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Janet Ashby

Read Real Japanese Essays: Contemporary Writings by Popular Authors Paperback – June 1, 2012

by Janet Ashby (Author)

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There is a dramatic difference between reading Japanese that is tailored to students, and reading real Japanese that has been written for native speakers. The concocted variety tends to be insipid, flat, stiff, standardized, completely lacking in exciting and imaginative use of language.
Read Real Japanese Essays, and its companion volume Read Real Japanese Fiction, allows readers to experience the work of several of todays foremost writers as if they were lifelong Japanese speakers.

The pieces in Read Real Japanese Essays are informed by the personalities of the writers: Haruki Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto, Mitsuyo Kakuta, Junko Sakai, Yoko Ogawa, Kou Machida, Keiichiro Hirano and Hideo Levy. By turns humorous, serious, beautiful and biting, they have been selected on the basis
of their appeal. All are stimulating works that will motivate readers to want more.

Just like real Japanese books, the text in this collection runs from top bottom and from right to left. For those needing backup, the essays have been supplemented with facing-page translations of the phrases used therein, often with notes on nuance, usage, grammar or culture. In the back of the
book, moreover, is a built-in Japanese-English learner's dictionary and a notes section covering issues of nuance, usage, grammar and culture that come up in each essay. Best of all, the book comes with a free audio CD containing narrations of the essays, performed by a professional voice actress.
This will help users to become familiar with the sounds and rhythms of Japanese, as well as the speed at which the language is normally spoken.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Kodansha International
Publication date

June 1, 2012
Dimensions

5.56 x 0.71 x 8.26 inches
ISBN-10

1568364148
ISBN-13

978-1568364148
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JANET ASHBY is a freelance writer and translator who has lived in Japan since 1975. She has written a long-running column in the Japan Times on Japanese books, and has a particular interest in Japanese popular culture. She is the co-author of Japanese: The Spoken Language in Japanese Life and the
author of the original Read Real Japanese, of which this book is a remake.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kodansha International; Pap/Com edition (June 1, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1568364148
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1568364148
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.56 x 0.71 x 8.26 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,066,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,836 in Foreign Language Instruction (Books)
- #13,597 in Short Stories Anthologies

Customer Reviews:
82 ratings

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Customer reviews

5 star		81%
4 star		12%
3 star		3%
2 star		1%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Xiaolan K

Anybody have online audio files? Can't read the CD...

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

Exactly what I was looking for! However, how do people read play CDs nowadays? None of the laptops at home have a CD-rom any more...wish there was online audio files.

4 people found this helpful

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ARK

Stellar Reader

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2008

Verified Purchase

Once I read the Fiction version in this series, I jumped for the Nonfiction as quickly as possible. This little series is absolutely top-notch for those who have taken advanced Japanese classes. I can't help but repeat myself in this review: "This reader is the one I compare all others to."

It goes above and beyond in every respect. It features enjoyable stories, furigana by every kanji, a dictionary wherein every term is listed, a line-by-line "literal" explanation, and in the back of the book the grammar and cultural points of each line is discussed in depth. And as icing on the cake, there's a fabulous CD wherein an actress reads each story aloud. How can it get any better than this?

Frankly, I am being spoiled rotten by both of the books in this duo. It's going to be hard to go back to other readers that lack comprehensive dictionaries and feature complex kanji with no furigana.

Still, don't be fooled by all the goodies it gives you -- it's not holding your hand. Furigana is only listed once, forcing you to recall it when the kanji is repeated later in the story. Any new devotees of the Japanese language will probably be bowled over -- it's definitely for the intermediate students, who will benefit most from seeing all of those grammar forms they only previously knew in textbooks.

If you're a student of Japanese, you'll find this reader helpful and fun. It's definitely worth the money -- you're paying for some wonderful features that many other readers skimp on. I suggest getting the Fiction version of this set as well, as it features all of the same perks.

55 people found this helpful

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krispy_enterprises

three essays are 5 star

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2015

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I like these essays lots better than the fiction in "Breaking Into Japanese Literature." My favorite essays were:

"Little White Lies" (Murakami Haruki)
"On Beauty" (Yoshimoto Banana)
"Thoughts On Mutability" (Hirano Keiichiro)

Other essays were rather boring. Contemporary topics with plenty of relevant kanji. Clear CD. Layout is difficult to use though.

7 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Great bilingual work

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2017

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The stories are great practice and it has in-depth notes for us Language majors. The CD also helps when you really need a voice to reinforce pronunciation of these advanced topics.

3 people found this helpful

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Trounces

Beautiful book

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2017

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Beautiful book with beautiful explanations to explain the subtly of Japanese. At least it seems subtle if you speak a Western language.

2 people found this helpful

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Karin

so helpful

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

I love the work that has gone into this volume that helps readers of Japanese understand cultural nuance besides vocabulary and grammatical usage. Having the CD makes this book even more precious.

One person found this helpful

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SG

Good practice

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2014

Verified Purchase

These bilingual books are very well made. They don't simply translate each sentence, they give you a sense of the grammar behind it and let's you interpret the actual meaning by being faithful to the flexible nature of Japanese (no gender, plural, etc...). Comes with a CD to listen, and with a glossary.

3 people found this helpful

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kookoo4cocopuffs

Good for checking you reading skills

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2013

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This is a good intermediate/advanced book as it allows you to read and not have to stop completely to translate a sentence/word as the English accompaniment makes it easy to get through challenging spots.

2 people found this helpful

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Richard

Really good!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2020

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Made from very good material! Very sturdy little book, with CD, translations. Unfortunately need to return as it's too advanced for me.

Booklover

Brilliant.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2014

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Love listening to the CD! Great to study the book, then listen to the audio cd and see how much you can understand. Fun to go through with lots to learn and enjoy.

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2016

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good quality!

Moisés M C

Excelente libro

Reviewed in Mexico on July 3, 2018

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Me gusta mucho el detalle que le da a cada frase y cómo explica parte por parte lo que va diciendo el texto original. Este libro es más recomendable para personas que estén en un nivel intermedio o que estén estudiando para la certificación N3, pues el vocabulario es complejo en cada página. Estudiantes con menos conocimientos pueden aventurarse en este libro y tener un gran desafío. Muy recomendable.

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Marina

Para intermediários e acima, mas COMPREM!

Reviewed in Brazil on February 2, 2021

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Vale a pena viu? Super recomendo. Atualmente eu estou no intermediário, e ainda travo um pouco sim, tem vários vocabulários que não conheço, mas por ter furigana nos Kanjis, ajuda MUITO para deixar fluído. Então mesmo que tu não esteja no nível ainda, acho um ótimo investimento.

One person found this helpful

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Read Real Japanese Essays: Contemporary Writings by Popular Authors Paperback – June 1, 2012

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About the author

Janet Ashby

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