Nihongojouzu

The Oxford Picture Dictionary: English/Japanese

The Oxford Picture Dictionary: English/Japanese can be considered the grown-up version of the Kotoba Tsukaikata Ejiten. Whereas the latter is aimed at children and covers elementary concepts like games, colours and simple motor actions The Oxford Picture Dictionary covers more complex vocabulary like timezones, cuts of meat and crimes.

The Oxford tome is aimed at adult Japanese students of English (as one less-than-perspicacious Amazon reviewer discovered to his chagrin) and as with many texts aimed at Japanese learners it contains Japanese translations in addition to English, but this is exactly what makes it so useful to students of Japanese. However this is no book for beginners  - you will need to be able to read kanji or at least be proficient in the use of an electronic dictionary.

The Picture Dictionary contains 168 pages of pictures and scenes labeled in English and Japanese, covering 3600 words of core vocabulary from the following thematic units:

• Everyday Language
• People
• Housing
• Food
• Clothing
• Health
• Community
• Transportation
• Areas of Study
• Plants and Animals
• Work
• Recreation

The book is useful as a means of filling in those gaps in your vocabulary which exist because you didn't grow up learning Japanese (if you did, what are you doing here?). For example, you may know the Japanese for shark and octopus, but what about seahorse or ray?

Beyond simple nouns the OPD shines when it comes to more abstract, or simply more complex concepts - can you say "onto the highway"?

The thematic categorisation makes using the dictionary very straightforward. Want to talk shoes? Page 68 has everything from pumps パンプズ　to shoelaces 靴ひも。Doing home repairs? See page 150 for tape measures 巻き尺 and drill bits きり先. The pictures are drawn in a variety of styles and are very easy to understand. Some times too easy. The guy with mumps on page 79 brought back very bad childhood memories. And though in the majority of cases the pictures are self-explanatory, having the English is a big help. For example, a picture of a person in a suit standing in front of the United States Capitol building is insufficient - you need the words to remove the ambiguity:

下院                                The House of Representatives
下院女性議員／下院議員　congresswoman/congressman
上院　                             The Senate
上院議員　                       senator

The down side?　The book is designed for Japanese people learning English, specifically American English, so the  pictures are all Americancentric - you won't find the vocab for a lot of Japanese objects but you will be able to talk about things Western. I noted a little political correctness too - page 22 shows a guy who in Japanese is 太っている (fat) but the English label is merely "heavyset" - there is no "fat" or "obese" or even just "overweight". And there is no furigana, so be prepared to invest some time looking up the readings for a lot of the words.

The Oxford Picture Dictionary: English/Japanese   
Norma Shapiro and Jamie Adelson-Goldstein
Oxford University Press, 1998

Pros:       Extensive, detailed, easy to use.
Cons:      Requires a certain level of kanji ability. Americancentric.
Overall:  An excellent resource for intermediate learners.

Amazon (Japan)
Amazon (US)

The Nihongo Journal (日本語ジャーナル）

Somewhere near the end of 2005 I heard a rumour that ALC Press was discontinuing The Nihongo Journal, a monthly magazine aimed at students of Japanese. Crawling around on the web yesterday I was delighted to discover that the rumour was wrong, and NJ is alive and well.
So what exactly is this Journal?

I don't have a current copy of NJ but I pulled the November 2004 copy off my bookshelf and took a gander. There are regular sections, interspersed with feature and seasonal articles. The regular columns:

• NJ News
• Kanji Breakthrough
• Passing the JETRO Business Japanese Test
• Composition Clinic - improve your written Japanese
• Passing the JLPT
• Reading Time
• Using Manga to Improve Conversation

(I just found the online guide - you can browse parts of the Sept 2006 edition as a pdf)

Most of the articles are either bilingual or have English language explanations sprinkled here and there, but the layout means that the Japanese is always most prominent and the English relegated to a referential role only. The content is topical - stories taken from the news, pop culture etc.  Every issue comes with a CD of matching audio - 90 minutes plus of aural joy including listening practice for the JLPT. Total cost per issue - 1680yen - a bargain.

