Friday, September 12, 2003

Learning Japanese

As I said previously, learning Japanese is a multi-part problem. The sentence structure is different, it uses a non-western written style, combined with having to learn kana and kanji along with the differences in culture. All of which makes it difficult to get a handhold to start climbing the mountain.

Nonetheless, there are a few book that I have that I find make the process much easier then it would be otherwise.

Easy Japanese by Jack Seward (ISBN 0-8442-8495-5) is aimed at the beginner and concentrates on sentence structure and pronunciation. Japanese words are written using the Hepburn system (similar to r´o;maji) which means you don't have to know how to read kana in order to get through this book. The style is good and clear; and as an added bonus, Mr. Seward adds in a good amount of background information (entomology, cultural information) that help the learner to understand some of the whys and wherefores. My personal recommendation is that you skim through the book at least once at the start of your learning, then come back to it again later and work through it in detail.

Basic Japanese-English Dictionary by The Japan Foundation (ISBN 0-19-864328-4 or 4-89358-004-3) is a reference volume that allows you to lookup Japanese words by r´o;maji or kana (both are displayed side by side) and gives dictionary definitions of the terms. Very useful book to have handy. It also includes sample sentences that use the terms, written in kana/kanji, r´o;manji and translated into english.

The Kodansha Kanji Learners Dictionary by Kodansha (ISBN 4-7700-2335-9) is designed to let you lookup kanji quickly when you don't know it's pronunciation or meaning. It uses a pattern lookup system called "SKIP" where you classify the kanji according to it's visual structure, and then lookup the symbol using stroke counts. It also includes cross-reference entries that point you to the correct entry if you make one of the common stroke counting mistakes. The only bothersome thing would be that the physical size of the pages is a bit small (but the type is very clear) - good size for carrying around, but a larger print version would be good to have as well for extended use at a desk.

Some of the other books that I have are more advanced, or that I don't care for as much. But the three that I've listed above are probably the bare minimum that I'd recommend for getting that first handhold. I also have 3 books that teach how to write kana and a pair of picture books that teach the names for various objects. Then, of course, there are the various cultural reference books which attempt to provide background information (which helps to explain some of the idioms used).

posted by Wuphon's at 10:43 AM