for you. For the price, you simply can't beat it. I also HIGHLY recommend "Basic Connections:Making Your Japanese Flow." With those two books, you'll have enough info to last you a long time!

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Great and useful for anyone really wanted to know Japanese

By Christina L. Lechner on August 19, 2008

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

If you aren't serious about learning Japanese, I don't advise getting this book. However, if you are thoroughly interested in becoming fluent, this is the book for you. This isn't slang--this is real life, everyday Japanese that almost anyone can use--and everyone DOES use it! The book has it's share of informal phrases, but so many of them can be used in formal and informal situations. This isn't all about idioms, it's about real-life conversational speaking! It's about grammar and set phrases that teachers have never taught you, and that so many other lessons just love to skim over or skip completely! Instead of saying, "He's ok, but he might die," you learn to say, "He's ok right now, but the doctor says that if worst comes to worst, he might die."

It also gives GREAT explanations between "wa" and "ga," that many students of all level struggle with, along with ample explanations of the uses of "no."

To be honest, I'd rate this book 4.5/5 stars instead of 4/5. But, since I can't...

The only minor-flaw that this book has is it's lack of quizzes or any other study-friendly things. Although I can't really blame the book, considering it would be incredibly difficult to make a quiz for this. The author gives enough example sentences for you to remember most of the things you learn, and, if you read through the phrases a couple times, you can remember the main part of it, if not the whole significance itself. I'm not a person who can just sit down and memorize a dictionary. This is not a dictionary to begin with.

I highly recommend this to anyone studying Japanese, from upper-beginner to advanced students.

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Very good with one complaint

By dm on May 6, 2011

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

I'm an intermediate-advanced Japanese speaker. I'm always trying to improve my vocabulary. This book is great for learning common phrases that you probably wouldn't learn in a class or normal textbook. I have heard of many of the phrases already. There are a couple that I didn't know and I asked my Japanese friend if they were common and not old-fashioned. (I'm always skeptical if books are using outdated terminology.) She assured me that they are common expressions used today.

My main gripe is that Kanji and romaji are used but not furigana. This is surprising because the sentence examples use very difficult vocabulary, much too advanced for a beginner, but only a beginner would want to see romaji.

Otherwise I find it to be quite helpful.

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good ol' koudansha

By makoto on July 1, 2006

Format: Paperback

Well, as the title so boldly states you WILL find things in this little gem that you wouldn't find in just any dictionary(although you might want to try eiwa-waei dictionaries aimed at native japanese speakers if you've reached a certain level of proficiency). I do have one gripe, though. Why can't language guide publishers be more careful when it comes to typo's?They've even misspelled the name of the author on page 3(dai6satsuhakkou).Who is "Kazuko Shoji"? This kind of thing is pretty common in koudansha publications which is pretty sad considering the outstanding work of(most of)the authors. Fortunately, romanised text helps clear any discrepancies most of the time but it's still annoying.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

... I thought I was going to it is a fun book to look over

Though I do not use it as much as I thought I was going to it is a fun book to look over.
It is a fun book for both for an English speaker learning Japanese or a Japanese... Read more

Published 21 months ago by CapnShorty

Worth the Buy.

Teaches you words and phrases that you definitely couldn't learn in the traditional classes. Hard for a beginner to understand and apply, though. Still worthy of 5 stars.

Published on June 15, 2013 by M. C. Pennington

Yeah, it's good.

I was trying to get back into self-teaching Japanese and saw this book on the suggestion list. It's good, but I've since lost interest again. Keeping the book for future though.

Published on April 11, 2013 by Amazon Customer

Very useful book.

It is well explained and it has a lot of examples to core words that you can't find in grammar books.It is useful, light and small.

Published on March 7, 2013 by Rahayu

Amazing book to make your Japanese sound more natural.

This book has some more advanced topics which build on your basic concepts and knowledge of Japanese, so this book is not for beginners. Read more

Published on November 1, 2012 by Kousuke

Excellent Book to Supplement Japanese Learning

I am very pleased with this educational material. It has all the basics and more advanced lessons. I think for the beginner to moderate Japanese learners this will help aid them in... Read more

Published on June 6, 2012 by Kaitlin Jaso

Very helpful

I guess this book came about because the author has taught many students and has found some general problems. Some of these problems are highlighted in this book. Read more

Published on October 25, 2010 by Jackal

Essential for natural-sounding spoken Japanese.

At about 130 pages, this book isn't the comprehensive guide to speaking Japanese naturally. However, it is an invaluable supplement to intermediate or advanced students of the... Read more

Published on August 6, 2009 by Marty McNutt

An Excellent Aid for the Intermediate Student

This little book provides a guide to many important Japanese words and phrases that are difficult to find in a dictionary. Read more

Published on August 9, 2008 by Oliver