I remember listening to the NJ tapes (yes - back in 1997 cassette tapes were still the rage) in my car and being able to listen over and over because the balance of short episodes, practical exercises and longer narrations meant that my ears never got fatigued (The skits were always worth a chortle or two.) These days you can rip the CD contents to your iPod and pick and choose what you listen to - what luxury! Having the  text accompanying the CD is gold - learning new vocab becomes multi-sensory.

Is there a down side? 1680yen is almost the price of a small book and may scare off a few people, but there is a wealth of content in each issue (approx 112 pages) and you'll find yourself revisiting the text often. My only gripe is that the format for the listening quizzes is often slightly different to the JLPT format so people practising for the exam should use NJ earlier on in the study process and switch to past papers (where the format is exactly the same) when the test gets closer. This is a small point, but time is of the essence in the world of the JLPT so familiarity with the exact style of questions is paramount.

I love the NJ and reckon that repeated listening to the NJ tapes was a big part of me getting a good ear for the language, and I recommend the journal to anyone from beginner to advanced. You should find it in big bookshops like Maruzen and Kinokuniya or you can order in online from ALC.

Colloquial Kansai Japanese

Making a determined attempt at being the Japanese language book with the longest ever title: "Colloquial Kansai Japanese まいど！おきに！関西弁 The dialects and culture of the Kansai Region ", this tome is a well written, thoughtful explanation of that most colorful tongue - Kansai-ben.

On a shopping expedition to Kobe and Osaka last weekend I was drawn into the black hole that is the Kinokuniya bookshop in Umeda, There I stumbled upon Colloquial Kansai Japanese. I picked it up more out of curiosity than anything else - I harbour no burning desire to master the tongue of the manzai wit, but the book's easy conversational tone sucked me in and I decided to take a copy home (after paying for it of course).

Colloquial Kansai Japanese starts out with an introduction to the basics of Kansai-ben, simple stuff but well laid out and easy to follow, for example, contractions:

Standard Japanese        Kansai-ben        English
よく                              よう                    very, well
おもしろい                    おもろい             interesting

Then to words unique to Kansai:

Standard japanese        Kansai-ben         English
あたたかい                    ぬくい                  warm
ころぶ                          こける                  fall down

It was at this point, page 13, that I was hooked. Why? Because everyday I am bombarded with Mishima-ben, the dialect of the city I live in, and by reading CKJ I could see how closely related the two dialects are. I have worked out the basics of Mishima-ben but if I had possessed CJK I could have saved a lot of time.

eg こうた　is Kansai/Mishima dialect for かった, whilst もろた　is もらった。

My point - the book is useful not only for people in the Kansai region but for western Japan generally - hell, with the number of Osaka TV personalities these days it is useful for anyone who watches TV.　

Following the introduction the book goes on to describe 15 survival words (eg あかん、ほんま、おる、や）providing plenty of example sentences along the way. The contextualisation of all the examples makes Colloquial Kansai Japanese very easy to follow, and the healthy dose of notes on usage means that you can start using Kansai-ben straight away. The examples have both romaji and kana/kanji, so even beginners are catered for. Later chapters present a further 15 basic words and masses of sample conversations. There is even a dictionary/glossary at the back.

Those who click through to Amazon to purchase this choice tome may be surprised to note that the book has yet to garner even a single Amazon review, which would make sense if the book was newly published, but it came out in 1995........The answer is simple - in its former incarnation the book was called Kinki Japanese. Anyone with Japanese Geography 101 knows that Kinki is another name for the Kansai region and it doesn't take a great deal of brainpower to work out that someone finally realised that for an English speaking audience the title Kinki Japanese may not have been the best way to market the book.

174 pages and only 1200 yen too. A bargain. Do yourself a favour.

Zakennayo!

Jim Breen's EDICT dictionary returns the following definitions for ざけんなよ (zakennayo):

        "Fuck you!"

        "Don't fuck around"

        "Don't be a screw off"

The full title of this book is Zakennayo!: The Real Japanese You Were Never Taught in School but perhaps it should have been "Zakennayo!: Scoring with J-girls Using Out-of-Date Slang from the Bubble Period". The title and the cover graphic - a guy trying to pick up a girl - give away the theme of the book.

Him: Derumo mitai kanojo ocha shinai?
Her: Ge, gaijin eigo wakannai yo.

Him: You look like a model - fancy a cuppa?
Her: Eh? A foreigner! I don't speak English.

I am no expert on the street slang in Tokyo circa 2006 but I doubt the word "derumo" (an inversion of "moderu") still does the rounds. When I asked one of the guys in my office he suggested it was from 20 years ago. Zakennayo! was written in 1995, and it is showing its age. Unlike Making Out in Japanese, which showcases casual speech but shies away from ephemeral slang, Zakennayo! revels in expressions which were probably dated by the time the book was printed:

hama o "a hammer boy" (as in MC Hammer); a J-boy who dresses and acts "black"

There are many such gems, but let's not dismiss the book so lightly. Zakennayo! has an excellent hook - it follows the adventures of a bunch of 20-somethings in Tokyo, chronicling their adventures linguistic and otherwise.

Kenny - an American English teacher and all-round stud. Very pera pera.
Nigel - a British Newswriter. Speaks like a girl. No game whatsoever.
Sharon - an Australian hostess. Speaks Japanese, fancies Taro.
Taro - a Japanese-American from Hawaii. Never mistaken for a gaijin.
Keiko - a Japanese girl. One of the targets of Kenny's affections.

The book covers the events of one evening in Tokyo - think Melrose Place in Japan - and from the get-go the questions loom:  Will Kenny get lucky? Will Nigel learn to stop speaking like a girl? Will Taro notice Sharon? Will Sharon make the first move? Who will Keiko sleep with? Overlook the dodgy, outdated slang and there is a lot of vocab to be gleaned from the pages as the characters make their way around the city. A lot of the words are vulgar to the point that you probably will never need to use them, but just as everyone looks up the word "fuck" in the dictionary as a child (at least those of us born before the Internet), it is always nice to satisfy one's curiosity and more importantly, to understand what is being said by those around you. After all, knowledge is power.

A quick look at the chapter headings reveal the nature of the beast:

1. Alien Invaders

Gaijin da! (It's  a foreigner!)
Talking about Gaijin
Facts of Life for English Teachers

2. The ABC's (sic) of Japanese

Girl Talk
Teen Talk for the Joys of Sex

3. Street Jive

Shibuya
Kiddy City (NB Nothing to do with paedophilia!)
Tea Time
Picking Up
Putting Down
Regrets

4. Waiting at Hachiko

Hachiko Statue
Getting Picked Up
Who's That?
Being Admired

V. Talking About People

Omotesando Cafe
Waitress Watching
Like a Peach
Shut Up!

V. The Gay Life

Ni-Chome
Homosexual Slang
Homosexual Heaven
Lesbians Only

VII Hookers and Gangsters

Kabuki-Cho
Red Light
Mama-san
Time to Run

VIII Disco City

Roppongi
Beauties, Sluts and Bimbos
Bodicon Dancers
Sugar Daddy
Bottoms Up!

IX Foreign Drinking Holes

Gaijin Bar
Bimbo Heaven
Curfew Time

X After Hours

Donut Shop
Chance Encounter

XI Romance and Lowlife

A Walk in the Park
Getting Frisky

XII Talking About Sex (considering the whole book is about sex, kind of redundant)

Tryst at Maruyama-cho
Getting Ready for Bed
Sleepless in Tokyo
Coming Soon!

So is it worthwhile purchasing? I confess I received my copy from a friend who was leaving Japan, but I did read it cover to cover.

Why it's bad:
1. Romaji - your reading won't improve.
2. Woeful as a phrasebook unless you spend most nights trying to pick up - even then, if you can't come up with better lines that those from Zakennayo! you're in trouble.
3. Out of date slang
4. Everyone is a stereotype

Why it's good:
1. Romaji means that absolute beginners can read Zakennayo! straight away
2. There are a lot of words and phrases that you might not find anywhere else. For example, if you plug  ネコ　(neko) into  EDICT or Eijiro they will tell you it means "cat". Zakennayo! will tell you that it also means, in gay parlance, the receiver, or "bottom". (タチ　(tachi) is the "top")  .
3. Kenny occasionally gives good advice. Nigel does speak like a girl, and would be wise to learn more casual speech patterns.
4. The cultural references, though over the top, are often spot on - people do meet at Hachiko, there are gaijin bars filled with people aiming to bridge the Japan/Gaikoku gap and it is not uncommon for people to wind up in love hotels after a night of drinking (how else do so many rabu ho stay in business?)
5. It covers the gay and lesbian scene, something a lot of books avoid.
6. Some of the situations are scarily accurate.
7. It is funny. It is soooo bad it is good.

Some people dismiss Zakennayo! at face value, but it has an irresistible charm, like a lecherous but amusing uncle at a party who gets away with saying nearly anything because of his unabashed straightforwardness and rakish wit. As one Amazon reviewer puts it:

Zakennayo! is a refreshing romp through Tokyo in the disguise of a book about slang. It's delightfully politically uncorrect and pokes fun at nearly everyone, from gaijin adventurers to the gatekeepers of Japan's insular culture. A fun read for a rainy day or any day in Japan.

This hits the nail on the head. Zakennayo! isn't a textbook, but it is amusing and occasionally useful. My advice - at your next party wait until everyone has had a few wines then break out Zakennayo! and ask your Japanese friends what phrases they would and wouldn't use. Cross out all the dodgy ones and keep the rest. And have a good laugh in the process.

• Publication Date: 1995-11-01
• ISBN: 0452275067
• Author: Philip J Cunningham, Kim Wilson Eversz
• Illustrator: Kim Wilson Brandt

Tags learning japanese | Japanese slang | study Japanese

Common Japanese Phrases

I prefer the Japanese title: 決まり文句の辞典- ("A Dictionary of Set Expressions" - my translation), but the English title is the only thing I don't like about this book. At 140 pages it is a wonderful collection of set phrases for all manner of situations. Set phrases? Shouldn't I just say things in my own words? Well, a lot of the time, no. The blurb on the back explains:

 

"Words don't exist in isolation, to be placed willy-nilly in grammatical slots by a speaker exercising absolute freedom of choice. Rather, words come in neatly bound packages - in phrases or entire sentences - ready to communicate an idea that cannot be expressed economically in any other way"

Sage advice. Once you realise that there is no need to reinvent the wheel and create sentences anew in a vast number of situations your learning becomes much simplified:

1. Find out what situations have set phrases.
2. Learn the appropriate phrase for each situation.
3. In all other situations wing it.

Don't waste time trying to cobble together your own sentences when  those  expressions already exist - you will sound more natural by following protocol and the person you are talking to will understand immediately because they are expecting a set expression.  Some examples from the book:

Welcoming into your home someone who has just arrived at the front door:

どうぞお上がりください。
Douzo oagari kudasai.
Please come in.

Replying when someone asks where you are going:

ええ、ちょっとそこまで。
Ee, chotto soko made.
Yes, I'm just stepping out for a minute.

No one knows quite what to say at a funeral - even in English - but in Japanese this one phrase will suffice:

このたびはご愁傷さまでございます。
Kono tabi wa goshuushousama de gozaimasu.
Please accept my condolences on this sad occasion.

Common Japanese Phrases covers Congratulation, Condolences, Making a Speech, Gift-giving, Addressing Someone, Visiting, Leaving, Making Requests, Consenting to a Request, Refusing a Request, Persuading, Stating an Objection, Making Excuses, Criticizing, Praising, Reacting to Praise, Expressing thanks and Apologizing.

The explanations are both entertaining and  easy to follow and contain cultural notes to further enable proficient use of the phrases contained within. If you live in Japan this book is gold. It even has romaji (each example is set out as above) so even absolute beginners can wow people with formal expressions.

Compiled by Sanseido, translated by John Brennan and part of the Kodansha's Power Japanese series - look for the diminutive, angry sumo dude on the cover.

Tags learning Japanese | speak Japanese

Kotoba Tsukaikata Ejiten (ことばつかいかた絵じてん)

Most dictionaries sit on the shelf, gathering dust until that point in a Scrabble game when someone's use of the word "gnu" is challenged. Similarly, when learning Japanese your dictionary is a vital part of your study, but as a reference tool - no one spends a happy few hours reading the dictionary except infuriating autodidacts who just make us feel inadequate. Dictionaries are like fibre - necessary, but not often consumed on their own. Why? Well dictionaries are boring. They have a set order, few if any pictures and they are written in school marmish seriousness.

But not the Kotoba Tsukaikata Ejiten ことばつかいかた絵じてん　(Words in Use Picture Dictionary - my translation) by Sanseido - this guy is FUN.  The first hint is the colorful cover - any book with a gorilla playing baseball and a pig eating ice cream gets my attention. Inside, with the exception of the Contents, Index and Kana Writing Guide the book is ALL pictures. Yes, it is a children's dictionary but that's what makes it perfect for people studying Japanese as a foreign language. Rather than explaining concepts the dictionary illustrates them. For example, the first chapter deals with  all the activities associated with getting up and getting ready in the morning. Washing, getting dressed etc are all shown as pictures with kana describing the action:

The pictures are so simple and easy to follow that there is no need for an English explanation - context is king. No kanji either - hiragana the whole way.

The dictionary is broken down into 4 broad chapters:

One - Basic verbs dealing with everything from cooking, eating, washing clothes, doing chores, gardening,  setting the table, going shopping, visiting the dentist etc etc

Two - more abstract verbs, verbs dealing with more difficult concepts (しかれる　getting told off) and less domestic activities (しんぶんに　でる　appearing in the newspaper).

Three - adjectives and onomatopeia. It is so much easier to associate にょるにょる　with the slithering of a snake when you have the snake in front of you.

Four - more adjectives - focusing on antonyms.

If it sounds like I am gushing in my praise of this book it is because I am - I love it. Having it is like having a Japanese native speaker in your possession - whenever you think to yourself "How do you say X in Japanese?" you can just look it up and see the answer in context. Although perfect for beginners, intermediate learners will find it useful to patch up holes in their verbal arsenal too. Match it with the Complete Japanese Verb Guide and you will be a master of verbs.

Good points: Easy to understand, thousands of pictures, practical, no romaji.

Bad points: Weighs a tonne.

ことばつかいかた絵じてん. Edited by 金田一春彦. Published by Sanseido. ISBN4-385-15031-1.

The Complete Japanese Expression Guide

I’ve had this book on my shelf for years now but every time I flick through it I come away with another arrow for my idiomatic quiver. Written by Yokohama National University professor of Japanese Mizue Sasaki, and billed as “The key to fluency in idiomatic Japanese”, The Complete Japanese Expression Guide (Tuttle Language Library) is a clearly laid out and well explained collection of idioms. The main part of the book devotes a page per expression to a wide variety of common Japanese idioms like とことんまで (to the bitter end) and しらぬ　が　ほとけ　(ignorance is bliss). Each page contains a sample two line dialogue incorporating the idiom, an English translation of the dialogue, a paragraph explaining  the idiom, its derivation and usage, and finally 5 example sentences using the idiom, with English translations.

The last part of the book contains a list of additional idioms, with English translations but without explanations or examples (bringing the total number to 600).

TCJEG is for intermediate to advanced learners – if you are looking to use expressions like 無駄足が運ぶ　(go on a wild goose chase) I think you can count yourself as having progressed from the beginners pack. My personal take is that the book is better as a reference guide than as a source of phrases to throw around at your next party, because trying too hard to use an idiom you have just studied can make you sound unnatural, but if you take the time to read through TCJEG you will soon find that idioms  hitting your ear every day will start making sense. You will soon realize that 顔が広い　does not mean someone has a fat face but rather a big Rolodex.

If there is a downside it is the use of romaji – kanji/kana are only used to render each idiom at the top of the page - after that it is roman letters the whole way. Given the book is not of beginner level it seems odd to still rely on the romaji crutch and thus rob readers of the chance to digest more kana (though perhaps the reason lies in the book’s origin as a series of articles written for the Asahi Evening News…)

In summary, an excellent resource for intermediate students and up who seek to better understand common, idiomatic Japanese.

Good points: easy to follow, chock full of useful expressions, lots of example sentences
Dodgy points: Uses romaji

Copyright 1993, Charles E. Tuttle Company
ISBN 0-8048-1689-1

The Complete Japanese Verb Guide

Want to get a handle on how Japanese verb endings work? This is your book.The Complete Japanese Verb Guide holds your hand and shows you exactly how verbs change according to tense, politeness of register etc. Take the verb to eat, taberu. It, and more than 300 other verbs, each have an entire page devoted to showing all their conjugations, eg
tabeta - ate
tabero - eat!
taberu na - don't eat!
tabesaserareru -  was made to eat
There is also a set of handy sample sentences for each verb.
The introduction to the book gives a brief but lucid explanation of how each of the forms should be used, covers the basics of keigo and and the last chapter is a pleasant surprise - a list of 277 "suru" verbs.
The book is aimed at beginners but it makes a useful reference well into the intermediate levels. If it has a down side it would be the use of romaji, which will piss off purists, but admittedly enables absolute novices to dive straight into the passive and causative tenses and say more than "I eat...". Highly recommended for those starting out.

Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You

Jay Rubin, Professor of Japanese Literature at Harvard, has put together a nifty tome which explains a whole swag of Japanese grammaticisms in a way which makes the reader stop, think for a moment and say "Now I get it!". Rubin explains by means of anecdote and analogy exactly how troublesome aspects of the Japanese language actually work, and by the end of the book concepts like wa/ga, kureru/kudasaru, kimeru/kimaru no longer seem arcane and incomprehensible. I think the book is worth the price simply for the excellent explanation of how kureru/kudasaru/itadaku/ageru work on the basis of what direction the action occurs. Until I read MSOJ this concept confused me, and heeding the words of my original Japanese teacher I was loathe to even use the ageru construction lest I imply that I was doing a person a favour and thereby burdening them with obligation, but Rubin's lucid explanation left me excited that I could finally use the Japanese words for give. Not so useful for a beginner - MSOJ is perfect for someone who has studied Japanese for a while and needs a bit of a meta-cognitive boost.

Writing Letters in Japanese

Can you write a letter in japanese in horizontal format? How about vertical? Know how to address an envelope? A postcard? What opening phrase should you use? If you've ever had to write a thank you letter in Japanese and not known what to say and how to say it, this book is for you. (If you don't give a toss and are content with email then stop reading.) The written word is being superceded by the typed word, but if letter writing is on the endangered species list, Japan seems to be the wildlife preserve.
Writing Letters in Japanese provides a heap of example letters which you can adapt to your own needs. The first half covers the basics of letter writing - social concepts, letter format, seasonal greetings and fixed expressions. The second contains heavily annotated example letters: greetings, requests, thank-you letters, announcements, invitations and replies, apologies, news about yourself, employment queries and sending objects through the mail. WLIJ is easy to use - just find the kind of letter you want to write and adapt the contents (I'd still get a native speaker to check your letter anyway - especially if it is going out to someone important) With three samples seasonal greetings per month you can wow your friends with your detailed knowledge of Japanese customs (nothing to stop you adapting them to email either) The section on style highlights the subtle differences between spoken and written Japanese - follow these guidelines and you'll sound like a native. Note that WLIJ doesn't contain business letters - they constitute a whole subject on their own. An excellent resource, and my only criticism is that I would have liked even more example letters, but that's probably because I'm a lazy bastard.